post 10k, part deux
5/19/2009
New Personal Best : 65 minutes, 51 seconds
(nearly 6 minutes faster than the first one)
5/19/2009
New Personal Best : 65 minutes, 51 seconds
(nearly 6 minutes faster than the first one)
When I am running, even when I am running inside, at the gym, I see many interesting things. I suspect that many strange things also happen at gyms in the US, but here in France, gym culture is especially peculiar:
(1) yesterday, when I got to the gym and went to the locker room, I watched as a young lady who was changing out of her work-out gear into her street clothes
removed a large set of hoop earrings from her ears and replaced them with a larger set of hoop earrings. She has designated exercise jewelry.
(2) also yesterday, a large asian woman -- who is new to the gym-- was working with one of the personal trainers. she was wearing a very small leotard with no...erm... supportive undergarments. the trainer tried to get her to run on the treadmill next to me, but when he increased the pace, she fell. not stumbled. fell, all the way down, and then rolled all the way off the treadmill to the wall. She didn't seem hurt, and I was impressed that the leotard remained intact.
(1) yesterday, when I got to the gym and went to the locker room, I watched as a young lady who was changing out of her work-out gear into her street clothes
removed a large set of hoop earrings from her ears and replaced them with a larger set of hoop earrings. She has designated exercise jewelry.
(2) also yesterday, a large asian woman -- who is new to the gym-- was working with one of the personal trainers. she was wearing a very small leotard with no...erm... supportive undergarments. the trainer tried to get her to run on the treadmill next to me, but when he increased the pace, she fell. not stumbled. fell, all the way down, and then rolled all the way off the treadmill to the wall. She didn't seem hurt, and I was impressed that the leotard remained intact.
8 comments:
I remember Adam Gopnik illustrating in a very facetiously-Gopnik sort of way the differences in French and "NY-style gyms." Apparently it was very hard for him to find a gym that allowed visits more than once a week. I also remember him describing diving into a pool, surfacing only to find a bunch of people clinging to the edge eating tea sandwiches.
Does that sound familiar?
Trevor, was this in the 70's? Who eats tea sandwiches, anyway? British people?
In response to your question though, French people definitely do *not* eat while at the gym. I have, however, seen many who take coffee and cigarette breaks partway through their exercise routine.
Yay, Becky!
Hello from Montreal! Nous parlons Francais ici aussi.
I think he wrote the book in the 90's. The part about the gyms is pretty funny--I'm almost positive it was tea sandwiches ...but yeah, who really eats those? Maybe the overweight asian woman falling from a treadmill age is younger than we think. I love the idea of a ciggie in the middle of a workout. Should I change into my smoking and drinking clothes first?
Paris to the Moon:
http://books.google.com/books?id=8ce9wTglv1UC&dq=paris+to+the+moon&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=cK0aSoXDFZKCtgPV9pD0Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#PPT78,M1
I like the X-ray on the wall in your jubilant photo...
That's your son's chest x-ray! (I was too modest to put mine up, even for the sake of art). The radiograph is mandatory when you come to live in France from a foreign country. Thankfully, we're both tuberculosis-free!
Post a Comment