Training Before Hamlin

When Rich got there, he commented, "I bet a lot of people don't come in tonight."  "Every time it rains, most people don't come in," I said.  But it wasn't a bad crowd.  Colonel, Kenny, Tommy, Franco, Matt, Owen, Maria, Amy, and Andres were in attendance. 

I wasn't feeling well while on my way to the gym.  When I got there, I sat down on one of the stools for awhile.  Have no idea why I wasn't feeling well -- again.  To an extent, I've given up trying to figure it out.  After awhile, I felt better and got up on my feet to train. 

Alan was running late due to a meeting he had at work.  When he got there, I told him, "I'm docking your pay", and he grinned.  Kenny had already ran some drills with Rich before Alan got there.  Later, Kenny would run some drills with me, showing me how to slip punches.  "When you slip to the right to avoid their jab, you can come in with a hook to their side.  Really throw that (beep) when you get to their side!" he told me. 

Rich was happy that Andres came in so they could get some more sparring work in.  Andres is about 280 pounds now, and Rich is about 220 pounds.  Rich gave up a bit of weight to Andres, but he was able to get in some good combinations from what I saw of their sparring.

I sparred with Andres later and got him a few times with some hooks.  "Good one," he'd say each time I caught him.  For some reason, I had big time energy while I was in the ring with him.  I felt that I was moving a lot better, too.  Usually, I plant myself in one spot and throw punches, giving the other person all kinds of opportunities to crack me upside my head.  But this time, I moved after throwing most of my punches.  During the last round, Andre backed against the ropes and allowed me to just whale on him. 

This past Monday, when I told Adam I was going to fight Edith again at Hamlin Park, he said, "Oh, you can take her easily."  It may not be so easy.  I've been thinking about what Alan told me -- that Bill told Edith to be more aggressive.  Then there's the matter of that 33 year age difference.  I told Pastor Roger, Paulette, Olga and Ken that I was fighting Edith again.  Ken always finds it amusing that I'm willing to take on bouts.  Paulette and Olga groaned, and as usual, the pastor didn't say much, but he shook his head. 

I saw JJ when Ken and Paulette and myself went to Home Depot to pick up some stuff for church.  We got traps for the mice we've seen running in some rooms, and a new handle had to brought for the men's toilet.  Someone broke the previous handle and left it laying on the toilet.  JJ and I didn't have much chance to talk because he had customers, but we hugged and said hello.

Franco told me that he would like to get a fight at some point, but he mainly wants to do it for fun.  He wanted to know what it's like to do the Chicago Park District boxing shows.  "Do some people take it very serious?  Have you gotten hurt badly?" he asked.  I explained that some do go into the ring with a definite killer instinct, but there are a lot who just do it for fun.  The fight where I was hurt the most had to be the second fight I had with Meg.  It happened not too long after our first fight, and I remember feeling the effects for what seemed like weeks.  I don't want to feel like that after the next fight with Edith, so I'd better be moving a lot around the ring to avoid that.