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.