Needles and Pins

Another crazy week. I spent much of it getting punctured. Tuesday morning, I had a physical for the first time in two years. In addition to getting blood drawn to check my cholesterol and thyroid level, I got a tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis vaccination. And then yesterday afternoon, I gave blood for the first time ever at a blood drive that was held at my office. I'm not sure why I've never done it before; I'm certainly not opposed to it and I'm not freaked out by needles. I think it was just the fact that a blood drive was never in such close proximity before. At any rate, I never realized how much went into blood drives. I had to read a ton of material beforehand about various reasons I may not be allowed to give blood, fill out a questionnaire, and then answer a bunch of questions about my sexual and drug history. Once I finally got hooked up to a blood bag, it went pretty smoothly. I was a tad lightheaded afterward, but nothing serious. They had a snack table set up for donors and I had some cookies and juice before heading back to my office. I was told not to drink any alcohol last night and not to do any strenuous exercise for 24 hours. Of course, the latter was a problem because I had a tight window to get my long run in today.

I took Hannah for her soccer photo shoot at 9 a.m. and then dropped her off at Lily's game, which took place at the same time. I went home and then went for a 13-mile run, which was a real struggle. I just felt sluggish the entire way and not just because of the humidity. I didn't have the energy that I would normally for a run that short (since I've been doing runs of 17-20 miles for the last three weeks). But I got through it. Afterward, we took Hannah to her soccer game and then went to a get-together down in Dedham. We just got home around 10.

Tomorrow will be equally nuts, because I'm volunteering at a race in the morning and then we're heading up to see my mom in NH in the afternoon. No rest for the weary.

Wiggity wiggity:

• Looks like the oil companies are using Hurricane Ike as an excuse to gouge us some more on gas prices. Gas stations down south have hiked their prices by a dollar in some areas, while on Friday alone I saw one station raise its cheapest gas by 10 cents over the span of eight hours. Ridiculous.
• Sarah Palin didn't do so well in her first big television interview since getting the nomination. I'm shocked.
• How about this Green Bay mom, who posed as her 15-year-old daughter because she wanted to be a high school cheerleader? I suppose I can understand wanting to be young again, but 15? Really? I could maybe see wanting to do college again, but high school? Hell, no.