[b][center][h2]Joel Nicolosi[/h2][/center][/b]

The Southside YMCA was where Joel preferred to get in a workout among the myriad of Sol’s offerings. The monthly fee was a little high compared to some of the other commercial clubs, but he never worked out anywhere else his whole life. As kid, he’d stayed there for the after-school program and some of the facilitators and trainers he’d known since grade school. He realized he was paying for the company rather than the equipment and was fine with it having his monthly dues go to a pool and hot-tub he never used as well as a variety of kids’ sports. When his mother reminded him he should donate some of his race winnings, the Southside Y got the check. Of the various YMCA locations in the city, Southside was the oldest. Housed in what was once an awkwardly laid out office building, the weight room was in a humid downstairs area that the locals nicknamed [i]the dungeon.[/i] The equipment was older though regularly serviced and there were plenty of benches, dumbbells and machines for someone who knew what they were doing to take care of business. 

Having nothing else to do at 4am, Joel arrived in the crisp morning darkness when the doors opened and got in a decent round of arms and back with most of the equipment all to himself in the dungeon. The staff on hand greeted him same as always, the memory of his big race win mostly fading from people’s minds though questions still popped up occasionally, he was glad it was no longer the topic of [i]every[/i] conversation. Though he knew if he said he got tired of talking about it, he would be lying. When they offered to put his name on the wall of donors he turned them down and told the manager to put up a big picture of the car instead, which he did, and as Joel used the upstairs cardio room to finish off on the same stair machine he always used, he got to look at a large banner of the 300, roaring down a straightaway with the background blurred behind it, hanging in the lobby and it made him smile every time.

Plugging away and nearly finished with his headphones in, sweat dropping steadily, Joel watched the various monitors with the morning news programs as the national and local blocks cycled through. Sometimes he’d read the ticker or captions while other times he’d just admire one of the rather good-looking, morning anchors on the local shows.  As bizarre as he kept his schedule, he often came back to getting up early just because of the quiet time and knowing he had the whole day ahead no matter what he did. Everything was much more peaceful at 3am and when he made the drive from his shop, he scantly passed ten cars the whole trip. He looked around seeing more people filing in through the front to get their workout in before heading off to work and being glad he was not part of the rat-race. Without Sio around, he wasn’t planning to do much work on her car, which their agreement stipulated, but when the parts became separated from the car, then that was another matter. He smiled to himself at his cleverness.


[B]Joel's Workout Playlist[/b]:
[YouTube]https://youtu.be/BbTtRNIZVbo[/YouTube]