Static Electricity
You know when you go to touch something metal, like a door knob, and you get a shock that hurts a little? That's called static electricity. Or when pull a sweatshirt off over your head, walk across a carpeted room to greet your little kids, go to kiss them and you both get what feels like a knife in the face. Static Electricity. I don't care how it's created, all I know is it hurts.
So early this morning I got up in my hotel, in Reno, more on that later, and decided at 5AM to go for a run. I like to run in the mornings because I feel more refreshed and my legs feel stronger. Plus my body is still on the best time zone in the US, east coast time, so I was pretty awake by 4AM.
I walked down to the fitness room, turned the TV on, get on the treadmill, and started the sucker up. I walk for about a minute then reached down to increase the speed to run, and...WHACK!!! HUGE static electricity shock. Giant shock. It hurt like hell.
So I figure, ok, it's like getting a shot at the doctor, its over. I got it out of the way. No more static electricity on Dave. My electricity has been transferred to the treadmill.
I ran for about a minute and reached down to turn the pace higher, and WHACK!! Just as bad as the first time. This is like shock treatment for runners. Cruel and unusually punishment for wanting to lose weight.
I run for 10 more seconds and WHACK!!! Mother (expletive deleted), it happened again. What the crab juice is going on here?
I go to turn it off a few seconds later and WHACK!!! I actually screamed out in pain a little. No joke, it was like that experiment years ago when an unsuspecting person thought they were giving electrical shock to someone on the other side of a wall who answered questions wrong. Only this time it was not an actor pretending to get shocked, I was going through actual treatment. It was like reverse shock treatment to stop smoking. I take a step on the treadmill and WHACK!!! No more running for Dave. I keep running, I get hurt.
So I said to myself, Dave, you are up, you are here, go for a run. Then I remembered a trick my father told me when I was a kid. If you hold a car key out and touch the key to something metal, it will absorb the charge, you will actually see the light from the shock, but you will not get hurt.
So I walked down, touched the doorknob to the fitness center, WHACK, and walked down the hall to the elevator. I was almost crying from the cruel punishment the Hampton Inn and Suites in Reno was giving me for running. Shame on me, just get a donut from the breakfast nook and forget running. I bet the donuts don't hurt.
I went to me my room, got the keys to my rental car, and went back to the fitness room. I turned the machine on, started to run, and decided to check it out. As soon as I grabbed the rubber part of the keys, WHACK!! Hurt like hell. And the same thing kept happening. For some reason, the power of evil in the room was stronger than the key trick and it didn't help. Static electricity and the Hilton Corp, you have won. I gave up. But I told myself I would be back.
Walking back to the elevator in shame, I saw a night manager behind the desk. I asked him about it and he said "Oh, yeah, we have had that problem for a long time. We have had people come out and they say it is because of the moisture in the air. They said there is nothing to do about it. We changed the belts on the treadmills and everything."
So basically, he said that unless you are some sick masochist who is a runner, then head outside and take your chances with traffic.
I have to admit that in all my years of staying in hotels, this was the first time static electricity has kept me from working out. Usually Iits "I'm too tired".
Thought I'd share.