An open love letter to the gym

Dear 24,

Absence truly makes the heart grow fonder...

I know its been a while since we last saw each other. Our serious, intense, and often sweaty relationship, from 2005- 2009, were some of the best years of my life. I just never really realized it until now.

You pushed me. You challenged me. You transformed me.

My new boyfriend's name is 26.2. He is similar to you in so many ways, yet so different.

You like to be indoors. He likes to be outdoors.

Dates with you are filled with variety: jump-roping, weight lifting, spinning, lunging

Dates with 26.2 are sometimes monotonous; we do the same thing, over and over and over...

26.2 likes to keep me all to himself-- we often hang out together, just him and me. Sometimes I even have to listen to my Ipod just to keep myself entertained, he can be so boring!

With you 24, we had alone time, but we also had all our friends around to keep us company:

Bodybuilder Bob-the one who's grunts all the time when he lifts weights and then throws them on the ground, he's also good friends with Steroid Steve---who tries SO hard to cover up his back acne and stares intently at himself in the mirror...

And then there's Cardio Courtney- the girl who does the elliptical every day for two hours--and nothing else---in full make-up, she's also good friends with Abdominals Annie---who's "super-intense" workout includes slow/short walks on the treadmill, talking on her cell phone (loudly), who then goes and does a maximum of 50 crunches and calls it a day.

26.2 and I have not been getting along lately. We have a love-hate relationship.

I foresee my relationship with 26.2 to be over in early June. After that I'd love to see you more often. We can go back to the way things used to be: seeing each other 5 days a week, spinning together and lifting together.

What do you say? Can we give it another shot?

Until then my love....

~Lauren