It’s not that I try to be anti-social, things just end up that way. I get up and go into work. I am usually there until 6 or so. Then I head over to the gym. By the time I am through working out and taking a shower it is usually after 8 (closer to 8:30). I stop by my favorite Scotish restaurant and pick up a salad to go for dinner. Then I head over to the Metro and pray for an easy commute. On a good night I am home by 9:30~ish. I eat the salad, chat a bit with my roommate/host and then head up to my bedroom. Now it is after 10:00 and I am just tired from the day’s activities. Not to mention I have usually over done it at the gym and feel a little bit sore.
For example, tonight I told myself I wasn’t going to run on the treadmill because I kind of did a bit too much yesterday for heavy legs. As I was walking to the gym I chided myself for being to soft and not doing a little bit (besides I hate looking in the mirror and seeing a spare tire develop). So I tell myself, just hop on the tread mill and keep it low key, 20 minutes max.
I get to the gym and change into my workout clothes. I head up to the treadmills. The place is practically empty except for this woman on one of the treadmills I really like (it has little fans on it). So I get on one of the empty treadmills with the little fans. I try to avoid thinking about what other people are doing at the gym, but this woman was a bit much. She had the treadmill really cranked up. My first impression was that she was some kind of serious runner. Then I noticed she was only running on the treadmill in 20 second bursts of activity. She would straddle the running surface, then hop back on and pound away for another 20 seconds. When she was running, she could barely keep up with the running surface. She was practically hanging onto the hand rails for dear life. She was huffing and puffing. It was like she wanted everyone to see what a running stud she was. I just thought she looked foolish.
Anyhoo….
I am plodding away on my treadmill, I started off with my normal slow, marathon pace…9:13 (6.5 mph for you scientific types). Of course this woman pounding away next to me just triggers my competitive instinct. Next thing I know I am up to 7 mph and eventually even 8 mph. Instead of the easy 20 minutes on the treadmill, I am at a full gallop on the treadmill. I tell myself I will stop at 30 minutes regardless of how far I have run.
30 minutes comes and I have just passed 3.5 miles. Instead of being content to call it a day, that damn competitive urge hits again and now I have to complete 4 miles. I can’t help thinking about that damn spare tire. I finally make it to 4 miles and start a cool down (32:28 for those of you keeping records.) Once again, very slow considering my past, but a miracle since I have not been doing much running since I hurt myself last October at the Cape Cod Marathon.
I step off the treadmill and head downstairs to the weight room to do a little bit of lifting. I take one step down one stair and I feel that twitch. It was the twitch that your body sends you as a reminder that your ego has written a large check and now you will spend the next two days paying off that debt.
Gingerly I make my way down the rest of the stairs to the free weights to do some lifting. Of course the endorphins are flowing and my ego is enjoying free reign so I head over to do decline bench. I know, I know, I know–decline bench doesn’t do what people think it does. However, I just love the way it makes me feel afterwords and also I love the fact that I can put a little more weight on than just doing flat bench. It just amazes me sometimes that here I am the chess club geek and I can do several sets of 245!
Anyways…
The main point of this tale (the secondary being just another chance to chat about myself) is that I get home exhausted from work and working out. I don’t have a guy to call my own and the way I spend my time, I don’t think I am going to get one either (except via electrons). So here I am spending another wonderful night surfing the web, unable to sleep because I am a bit too sore and I blame it all on that damn woman……
A little bit of Mischief... 