Gag Reflex

And before all you dirty birds out there get all excited, NO I'm not talking about anything like that...

I don't know why but I have this uncontrollable gag reflex when it comes to sweat & spit (and again, get your minds out of the gutter). Whenever I'm at spin and some dude near me is sweating all over the floor, making a nice puddle of juice under his bike it completely grosses me out. Some of you have posted lately about this, and I have seen it in my own classes, but it's just so disgusting to me. As much as I try to stop it, the gag reflex takes over & I seriously have to focus on other things, look away, etc. There are a few guys who will put a towel on the floor under the bike, and this - to me - is okay. I keep a couple of towels handy to wipe my face & arms so that I don't drip on the floor. Why can't others do this, too? Perhaps the puddle-makers are simply gauging their effort/success by how much they are sweating on the floor? I'm not sure. But this guy yesterday was literally holding out his hands/arms and watching the sweat drip to the floor. Then he would shake his hands & sweat would fly everywhere. Aaack! Almost makes me gag just thinking about it. Someone (Fitty? Panther?) was sweating on me during a long run a couple of weeks ago & I almost started gagging then, too.

During the Nike run, some guy spit on me. He was hacking up a nice one & turned his head & wham! Right on my leg. I suggested to him that he watch where he spits & he was embarrassed, but I was really having a hard time not thinking about the nugget stuck to my leg. Aaack!

I remember in grade school that as the first bell rang & everyone shuttled off to class some kid had barfed on the floor up ahead. Of course, everyone was talking about it, and sure enough, I stepped in it & did a little slide. I remember EXACTLY what it looked like: creamed corn with chunks of ham. Needless to say, I gagged all the way to class & then vomited myself. This, as luck would have it, was a ticket to the nurse's office & a parent pick-up. I was out of school for a week because I couldn't get the image of that kid's vomit out of my head & kept throwing up. Sheesh!

So, what is this all about anyway? Perhaps some people just have a hypersensitive gag reflex for things like this. I have no idea. But it completey annoys me that I seem to have very little control over it.