Spring is in the air and you know what that means. It's the \get-in-shape"" season. This time of year; you see runners come out of the woodwork and populate the once-desolate streets of wintertime. Everywhere you turn, old men and sorority girls alike are scantily clad, sporting wife beaters and skimpy shorts.
All this hustle and bustle to shed pounds prompted me to get into shape too. After a few days of running and doing the elliptical machine, I came to one conclusion: UW is just not a conducive environment for exercise. Here is what led me to this realization.
Day one. I was never a big fan of the SERF. I hadn't been to the cardio room since freshman year, so I decided to give it another chance. The reason I hold such a grudge against the SERF is because it is almost impossible to get an exercise machine. I had to walk around the room aimlessly for 40 minutes waiting for an elliptical machine to become available.
Aside from this ridiculously long wait, once I got on the machine there were still several annoyances. Girls constantly came up to my machine asking how much time I had left. Sometimes they wouldn't even ask but instead, stood two inches away from me staring at the little sign-up sheet on the machine waiting for me to interject, ""Oh, I'll be done in five minutes!""
To top it all off, there is no such thing as personal space in the cardio room. All the equipment is so close together that it is kind of like one big orgy of exercise. You can practically taste the sweat of the person next to you. No smells go unnoticed either.
Day two. Since the SERF's cardio room didn't work out (no pun intended) I decided to try one of the fitness classes they offer. I had done the cardio class a few months ago and really enjoyed it because the instructor was so intense. This time when I did it, things were a little different. The workout was great because I was constantly moving the entire hour. Yet, the room was so incredibly stuffy and warm because of the spring weather that after only five minutes, I was soaked in sweat. I ended up leaving ten minutes early because I felt like I was going to pass out. The heat was just unbearable in a room with no ventilation. Not cool (again, no pun intended).
Day three. I gave up on workout facilities for a while and thought a nice run by Lake Monona would be a good change. The air was warm, the breeze was cool and the lake looked beautiful. It was such a pleasant run until I heard brakes screeching and turned around to see a very angry cyclist glaring at me muttering something to himself. Apparently, he said ""On your left,"" but I failed to hear this warning since I had headphones on. I almost got trampled because there is one section of the path that does not have a specific designation for walkers or runners. That's real smart. So much for peaceful lakeshore runs.
Day four. My boyfriend used to always go to the SHELL instead of the SERF and said it was great because no one was ever there. That sounded perfect and almost unheard of at this school. I asked him where it was and he said by Camp Randall. Camp Randall? That is quite a ways from where I live. Luckily, I have a car, so I could just drive there.
He was right. The place was basically empty. Not only could you get your machine of choice, but the facility is situated in a large, open gymnasium-like room so you actually have room to breathe and keep cool. Also, there weren't as many people whining ""How much longer will you be on that machine?"" It's not too bad if you have access to a car or live in the Regent neighborhood. But if you have a car, parking can be a nuisance because the UW police station is directly across the street from the SHELL. You can only be parked on the street during certain hours, so people are constantly being ticketed by the police, which is unfortunate.
As you can see, springtime is just not a good time for working out. I think the only real solution to this problem involves me sitting on my porch, enjoying the weather while eating ice cream and watching other people do the whole workout thing. Besides, old men in tight shorts are hot.
Kat is a junior majoring in psychology. E-mail her at krpeterson@wisc.edu.
