"She's Got Hands!"

Paul stopped into the gym yesterday.  He comes around from time to time to talk to Alan, talk to me, and comment on what he observes in the gym.  Usually, he's there for a few minutes then he goes.  This time, he stayed the entire time.  Alan challenged Paul to hit one of the heavy bags.  We all cheered Paul on when he wanted to give up punching the bag after a few moments.  Paul was tired after one round.  "See?  It's not as easy as it looks," Alan smiled. 

Reggie returned to the gym, and he sparred with Jacob.  He had won his preliminary match in the Golden Gloves a couple of months ago, but was beaten during the semi-finals.  The guy who won went on to win the championship in that weight class.  "I could have won that fight if I had been able to get a week's rest beforehand.  The guy I fought was well rested because he had a couple of weeks off before he got to me," Reggie said.  He and Jacob worked well together as sparring partners.

Sarah didn't come in again, so Jacob and I went two and a half rounds (we started in the middle of the first round).  Paul was impressed.  "That guy has to be at least six feet or six foot one, but you were handling him!" he smiled at me.  Ray, who was sitting nearby, commented, "She's got hands, believe that!"  Jacob told me, "You got me good with one body shot."  I was mostly doing all body shots, because it was easier than trying to reach for his head and face.  Jacob got me good in the upper lip during the third round.  That punch proved to me the importance of keeping my mouth closed while boxing and wearing a mouthpiece.  Adult teeth don't grow back if they get knocked out, you know.

Alan got in next with Jacob.  The video above only shows the first of the three rounds they did.  You may be wondering why there aren't more pictures and/or videos of me sparring.  It doesn't occur to me to ask someone to videotape or snap photos half the time when I'm in the gym.  Alan would be the most logical person to ask to do that, but he has to pay attention enough to the action to give instructions.  That's kind of hard to do if one is holding a camera. 

Oscar came back to the gym, and brought a friend of his along. The plan was for me to spar with him, but he told Alan, "My conditioning isn't that good right now," so that was that. 

The gym is going to enter another "no man's land zone" as Alan calls the period between one session ending and other starting.  Spring session ends June 1st, and the summer session begins on June 13th.  Summer usually means low attendance as well.  People don't want to be in a hot, sweltering gym when it's nice outside.  Well, some people don't. 

Speaking of heat, it was early in the evening when I turned the fan on in the gym.  It was not warm outside, as it had rained all day, and the temperature was cool.  It wasn't stuffy in the gym.  I felt sweat on my face, and I had hardly started my workout.  I was wiping my face, and Alan asked, "Are you okay?"  "It's either hot in here, or I'm having hot flashes," I answered.  None of the guys agreed that the temperature in the room was up.  "I must be having a hot flash," I concluded, and the guys chuckled.