Oh the people you'll see

Thursday is my errand day. It used to be Tuesday until I learned about No Coupon Thursday. At first I thought that meant you couldn't use coupons on Thursday which would be one of the worst grocery store advertising ideas every but no, it actually means that you don't need to use coupons. If you spend $50 you automatically get $10 off your order, although you are still welcome to use coupons if you wish. So now I run errands and go grocery shopping on Thursdays.

My other weekly errands include a stop at the library and local rec center. They are in the same building so it makes it easy to drop off my books, go walk around the track, then pick up more books on the way out.

I have to walk daily for the Bradley class and most days I just walk around the neighborhood thinking about how it is cold and I wish I was inside but on errand day I am nice and comfortable so I can push myself to go longer and faster. I can actually see an improvement as I can now go for quite a while without collapsing. Although to be fair, the people I am comparing myself to might be skewing my perspective.

You see, between the library and rec parts of the building is the "senior center" which is really a couple of rooms that seniors can hang out in and play poker, bingo and put together puzzles. It also means the library probably had pretty good attendance at their Wii for Seniors event yesterday. Oh, and they get snacks. Last week was chocolate pudding day and I'm not ashamed to admit it, I was jealous. But I'm getting off "track" (oh I just crack myself up!).

The point is that the track's proximity to the senior rooms means that the average age of the track users is probably a good 30-40 years above mine. Now there are three lanes: slow walk, fast walk, and the running lane. The signage seems to indicate that they are pretty strict with lane usage so I stick with the middle lane although I feel bad because I end up passing the "runners" quite frequently. But hey, I can only hope that I am up to running around a track when I'm in my 60s, no matter how slow that run may be.

Since I've been going for a few weeks now, I've kinda gotten to "know" a few of the regulars. And by "know" of course I mean I have made up nicknames and personas for them while not having actually spoken to any of them. In no particular order we have:

The General: I don't like to use military stereotypes that often because I know a lot of officers, my father included, that don't really fit that idea, but this guy has got to be a retired Marine. He wears khaki pants, dark turtlenecks and a emblem cap that he obviously would never consider curving the bill of. Quite tall and with short white hair, he marches (yes, it is definitely more of a march than a walk) around the track very deliberately and to be honest, he scares me a little.

The Music-loving Church Lady: She wears long skirts, hose, and white Reeboks. Her hair is up in a bun but she wears gigantic headphones and carries a CD player. I really want to know what she is listening to, but if I had to guess I would say hymns.

The Gossips: A pair of older ladies who walk side by side and talk about all the latest "news." I'm pretty sure they are there for the company more than the exercise. They walk very slowly so I pass by them quickly which is unfortunate as last week I was very interested to know exactly what was going on with Carl and his secretary.

Uncle Phil - His hair is crazy. He wears short shorts and long athletic socks, I'm talking up to his knees. He also wears one of those little fabric drawstring backpacks which must contain something important in it as the track has hooks on the side for bags and jackets which everyone else uses but not him. He's very talkative and last time managed to spend a good 15 minutes talking to another walker about Argentina. The fact that I could tell he was talking about Argentina even when I was on the other side of track should illustrate how energetic his conversing is.

Mr. Harley - One of the few others in the under-60 crowd, he is probably in his mid-40s. He wears leather fingerless gloves and a skull or Harley-Davidson bandana on his head while sporting a pink goatee. He also keeps his keys hooked to his pants so he jingles a lot while he walks. It annoying but I'm not gonna say anything. He obviously has an image to uphold although I'm not quite sure who he is trying to impress.

I kinda wonder what all of them are thinking about me: The pregnant one, the waddler, the one who can't seem to figure out her iPod and spends the first 15 minutes of her work-out trying to adjust the volume on it? I doubt I'll ever know for sure.