yuck, yuck, yuck

and not the laughing kind of yuks either. We were having freezing rain earlier today so decided to use the dreadmill at the health club. Yeah, maybe I should have braved the crazy car traffic instead, I'm not having much luck with the treadmills here lately. The only one available was the one that kill your legs and I was needing 5 miles so I (stupidly) went ahead and used it for the 1st mile or so. It didn't help that I was wearing the mizunos that don't seem to work well on the 'mills (great for 5k prs but not the motorized stuff). Switched off when I got the chance but by then I was already frustrated and starting to hurt. Everything was ok on the other but I just kept getting more and more cranky. My runs are supposed to put me in a better mood--not make me ready to tear the head off of innocent teddy bears. Yes, it (I) was that bad. So when James finished his run I quit for the day with a grand total of 2.75 miles out of the 5 scheduled.

We went to IHOP for comfort food afterwards and our waitress kept coming by every 3 minutes to ask if we were still doing okay and this was before we received our food. Oh well, guess it's better than the alternative where you get completely ignored. Stopped at Hastings afterwards for new reading material. Bought "The Borderkind" by Christopher Golden, "Logos Run" William C. Dietz, and "X-Rated Bloodsuckers" Mario Acevedo. Gotta love the title!!! it's really not what it sounds like though I was almost too embarrassed to carry it around the store. Yes, I am a sci-fi geek. Also picked up the March issue of Bicycling mag, a copy of The Horse for James, and Hellcat Records "Give 'em the Boot V" cd (5.99, gotta love cheap music).

I have a major case of hives on my legs right now. The only thing that I can think of that was different was I had purchased a pair of new cargo pants and wore them without washing them first (yes, I know, bad gab, it won't happen again). Evidently there was something in the fabric that REALLY disagreed with me. It's thoroughly miserable, until I had access to a drugstore for some hydrocortisone the only thing that was helping was hand sanitizer. Which makes sense because of the high alcohol content, once tattoos reach the itchy stage in the healing process a lot of people will use rubbing alcohol to alleviate the itchies. Any suggestions are very welcome on how to get rid of the hives/itchiness. I would rather not have to go sit in the doctor's office this time of year (the flu is making the rounds) for a shot if it can be avoided.