The AARP Boxer

Oscar and I sparred, and at one point, Oscar was encouraging me to come at him.  I missed most of the hooks I threw, but I did get several body shots in.  We actually did three rounds and a half;  we started in the middle of a round, then Alan reset the bell so we'd start again from the beginning.  Oscar hit me in the mouth, which made me very happy that I a) remembered to keep my mouth clothes, and b) there are such things as mouthpieces.  In the middle of the second round, the thought "what in the hell am I doing?" went through my head.  I was dead tired when the rounds were over.  I've been slacking off on exercise outside of the gym, and it showed.

Ray told Reggie the same thing in-between the rounds of sparring they had.  "You've got to run more, man.  That's why the wind is gone," he said.  Both men were crouched down next to the ropes catching their breaths.  The two of them are young enough to go running.  My knees won't allow me to run for the buses, let alone run for exercise.  It bothers me that I can't run as well as used to do.

Colonel brought in his collection of dusties again, along with Leon's iPod.  Leon had asked Colonel to put some songs on it, but the big man didn't come in Wednesday night.  Colonel gave me the iPod to hold on to, because Colonel was going in for hip replacement surgery the next day.  I took it home because I didn't feel sure about leaving it in my locker.  Colonel was shaking his head at all the rap Leon already had on the iPod; so was I when I listened to the device later that evening.  It was all Li'l Wayne, Kanye, and a bunch of other current rappers whose talent is questionable.  Colonel did good by putting a lot of old school stuff on there.

Ray brought Colette in with him.  While sparring with Jacob (whose thumb is still hurting, too), Ray bumped his thumb again.  Both Colette and I went, "Ooh!" as Ray's hand connected with Jacob.  He had to stop for a moment.  "That really hurts," he said to Collete and I. Amazing how something so small can cause so much pain when it's injured.

"I can apply for AARP next week," I told Ray.  He gave me a quizzical look.  "No, seriously. . .as of my birthday next Thursday, I'll be eligible to be a member of AARP," I continued.  Ray and Reggie gave me high fives, and Jacob nodded in approval.  "For real?  Damn. . .and you're always in the ring for three rounds with people?  Wow, that just made me feel real old," he said.  Ray is in his late 30's; Reggie is about 27 years old.  Ray said to the coach, "So, Alan, you're about 50, right?"  Alan grinned and said, "Bless you."