I was taking my morning walk along the lake which I realized is the best way to start my day. I like to go around 7am before the sun is hot and just take in all the sights of nature. The path along the lake is filled with people and I love smiling and saying "Good Morning" to all the fellow walkers and runners. Well this particular morning I am on a mission. I am determined to walk myself up into a light jog so off I go. I secure my hair into a ponytail and after about 10 minutes of walking I start to pick up the pace a little. I am feeling pretty good so I step it up a notch and pretty soon I'm jogging!! I feel great! (for those of you who don't know I have a bad back and have not been able to jog for about a year and a half).
As I'm trotting along, smiling and nodding to the people I am passing I feel my ponytail start to slip a little. I make a quick adjustment and continue on my way. Again it's starts to slip. I'm a little frustrated but I don't want to stop my pace. I make the ponytail a little lower figuring it will have less surface area to fall if it's at the nape of my neck as opposed to the top of my head and then continue on my way. I sort of rest my hair in the hood of my jacket so it doesn't bounce around as much and after a couple minutes it starts to fall into my face. I realize that I have lost my hair band. I stop and check a few feet behind me, I reach around to my hood and shake it a few times to see if it may have fallen in and nothing. I try to tie my hair in a knot which actually works but after a few pounds on the sidewalk it comes undone. So I look around the hillside for a long weed or skinny palm that may have fallen out of a tree, anything to help tie my hair back because it's extremely annoying to try and jog with hair falling into my face. There is nothing to be found.
So I walk. Then up ahead I notice the doggie poo bag stations that are placed every 1/2 mile or so along the lake. I don't have the dog with me so I figure I would look like a poo bag thief if I just took one by myself so I wait for some people to pass before I grab for the bright blue bag. Once I get it, I quickly sweep my hair into a ponytail and use the bag to tie it into place. I can see my reflection in the sidewalk as I walk and the two ends of the bag are sticking out several inches from each side making me look like a complete idiot. But I don't care, I can jog! I'm jogging and I'm passing people and smiling along the way as the bag flaps noisily in the wind. Then all of the sudden I catch a whiff of the bag and start to feel sick to my stomach. These bags are scented with this extremely strong deodorizer that starts to make my eyes water. It's sooo bad. I try to ignore it and keep jogging and just breathe out of my mouth. I do that for a while but now I'm so paranoid that I'm going to catch a whiff of the bag that I screw up my breathing and start to get stomach cramps. At this point I'm close to home and I really don't want to quit, I want to finish my jog all the way so I tough it out.
As I turn onto my street of course I see several of my neighbors as they are either outside gardening, sending their kids off to school, or just milling about. So I wave and smile and go on about my business with the shiny blue poop bag sticking out from all sides. I'm sure it's nothing they haven't seen before right?
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