Holy...! Gym?

Everyone who knows me knows that I like odd things. I've myself even been called odd several times, especially at primary and secondary school. Personally, my subjective point of view to this matter is that, well, I don't mind being odd. For me, it's the kooky version extraordinary. ;) This time my sense of odd things has lead me to a trial, a seven day purgatory of testing if I'm up for it. If I'm up for a gym membership at a Chapel. 

Yeah, you read it right (in case you didn't, read it again, it means what it says), at a Chapel. This basic gym (that's a good thing in gyms not in Finns) is made into an old chapel. Oh, well, it might be a kind of a chapel still to some, though. However, it's a small gym, only 400 members and it's newish. And the church hall is not decorated with crucifixes, it's decorated with graffiti (I adore graffiti). Facilities may be simple and a bit worn out, but I'm just so excited about the settings that I really don't care. All ya need is some gangsta rap in da background and ya might be in some cool hood in the Bronx, ya man. Just made that up, never been to the Bronx, won't be going there anytime soon. 

The tourist companies did however try and make my do deals on other trips right here in Australia last night. Sangria was good, and the deals even better. However, I think I ended up making one very unusual one. I think this will be some sort of a human experiment of the Aussie nature and trustworthiness. It seems that I shook hands to a deal that I'd do weight loss counseling and I'd get a free 2 day overnight trip to the Great Ocean Road and the Phillip Island to see the penguins. I hope that something really comes out of this because a) I want to believe that people generally don't bull shit around (pardon my French you sensitive readers) and b) I want to prove that I personally meant what I said. Plus the trip seems awesome. I'm a bit upset that didn't win any cool trips, but if this deal comes through, then that's pretty neat too. Although, I do realize I really, really have to do some work to earn my trip. :D

 This seems to turn out into a post about sports, but will continue a bit more. So I signed up for my second ski marathon, which is taking place here in Australia in August. My lovely friend Jess is thinking of turning this into some sort of a road trip, and I won't object! Anyway, I'm gonna pack my skiing gear and head for the mountains anyway. Need to do some sort of training before that, but it's not all that simple when I don't know in which part of the town I'm staying and for how long. I'm sure I'll come up with a good plan, no doubt. 

Started my "back on track" training by a nice run today in the oddest of settings in a while. The sun was setting over the city, clouds were really dark due to a recent rain fall and the air was filled with the hum of cars going by and the chirping of birds in the palm trees. The swan-sized ducks with plastic necklaces looked like ancient dinosaurs swimming by (mind you, miniature size of course). The glass walls of high rise office buildings lined one side of the lake, where as the the other side was mostly by the park. The lake was surrounded by empty restaurants that were, however, lit. One of them had a huge mega TV screen on, was lit with fluorescent pink light and there was nobody in sight - David Lynch moment with a hit of Twin Peaks. The few runners I saw were, like myself, running in the dim light or darkness. The Hitchcock atmosphere was guaranteed when the seagulls stared at me from the wooden docks. Needless to say, I enjoyed the run greatly. ;)