The Meanie and I

Recently while working out, I thought I saw C. the Sweetie, in trainer's garb. She left the gym shortly after I stopped training with her to focus on her studies. I was too far away to be sure, however, and I didn't think much of it.

Then today, when I met G. the Meanie, I noticed a little stack of business cards on the desk we met at. Sure enough, C.'s name was on them.

"Wow, is C. back?" I asked.

"Yeah, didn't you know that?"

"No," I replied, not mentioning that I'd thought I'd seen her but wasn't sure.

"Do you want to train with her?"

I just gave him my best Teacher Look.

"Seriously...I could trade your remaining sessions over to her."

"Dude, she's nice, but I didn't lose any weight with her."

As we walked outside to do some jogging, sprints, high-knee running, and other torture exercises requiring more distance than the aerobics room offers, I reiterated what I'd said.

"C. was sweet, but in five months of working with her, I stayed at the same weight. I guess I got a little stronger, but I stayed in the 190s. She let me get away with too much. Not like you."

This got a smile.

Trainers like G. the Meanie are funny creatures. You have to feed their egos from time to time, let them know they're needed.

At the end of my session today, G. (who sometimes isn't such a Meanie) said, "I'm not going to make you weigh today. Let's wait 'til next week." I had mentioned that this week is "that time of the month" earlier in our workout. I weighed anyway. 160.6! I'm so close to being in the 150s. G. was walking off with his next client, so I called out across the crowded cardio area.

"Hey, G.!"

He turned around, so I held up my hands to indicate the individual number and called out, "One-Six-Zero!" He gave me a thumbs up and a grin. Only then did I think, "Uh, I just shouted that across the gym...eh, who cares who heard?"