“In the time of chimpanzees, I was a monkey.
Butane in my veins, and I’m out to cut the junkie.”
–Beck, “Loser”

Miles Last Week: 53
Total Miles: 859

Last week, I tried to give us all a pep talk about not feeling bad about rest days. Yesterday, I found something to feel a little guilty about.

All gyms have rules. Be courteous, don’t hog the machines, blah, blah, blah, whatever. One of the big ones is to clean your machine after you’re done. That’s, like, the rules of sanitation.

After putting in my miles yesterday, I did my weekly weigh-in (three and a half more pounds!). As I stepped off the scale, the girl working there asked me about how it was going and told me to keep it up, and I grabbed my stuff and left.

When I got into my car, I had a terrible realization. I’d forgotten to clean my chosen elliptical.

Oh, the horror. Did they keep track of that sort of thing? Would I receive some sort of unknown form of punishment the next day? Some strongly worded note reminding me of simple gym etiquette? I probably should have gone back inside and made it right, right?

Yeah…but I was already in my car. Going back inside seemed like a lot of effort for my tired muscles. Plus, it was hot outside, and my air conditioner was already on. I’d witnessed other people “forgetting” to clean the occasional machine, so it was probably okay, just this once. Sweat is mostly water, anyway, right?

I’m disgusting, and I’m not proud of myself, but I left.

The good news is that there were no strongly worded notes waiting for me today. I tried to clean my machine extra well today (because I basically use the same elliptical every day). I hope that’s enough.