lunes, 18 de abril de 2011

Tarzan and the Broomstick Jedi

A couple of notes just to start off with: a young woman hired as a nanny by one of our local families qualified for the Boston marathon, and a passing of the hat paid for her trip to Boston and her stay there. Way to go, Nanny!! Also, a member of my training group qualified, and he has gone off with the general "Hurrah!" of our gang. On a considerably lesser note, I managed to finish my entire training routine today, with energy left over, after a week of acute fibromyalgia and a stomach bug. The key was discovering that I was running too fast instead of trotting very, very lightly. My learning curve is almost a straight line, it appears.------------------------------------Yesterday my son, who usually runs in the afternoon, and I were discussing the oddities to be seen at the running park at different times of the day. He, too, had been sidelined by the Swishy Ski Pole Lady, and also by an elderly gentleman (more power to ya, Pops!) of at least 80 summers who barely plugs along but moves his arms as if he were boxing Mohammed Ali. My son greatly admires this old guy, but he says seeing him always causes a burst of hilarity.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Nevertheless, we have two contenders for our title of Most Impressive Weirdo Working Out: one is a woman of about 50 or so who strides along carrying a broom; she thrusts the broom up into the air here and there, apparently following some kind of pattern only she can discern (or, as an alternative, she is hallucinating and her broom is a self-defense weapon she uses to fight off aliens). I haven't seen this marvelous sight, but my son has, and he says it is awesome indeed.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Our other contender is Tarzan. He runs in the afternoon. This tall man has a long, flowing mane and has elected to run without a shirt. My son says he travels along sweating like the proverbial pig and flinging said sweat far and wide. Apparently he is viewed with considerable repugnance by the female runners on the afternoon shift, but I'll bet you my Asics he thinks he is masculinity personified. He probably sees himself swiftly going along, muscles rippling and in full view, glorious mane flying out behind him, just knockin' 'em dead.---------------------------He probably does, too. Such a macho wouldn't dream of using deodorant, so he doubtless has the impact of driving past an industrial cattle fattening outfit on a hot, Southern summer day with no wind. It's enough to sear your nostrils before you pass out.-----------------------------Although the Broomstick Jedi rates plenty of points, my vote goes to Tarzan, because he is more or less sane and to me at least a lot funnier. He also has the added attraction of making sure I do my running in the morning no matter how wiped out I am.