Almost Embarrassed

Monday evening's crowd consisted of Alan, Sarah, Amy, Renee, Gene, Igor and myself.  The coach's desk above was the cleanest that Alan or I had seen it in awhile.  "Barry must have did it," I said.  "Just as well, because most of the stuff was his," Alan said.  He found a big picture featuring Barry and Gary when they were younger.  In the photo, Barry has a full head of hair.  These days, Barry keeps his head bald.  "Barry should have put this up somewhere.  This is a classic photo," Alan commented before he found a spot in the gym for it.

Of course, Igor did not spar twelve rounds as he promised.  He stuck around for a little bit to watch Gene and I spar, but he left earlier than usual.  Gene and I did three rounds and a half.  He moves quickly, and after awhile, I couldn't find the strength to catch up with him.  Gene ducks punches very quickly.  I get trying to get hooks in, and I was not successful most of the time.  I'm beginning to rely too much on hooks, I think, instead of putting extra time in to make sure I'm doing the straight punches correctly.  Gene kept dropping his right hand.  In between a round, Alan told him, "I wish I could spar, because I'd get you for that.  Keep that hand up to your head like Velcro."

Sarah was in next with Gene. I felt Sarah and Gene were a good match because they both have long reaches.  "Don't take any of your gear off because you're going back in," Alan told me.  A hot flash was making my head feel very hot, but I left the headgear on.  After standing in front of the fan for a moment, the heat went down a little.  Their time ended early when debris from Sarah's gloves got behind one of Gene's contact lenses. 

Sarah and I had sort of a war going on, but it didn't go as far as it could.  I was too busy worrying about my shorts falling down.  Maybe that's a sign that I'm losing weight.  I haven't been eating out nearly as much as I used to do, and I've been cooking -- more or less -- at home.  The shorts kept slipping, and I thought I was going to be showing that day's panties for real.  I asked Alan a couple of times to pull them up, as I couldn't because of the gloves on my hands.  He laughed, "Hillari, you're showing a prison move."  I guess if they had fallen, I would have just had to be embarrassed. 

After the sparring, Alan ran drills with Gene, partially to make sure that Gene keeps his hands up.  I noticed that Gene was dropping his right hand a lot, but I couldn't capitalize on it while we were sparring. 

I sat down for a couple of rounds while the two men were in the ring.  Sarah (seen in the background of this photo with her sister Amy exercising with a medicine ball) hit me in the face with a jab.  I felt the sting and kept going, as usual.  But when I sat down, the delayed reaction set in.  "I was stunned by that punch," I thought, as I felt a little dizzy.  I closed my eyes a few times as I leaned back against the lockers.  I heard Alan tell Sarah that she should come in more with straight punches and use her arm reach.  If she does that, she'll have no problem with an opponent during the upcoming boxing show.

Antoine, who usually trains with Barry, came in for a minute.  "Who's fighting in the boxing show?" he asked.  "Sarah and I plan to get fights, but I don't know about the guys.  Most of them haven't been in for awhile," I answered.  Time is getting short.  Sarah and Amy commented that there were only two weeks left before that show takes place. 

Alan told me that the other night he had Neapolitan sherbet -- a whole tub -- followed by a couple of small cups of Italian ice.  "That was dinner," he smiled.  "I wish I could eat all of that sugary stuff on a regular basis like I used to do," I sighed.  I've cut down eating out to once on the weekends.  I wanted to get some ice cream, but I didn't get around to it.  Then Alan told me he'd gone to Superdawg for a couple of their very delicious hot dogs.  "Now you've got me thinking about that!  I'll have to take a trip up there this weekend," I said.  That place is a long haul from the house on public transportation.  It's up near the northwestern suburbs. But the food is worth the trip.

Alan was working out with his kettle bell again.  I keep thinking about the ones I have, and how I need to use them.  Laziness about exercising outside of the gym is a battle I fight all the time.