Saturday, June 30, 2012

I see some iiiiinnnnterrresting things while running or hiking my favorite mountain trail.  Wednesday was no exception.  I headed up on the trail mid afternoon, during the heat of the day.  The temperature was 92 degrees, perfect for a strenuous hike and for eliminating a lot of people clutter, since most don’t like navigating the mountain in extreme heat. 

I’d only gotten about a mile and a half up when I became aware of footsteps off to my side and less than eight feet away.  Aware, I noted that whomever the footfalls belonged to wasn’t trying to pass me, but instead, they were giving me a wide birth yet keeping quite close to me. 

Hmmm….

I looked over my shoulder and noted what appeared to be a giant chiseled god-like man who was obviously as into physical fitness as I am.  He smiled and, taking my noticing him to be an invitation, struggled to close the distance between us, commenting, “Darn, and I thought I walked fast!”

I chuckled.

He continued, “I’ve been trying to catch up to you for the past mile.”

Again, I laughed and said, “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

He asked if we could hike together and I agreed.  Turns out, the man I shared my mountain hike with was a stunt man who played the stunt double for Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile! 

Wow!

What a great guy he turned out to be!  Both around the same age, we enjoyed talking about how things have changed from one generation to the next.  And how we wished more of yesteryear mentalities and sense of self-responsibility would return to infuse today’s youth. 

We kept an incredible pace, both enjoying the rare company of someone to work out with and also someone who could talk while keeping pace.   A couple of miles after meeting up, we passed a woman of whom we both did a double take.  Having to stop and turn to see if what we’d seen was reality, we both shook our heads when we realized that yes, the Asian woman was wearing a Von’s plastic bag that she’d slid over her midsection in between her sports bra and running shorts.  It was complete with its sheer handles flapping as she walked.

Hmmm….

About another mile along, we stumbled upon a man who was running downhill towards us.  Both of us tried not to smile at the man who appeared to be wearing a pair of BVD whitey tighties stretched over his head in true bank robber fashion with nothing but his eyes and nose showing through one of the leg openings.  And…as if that wasn’t strange enough, the man had bundled the excess fabric of the BVDs into a makeshift gag that he held tight between his clenched teeth.

What the heck?!

Like I said, between actors, new versions of bag ladies and running BVD ads, I see some pretty strange things while navigating my mountain.