Pump and Circumstance

I survived! Boot camp graduation happened yesterday. It is hard to believe it but not only did I make it through something I thought would exercise my humiliation more than my glutes, I actually came to love it. I would have been sad to see it end, but Dr. Drill announced that it is indeed not ending. He’ll be running the program as long as possible.

I’ve decided to stick with the trainer I signed up with for 2 months. I’ll be going back to boot camp soon, though. There’s something about the camaraderie of the class I never got from other workout classes. Maybe it’s because there’s so much back & forth sounding off between us and Dr. Drill. Maybe it’s because we never know which one of us is getting slapped with extra pushups and when someone does, we feel their pain. Maybe it’s because we’re all just working our asses off at 5:30 in the morning. Whatever it is, by the end of the session most of us made friends and everyone was cheering for each other when we got our diplomas.

Before we officially “graduated”, we had to do the same physical assessment we’d done at the beginning. Pushups, squats, crunches and running laps. It was interesting to see how far we came. I did almost double the crunches and laps in the same amount of time! And for the first time in five weeks (or 15 years, more like) I sprinted. Me!

Then came the certificates. It turns out 27 out of 35 participants graduated, and each of us was individually recognized. Then came the honors. A few weeks ago, I had designs on getting some kind of award, then quickly downgraded my hopes after realizing how pathetically out of shape I was. But I got one! Most Disciplined Recruit. That felt good. I did push it. And I’m going to keep it up. Like I said, everything is different now. Here are some of the changes that took place in just 5 weeks:

1.) I lost 7 lbs.
2.) I became a vegetarian after reading a book recommended by Dr. Drill.
3.) I can now jump out of bed at 5am no problem (good practice for motherhood I think)
4.) I am now training for a 10K in the fall.

Five weeks ago, I don’t think I would have believed any of this. And at the risk of sounding sappy, now I feel that if I could complete this program, I could take on much bigger prospects. This is my life now. I think I’ll be a better mom for it. And a better wife too. Mike is not complaining!

Today is the local 5K, which marks another beginning for me. I will probably finish dead last, but it’s a place to start with training for the 10K. Me. Run.

Crazy!!!

More pictures from our final week...