The One About Push-ups in the Ghetto

It was a baroque setting this morning as the lone street light shone down on the asphalt parking lot. My current running gear happens to be a dark grey hoodie with black running pants. My face and the dimly lit snow were barely brighter than the shadows. I'm jamming to Ingrid Michaelson's Starting Now on the i-pod, and I had just finished my run. To be fair there isn't a ghetto in Rochester. There are a few neighborhoods you don't want to be in around 2 am on week-ends, but at 5 am on a Friday morning, it's pretty safe anywhere you go. I was doing push-ups as part of my cool down, walk a lap around the parking lot, stop at the street light and push out 10, then walk another lap. I was high, I just ran a mile in way below freezing weather, this song has a great bass line and the lyrics are empowering. The contrast of the yellow light against the dark parking lot and my dark clothes reminded me of a dozen paintings. I was jamming out in my head and I just popped up from my second set of push-ups and I had to move my arms anyway and I was caught up in the music and I couldn't see anything outside of my street light, so I started flailing my arms in what my body considers dance. It didn't last long, a couple of measures of the song, then I was focused on my next set of push-ups when I hear a faint voice, "Hey!" I look around, my eyes struggling to focus on anything more than 10 feet away and I hear "Hey, can I have some?" I focus on a car sitting on the street next to the parking lot with a couple of guys smoking in their car. I pulled a headphone off and looked at them sideways, "Have some of what?" The guy in the passenger seat moved his arms up and down like a very bad air drummer, sort of did a head banger motion with his eyes shut tightly. I thought to myself, "this guy looks like an idiot, what is he doing?" and I started walking the other way. It took me about that long to realize that he was mocking me. Runner's high was immediately replaced with embarrassment as I walked away. I put my headphone back in, did another set of pushups just as the chorus was picking up steam and as I walked away from the final lap in the parking lot I was back in the moment, arms pumping, eyes tightly shut, head bobbing to the beat. I might have even hopped up and down a couple of times.