Training Tuesdays: The WMATA Workout Plan

With seven years of metro riding in the Chocolate City urea under my belt, few things surprise or phase me anymore. Not the Asian guy on the blue sometimes red line, singing Jesus's praises in the morning, nor the grown ass man who stuffed an entire double cheeseburger into his mouth and then proceeded to suck his thumb. Dude with a masterlock for an earring--no biggie. That's all commonplace.

But today I was intrigued. The object of my fascination caught my eye at the bus shelter at the Silver Spring Metro Station. (Z11, stand up! No really...ain't no more damn seats on the bus). The vagabond started out, much like the rest of the crazies that I share public transportation with. Cigarette in one of his latex-gloved hands, singing Negro spirituals. But as I continued to watch him (I had 20 minutes till the next bus came, and the batteries in my MP3 player died), I realize that he's--aside from the cigarette, a health conscious nomad.

Decked out in his gym gear (well, really it was jeans, but he was wearing a nike shirt), I realize he's warming up for a workout. He stretches out on the bench inside the bus shelter, and even attempts a few pull ups on the top of the structure. The bus pulls up and he takes off for his jog, leaving his bags behind. I kept craning around to see how long, it would take him to lap around, but the bus pulled off before he made it back to his starting point.

Now, I'm all for getting a good work out in where ever you are, but the metro is THE last place, I'd ever think to try and work up a sweat. Foolish me, I've been wasting my hard earned money at Gold's Gym. Sure they've got all this fancy smancy equipment, treadmills, and elliptical machines gallore, but really I could just save my $37 a month, for all the free stuff at the metro. Thanks Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority! I'm gonna call my local Congressman and see if he can get a moving sidewalk installed that can dub as a treadmill.