Wandering Minds

It's interesting what you start to think of during long training days...like on my long rides I start to sings songs from the golden oldies station from when I was a kid...I can never remember more than 3 or 4 lines of the song so it's more of an "angela's memory sucks" montage. I've sang 99 bottles of beer, I've tried to remember songs and poems from high school. I've contemplated if I'm "being all I can be", what makes my boys happy/sad, why I'm doing this, why Tim puts up with me...those sorts of things.

It's mostly just happened on the bike, obviously because the most time is spent there. But it happened in the pool on a short workout this week...weird. In our new pool, one lane is right next to the doors for the woman's, men' s and family locker rooms. And today, swimming with my eyes closed, I could tell which locker room door I was passing based on the smell and taste in my mouth.

It's simple really. A slight musty stale smell with a small hint of old spice is the men's room. It's the least noticeable, least offensive of the three actually. Still detectable to the trained olfactory system of a mother.

The distinct smell of baby powder and desitin means I am passing by the family locker room. It's a smell that I have known all too well for the last 4 years. More so with Brayden, little boy's bottom has diaper rash at least every other week. Seriously, he can tell us before we change him, "mommy I have diaper crash...I need ceam" or "I need a band aid for my diaper crash".

Then there's the woman's locker room...oh my dear heavens. It's the strongest, thickest smell of all. It's like swimming by a Macy's perfume counter and the smell just hangs in the back of your throat for an entire lap or two after the door closes. It's a choking hazard waiting to happen. I can't stand it. It's like they load the stuff on before they go work out for fear of smelling while working out...the same women that put on make up to workout or play sports and the same ones that only work hard until they start to sweat. ARRRRRGGGGG, curse you chanel #5.

But the fact that I was trying to guess what door I was passing based on smell in between strokes with my eyes closed, that's a new one for me. Too bad I don't have doors on the road. Of course I wouldn't be closing my eyes, but hey it would pass the time.