The Runaway Burp

Despite the horrific week I've had, today I felt energetic enough to get back to the gym. I've been trying to be a little more religious about my running and today was the perfect day. I'd gotten some sleep for the first time this week, feeling more relaxed about the dog and was feeling somewhat ambitious (meaning I'm willing to go).

I get to the gym and it's pretty much dead. As I step onto the treadmill, some 97 year old guy next to me asks me if I know much about these machines. Me in my head: "Yea, they don't work fast enough if at all Go home and sit on the couch, really." Instead: "Not really, why, are you having a problem?"

Big Mistake. I then learned the treadmill stopped after his first hour and he lost all his workout info he apparently needed to get through the day. I looked at his current workout and he was at 47 minutes having burned 446 calories (i.e. that's a total of 1 hour, 47 minutes!). Armed with that information, I realize it's just going to be hard to be nice. Trying: "Wow, looks like you've really put in a good workout already, good for you." It was all I could muster. His response: "It's just so easy to be motivated by other people." All right...gotta go. This is not time for success stories. I'm here. I'm pulling for 30 minutes.

I plug in my earphones and begin my workout. I'm about 25 minutes into my workout and I'm counting the minutes til I get to stop. I had eaten way to close to the start of this workout and was wishing I'm spaced it out a little better. I was in a strip of the gym where I was the ONLY person on a machine. It was completely dead there today. So I'm running and all of the sudden...

I burp. Not quietly. Not internally. I mean, I BURP. It just came flying out. I had headphones on, but I could still hear it. My instant thought was Phew! No one's around.

Then I caught someone out of the corner of my eye. I turn and see some guy who just happened to be walking by at that exact moment that I burped.

"Nice." I believe he said, somewhat sarcastically.

I admit, it wasn't ladylike, not at all. But what am I supposed to do? I'm exercising and I feel lucky when some internal organ doesn't come flying out of my body or the fact that the treadmill doesn't propel me into open space. I mean, getting fit isn't pretty and sometimes others have to bear the brunt of it.

The good news is, the runaway burp mixed with complete and utter embarassment compelled me to stay on the treadmill for 4 miles until the guy was no longer visible. I'm sure he's somewhere right now telling that story. But what's he doing in the gym in the middle of the day anyway!?! Get a job.