an "aha!" moment

I've found it - a way to get through my exercising without beating my head against the treadmill bars (which is, in and of itself, a difficult exercise): read. Of course, you say, I knew that. Well, evidently, I didn't! I went to the gym again this afternoon - 3rd time this week - with iPod in hand (or on arm, as it were) as usual. After trotting between the different machines that I'm supposed to use to strengthen muscles I obviously never use and therefore did not realize needed strengthening, I started toward the bikes when, lo and behold, I noticed a magazine rack. I grabbed some entertainment magazine, parked my patootie on the bike, and whizzed through my 15 minutes without praying to any errant god that happened by to please transport me to a higher level of hell. On to the treadmill: finished the magazine and my 30 minutes without begging for divine intervention. Aha! It makes the time go by much faster and I'm less aware of my exertions, which means I work a little harder because I'm not thinking about how much I hate this and how much my muscles don't like me.

So, I stopped by the library afterward to check out a few gym-worthy novels. I suppose I could use the time for more academic pursuits. Aside from not wanting to sweat all over my students' papers, I can't read anything that requires me to make notes and/or comments, and most everything I read falls into that category. I'll take along a journal next time I go and see if I can follow the arguments while I tread. I'm thinking fiction-reading, however, might be the way to go: doesn't require as much attentiveness on my part and serves as a nice little reward for getting myself to exercise.

cross-posted on my blog