Hodge podge day

The day started innocently enough with me writing a quick note (with questions) to the two women who ran from Boston to LA in 1984 (read "In the Long Run" by Annabel Marsh), and running said letter to buddy AndyE's house for him to hand-deliver to the two women who happen to be personal friends of his. They would all be rendezvousing in Colorado Springs later today. It just so happened the AndyE was about to head out for his run when I arrived at his house, so we managed to get a lovely morning run in together.

The next event of the day was a multi-stick blood draw for some routine blood work (I've got low iron that my doc likes to keep an eye on). The regular guy, who knows my sneaky veins well, wasn't there today. A couple of frustrated phlebotomists later I mosied on out of there sporting a Bugs Bunny bandaid on one arm and a Tazmanian Devil bandaid on the other. Nifty!

Most of the rest of the day was spent clearing out work e-mail and doing miscellaneous chores until running buddy Joe showed up at my house to run to Boot Camp. That's when the fun really began. First the three mile uphill run to Boot Camp. Then the usual warmup. Then lunges, and sprints, and leg ups, and squats, and relay sprints, and one-legged squats, and side lunges, and leg lifts, and just about anything you can think of to make one's glutes and quads howl at the moon. The leg ups (or whatever they're called with one leg on a bench then lift yourself up and balance on that one leg) seemed tougher than usual. Maybe a reflection of high mileage and tired legs? But the good news is that the shuttle relay (sprint out, touch/turn, sprint back, touch/turn, sprint out twice as far, touch/turn, sprint back) actually felt easier than usual...I seemed a bit more nimble with the touch/turn bit. And, of course, at the end of the hour, Joe and I got to run our creeky hips and screaming glutes 3 miles downhill home. We surely do know how to have a good time!

After Joe left, I hopped in the shower and turned on the cold water for my usual cold spray-down of my legs. This night, tho', I steeled myself and went north of the quads for the first time. Nippy! But, oh, my glutes were thankful!