A dear runner-friend came to visit me in Virginia Beach last weekend. We ate seafood nachos, drank wine out of a box at the beach and generally enjoyed a relaxed weekend during which our plans revolved not around a road race, but … well, things like drinking wine out of a box on the beach. We were also reminded over and over again that even in the midst of a weekend like this, we were still, as the guy we rented stand-up paddleboards put it, “health nuts.” Some examples:
3 p.m. Saturday, on the beach:
Me: I’m gonna go for a little swim. I’ll go to the end of that beach and back, and it should take me about half an hour.
Friend, without looking up from her book: OK. Have fun.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, at my favorite seafood restaurant, after splitting seafood nachos:
Me: Do you want to get the giant cookie in the skillet for dessert, or go home and eat blackberries for dessert?
Friend: Either’s good with me.
Me: Me, too. (Pause). If we go home, we can watch the Olympic swim trials.
(We get up and leave).
10 a.m. Sunday, with the guy we rented SUP boards from, after he asked what we did for work, and we told him I write health, fitness, travel and outdoors stories, and my friend is a registered dietitian.
Him: How did you guys meet?
Me: We’re in the same running group. She’s here visiting for the weekend.
Him: Cool! (Pause). Well, you’re obviously health nuts who are in pretty good shape, so you should pick this up pretty quickly.
How do your “health nut” tendencies creep into your everyday life?
Amy Reinink 
I’ve always taken the term “health nut” a bit sorely. I’ve never felt like my health and fitness choices were overzealous even though others seem to think so. At some point in my early teens I decided I wanted to live the most fulfilling and joyous life possible and I knew I wasn’t going to get there by kicking back oversized hamburgers washed down by a two liter of coca cola a day on my couch. So now, when I tell my friends and family about the next long hike I’m planning, or the mouth watering grilled salmon with home made pico de gallo I ate for dinner, their health nut remarks are just as confusing to me as my lifestyle is to them.
I love this post! I love the blackberries and swim trials one! Maybe I’ll do a similar post as I am sure there are some real zingers that we come up with… Too funny!
I love the Oly Trials justification! I’d do that too 🙂