Sunday, January 14, 2007

Sunday Misadventure

John has wanted an elliptical for a long time. He likes the workout it gives and if we had one in our apartment, we would exercise more. And I do think we would exercise more. So, we did our online search and found a couple models that we thought we may like to test out to see which one we want to buy. Last weekend, we went to one of the Elvery's Sport shops in town. They only had a couple models and none of them were the ones we were looking for. They suggested that we go to the Liffey Valley shopping center store.

Today, we woke up and decided to visit a friend who has been in the hospital since Monday. We took the bus up to see her and left her about 3:00. We got into a taxi to get us to Liffey Valley since the only way to get there on public transit would have been to go back to city centre and then back west. So, we got in our taxi and 30 minutes (of slow, jerky motorway driving) and 35 Euro later, we were at the shopping center. We wandered around looking for the Elvery' store. When we got to the end of the mall, we stopped and asked a security guard if he knew where the store was. He said it wasn't in the mall and gave us vague directions.

So, off walking we went. At about 5:30 we made it to Elvery's. They only had three ellipticals. Again, none of them were the ones we wanted. I asked the sales guy about the ones they had and if they had any more. He asked if we had seen the one up in the front of the store and said that it was a popular one, a good name, and the most expensive one they had. He was shocked that we wanted to spend more for a more durable machine. After being surprised that their selection wasn't "good enough" for us, and us trying them out and not liking them, he gave us the name of another store to try.

A bit after 6:00 (I looked at runners also which I couldn't find any I liked), we walked to the bus stop and waited a bit. Then we took the bus to the city centre and decided to try a Chinese place we wanted to try. It actually had good Chinese food and they were able to tell us which dishes had MSG and made mine without it! That made me happy so I shouldn't have a migraine tomorrow.

After getting home, I looked at Elvery's website. They don't carry any of the ellipticals we want to see. :( I looked on the other store's website and they don't carry them either. The only place that seems to have them is Argos and you can't try things before you buy there. I guess I should have looked online BEFORE heading out shopping...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

My wife had a heart attack about 2 years ago (she was 45) and has since got an elliptical trainer. We got a Precor because that is what they had at cardiac rehab at the hospital(if you want I can give you the model number). We have liked it very much. It is more expensive than many but appears to be built very well and has a very good motion for either of us to use (she is 5'6" and I am 6'4"). We were told the best way to buy is to go and walk on them in the store for a good amount of time (10-15 min even) to see if the stride feels right and easy to use etc.

Heidirific said...

Thanks for the offer. We also really like the Precors (it's what our gyms used back home) but they tend to be a bit out of our price range. I certainly wouldn't mind the model number, though, because it doesn't hurt to look it up. I'm not sure how we would get one here in Ireland, though. We have found one store with a decent selection of ellipticals and they don't have any precors. :( They are also a catalog based company so we can't actually try it out before buying!

Anonymous said...

It is a Precor EFX5.19.
I have no idea if it would be available in Ireland and I would guess if not, shipping would be outrageous.
It certainly made a dent in our budget but it is one piece of workout gear my wife continues to use (especially in winter when walking outside is not so fun...for instance todays low and high are -12 to -20 degrees C. or -4 to +10 if you still think in Fahrenheit.)
I hope the best for you in your search.

Heidirific said...

It may sound crazy, but I am actually jealous of your cold weather. I was bummed that there wasn't snow in Minneapolis/Chicago when there for Christmas. At least I had seen some snow while in the Twin Cities. I quite like the bitter cold for a while. It kills the germs and then you have an excuse to wear tons of layers and feel like a snow man...

laurie said...

for what it's worth, mine's a nordic track and i used it religiously for more than six years. i don't use it so much anymore because i walk three times a day and that seems to keep me in shape. but the nordic track is very durable. it was about $600.

and we do have a little snow here in minnesota now. not a lot... my brother in oklahoma, though, says they're suppoed to get a foot of snow over the weekend.

keep writing about ireland! i love reading your posts.