Magic shoes

Who do you suppose decided it was a good idea for women to shave their legs?  I mean, obviously it was a man, but why?

Guys, don't you think we'd like the extra insulation in the winter???  Hello!  It's -1 degrees with the wind chill today!

Even Winston was all WTF during our walk this morning.  On the way back to the house, he was all "Let me go!  I'll meet you back there, chump!"

And then there's that moment when you're shaving your legs when your brain realizes what the stinging means, and you're all "fuuuuuuuuuuu....." because you've just shaved off a 6 inch long chunk of skin, and you know it's going to sting like lemon juice on a papercut when you run water over it, but you have to do it, so you just go for it, and OMG it effing BURNS, and all the hair you just shaved off your legs comes back because you break out in goosebumps, and OMG why did you even bother!

But while it's socially acceptable for a guy to say "screw it" when it comes to shaving, such is not the case for women.  It's such a deeply ingrained standard of beauty in our culture, if a woman says screw it and stops shaving, she's labeled as a dirty hippie.

*sigh*  This was not the original topic of today's post, but I'm sure you've figured out what happened this morning.

Anyineedtorestockmybandaids, I'm sure you've all missed my gym posts. 

Last night was a good gym night.  Good as in, I had a really good workout (which was nice because my knees have prevented me from really doing much lately).  And good as in, wow, that was weird.

I started off with 40 minutes of ab work.  I like to work over in a back corner of the gym by the Movestrong equipment (giant adult jungle gym), where there aren't too many people.  And the people who do work out over there, are the same people I see every day, and we have a strict no fraternization policy.

Because I'm there to work out my frustration from having to deal with people all day.  I don't want to actually have to talk to anyone while I'm there. 

As I was getting ready to head over to the treadmill to try out my k tape (more on that later), this guy I usually see in the evening doing burpees with a pull up comes over and says "Did you see that thing I was doing over there?  When I started doing those, I could only do 3.  Tonight I just did the most I've ever been able to do without stopping."

Now I've had people come up and tell me about their accomplishments before.  But they're usually people in my spinning class who want to share the fact that they just passed some spinning milestone.

And even though, I see this guy at the gym, I don't know him.

But after a brief "well this is awkward" moment, I decided to react in the same way I would if one of my students has surpassed a personal goal.

I held my hand up and said "High five!"

And he just looked at me for a second.

Like I was weird.

Dude.  Really.

But after his initial hesitation, he returned my high five.  Then I was forced to come up with some more awkward small talk so it didn't get really weird.  Except the only kind of small talk I know is the weird kind.  After a minute of that, I just kind of walked away.  At this point, I don't even know if I even really excused myself.  I'm pretty sure I just nodded while making some inane comment and left.

This is why I just don't talk to people while I'm there.

One time, I made the mistake of making eye contact with an older man, and he asked me to toss a weighted medicine ball with him while he did sit ups.  He reminded me of my grandpap, so I hated to tell him know. 

But I probably should've told him my depth perception is really bad.

He ended up nailing my in the mouth with an 8 lb. medicine ball. 

He hasn't asked me for help since then.

Anyway, regardless of the awkward high five moment, I was super excited to try out the K tape my friend Ramon recommended for my knees.  It's kind of like a brace for your knees, except instead of wearing a big bulky brace, it's just the tape stabilizing the joint.

Turns out I have the knees of a 95 year old.  And it didn't help that Winston caught sight of a rabbit on Saturday and pulled me down the front porch stairs, jamming my knees.

Thanks, Dog.

But I had my pretty hot pink K tape on my knees (I looked like a very fashion forward mummy), they felt really stable, and I was ready to take those knees for a spin and see what they could do...

Holy merciful patron saint of runners whatever your name is. 

K tape is amazing!  My knees felt so good!  I had the best run I've had in a long while.

I kept thinking "Lt. Dan!  You got new legs!!"

No one else seemed to think that was as funny as I did...

(A/N: I'm not a medical doctor.  If you have problems with your joints, don't be like me.  Go see a doctor.)