Thirty minutes, 4,995 meters. A lousy five meters away from five thousand. Two strokes. Two strokes were all I needed before the machine cut off. At least I got my pace up from last time.

Normally on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I take a workout class at the gym. I had been going with my wife to the 7 PM class, but, for reasons we won't detail here, we decided I would switch to the 9 AM class. The next set of classes haven't officially begun yet (they start on the 8th), but the gym's been holding "demo classes", and the trainers have been letting those of us already enrolled in the class take part in those. So I show up today for class, but no one's there. So I ask Vince, the trainer tasked with running the demo class, if he'd show me how to use the rowing machine, since it's something I've been wanting to try. I rowed for half an hour, completing just over 4,200 meters. Not even a really good pace, but for the first fifteen minutes it was all about getting used to the rhythm of the machine, then settling in to my own rhythm. I really liked it, and I will definitely do that again. I'm pretty sure I'll feel it in my arms and thighs later today. It would have been infinitely better, and I might have rowed longer, had I had my iPod with me, but since I thought we'd be having class, I didn't bring it. I won't make that mistake again.