Marshall Ramsey

If sweat is your fat crying, my fat threw a hissy fit today.

The heat has finally arrived.  And my perspiration is right behind it. One of the greatest things is to get my water bottle when we’re done. Water tastes better after a workout — like sleep after a long run.

This morning, the ever eager Line 4 did the weight room, jumped rope and did footwork while holding a medicine ball, enjoyed Clark’s Coreapalooza and then did ladder drills combined with 40-yard sprints.  And then everyone did a special core encore at the very end. We got in plank position (as uncomfortable as it sounds) and had to hold it as long as we could.  When we hit our knees, we ran the track.  I wasn’t the first up. But I wasn’t the last — that was Larry (Retired Spiderman).  I think he’s still in plank position.

(P.S. if you have dead skin on your elbows, you’ll love plank position).

I won’t win the PLS Olympics or even the Laff Olympics with my core fitness, but I can tell you this — I’ve come a long way from the first session when I weighed 248. I’d die when we got to Clark’s station. Now I can survive it.

I have fifteen-minute abs.

My fat’s crying about that to. My fat’s a big blubbering baby.

It’s Friday which means the 5 a.m. running club was supposed to meet and run this morning.  My alarm went off a 4:09 and I looked at the radar on my phone.  It showed rain. And I hate running in the rain. I reset my alarm for 5:09 and went back to sleep.  At 5:09 I looked at the radar again. More rain. And I hate running in the rain. So I set my alarm for 6:09.  At 6:09 I looked at the radar once again.  Even more rain.  And I really hate running in the rain. So I got up to get ready.

I looked at my shoes and clothes sitting on the edge of the tub.  Then I listened to the rain hitting the skylight.  You know, it really wasn’t heavy and there wasn’t any thunder or lightning.  And I was going to get wet from sweat anyway.

So I ran five miles in the rain.

The best part was when I was running along the path in the woods. The rain danced on the leaves, making a soothing symphony of sound that salved my soul.   A cool breeze wrapped around me, comforting me as my heart and lungs worked in tandem to propel my legs forward.  I thought about my life, where I am right now in it and where I REALLY want to go. I thought about what motivates me and what should motivate me.

I missed my friends this morning. I hope they had a good run. But I’m thankful that I had the discipline to get up and run in the rain without them.  It washed away so many of the problems that are bothering me.

At the end of the workout, as we were sitting in the end zone, Coach walked past and said to me, “I pushed you hard this week and you responded.”

Couldn’t ask for a better compliment. And I hope that’s what’s on my tombstone:

Life pushed him hard and he responded.