Gym Observations, 7/2/08

While I was on the eliptical trainer yesterday, an elderly man two machines down from me began singing "The Ride of the Valkyries" loudly as he worked out. It was hard not to stare. If it happens again, would it be impolite to harmonize?

The rec center is running some kind of day camp for kids now. The lower gym is filled with young children in matching T-shirts, with different colors for different age levels, each imprinted with "Happy Camper" across the back. I imagined that when these kids get to college, some of them would write brooding essays about how wrong that designation was, and how much they still resent it.

Some people take their fitness seriously. A seventyish lady in front of me matched my 30 minutes on the eliptical, then went straight for the rowing machine. I do that sometimes, but I wanted to leave earlier yesterday to pick up a case of 3 Buck Chuck on my way to a doctor's appointment.