Tricky Lady

Karma is a bitch. And she will eff with you. Make no mistake.

I had a slight run-in with karma twice yesterday.

Along with that cliche phrase, I'd also like to say, too much of a good thing isn't necessarily a great thing, or however it goes.

Story #1:

Yesterday, my training plan called for a 30-minute run. I thought, easy peezy, and I was excited to run out my soreness from Tuesday's weights session. When I walked into the gym, there was an older gentleman beginning to walk on the middle treadmill. There was a girl climbing onto the first elliptical. I started to move toward the far treadmill, but the man told me it wasn't plugged in and didn't seem to be working. I thanked him and moved around him to the first treadmill, but Elliptical Girl informed me it was stuck at its steep incline. I tried to fiddle with it, but sure enough, it was. Thinking I could at least get in some form of cardio, I walked back over to the far elliptical, only to notice that the stuff on it and beside it belonged to my personal elliptical-frequenting, chain-smoking, sickly-coughing, phlegm-hacking annoyance of a gym buddy (obviously, we're tight). I was starting to get aggravated when I decided to plug in the closest treadmill to see if it was at least operational. Miracle of all miracles, it lit right up! It began its lowly crawl when I pressed Quick Start, so I was in business. It was flashing a message I've sometimes seen on the treadmills, "Waxer Needs Refill -- Notify Maintenance." Hey, the thing was working, so I blew it off, found CSI: Miami on the tube, and started my workout.

Twenty-five minutes into my run, with five measly minutes to go, the treadmill suddenly stopped, jerked, and threw me forward. I banged into the display screen, and then I almost fell backward. Luckily, nothing happened to me, but I wasn't able to finish my run, tabulate my data, or cool down as I normally like to do. To top that off, I noticed that the maintenance man had begun to work on the other two treadmills, and he probably had mine in mind next.

Karma, karma. You tricky lady.

Story #2:

Ian and I dined at TGI Friday's yesterday for lunch. There was a promotion going on, three courses (from a limited selection) for $16.99. Ian wisely selected a two-course option: a house salad accompanied by shrimp and fries. I was hungry after my run, and this was serving as breakfast and lunch. I chose crispy green beans with wasabi Ranch as my appetizer, creamy Cajun chicken and shrimp pasta as my entree, and vanilla bean cheesecake as my dessert. I thought, so here I have a green vegetable, carbs, seafood, and dairy. Not too shabby. Ha! The joke was on me, folks. I haven't eaten that quantity of food in quite some time. In fact, I only ate three-quarters of the appetizer, half of the entree, and half of the dessert. Three hours after lunch, I was still miserably full, even after a Tums binge and a bottle of water. I wasn't ready for dinner until 7:30... Nearly seven hours after we finished lunch. I should have heeded my body when it told me it was craving fresh veggies and fruit, that it didn't want fried food or heavy pasta or a rich dessert, and that a creamy Cajun sauce would inevitably be too spicy for me. I had planned to eat rice and soup for dinner, but instead my two meals consisted of Friday's and a wisely chosen spinach salad with fresh veggies and seeds. I decided to leave the leftovers for another day.

I won't be doing that again.

Karma, karma. You tricky lady.

P.S. Do you ever have run-ins with karma? She and I frequently run into one another.