Monday Morning at the Gym

I haven't told anyone so far, but it sometimes bothers me that I am the only non-white person that I see at the gym. Perhaps there are others, but I seldom (if ever) see any. There was an older person of Indian origin who I used to meet with on Sundays at the spinning class, but I haven't seen him for months. Ram is a doctor in a nearby town and had this routine of spinning and sauna on Sunday mornings.

Those of you who go to a gym know that everyone has a regular routine; not just with the machines but also in the locker room. There was an incident one time with Ram when the way he kept his stuff got in the way of another guy (white) and his stuff. Some words were exchanged ... the white guy said that Ram did not know how to keep his things in the locker room and Ram did not take kindly to this. I felt at the time that this was a white vs non-white situation. Anyway, I stopped showering at the gym years ago (membership has grown and locker area remains the same size so it's got kinda crowded), so don't have things lying around.

Today, I was up early and on the elliptical machine at the gym, when one of the regulars took the machine next to me. No big deal, but after a few minutes he started to fumble with his heart beat monitor and after a few fumbles, ditched the machine and took another one a bit further away. I felt bad, because this has happened to me: the neighbor's monitor interfering with mine and no doubt his putting some distance between us resolved the issue. I did not feel the need to do anything ... after all, I was there first!

When I ended my workout, he came up to me and explained why he had moved away and how it had everything to do with his monitor and nothing to do with me! I was surprised, and told him it was no big deal ... it happened to me sometimes as well. He thought it worth repeating one more time before moving on.

I guess it was thoughtful of him, but it also told me that I was obviously different.