TheBanyanTree: clean sweat

[Sachet]

I really didn't think that I liked to sweat.

Recently I've discovered that there is indeed a difference between icky 
sweat and clean sweet. Icky sweat is pretty much self-explanatory. It 
covers your body as a sticky coating when you are in suffocatingly hot 
and humid conditions that you can't escape, but must miserably endure. 
AKA Florida in the summer.

I spend a lot of my free time hiking in the mountains. I swam laps in 
Florida to keep in shape and gloried in slicing through the clear cool 
water of a beautiful blue pool or the buoyant waves of the Gulf of 
Mexico. But here the mountains are my refuge, source of energy and 
magical place of utter relaxation. Sadly, the summer makes it too hot to 
hike in my nearby mountains, and driving to even higher elevations is 
not feasible on weeknights. After trying this and that, I finally 
concluded that I would have to join the local Y. I honestly thought it 
would be something that I would end up having to tolerate in order to 
maintain my endurance levels so that I can hike to my hearts content 
once the cooler weather blows in.

Who knew I'd enjoy sweating?

In the wonderfully chilly workout room, with a large open atmosphere, 
and the additional consideration of ceiling fans creating refreshing 
swirls of cold air the sweat builds slowly. First it beads up at my 
temples which means it's time to put my hair up in a pony tail so that 
my neck can feel the contrast of warm droplets of sweat trickling down 
my shoulders as the cool air brushes past, causing little shivers of 
unexpected pleasure.

Next I feel the droplets gather at my collar bone before they trail 
down, finding a pathway to my stomach, slowly but surely in rapidly 
flowing succession. After about 15-20 minutes the constant trickles of 
sweat running down my tummy tickle a lot as they saturate my waistband.


It's intriguing because my arms and legs are cool and dry, and my face a 
bit misty with that unique feeling of having pushed my body far enough 
to have the endorphins flooding my system in an intense cascade. The 
natural high stays with me as I hop up the stairs to cool down walking 
around the track. Initially at a fast pace, gradually slowing down by 
the time I reach half a mile, until I evenly shorten my stride and let 
my pace decrease enough to head back down the stairs on my way to the pool.

It's always a toss-up where to immerse myself first - the crisp cold 
water of the pool or the hot bubbling water of the hot tub. Tonight I 
chose the hot tub and that endorphin-induced sense of relaxation 
intensified as the jets massaged any aching muscles into submission. 
Thankfully, there is a 10-15 time limit for relaxing in the spa since 
the water is so incredibly hot, otherwise I could easily drift off to sleep.

A quick dip in the pool just to feel the contrasting coolness enhances 
the newly addictive experience of learning to enjoy clean sweat.



.....Sachet