SHARE the Air: a Plea to My Fellow Gym-ers

So, this morning I had my normal routine, I woke up at 5:00, got dressed for the gym, pumped milk for our friend's sweet little daughter Bela who is recovering from a rough first 8 months of life, then headed to Lifetime Fitness. I hopped on a treadmill, and though it was so hard to start cranking it up before the sun was even close rising, I did it. While I was sweating and kicking into mile 4 IT happened AGAIN!!! A man got on the machine next to me and started running... and BREATHING. For those of us who breathe through our noses when we run, respect the confined space between machines at the gym and the shared air in the building and BRUSH YOUR TEETH! This person had the worst breath for the third time this week, it smelled like a piece of dental floss after the first time of flossing when you skip 3 or 4 days! As he was panting through his mouth, molesting my beautiful air with his halitosis, I was about to vomit through my last mile... instead I switched to breathing through my mouth, which is just not right.

Here is my plea: while we all drag our butts to the gym in the wee hours of the morning, or any time of the day, think about respecting the space between you and other people who are dragging themselves there too. Just because you don't shower before you run doesn't mean you shouldn't brush your flipping teeth! SHARE the AIR people, we are all busting our buts to melt away the calories, let's look out for each other.