Gym Workout & Packet Pickup Problems

This morning, I got to the gym and had a good workout. I did 20 minutes on the bike to warmup, doing some interval type work on the bike, varying the intensity level back and forth. While I was riding, the news channels were running story after story about Pope John Paul II and his grave health condition. They had nuns, medical correspondents, and other clergy up there as talking heads, giving their opinions about either the pope's medical condition, his legacy, or possible successors. You can bet all news outlets have their stories already written and edited in the event of his death.

Anyway, I saw a couple of Gazelles there in the gym, which was fun. I skipped the lunges today, since I'm racing on Sunday, and skipped seated rows today for variety. I added dumbbell flies on the flat bench, for additional chest work. From time to time, I think this is a good thing, to substitute a different exercise for something on the permanent menu.

It was a good workout, and I finished in time to zoom home, get cleaned up, and then get to the high school to teach my guitar class there. The kids were whining a little today about learning a third piece for their recital in May, but after we played through the new piece a time or two, I think they all realize that it's not that tough. I'm sort of a benevolent dictator in my role as volunteer guitar ensemble coach. :)

After that, I dashed down to the new packet pickup location for the Capitol 10,000. What a fiasco that was! The line stretched far out the opening of the big circus tent that housed the pickup. After standing there for a few minutes, a volunteer told us that if we owned our chip, that we could go around everyone and get in the special line for chip owners. Cool! I went past probably 75 people, maybe more, and stood just 6 people away from the Chip Owners window. And I stood. And stood. And stood. You get the picture. People were zooming through the lines next to me, picking up their packets and chips. But in our "special" line, there was little or no progress. Some people were apparently picking up multiple packets, for friends in the untimed groups or in the "need a chip" groups, and the single guy behind our window had to stroll around the whole length of the pickup area gathering the packet stuff for all those folks. It was incredibly frustrating. Once I got within 3 people of the window, I noticed that the folks standing with me when I first arrived were getting their packets in the lanes next to me. Grrrrrrrrrrr!!! And finally, I was NEXT IN LINE! Joy was in my heart...and then the man in the "Just Need My Chip, I've Got The Rest Of My Packet" line had to leave to assist someone. When my guy looked up, he asked the guy in the line next to me, who had no helper in their window, to advance ahead of me. And that guy had, no fooling, 6 packets to pick up. SIX!! It took a tooth-grindingly long time for him to be serviced. When I finally got to the window, the guy said, "Just One?" I bit my tongue for a moment, and said, "Yes, I didn't know we could collect packets for all 15 of our friends." He then said, "Do you own your own chip?" I replied that, yes, I owned my chip, and that's why I was in this line, and that's why my race number was marked as it was. I escaped before I totally exploded. For a very patient guy like myself, this was more than I could take. A terribly bad pickup experience. It took over an hour for me to get from standing outside the tent to the time I walked out the tent again. I'll run the race in a shorter time than that!

Man! Anyway, after that, the race shouldn't be nearly so bad, right? Weather looks promising.