“Sweating like a pig, thanks, and you?”

Some people exercise and still stay “pretty.” Anybody who has worked at or worked out at a gym probably knows what I’m talking about. You know, there are some people who have the cute tight sporty clothes (some flashing more skin than others…there’s a Jessica Simpson wannabe at my health club), and they run and lift weights and everything without breaking a sweat.

Me, I walk in with my baggy T-shirt and shorts-over-stretchy-pants and within 3 minutes after I start running I am doing just as the title of this post suggests. My face gets so red that “flushed” really isn’t the word for it anymore. The wispy hair by the side of my face gets the touch of exertion-induced humidity and pops out to each side (when it’s not plastered down by the sweat). This has always been true. My brother and I were in TaeKwon-Do classes in our high school years. In the summer especially, people would be asking us if we needed to stop and get some water. We don’t look pretty when we exercise. We look like we’re going to pass out.

Last night I went to the gym and saw two of the gym workers I usually see there. One was working behind the desk. She didn’t get that job for no reason—I walk in and her face lit up and she said “Hi!” as if she’d really missed seeing me (I don’t think she’d been on duty any of the times I was in over the past two weeks). One was “off-duty” and was in the weight room, and said “Hey, how you doing?” as he walked by. Gym etiquette aside (aren’t you NOT supposed to talk to people in the middle of a set?), it was still sort of nice to have another person around say hello.

These people smile and say “Good night” and all that even though I don’t exercise pretty. They are professionals. I like them.