2007-01-21
what would you do volume 1
|I'd like to start a weekly feature here called "What Would You Do?" Basically, I'll run down a scenario that happened to me and stop the story at the point where it required action from me. You can feel free to tell me what you would have done in the comments section and the following day I'll tell you what I actually did do.
Here we go. Cue the theme music.
As you may have noticed, I like to work out. One of the reasons I like exercising at the YMCA so much is because it's not a meat market like Bally's Total Fitness or any of the other national health clubs out there. There are a few chicks who wear spandex and spaghetti-strap shirts and a couple of bronze 20-something muscle heads, but for the most part the demographic consists of middle-aged over-weight balding men and tired women. And that suits me just fine.
When I go to workout, I am all business. I have my earphones plugged in, my music is on and I am focusing on my own form when lifting weights or scrutinizing the calories burned and the strides per minute on the elliptical trainer. I don't have lots of time to spend exercising as I'm always in a hurry. So I don't like chit chatting with anyone at the Y. Again, that suits me just fine.
A couple of years ago I used to exercise at night, around 9. As with anything you have your regulars who show up at the same time you do. One of my regulars was Tony, an obese 50-something man with salt and pepper hair. Somehow we got onto a nod-of-acknowledgement basis. Before I knew it, he was talking to me, interrupting my workout.
Then I became pregnant, my workout routine changed, then stopped and now I workout at 5:30 am. I don't see Tony unless I workout on the weekends around noon. The last time I ran into him I was using the hip adductor and hip abductor machines. You know the ones where your thighs are spread wide apart? Yeah. They face the wall so you can have some privacy.
Well Tony is into me. I don't know why, because my body language screams, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" but I remain polite and answer his questions. (Side note: I told my husband he has absolutely no reason to worry about me having an affair. All I seem to attract are society's misfits. Give me your obese, your socially awkward, your loser nerds. It's like I'm the Statue of Liberty for Underdogs. Not that I'm looking. But it would be nice to attract someone who is actually attractive. I have an ego, too. But I am happily married. My husband is not a misfit loser. Okay, I'll just stop now.)
So here's the actual scenario, now that you have the background.
I hadn't seen Tony for at least nine months or so and then I ran into him on a Saturday. He kept popping over to talk to me while I was on the chest press and the leg extension. Next, I moved on to the hip adductor machine, facing the wall, legs wide open. He scooted in between the machines and leaned against the wall to talk to me, while I was doing my set.
Yes, he was openly gaping at my semi-spread eagle legs. I had my earphones on while he gawked at talked to me.
Uncomfortable? Yes. Awkward? Yes.
And here is where I ask, What would you do? Stay tuned, I'll reveal what I actually did tomorrow.
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Another overdue thanks: I'm sending an extra 1000 strides on the elliptical trainer to smedindy who added me as a favorite a while ago. Thanks Smed!
2007-01-21 at 7:46 a.m.
