And people think I am blunt

I have serious foot in mouth disease. Always saying the wrong thing or WAY too much. Some people love me for it and some people hate me for it. Whatever the consensus is- its probably not changing any time soon. Goal 2000-2030: Stop foot in mouth disease. Anyway, I have had two recent experiences at the gym that have led me to believe that there is hope for me. There are people out there worse than I! Just on a side-note- both of these experiences happened with black males. It led me to wonder if that culture in general is more "out there" with their information.

Experience One: Several weeks ago I was running on the treadmill. This really nice black guy just happens to always be on the treadmill the same time I am. I usually run two-three times a week and he walks everyday. At the time I was training for a half marathon and so i was on a long run and was working on running seven miles that day. We don't really know each others names, but we are "gym friends"- we know each others' faces. So I am running and almost to the end of my seven miler and it DOES seem like an eternity to me and apparently to him too. He turns to me and asks a question. He had to ask me several times because I would've sworn I heard him wrong. After all, I had one ear bud in and the noise of the treadmill and gym music was bombarding my available ear. There was no way he was asking me what I THOUGHT he was asking which was: "Does running like that give you the craps?". After the third time of saying, "What?" I finally chopped it up to bad hearing and just laughed and said, "sort of". The answer that can satisfy a lot of questions. Then I was reassured that I had heard him correctly when he went into describing that he gets the runs when he runs. *** I am thinking: Really? Are we that good of friends to be sharing that kind of information.

Experience two: This experience happened today which reminded me of the above experience. I am in cycling today at the gym. I have just gotten back into it because I was training for several weeks. It's an hour long, very intense, very hot, and to add insult to injury, I had gone on Tuesday too. Those fellow cyclers out there can probably guess what part of my body was hurting from this bi-weekly regimen. My butt. Anyway, about 3/4 of the way through I was just adjusting like crazy and must have shown my discomfort in my face. I am good friends with the instructor so she said, "What's wrong?". I told her my butt hurts. You know you can say those things in a cycling class because EVERYONE can relate. I look around and everyone nods their head and laughs a little. I endure and thankfully class ends with my rear in tact. I am walking out not with but next to another gym acquaintance. Again, we are "gym friends". No names are known. He says to me, "You know that I do when my butt hurts after cycling? I put Vaseline on it and then let it air out- I walk around naked." First of all, its not that kind of pain. It is bone pain. Who shares those kinds of things with someone that is nameless????