Ok, I know this is a weird picture that I posted today…It’s the crook of my arm. It all started in 1993, when I went for my annual physical checkup. The doctor wanted to draw blood but couldn’t see any of my veins. After the 3rd attempt and me slowly starting to fade, he finally found a vein to draw blood... In 1999, I decided to donate blood at a blood drive at college. They looked at my arms and sent me back out right away. Every doctor that saw (or didn’t see) my tiny veins recommended that I should do some cardio exercise (I wonder if that would really help? What if my veins are just “deeper” in my arm? And who said that couldn’t be a good thing from an "evolutionary point of view"?). In 2008, I went to a check up in San Francisco. I really don’t have a problem with needles or syringes, but after a certain number of failed attempts of a needle poking in my arm going left and right and back and forth, yes I do get dizzy, too…They tried 4 times (2 nurses) to draw blood, they failed 4 times. It seems like there is a law in CA that you are only allowed to try a couple of times to protect the patient or something (at least that’s what I said). I even offered the veins exposed on my wrist but they refused to give it another try. As a consequence, I had to go to a “special” doctor’s office to get the blood drawn…the nurse was great, she only needed one attempt (clearly a winner!!) and hit the vein right on the spot. The drawback of this place was that it was in the Tenderloin and I was probably the only non-drug-addict in there (which probably explains why the nurse was so good). A scary experience! So if you are a doctor and have to draw my blood, I won’t blame you if you need several attempts, I know it’s difficult. Anyway, yesterday I was sitting at my desk at work, looking at my arm and what do I see??? Veins!!!! Just like that, no squeezing, no belt around the upper arm, no pumping hand. I have never seen them so clearly. I know this might sound ridiculous but I was quite happy to see them. I wonder if this is linked to my running and the bootcamp workouts…may be, may be not, it’s probably boring for the rest of the world but I am clearly thrilled.
Today was day 3 at bootcamp, we worked out with Michael & Michael II. Michael II is new and I think he had a hard time with us… he was really friendly and tried to be funny, but somehow, our group wasn’t exactly responsive. But hey, it’s not that easy at 6 am in the morning jumping over little orange cones for minutes and still keep a smile on your face… ;-) We worked out at the Crissy Field center, focusing on legs (many squats, jumps, sprints and runs) and arms/back (pull ups, rows, tricep extensions, plank). I think I pulled a muscle in my back, it hurts a little… I tried to run faster than usual when we were going back to the parking lot… it worked, I was surprised, but at some point I thought I start hyper-ventilating… clearly, there is still a lot of room for improvement! I went to a Bar Method class with Keryun tonight, my legs are really tired now (especially my thighs) but I really enjoyed it.
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