There’s no way around it, this certain time of year, the beginning, or the end of all bad habits; the resolve to start anew the resolutions you forgot about sometime before Spring Break or the start of Winter. It’s gym time.
The treadmills have been largely commandeered by the rats back in the race. I’ve ended up stuck on soggy soil and slippery streets (if you haven’t heard, L.A. is in the throws of a downpour), jogging around the neighborhood because the only gym time I can manage is a 15 minute trek on the closest stairmaster not weighed down with a newbie member. Even in L.A., where you might suspect live the most prolific of hard bodies and handsome faces, there comes a time when new year’s resolutions of losing weight and getting in shape tend to get the best of us, and suddenly the gyms are packed and everyone’s waiting in line for a machine. So, good for them. But in six months time, as happened last year, I’ll be jogging free and clear at the treadmill of my choice; chugging down miles with ease. Is this what happens where you live?
Surprisingly (at least to me), Orange county is the fittest county in the nation, followed closely by Boulder, Colorado; but frisking the foothills or jogging oceanside is very different from hoofing it alongside Sunset Boulevard. You know that Honda commerical where they all hold their breath before they realize the car isn’t spitting out swaths of fumes? That’s me – without the breath-holding – trying not to chuckle in the exhaust. Like the newbies though, I’ve been there, just starting on the long road to health and possibly a little less poundage, and it’s not fun. Exercise is hard work, and staying on track even more so. Even if the people I see now in the gym won’t be the people I see in July, it might be good that I’m forced to go outside, and running around the neighborhood brings a new way to explore the city; even in the dark, even on slippery roads.
NO SAINTS IN L.A. 
You said it perfect….I”m in the midst of the backup at machines now. It is a bummer. I have found though that if you workout on the “off” days like Tues, Thurs, there is less of a crowd. Now on the M,W,F trek I go either early in the day or around 9pm. When the gym is crowned it is HOT in there and someone does not seem to have the common sense to turn down the heat.