Ways to have fun at the gym

Ok.  Maybe it's just me, but I have never found working out at the gym to be "fun".  A lot of sweat and hard work and most probably sore muscles, but never fun.  Unless you think sore muscles are fun, and then I'm not sure you and I would be hanging out together.  How does one have fun on a treadmill?  I've always had a distinct impression I was immitating a hamster - you know round and round and round we go and get absolutely nowhere.  Or let's take the stationary bike.  I've never really got that one.  What is the point of being on a bike if it doesn't go anywhere and it doesn't matter how hard you pedal, you're still in the same place you were before.  Kind of like when Alice and the White Queen ran like crazy and found themselves in exactly the same place as they were when they started to run.  The idea of going no where fast is not new.  I might get the whole stationary bike thing if there was a gigantic screen that changed scenery as a person rode, so at least a person isn't stuck just watching the rest of the gym attendees getting hot and sweaty and grunting and groaning.  After all, wouldn't it inspire you more to ride (stationary or otherwise) down a lovely country lane or next to an open field with grain waving in the breeze and the sounds of birds and cattle and tractors doing whatever it is they are doing?  I might not be encouraged to show up at the gym more, but it would be much more enjoyable if it were interesting.  Which of course brings me to the smell.  Gyms are not full of fresh air.  There is nothing sexy or inspiring about a room full of sweaty, smelly bodies, and stinky gym shoes.  Sorry, but it just doesn't do it for me.  It's that high school locker smell that tells a person that the owner of that locker hasn't bothered to take his/her sweat encrusted socks home to wash for a long time - probably a whole semester or more.  And let's not forget the shower room.  There may or may not be a curtain between you and everyone else there while you shower, but there definitely won't be one when you are at the locker trying to get dressed.  If you have any sense of pride or modesty, it's flushed right down the toilet when you are in the locker room with who knows how many other people that you probably wouldn't spend time with, and there you are, getting dressed in front of them.  Lumps, bumps, celulite and all hanging out for the whole world (ok the people next to you and anyone passing by where your locker is) to see.  If that doesn't put a person off, nothing will.  I think I'll stick to being fully clad while going up and down the multiple sets of stairs at work every day, and skip the gym - fun or not.  Until next time.