Friday, February 22, 2008

The crazy backpack guy

So I've been doing most of running indoors on a treadmill. It's been pretty cold and since the sun doesn't come up when I need to run, I've decided to do my short runs at the WVU Rec Center. I still do my long weekend run outdoors (which reminds me that I have to pick up some pepper spray....Steph and I have had some run-ins with a dog the last few weeks).

Anyway, I usually get to the gym around 6:30am. Well yesterday I saw something I've never seen before. There was a guy who must be preparing to hike the Appalachian Trail on the treadmill next to me. You may be wondering how I know that he was preparing to hike...well, the nutjob had on full hiking regalia. That's right, he had on the boots, shorts, shirt, etc. which, in itself, is not that weird. What weirded me out was the fact that he had a full external frame backpack on. So for my entire five miles yesterday, I had Ranger Bob walking next to me.

What makes it worse was that everyone was staring at him and, of course, since I was next to him, they were staring at me (or at least I think they were). Good times....

Tomorrow, Steph and I will get our long runs in. She's doing 12 and I'm doing 10.

Cheers!!!

Weight: 158lbs
Exercise: Running 5 miles
Weather: Indoors.

4 comments:

Mark said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mark said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mark said...

Jason,

Are you really paranoid our is it that they all are out to get you? Does that tin foil hat no longer fit, or is it you just don't want to wear it adjacent to the guy with the backpack. Then who would be the nut job? ;)

Oh you foo foo runners with your holier then thou attitudes.... Did your paranoia radar not remind you that he keeps looking at you, and wondering why you wore that silly little running outfit? ;)

Don't worry, be happy. We all are watching you and buying stock in ALCOA, stock symbol AA. Hmmmmm AA.... Maybe there is a 12 step process to stop the paranoia and stop wearing aluminum hats.....

Anonymous said...

Actually, training with a weighted backpack is more common than you think. Crazy Pacific Northwest mountaineers like us do it quite often. Especially now that gas prices are so high, this is becoming a more common sight. It really does work...nothing like sport specific (or as close as you can get) training, ya know.