Is it the Ponytail!?!

Ok, this has happened to me twice now; I have mentioned before that I like to run. However, apparently after I run I am completely unrecognizable to people from my office...

Incident #1: I am staring aimlessly at the milk/yogurt section of my neighborhood Piggly Wiggly (post-gym: hair up, shorts, tennis shoes, etc.) I sense that someone else is now equally as lost in the dairy section and turn around to discover that the person standing behind me is one of the men from my office...

Me: HEY! (I say it this enthusiastically because I recognize this person)
Co-Worker: Hey...? (They say it this way because I am now the crazy girl greeting people in the grocery store)
Me: [It has now dawned on me that this person, for at least a second, didn't know who I was, self-esteem is now plummeting...] How are ya?
Co-Worker: I need fat free half and half.
(They grab this off the shelf)
Me: Check!
Co-Worker: What?
Me: You know, "check", like you are checking it off the list? (I make the motion of a check with my hand, in hindsight, this was too much)...[Bye dignity]
Co-Worker: Oh yea...Ha. [Walking away]
Me: Bye! See you tomorrow!
Co-Worker: [Already in the check-out line...]

Mary, STOP TALKING.

Incident #2: Waiting in the line for the water fountain at the gym sandwiched between two body builders. Gulp down some water because I know people are waiting in line behind me, turn around smack into another co-worker...

Me: Hey there!
Co-Worker:...[Long pause] Hey...whats up?
Me: ("Whats up?" by the way, is clearly what you say when you have no idea who someone is) Oh nothing, just waiting on my roommate to get done with her workout class.
Co-Worker: Cool [Walks off]

I didn't even have time to make a weird, uncomfortable joke. My roommates insist my "co-workers" don't recognize me because I wear my hair up when I run and I wear it down to work everyday. I have a hard time believing that it is just the ponytail that makes my co-workers, people I see 5 days a week, multiple times a day, look at me like I just landed from another planet. Oh well, thanks for reading!

Mary