The smell of success

Laps. Sets. 5K on the treadmill. It's October and indoor workouts start to be the norm for those that work 9 to 5 M-F 365 less 3 weeks off for annual leave minus a few days for calling in sick and a few public holidays. Except for the rain and wind, the weather during the day can be quite lovely. Too bad now it's dark until 7 a.m. and the traffic at 6 p.m. is a nightmare (so no running or biking at that hour, unless you wish a tragic exit). The Gym Junkies are back at the gym.

Thank gawd for underarm deoderant. I think that it rates quite high in terms of significant inventions for the 20th century. This, and brownie mix. I don't know what life would be without them, really.

I like to do my aerobic before the anaerobic part of my workout. This way I have all my high energy to devote to killing myself on a spinning bike, treadmill, or elliptical before I crap out on the mats or try to lift weights. Plus, I haven't talked myself out of killing myself on a spinning bike, treadmill, or elliptical, which is easy to do if you O.D.'d on brownies the night before. The end result is I'm all sweaty and stinky and, without my Avon lady (who happens to be the wife of the 6' 2" night cleaner at the Y that brings me my order; he happens to have lovely skin, FYI) you might notice I'm not quite fresh.

That's why I always loved swimming the best. Put in a couple of miles in the pool and you never break a sweat. The clean sweet scent of chlorine is all that you carry with you (for a couple of hours even after your time in the pool, despite the shower with perfumey soaps, lotions, creams, sprays, and powders). MEN: Please refrain from using Old Spice after you shave before you swim. I can taste it in the water and it is nasty.

It was a Glade moment when I stepped into the spinning room at 5:05 on Thursday morning. I think Orange Puke was the scent being thrown off by the electified air fresheners that they must have just installed. I'm still trying to decide if it was worse or better than B.O. At least after 5 minutes or so of huffing it up some imaginary hill I stopped noticing it. Maybe I should be thankful.