The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Hey folks, this weekend was a real trifecta as far as quality goes. There were good things, there were bad things, and there were ugly things...

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The Good

On Friday night my running group had a private Spinning class at a local gym. For the low, low price of $2 each we got to have our asses handed to us for an hour straight. For many of us, this was our maiden voyage into the world of Spinning classes, and it proved to be quite the exciting time.

At 6:00 we were all huddled at the entrance signing waivers. Most of us are not members of that gym (or any gym for that matter) but they allowed us to come in to take this class as a special favor to the woman who set it all up. The class started at 6:00, but the general rule for our group runs is that there's always a 10 minute buffer in case someone's running late. We assumed this was true for the Spinning class, which it was not. The class was supposed to START at 6:00, but we all got there at 6:00, had to check in, change, warm up, etc. Fortunately it was a laid back crowd, so nobody minded.

As far as Spinning classes go, I can't comment on the relative quality of it since it was my first time. I can say that it was a hard 60 minutes and I was amply tired afterwards. Not too tired to sit in the sauna for 20 minutes, but pretty tired.

After the class (and subsequent sauna visit), we headed next door to Spice for dinner. They have three different eating venues with very different menus and pricing schemes. We opted for Medium Spice, which was still rather steep but the food was good and we had a good time.

On Saturday I was scheduled to usher at The Colonial Theater for a Creole Jazz Serenaders show. I wasn't sure what to expect, but with Jazz in the name it was bound to be at least tolerable. With the exception of the freezing cold job I had (standing in the unheatedest corner of the building waiting to push a button) and the freezing cold seat I had (why was cold air blowing on me the whole time?), the show was great.

They played for about 2 hours, mixing in songs that highlighted the various influences in New Orleans' music. The musicians were tight and played extremely well together. I could have used some accordion or possibly a cow-bell, but they had an upright bass, and I love me some upright bass.

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The Bad

After the Spinning class and following dinner, I went home and first-things-first, plunked my ass on the couch and petted the cats. Apparently while doing so, the weight of Vinny on my legs combined with having my feet up on the arm rest caused me to hyper-extend my right knee. Yes, I hyper-extended my knee while laying on a couch, petting a cat.

Saturday I went for a run, hoping I would just run it off after a few miles but that did not happen. It didn't get any worse, but it certainly didn't get any better. I had already planned on running the Superbowl spread in miles (12 pt spread = 12 miles) on Sunday morning, but I had to bag that because of the knee. I couldn't put on or take off socks, tie my shoes, lean over or anything without major discomfort.

Damn it! First the shin splints for a week, then the cold for a week, now a freaking hyper-extended knee from laying on the damn couch! The anti-running gods are laughing at me from on high.

What I can say though, is that the core workout from Bicycling magazine has been doing wonders in keeping me positive. It involves some stretching, which seemed to help the leg (how can you stretch out something that's injured due to over-stretching?). I'll probably ease into a run tonight to test the proverbial waters, and reassume my full-blown training regimen if all goes well.

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The Ugly

The Patriots sucked ass last night. End of story. Congrats to the NY Football Giants, you deserved to win that game.

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Over and Out,
Old Coot