the gym

I have become a regular at the gym near, not out of a love for physical fitness, but rather out of boredom.
Going to the gym is one of the few socially acceptable reasons to spend lots of time out of the office. For some reason, if you say you are meeting a friend, or going shopping, this does not meet the criteria, and you can be accused of being lazy, or not pulling your weight. However, taking an hour and a half in the middle of the day to go work out is fine, in fact it is commended, it shows drive and energy, which is apparently mentally linked to ambition.
So, seeing this, I went off to the gym around the corner and asked what I have to do (and how much I have to pay) to become a member.
I was taken to a little room to have a "consultation" with a "personal fitness consultant," who turned out to be a nice south African guy about my age. I later realised that everyone who works in this particular gym is apparently from south Africa, oddly.
So the guy went through a list of pre-prescribed questions seeking to establish why I wanted to become a member: did I want to tone my body? Improve my sex life? Increase my strength? Endurance levels?
No, I replied. i am looking for an acceptable reason to escape the office
The guy looked at me like I was nuts. But I am sure I am not the only person in this position, I am probably just the first to admit to it. In the end, I took a sample 3 month membership to see if I like it.
I have been going at least 3 times a week since then. It is a bizarre experience. Given that the area I work in is overwhelmingly male, and that the few women in the area tend to be secretaries (and thus unlikely to be able to afford the ridiculous costs), I am often the only female in the place. Sometimes I get the whole changing room to myself, including the whirlpool and sauna area. On Fridays after using the equipment I go in their and just lay about, passing the time and splashing water on the wood.
The actually exercise area is a mirror of my office: filled with alfa males preening in front of the mirrors and each other. they totally ignore me, which is a relief. but i study them endlessly, it has become a sociological observation unit in my head. i feel like a fly on the wall observing a world i can barely comprehend.