After a few anxious, yet excited deliberations I made my way over to the City Gym on Goswell Road last evening. The plan was to keep it simple: familiarize myself with the smart machines, see how far I could cope on the treadmill without collapsing and mentally chart a plan out.

Before I get on with my session last evening, I’d like to step aside and mention something about me that most people who know me well enough and long enough are aware of. One of the tunes that almost, always gets me pepped up and energized has got to be Moves like Jagger. Its got a great tune, upbeat lyrics and most importantly, having a fit (read: hot) Adam Levine is only a bonus and inspirational. OK – that should have read in reverse order – fit and hot singer. But you get my drift, right? Sometimes you need this to motivate yourself.

And, as luck would have it, as I jumped on the treadmill and logged on, the first track to pop up was Moves like Jagger. HUGE sign.

I had a big smile on and decided to run a couple of kms. After a good 15 minutes of running I started to feel my leg muscles relax, my pace was steady but improving and luckily I had not collapsed. Of course, the song was on constant loop. I took that chance to track my progress and I had managed a cool 4km! Now THAT was pure encouraging!

I decided to speed things up, ran a bit faster and finished a good 5km run – not bad for a start huh. Towards the end I made note of a few key things:

1. I wasn’t smiling anymore
2. Legs hurt, but I could survive
3. That song makes me push the limits – no complaints
4. I had run 5km!

What an awesome debut! And to think, 5 months ago, with a minor back sprain I couldn’t do more than 2km at a go! I was pleased, gotta admit, and the report at the end of the session only encouraged me to improve from here on.

And to keep the theme of music videos intact on this note, right before I got off the treadmill, I heard this track and paid heed – Hit the Red Light.

I enjoyed my first day at City Gym and I am already looking forward to improving my game. Nemo is back. Wait and watch this space for more …..