Yesterday I was at the gym running on the treadmill. I was cruising along and a man got on the open treadmill next to me. To give you a mental picture, he was a large man with a big gut (just stating the facts) and began walking. When I run, as I'm sure is the case with you when you exercise, you sweat. However, there is a distinct line between sweating and smelling.
When I got to mile 6 I started to smell a foul odor in the air. The gym was somewhat full and I thought someone might have let one go during their exercise and decided to try not to breathe in the awful odor, thinking it would clear up in a few minutes. However, when I got to mile 7, I realized that the smell was still in the air, only worse now. I wanted to keep running, but it is hard when the air is smelly. In my head I was going through all the possibilities that the stench could be coming from. Then, I realized what it was.
The man next to me was sweating buckets and smelled awful. His b.o. was so bad...and I feel like I have a pretty high tolerance for b.o. since I teach 5th graders. I got off the treadmill to get a drink and give my nose a break and realized that this man had numerous problems:
1. He was wearing a grey shirt. This breaks all "fashion meet running" rules. If you sweat when wearing a grey shirt you will end up with the bat symbol or something like it on your back, which is not attractive. Either wear a dry-fit shirt or a white shirt while working out - never grey. (rule does not apply if you work out in the comfort of your own home)
2. He either forgot to apply deodorant before he worked out or needs stronger deodorant. No one wants to be working out next to a smelly person, especially me.
3. If there are many open treadmills, find one where you are not working out directly next to someone, like me. He could have walked on any open treadmill, which there were many of, but he chose the one next to me.
Have you ever had this problem? I had to finish my run on the track because my nose could not take it. Maybe this is a sign I should be running outside...??
My life as a runner, perfectionist, athlete, 20-something, and type 1 diabetic.
Oh my gosh - I know exactly what you are talking about. BO is bad, but I just discovered an equally gross scent - sweat of a smoker! We have two treadmills where I work-out and the other day I was running on it and a guy who obviously smoked got on the other and started to run. He didn't go very far, but it smelled soooooo bad. I wrapped up my workout fast because standing next to him wasn't worth it!
ReplyDeleteThat said, because I'm a swimmer, too, when I run I can sometimes smell the chlorine on my skin no matter how many showers I've taken. Kind of crazy, but it doesn't smell bad.