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I went for a run today at the Olympic Oval. That is not what this post is about - it's actually about my walk back to work after my run.
When I left the oval, there was a middle-aged guy (receding hairline, bit of a paunch, generally square in a middle-manager sort of way. He looked a little too much like me for comfort) leaving at the same time. He hadn't been running, but was carrying a pair of skates, so obviously he had been skating.
He veered off to do something else and I went to pick up my comic books and some lunch. We intercepted each other on the path back to my office.
He was walking slower then I, so I quickly overtook him. The sun was low in the sky and behind us, so our shadows were long and ahead of us. When I passed him I could use the shadows to guage our relative distances from each other. He was about five yards behind me when I noticed that I was no longer increasing the distance between us. He had picked up his pace so that it was even with mine.
This is a minor irritant for me because I have trouble editing out things in my immediate vicinity. My spatial sense needs to expend additional energy to keep track of the person pacing me. It's like when you realize there's someone in your blind-spot while driving. You have to pay attention to the idiot driver that will neither pass nor fall back in addition to all the other things you need to keep track of while driving. The same thing happening while walking is not quite so irritating, but only because the consequences of screwing up are reduced.
So there's this guy following me and he's embedded himself into my spatial awareness like a pebble in my shoe. Normally when I realize this is happening I speed up. I've got a helluva set of legs under me and not many people can keep up with me for long if I start power walking.
So I speed up. And so does he.
"Geez," I think, "Is this guy staring at my ass or something?".
My ass is pretty nice BTW.
So I speed up to maximum for the local conditions. Sadly this is not my maximum due to two things:
Finally, after two blocks, I'm nearing my work building. Excellent, I can veer off and be done with this. I cross the street. So does he. I walk into my building. So does he.
"Fuck," I think, "He works in this building."
I stop dead in the middle of the lobby - ostensibly to kick the snow off my boots (which I had already done once in the vestibule). Really it's because I want this guy away from me. I'm quite twitchy at this point.
"Hi," he says, "I just wanted to tell you I think your hat is fabulous. Where did you get it?"
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK
Mentally, I'm thinking "Don't talk to me you creep". Outwardly, I say "I got it at a tourist shop in Banff."
He accepts that and proceeds up the stairs, showing that he's not only in my building, he's also on my floor!
Note to self: Don't pace women you don't know or strike up conversations with them - it's creepy.
When I left the oval, there was a middle-aged guy (receding hairline, bit of a paunch, generally square in a middle-manager sort of way. He looked a little too much like me for comfort) leaving at the same time. He hadn't been running, but was carrying a pair of skates, so obviously he had been skating.
He veered off to do something else and I went to pick up my comic books and some lunch. We intercepted each other on the path back to my office.
He was walking slower then I, so I quickly overtook him. The sun was low in the sky and behind us, so our shadows were long and ahead of us. When I passed him I could use the shadows to guage our relative distances from each other. He was about five yards behind me when I noticed that I was no longer increasing the distance between us. He had picked up his pace so that it was even with mine.
This is a minor irritant for me because I have trouble editing out things in my immediate vicinity. My spatial sense needs to expend additional energy to keep track of the person pacing me. It's like when you realize there's someone in your blind-spot while driving. You have to pay attention to the idiot driver that will neither pass nor fall back in addition to all the other things you need to keep track of while driving. The same thing happening while walking is not quite so irritating, but only because the consequences of screwing up are reduced.
So there's this guy following me and he's embedded himself into my spatial awareness like a pebble in my shoe. Normally when I realize this is happening I speed up. I've got a helluva set of legs under me and not many people can keep up with me for long if I start power walking.
So I speed up. And so does he.
"Geez," I think, "Is this guy staring at my ass or something?".
My ass is pretty nice BTW.
So I speed up to maximum for the local conditions. Sadly this is not my maximum due to two things:
- I just ran 6k, so I was still fatigued.
- Nobody in Research Park knows how to shovel snow.
Finally, after two blocks, I'm nearing my work building. Excellent, I can veer off and be done with this. I cross the street. So does he. I walk into my building. So does he.
"Fuck," I think, "He works in this building."
I stop dead in the middle of the lobby - ostensibly to kick the snow off my boots (which I had already done once in the vestibule). Really it's because I want this guy away from me. I'm quite twitchy at this point.
"Hi," he says, "I just wanted to tell you I think your hat is fabulous. Where did you get it?"
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK
Mentally, I'm thinking "Don't talk to me you creep". Outwardly, I say "I got it at a tourist shop in Banff."
He accepts that and proceeds up the stairs, showing that he's not only in my building, he's also on my floor!
Note to self: Don't pace women you don't know or strike up conversations with them - it's creepy.
