Day 15, Late night 2.5, Sumo Gym Mates and other characters and early morning ouch!

Day 15, Monday March 15th. Ran 2.5 miles/ Total so far - 35.5/ Miles to go - 964.5

Good News was that I ran yesterday. I had a busy day at work so I did not run in the morning. I teach this semester on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:20 to 8:35. Second half of First Year Property to the Second Year evening law students in the Four Year evening program. I like teaching this class. The material is interesting and this semester it is more relevant to real life. We are talking about purchase contracts for property. Most people will deal with at least buying and selling a home over their lives. We just finished leases which is even more universally applicable, although in a first year course we do not go into much practical debt. Still, I enjoy the performance experience...I mean you are on stage and 100 or so people can't walk out even if the monologue goes flat.

The Bad News about teaching at night is that when the class is over I am usually drained, both physically and mentally. It takes a lot of energy to stay on for the hour and fifteen minutes and I feel that these students, many of whom have come to class after working in the day, deserve an energetic lecture, or at least something to keep them from falling asleep. Last night, after class, all I wanted to do was return home and sleep....but, there is this blog thing, and Catholic Guilt, etc., so I needed to run. I was supposed to exercise with Gym Rat, but he wanted to go back to his old familiar gym to which I do not belong. He is on his spring break from teaching and wants to totally enjoy it by only doing what he wants when he wants. Something I can admire, if I never seem to have in my life.

Since I had gone to his gym a couple of weeks ago and had gotten a week pass which had expired, I did not think they would want to give me another. He offered to try, but I did not want to hassle with it so I decided to go back to LA Fitness in Richardson and use another day on that pass, mostly because it is close to the house and I wanted to sit in the sauna. One draw back to an otherwise fabulous facility at school, the Dedman Center does not have whirlpool, steam or sauna.

When I got to LA Fitness it was more crowded than I expected for 9 pm. Don't get me wrong, the place is huge and could accommodate a lot more people than were there, but still, it was 9 pm and there were families there, kids and teens. Then I realized this is spring break for them too so perhaps that accounted for the Six Flags Amusement Park atmosphere.

I dressed quickly then found my treadmill. Without thinking I hit the yes button for 30 minutes and realized that I had set my goal for 2.5 miles. I started to reset then reconsidered. It was late, and I was tired. Tomorrow, Tuesday, I would not work as late and, if the weather was good, perhaps another Katy Trail run awaited. So off I began at a 12 mile pace.

The time went by very quickly. I like the treadmills at LA Fitness because they show a quarter mile track with arrows announcing your progress. Psychologically I like watching my computer self running symbolically around that track. This love of a sense of progress with constant movement made me think I might have been a galley slave in a Roman warship in a prior life...Row, Row, Row.....

I found many new species of gym denizens at this LA Fitness. There was the "I just came here because you pushed but I won't be back" middle aged Mexican lady who, after less than a minute on the treadmill a couple of machines down from me, told here friend "You can do this if you want but I am going to try out the other machines." I envisioned her looking for vending machines, preferably ones with real coke and Twinkies! There was the kamikaze Asian who was trying to assassinate the treadmill next to mine, running so fast I was afraid he was going to stomp right through the floor of the machine as he barked orders to his less athletic friend on the adjacent machine...."Raise your incline if you want a real work out" was his mantra. "Speed is not as important as incline...works your heart, man, really works your heart!" The words he spoke which I enjoyed the most came about halfway through my run when he turned to his friend and said "Man, I'm done....gotta go!" Such sweet music to my ears.

Later, after my run and a little stretching, I went to the sauna. The etiquette of this gym is a bit strange to me. I have been in a lot of gyms in my life, but I have to admit, this is the first Dallas Suburban experience and maybe that explains it, or perhaps it is just Richardson. People are supposed to bring their own locks for the lockers. But a lot of people either don't have locks or don't trust them, because about half the people seem to take their towels and gym bags along with them where ever they go, which includes the showers. They leave the bags just outside the shower stalls, which are individual cubicles with shower curtains. Sometimes they bring the bags into the sauna which I find really strange, and odorous.

I shared the sauna with a pair of Sumo wrestlers who looked like they were beefing up for a stint on America's Greatest Losers. Truly they were gargantuan. I started speculating about the root meaning of the word "sumo" and concluded that "su" in some remote language must mean "some" and "mo", well, that was not hard since a derivative of it has survived to this day in urban street language...and Dickens's movies "Please sir, I want some Mo" spoken by street waifs. "Sumo"..."Some More"...the most frequently spoken expression of my sauna mates at the all you can eat Chinese Buffet, one of which is conveniently located in the same shopping center as the gym.

I know, I am being cruel and unfair....but honesty is also a virtue and these are the random thoughts that popped into my head as I sweated and thought about the left over pot roast and last half bottle of Cabernet that awaited me in Casa Camp a mile or so away.

Sauna's are also like airplanes in that if you are not lucky, you share you seat with a talker. Sometimes that is OK, but most often it is not. When the last Sumo left, a baby Sumo who remained, I guess proud that he was not as large as the other two, turned to me and said in his Mexican accent "You believe that?" For a brief moment I was worried that he was psychic and could read my thoughts about the root meaning of Sumo or that, even worse, in the heat I had been "trippin" as my Dad would say, and speaking those thoughts out loud. He continued "At least I am not that big!" And I thought to myself, "Yet". He continued expounding on his personal situation, explaining that he "had burned 100 calories on the treadmill but Hell there were 140 in a coke." I wondered how anyone could only burn 100 calories on the treadmill but then remembered the "I don't want to run around" Sue from the treadmill earlier who had left shortly after starting to find the vending machines where I am sure there are 140 calorie cokes, and I thought...yes, very possible.

"My musings on calorie burn were interrupted again by the same voice pontificating that Beer was the greatest evil. "Hell, I love my beer!" he said. Thankfully my time in the sauna was over. I politely agreed that Beer was both good and bad and that yes, we were lucky not to be eligible for America's Greatest Looses, yet, and exited the sauna.

Back in the locker room, after my shower, one of the Big Sumos was laboriously dressing. I had my back to him. Out of the blue he spoke saying "I always go get something to eat after a work out. Anyone want to join me?" The idea of joining him for a meal, of watching him eat, pushed me into flashback mode and all the old medieval banquet scenes of raucous gluttony, large legs of lamb being gnawed on by babarians and buckets of mead flowing like water into open mouths and spilling on scraggy beirds right before a fight set in. I was silent in the face (or in this case back, my back) of his request. No one else said anything and his offer died on deaf ears.

At home I had my wine with my leftovers and went to bed...tired but happy that I had actually ran after work. Oh, and the hurting part? Woke up this morning and those muscles that Gym Rat had forced me to push a couple of days ago...especially chest, they decided to choose now to protest...ouch. It hurts to raise my arms. Hoping a lot of stretching will help. But all and all, Life is Good!