Odoriferous

It was 30 degrees when I woke up at 6 a.m. By 2:30, it was still only 41 degrees.

The time I had spent finishing paperwork and computer work, in hopes that the temperature would cooperate and make it past 50, was in partial vain.

Time for the treadmill; so I headed for the gym.

Nothing new or exciting. Just annoying.

I had a long, slow run scheduled. About 7 miles. Have you ever done 7 miles on a treadmill? Talk about boring. Seven miles is long enough as it is. But, at least when you are running it out on the open road, or on a forested path, there are diversions to follow, sounds to hear, and other runners and cyclists to interact with, even if only in the form of a brief wave or cheery hello. I have even counted cars, and people. On the treadmill, at roughly 10 minutes per mile, that is well over an hour of seeing and hearing the SAME thing. YAWN!

More than annoying; today it was pure torture.

Then, to make matters worse, it was late in the afternoon. The gym was filling up with people who left the office early to get their workout in. I am not normally claustrophobic, but I hate waiting. More people in the gym means longer wait times for machines and other common spaces.

Beyond that, too many people in one place transports me back to the days of commuting to downtown NYC and of navigating crowded platforms and packed subway cars. OK...so maybe that is an extreme comparison...but somehow the "packed gym" evokes in me the same responses as the old subway days: anxiety. Suddenly, the need to speed up and get through it kicks in. This might be acceptable on an interval day, or speed trials, where speed is a necessity. But, a slow run day is exactly that...a slow run. It is supposed to be done at a pace much slower than the target race pace. It is quite challenging to run slowly when all you want to do is get it over with and escape out of there.

But, the most annoying thing of all was the smells that seemed to envelope me. For some reason I was hyper-sensitive to the odors around me. It may have been because I was PMSing. Who knows. However, it was not the bad odors that got to me.

No. Quite the contrary...everyone smelled too good, like they had just showered.

Who showers before heading to the gym? Not me. I save my shower for after I work out, no matter how long it's been since my last shower. Apparently though, there are people who are worried about the way they smell at the gym. Worried enough to not only shower, but to spray on body spray and slap on cologne. The man on the treadmill next to me must have dumped half a bottle on, in addition to his deodorant. It is a good thing I don't suffer from some type of COPD, because the odor might have caused my pulmonary system to fail and result in the staff having to call 911 to resuscitate me.

I am not exaggerating. Worse, it caused me to worry about how I smelled. I had not showered and I normally don't wear deodorant. I have found I don't need it. But, this man and his overpowering aroma, combined with the wafting of shampoo and body spray odors from passing bodies, delivered me into this wave of self-consciousness. Me...self-conscious?

Now you know how severe the problem was.

Maybe I am behind the times. Am I the only one for whom the gym is a place to focus on my body? Build strength and endurance, endure a bit of pain for the sake of a better body, breathe heavily, and sweat profusely. Make-up and presentation don't matter. In fact, make-up only melts off. What a waste! And, odor is just part of that equation. It just melts into the other stuffy odors of the gym that come from an enclosed place occupied by many sweaty bodies all focusing on their own bodies.

Regardless of the reasons why other people do what they do at the gym, all those behaviors that set me off and make me wonder about humanity, I will not be changing my ways. I will neither text nor talk on my phone but will continue to leave my phone in the car; anyone who needs me can wait. I will not try to control my sweat; the sweat is proof that I am exerting myself adequately. I will not spray myself down with body spray; I will save that for appropriate places and times. I will not apply make-up; I am not trying to pick anyone up or to impress the tribe.

I will keep the gym sacred to improving my body. All other considerations will be kept in their places.