Marshall Ramsey

CANCELLED

There was a real threat of ice on the predawn bridges this morning, so today’s workout was called off.

I used it as an opportunity to sleep. I needed it — my body and mind are exhausted.

But I am not using it as an opportunity to be lazy.  I will run this afternoon and then do my pushup/situp routine.

Excellence comes from extra work.  My goal is excellence.

UPDATE: I ran 5.05 miles when I got home from work and did 50 pushups and sit-ups. I got a small workout in at least.

Important days in history:

February 6. 1992: I cleaned Pope High School’s gym floor with a dust mop.

February 6, 2014: I cleaned Jackson State University’s gym floor with a folded towel — seven times.

Here’s the deal. Take a towel. Fold it length-wise three or four times. Lay in on a wood floor. Bend over and put your hands on it. Push it the length of a basketball court (84 feet — or 24 yards). Get done and pick it up. Run a lap around the inside of the fitness center. Come back to the court and repeat without stopping.

I did that SEVEN times. And my legs were sore.

From the towels, we did a two-court wide W- drill (running around cones shaped like a W). Then we did wall-sits, wall-runs and sprints carrying a 25 lb. weight.  From there we went to the treadmills where we ran seven minutes at 7 mph.  We ran the last bit at 9 mph.  From the treadmills we went and did core exercises with Clark. We did lots of sit-ups and other core exercises while holding a weighted blue ball.  The last station was in the weight room. By that time, I was a sweating pile of goo.

While I was doing the W-drill, I noticed a guy laying flat-out on the floor.  He had been pushing towels and just gave out where he was.  I mentally cheered him on — because I knew just how he felt.  I nearly died the first time I had to push a towel two years ago. There was once a time when towels owned me. But not today. I beat my nemesis. Bad.  And I left Jackson State’s gym floor a much cleaner place.

I spent a few minutes after my workout looking around the gym for my butt. Because I ran it off today.

Yes, I am buttless.

Of course, I didn’t have to show up at all. I had a speech in Wesson, Mississippi last night and didn’t get home until after 11 p.m.  I could have slept until 6 a.m. and Lord knows I needed the sleep. No jury would have convicted me.

But I would have. I would have been mad at myself all day for missing. Personal responsibility is a powerful force when it moves into your life. It nags you. It scolds you. It keeps you on task. So my eyes opened four minutes before my alarm went off and my feet hit the floor.

I don’t know if it is true that 80% of success is just showing up but I do know that 100% of failure comes from not even making the effort.  And even though I am buttless, I am glad I went. Because today was an epic workout.

Line One started with the circuit.  I started with today’s least favorite exercise: Inch worms. Then it was ladder-drill time. That’s one drill where I need to work on my quickness. We then moved on to step-ups and sprints.  I could feel my 4.5 hours of sleep on the sprints. My legs felt like jelly.  Step-ups kill my knees — I actually fear them a little bit. We then went to Wayne where we did sit-ups, thrusters, pushups and jumping jacks with sprints in between. I was next to Tommy — who I love working out with. He pushes me to be better. That’s the beauty of working out with Paul Lacoste. Paul’s great — but the true joy of PLS comes from the people you work with. They push you. They make you better.

And then we got to the treadmills.

We ran at 7.5 mph for 8 minutes — with the last minute being a 9-mph sprint.  Son of mother trucking biscuit.

Come to think that’s where I ran my butt off. Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to go look there for it.