Yep. Joined Retro Fitness as a member.
That was my reply when the Williamsburg gym followed up about a free day pass.
They wanted to know whether I had made it in and whether somebody could help get me started. I had skipped ahead. The trial was over. I had a membership.
The gym was useful because it was close.
I was living in the Williamsburg loft and working through a busy year at Shutterstock. Training had to fit around work, not wait for work to become reasonable. A neighborhood gym removed one more excuse.
At the time, my training was not especially coherent. I was running after work, lifting with friends, and signing up for races that required sports I was not consistently practicing. A few weeks later I would finish a triathlon after doing almost no swim, bike, or run training for it.
The gym membership did not solve that.
It did give me a place to do the next workout.
I have always liked ambitious events and ordinary routines. The event gets the story, but the routine is what makes showing up possible. Walk out of the loft. Get to the gym. Move some weight. Go home.
Williamsburg was becoming the center of both sides of my life. Work was across the river, but the apartment, training, friends, and an increasing number of ideas were here. The neighborhood was not a brand yet. It was just where the days happened.
The gym sent a long automated follow-up with a phone number, links, and a legal footer.
My answer took seven words.
I was already in.