Well, I don't tend to downplay things. In fact, the opposite is typically true...I take a microscopic particle of feeling and hit it with an engorgement charm. Thus, when I waxed poetic about my gym membership, that was pretty much a code for "I really quite enjoy working out at my gym. It's super."

On to Nick...Nick isn't fond of gyms. He'd rather run outdoors. He once owned a treadmill, but eventually he returned it citing non-use. Which reminds me...when I first met Nick and we were making the obligatory small talk, he'd often make a leading statement only to quell further discourse on grounds of it being another story for another time. Well, I called him on the treadmill story.

The whole story, all details present and accounted for? Nick once owned a treadmill, but eventually he returned it citing non-use.

All talk...pft.

Then, the fellow planted the idea of a Cancer benefit run in my piddly little mind. I had no experience running outdoors...I kill it on a treadmill...but outside? I felt doomed to fail. Nevertheless, I hit the ground running and my perfectionism is trying to rear its ugly little head, striving to make a better runner out of this body which seems the most at home sprawled upon a coffeeshop couch sipping the frothiest, foamiest cappuccino imaginable.

"But that's another story for another time."

I am now, after mere months, addicted to running outdoors...but I find it so easy to lose motivation when the weather is less than great. When the birds are singing a certain way. When the neighbor's car is parked in the street instead of their driveway. Oh, and if I've recently brushed my teeth.

Reasonable excuses, obviously, but excuses that seem to not exist in a gym-going venture. Curious, isn't it?

Curious more, that I haven't been to the gym in well over a month. I cannot stand the thought of getting on a treadmill. My inner diva taps her foot in irritation, melding ever so slightly with her valley-girl-roommate, and offers the flippant, "I ran seven hilly miles on Saturday, I am so above this...like, totally."

Now, this week is chock-full with rainy forecasts, and I'm facing the prospect of another lethargy-filled collection of days. Not good. Besides the fact that exercise is a good mood enhancer, a good immune system booster too, I know that I need to keep myself strong to fend off whatever is going wrong with my stomach. So today, I must return to the gym. And, now that I've typed it here, I know I'll feel guilty if I don't. Way to go, Laura...Way. To. Go.

And all the while, I will dream for the next sunny day...when the birds aren't singing offensively and the neighbor's car is in their driveway. I would say that I'll be dreaming of scummy teeth as well...but let's face it...that'll never happen.