Warning:

:Exposure to Introverts or Rude People Can Cause Enhanced Exercise Experiences

First full day at the OBX and the girls were up earlier than the sun.  What did I do with my early, EARLY Sunday morning?  Like all people who like to appear healthy and fit, I went for a brisk walk on the beach.  On my walk, which was boring b/c I didn't have earbuds with which to listen to my iPod, I decided to do an experiment.  Being in the true South (if you knew my hubby you'd know why I had to put the word "true" in there), I figured most people would be friendly.  However, knowing that most people there were transplants for the week, I guessed I would be hard pressed to find friendly, Southern folk.  So began my quest.

As I wiggled my hips down the beach I mostly stared into the glistening ocean, thinking that I should have applied sunblock or at least worn a hat.  I was coming up with blog topics, singing songs in my head, and having fake conversations with people in my mind.  That is, until I'd pass a fellow exerciser.  No matter where they were looking or what they were looking like, I waved and piped, "Good mornin'!"  With my signature big smile and Richmond accent, I hoped people would oblige me and return my salutations.  I made sure to just smile and wave to people with earbuds.  Even still, they couldn't contort their faces to return the smile.  Sadly, out of the 31 people I greeted, a mere 3 returned my sentiments.  Maybe they were too shy to say hi back?  Perhaps some cussed me out once I passed for being so chipper in the morning.  I appeared to be enjoying my exercise...maybe they weren't enjoying theirs?  Maybe they were so thrown by someone acknowledging their presence that they were stunned into silence?  To those 3 people who pleasantly responded...I thank you.  Although, you didn't do much to change my opinion of society in general and the direction in which it's heading. 

Since the walk away from the beach house proved fruitless in terms of making new friends, I decided to try the running thing on the way home.  I hadn't run since 2005 or 2006 when I was training for a half marathon I got peer pressured into doing.  I'm slow, I look like a fool, my thighs rub together at the top, my shorts look like they're being eaten by said upper thighs, I turn bright red and appear to be close to passing out even though I'm not,  and I get blisters the size of dollar bills on my flattened arches no matter how top-of-the-line my running shoes are.  All of that aside, I went for it.  At first I thought someone had poured Jell-O into my butt, stomach and boobs.  Holy Wiggle Jiggle, Batman!  I felt like I was being pulled to the core of the Earth with each step.  Knowing that my jiggly-bits would settle in a while, I kept going.  Ugh.  Why did I start this?  What was I thinking?  I had to be at least 2 miles from home.  OK - maybe a mile and a half.  Either way, it might as well have been light-years.  I couldn't even see our beach house from where I was, and anything resembling it was blurred by the morning haze.  Being competitive by nature, giving up and walking was NOT an option at this point.  I quickly thought of any song to sing to myself.  "I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee..."  Nope!  Sad that the first song that came to mind was a children's song...work hazard I guess.  Then I remembered all the summer songs I'd recently downloaded onto my iPod, so I sang those to myself instead.  Once I got close enough to the house to see it I started running a bit faster.  I didn't want my family members to see me running at the pace of a speed walker.  Forgetting that, unlike the car's side view mirror, things are FARTHER than they appear on the beach.  Remember...competitive nature here!  So, I kept up that faster pace for the rest of the distance to the house.  I got to the "finish line" I drew in the sand and vowed never to do that again...until Tuesday.