I Want to Join a Gym

...even though I know that joining a gym in January is a total cliche, and will likely make me very angry when I have to wait 30 minutes for a treadmill.  Here's why I want to join a gym:

1. It's freaking cold out and I am a wuss.  I have a treadmill in the basement, but it's a crappy treadmill and the belt is breaking.  When I go running outside in the really, really cold, I tend to get sick and my legs freeze, which makes me avoid going out at all.
2. I would like to do exercises other than run.  I want to take some classes, maybe do some yoga (I think yoga is incredibly boring, but it might be good for me).  I keep seeing pictures of people with tight abs advertising that zumba nonsense, maybe that's for me.
3. I want to run a marathon.  In order to run a marathon, I need to keep logging miles (see #1) and also do exercises with weights and stuff, or so running magazines tell me.

I was incredibly excited to find out that the health plan for new job includes a $150 credit if you go to a gym for more than three months in a row and fill out a form; and that you get a 20% discount on selected gyms.  I was then dismayed to find out that the only place locally where I would get that 20% discount is the super-fancy gym that's not within walking distance.  I secret-shopped super fancy gym last year, and it is NICE, but even though I can't remember exactly how much it cost per month, I remember that it was expensive.  

So I did what I always do in this situation, I looked at how much the YMCA costs, and then remembered that the YMCA is damn expensive.  It's $49/month plus a $49 start-up fee!  That is so much money!  I used to be a member at the Jewish Community Center (cause I had a coupon), but that place is even more expensive than the Y and you have to pay for a whole year up front.  Sigh.

BF keeps insisting that I can sneak into one of the Brown University gyms, but that makes me really uncomfortable (cause stealing makes me uncomfortable), and I'd also be working out next to annoying college girls who probably put on make up and don't sweat.  Hell no.

I also have the option, since I still technically work at academic library, to use the gym there.  But that's a 25 minute drive, would also make me feel a little like I was stealing, and I'd be working out next to super fit 19-year-olds (see above).

Then there's Planet Fitness, which is $10/month, but doesn't offer any classes.  It's also on the other side of town and a friend who goes there told me that she once found gum stuck to the track of a treadmill.  I'm not a snob (well, kind of), but that just doesn't do it for me.

*SOAPBOX* It's kind of interesting that we vilify people for being overweight, but then make it so expensive to join a fitness facility and limit the amount of public green space and sidewalks in cities.  Yes, there are plenty of things you can do without joining a gym (if you're lucky enough to life in a safe neighborhood with sidewalks, which many aren't), but then you're hamstrung by weather and other factors (like the fact that no one in RI shovels their sidewalks.  Seriously, last year several people died because they were forced to walk in the street and got hit by cars--kids and adults).  Sure the gym has to pay for the equipment, staff, etc., but man, $49/month is $600 a year!  That's walking around money.  That's one month's rent! *END SOAPBOX*

So what to do?  Is there a secret option #4 that I'm not thinking of?  Should I just suck it up and be grateful we've had a mild winter so far?  My dad runs outside year round and he lives in Minnesota, so I know that it is possible, but I'm also kind of a wuss... see above...