Gym Woes

Yesterday at the gym I had a very unpleasant experience. I jumped on the treadmill and was on it for about 10 minutes when I see this man walking towards the cardio area. He was old, wore a velour track suit and walked very slowly with a cane,looking like he was about to keel over with every step. My initial impression was perhaps he had had a stroke because his mouth kind of hung open too and he just had that not all there look to him.

He slowly gets on the treadmill next to me and I remember thinking that he smelled good, like zest soap or something, but clean like he had just taken a shower. I see now he must have been lulling me into a false sense of security.

As I was running I could see him out of the corner of my eye, he appeared to be breathing heavily and gripped the sides of the treadmill. At times he would let go of the treadmill and tried to walk without the assistance. When he did this I would notice that he would slowly get further and further back on the treadmill until he held onto it again and pulled himself forward. I was convinced he was going to take a spill or have a heart attack and die before he was done because he was that shaky and unstable. A friend of his came up to talk to him though and she didnt seemed alarmed so I figured he must be ok.

I had about 15 minutes of my run left when I noticed that he was sweating profously. Granted I was as well, but I was wiping myself off with a towel and was controlling it just fine. One of my biggest complaints about Centerpoint is they keep the weight room at 82 degrees which is entirely too warm and thus spawns sprinklers of sweat to emerge. This guy however had pools of sweat around his treadmill, literally. He also had a towel that he was obviously not using too and he that velour track suit could not have helped.

Suddenly I can see him shaking his wrists, the way you would when your hands were wet and you didnt have a towel. As soon as I realized what he was doing, I felt his sweat hit me. It wasn't just a drop either, it was like a small dog had just had a bath and was shaking the water off. I was horrified and literally jumped as far over as I could go. This wasnt entirely helpful though because our treadmills were so close they were touching so really I had no chance of escape.

I thought about getting off and going to a different treadmill but I only had 15 minutes left and it would look rude because it would be obvious I was getting away from him. I also considered saying "Excuse me sir but you are flinging your sweat on me" but I really didnt want to have to conversation, particularly with other people around. How do you not know that you are flinging sweat though?!!

My soultion was to speed up and get it done faster, which I did, but not before getting sprayed two more times.

I am still revolted thinking about his sweat hitting me. Each drop was like I was taking a bullet, effing disgusting. Next time I see him coming, I will be going the other way.

Oh the joys of the gym.