As far as Juneathon goes, I have kept up for the 10th of the month with my daily cycle commute and an evening swim, though there’s little more to say than that in terms of fairly unremarkable physical activity. There was another related event however, which has inspired yet another reflective ramble… You lucky folks!
I haven’t always been a runner. That’s not to say I haven’t been active. As a child and teenager, I enjoyed a variety of activities, team sports, swimming, buzzing off on my Muddy Fox, though I seemed to be especially good at gymnastics and got most excited about using the trampoline. That was until I developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and got plonked in a wheelchair for a bit but we won’t dwell on that, my point is that even when I was active as a youngster, I really didn’t enjoy athletics. Walking, yes, running no .In my 20’s I got into ‘fitness running’ to try and stay healthy but I couldn’t say I really enjoyed it. I certainly wasn’t a ‘gym bunny’ and the thought of being sweaty in public frankly terrified me, I’d always be picking the quietest possible routes for short ‘secret’ runs, In the summer of 2012, I took advantage of a free swim offer that the leisure club at a local hotel, The Midland in Manchester, was participating in. Initially, when I filled in my registration form I put a firm tick in the ‘not interested in membership’ box, but as I relaxed in the spa pool and looked forward to using the sauna, I began to weigh up the cost of membership with the amount I was spending on using public swimming baths. I realised that it would cost me about 40p per month more to become a member but that I would have access to far more facilities and the support of staff to help with a fitness programme. I signed up to a trial membership and didn’t look back.
When I joined fully, Kieran, one of the fantastic staff members, worked closely with me to assess my fitness and suggest how to achieve my personal health goals. After a few months he suggested I think about participating in the 2013 Bupa Great Run Manchester Run. When I started my membership, I found it a challenge to run on the treadmill for 10 minutes at 6 mph. Through slow, steady improvement and the encouragement of the support network of staff and friends I made in other members at the Midland gym, I was eventually able to happily run for 60 minutes at 8 mph. I initially expected to do my first 10 km race in around 47 minutes as I knew I was a bit slower outside but I would have been happy with sub 50. On the day, I managed to complete in 45.31 which I was absolutely delighted by! Somewhere along the course on that sunny May morning, there must have been a Running Bug as I got well and truly bitten, as you can probably tell.
I haven’t always been a runner. That’s not to say I haven’t been active. As a child and teenager, I enjoyed a variety of activities, team sports, swimming, buzzing off on my Muddy Fox, though I seemed to be especially good at gymnastics and got most excited about using the trampoline. That was until I developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and got plonked in a wheelchair for a bit but we won’t dwell on that, my point is that even when I was active as a youngster, I really didn’t enjoy athletics. Walking, yes, running no .In my 20’s I got into ‘fitness running’ to try and stay healthy but I couldn’t say I really enjoyed it. I certainly wasn’t a ‘gym bunny’ and the thought of being sweaty in public frankly terrified me, I’d always be picking the quietest possible routes for short ‘secret’ runs, In the summer of 2012, I took advantage of a free swim offer that the leisure club at a local hotel, The Midland in Manchester, was participating in. Initially, when I filled in my registration form I put a firm tick in the ‘not interested in membership’ box, but as I relaxed in the spa pool and looked forward to using the sauna, I began to weigh up the cost of membership with the amount I was spending on using public swimming baths. I realised that it would cost me about 40p per month more to become a member but that I would have access to far more facilities and the support of staff to help with a fitness programme. I signed up to a trial membership and didn’t look back.
When I joined fully, Kieran, one of the fantastic staff members, worked closely with me to assess my fitness and suggest how to achieve my personal health goals. After a few months he suggested I think about participating in the 2013 Bupa Great Run Manchester Run. When I started my membership, I found it a challenge to run on the treadmill for 10 minutes at 6 mph. Through slow, steady improvement and the encouragement of the support network of staff and friends I made in other members at the Midland gym, I was eventually able to happily run for 60 minutes at 8 mph. I initially expected to do my first 10 km race in around 47 minutes as I knew I was a bit slower outside but I would have been happy with sub 50. On the day, I managed to complete in 45.31 which I was absolutely delighted by! Somewhere along the course on that sunny May morning, there must have been a Running Bug as I got well and truly bitten, as you can probably tell.
 Some of my favourite gym staff 'hear the news' on screen...  ... and have a 'good bye' team hug.  Fame and fortune await as I publicly question the value of free towels! | Aside from being the catalyst for my love of running, that gym, my first experience of belonging to one, and all the people who I met there, saved my sanity through so many difficult personal experiences. Such a small, personal venue, hidden away but accessible and such an immensely friendly and supportive team where I always knew I’d find a friendly face and an open ear. I found people to run with, race with, share toenail, runners’ tummy and ITB disasters with. I even found friends to go on sports holidays as far away as Lanzarote with. The Midland gym became my sanctuary and it was more than a light hearted joke that I spent more time there than the staff. It was then, a huge surprise when it was suddenly announced in December last year that it was closing for a 6 month refurbishment project in January. We were invited to a ‘consultation’ meeting, but this really just turned out to be an opportunity to be told about the planned changes and not to give purposeful input or suggestions. It was at this meeting that we discovered upon reopening, it would be completely re branded as a luxury spa, aimed more at the hotel residents than any ‘permanent’ membership and nearly twice the price Funnily enough, this meeting was filmed by a company making a ‘behind the scenes reality TV’ style documentary about the hotel, and the episode that featured the gym was screened last Monday (you can find that here if you’re really intrigued) . This was strange timing, only because it was tonight that we’d been invited back to a tour of the new facilities. Good opportunities to catch up with the scattered members and have a nosey look about, even if I wasn’t expecting to re-join, I thought. It certainly has been a transformation and its clear the hotel are prioritising a very different clientele. I have to be honest that I can completely see it makes total business sense for them to have made such an investment. Much as I loved it, the ‘old’ gym was just that… twenty year old equipment that frequently broke, clean but stained carpets, lovely (!) old school beige tiles. Functional but not luxurious and not what you’d expect as a resident of a hotel who only slips 5 star status due to the lack of onsite car parking. |
| As I had a good poke about, the ‘thermal spa experience’ (a hot and cold perfumed shower) the ‘relaxation areas’ (chaise longues and hanging basket/hammock/sofa hybrids) and the (tiny) cardio and weights areas, I politely declined the tiny jars of pea soup (!?) and champagne cocktails that were being offered and wondered where I could dry my hands in the ladies, an apparent practical oversight that you maybe don’t notice if you’ve been sufficiently relaxed by the Himalayan rock salt wall. I enjoyed the aestheticism of the hanging decorative chain features, rainbow lights on the swan-neck fountain and carefully arranged pillar candles and wondered to myself about the nature of the gym industry. It was apparent to me that I was in no way representative of the target market and that as I had suspected; it was time to move on. I realised there are two (maybe four if I’m totally honest) things I value about my gym. Weather-proof running and people (the swimming pool and inclusive yoga classes are also pretty nifty). If I’ve got an ice, rain and wind free place to run and someone to chat to, That's my definition of luxury. I really don’t give an apple flavoured gel about the colour of the tiles or whether or not there’s freshly laundered towel waiting in my locker. For me, a gym is primarily a utility and partly a social opportunity, it is not a ‘lifestyle choice’, nor is it a way to demonstrate how I’d like others to view me. |  Is this one of those new suspension/resistance training systems?  How am I supposed to maintain my verruca crop in that!? |
I’m genuinely pleased that a few of the other ‘old’ members do feel they will get enough from the ramped up fee to want to return and I wish them every enjoyment of the new facilities but despite having enjoyed catching up with some familiar faces, I felt pretty flat when I left. Twenty minutes later, having had a natter with a total stranger about the the joys of licking the spoon whilst cooking, in a changing room with cracks in the floor and smelling vaguely of sweat, as I prepared to jump into a pool that does not have pretty coloured lights or an aromatherapy shower, I felt a lot more grounded, less irritable and generally a lot happier. I guess I’m just a down to earth kind of person… which is probably why I like running on it!
