Dear In The Headlights

When I talked on the phone to a woman I met on a dating site, I told her I really like hiking, and she said she did, too, so I made our first date a hike. It was a really easy hike, but she complained the whole time, wore the wrong shoes, and lagged behind. She finally admitted that she never hikes. It isn't the first time this has happened. Why do women say they like hiking when they hate it and never do it?

--Just Be Honest

Okay, so this woman's idea of an invigorating nature trek is cutting across a grassy median to get to a shoe sale. Hiking is so easy to like in the abstract, on the phone -- especially when you like hiking and the woman wants you to like her. She may even picture herself hiking -- up a fake rock in Chanel shorts at a Vogue photo shoot -- and believe that she could be into it. And then, when she feels a twinge of guilt for telling a fibby, she probably tells herself that once you fall for her, you'll realize it's a small price to pay that her feet don't take kindly to parting company with pavement. The bottom line for you? Assume that anyone you meet -- especially on the Internet -- is lying about absolutely everything until proven otherwise. (Yeah, of course she enjoys seeing birds in formation -- in valu-paks at the grocery store.)