This is my workout...do your own

This morning I decided to head to the Y to workout.  I was determined that I was going to run.  In my head I planned to warm up with a walk, and then run a song, walk a song, etc until my cardio was over.  Good plan.

Needless to say I was thrilled when I got there and the parking lot was mostly empty.  I walked in to rows of open treadmills.  I chose one all alone, sort of near the end of the row because, hey, this is MY workout and I really don't care to be around other people.

So, I start walking and I happened to look up and notice the two very skinny women in front of me on the elliptical machines.  I don't go out of my way to people watch at the gym, but these two were right in front of me so it was hard to miss them.  They were going slow, so I figured they were either warming up or cooling down.  I noticed one had a stack of magazines on the rail in front of her which made me think of the article I read about trying to read while being on a cardio machine is a distraction and you actually get less of a workout because you're concentrating too hard on the reading and not on the workout.  A few minutes later Ms. Skinny Magazine finishes her workout, turns to leave and looks at me.  The next thing I know, she's on the treadmill right next to me.  Okay.  There were about 20 open machines, but, take the one RIGHT next to me.

Anyway, my warmup was about over, so I started to jog, and I realize that as soon as I started, she started. Fine.  But then I realized that she's watching my control panel and she's running faster than me.  And I was like, "What the heck!?!?!"  She had just finished HER workout, why did she have to come right next to me and start running next to me?  I was expecting to have a hard time running since I haven't run in a while, so, I was not happy to have Ms. Skinny Magazine running next to me because I knew I was going to feel challenged and then I thought about it....Wait a minute....this is my workout....do your own, bitch.   I decided that I was going to just focus on me and not worry about her and the most amazing thing happened about 2 minutes in, she started to walk.  Out of the corner of my eye I could see a not so happy Ms. Skinny Magazine next to me.  And I have to admit that I did smirk a little, and kept running.

I continued to run for a good 15 minutes straight - which for me is a big deal.  Ms. Skinny Magazine walked, then ran for maybe another minute or so, then walked and got off and walked away WITHOUT WIPING DOWN HER MACHINE.  Okay, now, girlie, you just hit several major black marks in my book.  You ALWAYS wipe down your machine, I don't care if you were only on it for a minute.  She did not look too happy walking away, and again, I have to admit, it made me smile.  Because it was MY workout.  Don't come over and try to intimidate me because you're probably half my age and in better shape than I am.  Focus on yourself and YOUR workout and leave me alone in peace to do mine.  I finished my cardio and I was so happy, I actually wiped down my machine and hers before leaving that area.

Now, after cardio the first thing I do is my PT exercises for my neck/shoulder.  These require 4 - 5 lbs weights which are at the back of the gym.  I walked down there and sure enough, there's little Ms. Skinny Magazine doing something in the same area.  Okay, it's a big gym, but not surprising.  The weights I needed were next to the kettle bells.  I started doing my exercises and she was doing some type of circuit next to me that I really didn't pay much attention to except that her form sucked (bad habit of having worked in PT and been a trainer, I critique form)  I finished my dumbbell sets and moved over to the lat pull downs and that witch gave me a nasty look out of the corner of her eye as she walked away, which only made me smile again.

I know I shouldn't judge, but this girl got under my skin today.  Seriously, she was blond and skinny and half my age but for some reason, she felt the need to try to one up me.  But the best thing was, I didn't let her and I didn't give in and I didn't do anything different from what I had planned to do today.  Her attitude just made me laugh.  I didn't feel like I had to compete with her because, let's face it, I can't!  I'm getting older and I'm not in great shape and we all know I will never be blond!  But I had a great workout today and for that I am happy.  And I'm happy that I was able to focus on me and my workout.

As my dear friend says, burn the boats!  We're in this for the long haul.