That Familiar Smell

Carolyn opened the gym up last night, and the funk of the place hit me in the nose.  I hadn't noticed it for a long time.  I've mentioned here before that I've become immune to the smell because I've been training there for so long.  I was happy to open my locker and experience the scent of the air freshener I had placed inside it. 

Sarah didn't come in last night, but her sister Amy was there.  Alan suggested that she move around in the gym with me, but that was a no-go.  "My sister said if I spar without her being here, she would kill me," Amy smiled.  Since Sarah was out, I ended up sparring with Jacob.

I took a pop to my right eye, thinking that if there was a little more power behind Jacob's punch, my eye would have been closed for awhile.  Did I mention that Jacob is 28 years old?  There were bursts of action where I would get in hooks to his mid-section and some dead on jabs to his face.  But I was sluggish; a couple of hours before, I took some allergy medicine.  My sinuses had been bothering me all day.  I didn't want to take the pills, but I was tired of sniffling.  Unfortunately, the brand of pills I have make me very tired. 

Alan got into the ring with Jacob next, but he was unsure of how much his sore shoulder was going to take.  "Don't throw any overhand rights," I suggested.  He didn't, but he got Jacob during the second round by bringing his left hand up and under the younger man's chin.  "What kind of punch was that?" I asked Alan in-between rounds.  "I used that all the time when I competed as a young man.  It doesn't hurt the other guy, it just makes them mad," he explained.

Colonel and Ray were at the gym last night, too.  I learned that Ray works two jobs and is going to barber school.  He plans to teach others how to cut and style hair when he graduates. 

Colonel, a Vietnam War veteran, was complaining about his aches and pains.  His hip was really acting up.  "Maybe you shouldn't be here tonight," Alan said, which is something he's told me a few times when I've shown up injured.  "I could be in pain at home or in pain here," Colonel said.  Alan joked about Colonel not being able to get around being 64 years of age, regardless of how much he exercises.  Colonel insisted that it is better for him to work out than to sit down somewhere.  I feel the same way.  I might not be in any less pain afterwards, but moving around is better than atrophying.