I came an inch from losing it on a girl at the gym tonight, seriously. I don't consider myself an exceptionally nice person but being that I'm a visitor here in the Philippines I've been trying to be on my extra good behaviour so when I saw this girl tonight, at the gym, I tried my hardest not to snap.
Here's the scene:
I had just unraveled the battle ropes at the gym and had them stretched out, with my hands grasping the ends. I was ready to train. But then along came this particular girl. The battle ropes are way too long for the spot the gym has designated for them so I thought I'd be nice and wait for her to pass by me before I started. She took her pretty time. I let that roll but then when she grabbed her friend and insisted they take selfies by the mirror, intruding on the space for the battle ropes, that's when I turned and looked away. There they stood, posing and readjusting their clothes right where I was training. I had two choices, either continue training and risk smacking those girls with the ropes or not train (and risk me smacking those girls with my fists).
I wear earphones at the gym because I don't particularly like being interrupted and when I get in the zone and am working up a sweat, trust me, you don't want to interrupt me. It's like dealing with hangry me but on a whole other level.
I dropped the ropes and turned to roll my eyes but there behind me was a particular Filipino cutie. He had seen the whole thing go down and stood there laughing because he knew my frustration. He suggested I just continue training, snap those ropes hard and let those girls know what they're doing isn't cool, but I couldn't bring myself to do so.
But then I could and with that I grabbed the two ends of the rope and snapped them hard repetively. At one point the girls went to step over my rope. They looked at me as if to say I should stop or at least calm down but that only fuelled me more. I went even harder.
I ended my training today by going up to that Filipino cutie and telling him, "I hope to never become one of those girls". He giggled and added "I wouldn't like you if you did!"
I'm all for taking gym photos and being proud of your progress, having fun with training hard, but none of that should inconvience others training. That's just rude. Tonight that girl and her friend were just rude. They knew it, the gym cutie knew it, I knew it, and I'm sure all others watching knew it too.
But enough of that. My day was pretty awesome and although this is how it ended it's not how I want to remember my day.
How do I want to remember my day? Good question.
I'll remember it as the day my business mentor showed up at Elorde Boxing Club to talk to my coach and watch me train. It was a bit intimidating but I was flattered he wanted to come see me box. I joked with him after and asked if he wanted to join me in boxing one day and he said it'd kill him. "But you're a professional athlete" was his comeback when I told him that I could handle it. It seems to be his continual go-to answer these days for whenever I mention about the use and abuse my body is getting at training and the hours I'm putting in the gym and at the boxing club.
He used to complain to me that my standards and expectations I have for myself, as a professional athlete and boxing club owner, were too high and yet here he is in the Philippines reinforcing only what I proclaimed before. I'm not the average person so my standards and expectations should be higher. This IS my job but this is also who I am. I am an athlete.
Training at boxing was then accompanied with a jump in the pool when I returned to the condo. That jump was also accompanied by me yelling. It was so cold in the pool!!! I did maybe a few laps and then I was out.
"No matter how cold this pool is it's not as cold as Canada so I'm happy", I said.
In the afternoon I was thrilled to be jumping on the back of a jeepney and heading off to the Farmer's Market -- a massive open market on the other side of town where you can buy and bargain for any and every fruit and veggie known to mankind. I bought pretty much my weight in fruits and veggies for roughly $17.
As for what a jeepney is, it's a cheaper version of a bus. It's kind of like a truck that you jump in via the opening in the back and then you sit on one of two long benches that line the truck. It only costs 8Php which is about twenty-two cents Canadian. The jeepneys have their designated routes, a loop that they travel, and you can tell where each jeepney is going because it's written on the side of their bus and plus they have a sign in their front window. Jeepneys are pretty awesome, definitely a cool way to experience the Philippines, and for less than a dollar Canadian the two of us traveled to the market and back, a 20min commute one way. Beat that Uber... Never mind Uber, beat that TTC!!!
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