The Few, The Proud, The Exhausted |
||
|---|---|---|
| Before we start the mile run, I silently hope that I don't have to walk any part of it and that I can finish in less than 12 minutes. My goals are not lofty.
Maybe it's running with everyone else that keeps me going; maybe it's not wanting to embarrass myself. In any case, while I finish in the bottom third of the class, my time is better than I hoped: 10 minutes and 44 seconds. They won't be calling me for Athens in August, but I feel good about this. Week Two When does muscle soreness go away? Apparently never, if Sir has anything to say about it. He has us doing lunges around the track before we start running. And he's added a bunch of new exercises to the routine; among them, "The Dirty Dog," which has us on all fours, kicking one leg out to the side, then straight back. We're a sight. Kayla hasn't shown up this week. I notice a few others have dropped out of the program, too. Oh, I now have a nickname. When Sir and the rest of the group found out I am a journalist, they nicknamed me Scoop. I kind of like it. It's short, it's catchy, and it's not Pathetic. Week Three The nearby track is closed for epairs, so we're exercising and running indoors, at the Rec Plex. Sir has us jumping rope 100 times in addition to running. Also, he's come up with a basketball game where we do five push-ups every time someone misses a shot, which is pretty much all of the time. The camaraderie has kicked into high gear. I'm pals with Beaker, so nicknamed because she is a scientist at Washington University. The two of us do our exercises behind the "gang of three": Trooper and Suds, who are both attorneys, and Gavel, who is a St. Louis circuit judge. And then there is Krusty, who shows up periodically and when she does, is always late. Lateness is not something Sir tolerates. If anyone is late, Sir has all of us lie flat on our backs and lift our legs six inches for roughly 30 seconds. One morning four people are late. You do the math. Week Four We're back on the track, literally. It sure beats running inside or through the hilly streets of Webster Groves, which Sir had us do a couple of days last week. |
The weather has gotten hotter, even at 6 a.m. And now Sir has taken to nicknaming the days of the week with exercises to match: "Manic Monday," "Tummy Tuesday," "Wacky Wednesday." He's also into compilation routines: side-straddle hops immediately followed by push-ups, followed by leg-ups, then the "Dirty Dog" and so on. We count down from 10 of each exercise, then nine of each, then eight of each and so on. By the time we're doing one of each, we're exhausted.
Trooper responds to all of this with a standard boot-camp refrain: "We like it, we love it, can't get enough of it." To break up the running -- or torture us even more -- Sir has us jogging up and down the bleachers. He's also into "wall sits." These weren't so bad inside the gym, when we could lean against padded walls and squat to a sitting position. But against the outdoor concrete walls, they kill the back as well as the thighs. We get tested again for sit-ups, push-ups and running. I increase my sit-ups to 50 and my push-ups to 20 military and 25 daisy. But the best is the run, where I clip 30 seconds off my time, clocking thinks by the final test I'll be under 10 minutes. I'm pumped. Week Five Ran into Duke at Einstein's bagels, Flash at the grocery store and Krusty in the Central West End. "Hi, Krusty." "Hi, Scoop." It's weird not knowing anyone's real name. With that in mind, I find out Beaker's name is Denise Dorsey, though I still call her Beaker. I also know her son attended Zoo Camp this summer, she grew up in St. Louis, and she missed class one morning because as a part-time doula, she was helping to deliver a baby. I learn a little something about the others, too. Trooper, a.k.a. Neil Bruntrager, the class comedian, did his first boot camp a year ago and has been with the program since. He celebrated his 48th birthday during this session and is one of the fastest runners in the class. "I hate to run. I couldn't even run a lap when I started," he confides after class one day. endurance, though, honestly, I still hate to run." |
|
-
« Jan Mar » February 2012 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 - Events
- No events.
Search
Archives
- October 2011
- September 2011
- July 2011
- May 2011
- September 2010
- July 2010
- May 2010
- November 2009
- October 2009
- January 2009
- June 2008
- April 2008
- February 2008
- April 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
Meta
