After a long work week, there is nothing better than Friday night unwinding. It's mandatory! By 5:00 PM Friday my mind ceases to process rational thoughts. Four times out of five, Friday eve meant starting out at Madison's Happy Hour at 6:00 PM enjoying $2 microbrews, then moving on somewhere to dinner, and possibly out after that to see music somewhere or catch up with my neightbors at the Crystal. That has all changed with the new sans-alcohol policy I've implemented this week. Tonight is my first Friday night at home in quite some time. It's actually been a pleasant evening. The internet, Kombucha tea, and good music...I feel really relaxed, and I'm not sure how to say this but, well, I feel "well." I ended up being at the office until after 7:00 PM tonight and decided to take today as my rest day. I was going to do heavy leg day, but my mind would not have been in to it and I needed to take a rest day anyway. I was having some spasms in my right calf muscle last night on the treadmill, so a rest is probably good. I think I have some knots that need to be worked out.
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Today was the last day of work for 10 folks leaving due to company restructuring. Today was just plain sad. I was honored to go have lunch with the Dirty Boys one last time. "Dirty Boys," was the nickname given to the 8 guys who worked professionally as the Inside Sales and Service department. Corporate is relocating thier positions to PA, and so the era comes to an end. What the Dirty Boys had can never be replicated. What a great team. When I started at the Company I worked in the lobby, directly downstairs from these follows. They sat in a loft-like area above, with a winding staircase between us. I could hear most of thier louder conversations, laughter, locker room talk, and thier music which was either really good, or really really bad. We became great friends, I had so much fun then. The dirty boys were my heros. These were your dirt bag MTB riders, year-round commuters, cyclocross and crit racers, complete bike geeks, the absolute heart of cycling love. True passion. They were all over educated and smart as hell too. Each unique in their own way, it was thier differences that made thier synergy the best. I'm going to really miss those guys. I think the whole industry will.
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Tomorrow will be my heavy leg day, and I'll do total upper body on Sunday. Despite the doctor's orders I've been doing some treadmill running. Intervals. I just love the workout if gives me. None of the cardio machines get my heart rate up so quickly. I am being very careful and I haven'd had any knee pain so far, just some weird calf spasms. I think I just need to work a few knots out and do some stretching.
