Gym Rant

In my "fallen off the running bandwagon" phase, I have also lost a bit of my tough ass runner girl schtick as well.  Meaning that when it's below zero temps and/or wind chill, I will be a-runnin' on the treadmill.  Luckily I'm not running *that* many miles yet, so the treadmill won't kill me.  And I am alternating with outdoor running when the temps/road conditions allow.  I am also lucky in that my apartment has a small gym with a couple of treadmills, a stationary bike, an elliptical and a small little weight set.

I'm also lucky that there is rarely anyone in there, so I can crack open the window to let in the freezing air.  Ahhhhhhhh.

But one night I wasn't so lucky.  Shortly after the new year, I was running away on the "good" treadmill (every small gym has this.... a treadmill that is awesome, and a treadmill that just blows) when a teeny tiny barely clad in workout clothes gal came in and hopped on the treadmill next to me.

Let me point out, that I am hardly the person to be silently snickering about someone's workout habits.  I have a total cheerleader approach to working out no matter what it is you enjoy doing, how you do it, what you look like while doing it, etc.  But... BUT.... BUT!!! this girl drove me up a wall.

It started out innocently enough.  She started the treadmill, bringing the pace to a speed faster than mine.  I was running a 3 mile recovery run the day after my first speed session in eons, so I was running SLOW.  I resisted the urge to race her like a good runner girl.  Also?  If I had tried my legs wouldn't have allowed me too.  This information, not annoying.

Moving on.

The gym set up is as follows, left wall--floor to ceiling mirror, treadmill to its immediate right--crappy TM and the one this chick is on, I'm on the TM next to her.  Ahead of us is a tiny pool and windows.  You can't really see yourself in the reflection.  I tried one day when my knee was smarting a bit while running to see if my form was being wonky.

In the 20 odd minutes that I was running next to her, this gal spent 85% of it staring at herself in the mirror to her left.  Like head craned at a completely unnaturally, uncomfortable 90 degree angle.  Not only is this incredibly narcissistic, but it's also totally unsafe.  I totally get that sometimes it's nice to check your reflection and think "dang, this body looks good, yo!"  Or at least that's what I assume your jock homie inner dialogue sounds like, but to do it almost the entire time you're running?  Seems... weird.

In addition to this, she would also hold herself up on the railings of the treadmill (while checking herself out in the mirror, sooooooooo talented!) every 20 or so seconds, presumably to give herself a rest?  I dunno.  I've seen people do this before, and I don't get it.  It's not like she had anything to prove.  I was essentially crawling on the TM next to her.  Makes so much more sense to me to just run at a manageable pace and to take walk breaks if necessary, right?

Drove me up a wall.

I guess that's the perk of running outdoors.  If someone annoys you, you can just speed up or slow down to get away.