Drama in the Hotel Exercise Room

Greetings outdoors people,

I am in Denver encased in a windowless conference room for days on end. Whenever I travel, I try to stay over the weekend to do something fun, but things did not line up this time. Also: I arrived at the hotel and asked the question I always ask: "Where's the fitness room?"

The desk clerk sighed. "Well, we have one, but all it has is a treadmill and free weights."

Wait, what? ONE treadmill? The hotel is on a busy highway, and I hadn't brought outdoor running clothes in anticipation of that fact. I felt a minor panic. (okay, major). One treadmill? I can't run every day or risk injury. And surely there would be cutthroat treadmill competition! *

I just don't feel right if I can't exercise. In a perfect world, I would be able to hike all day, every day, or trail run, or ski. But I make allowances. If a creaky exercise bike is all there is, then fine. I have been regularly exercising since the teenage years, and my body really needs it.

One treadmill? Okay. I would make it work. I set an alarm for five and hoped for the best. You have to understand, sitting all day in a conference room + eating out -exercise is not a good thing. After about five hours of fitful sleep, I dragged myself to the workout room, to find a vision of happiness: a nice elliptical trainer.

Getting excited over an elliptical is never what I imagined my life to be like. But sometimes we are driven to extremes. I was glad to see two pieces of cardio equipment, and I knew I could face the long hours of sitting much better.

Since only one person came in, and hopped on the treadmill, I thought I was in the clear. The next morning I would run, and whomever else showed up could have the elliptical. I bounded to the workout room to find...a guy on the treadmill. At five! He was intently watching the TV, which was bemoaning the move of a football team to a different state. So, no running for me. The elliptical it would be. While we were on our respective machines, the door opened a couple of times with prospective exercisers, who saw us and beat a hasty retreat. I felt a little bad for monopolizing the elliptical, but not bad enough to remove myself from it.

I have one more morning to participate in the exercise machine wars. It's clear: get up early and claim possession. Pathetic? Obsessed? Perhaps. But in the end, if you are sitting in a conference room with me, you want me to have had exercise. You really, really do.

Anyone else as obsessed as me? Please, say you are and make me feel better.

*Yes, google hotel room workout, and you can find a list of workouts to do in your hotel room with no equipment whatsoever! The only issue with this is if you are on a top floor and risk annoyance from the people below. Or the walls are really thin, so your jumping around will equally annoy people next to you. Once I stayed at a hotel for work where they would deliver an exercise bike to your room. That's my kind of place! (I also stayed at one where they brought a goldfish in a bowl to your room and put a teddy bear on your pillow. My kind of place too. If only they brought kittens!)