FIELD DAY!!!

Yesterday was our second event in this program, the dreaded field day!  When we showed up to the event the only thing I could focus on was Shane from the Fredericksburg club flipping these big tires in the middle of the field.  I was terrified at first, but then I just told myself "NO, you ARE going to do this, you CAN do this, and just think about HOW PROUD you will be of yourself when you do it!"  I looked at the other stations being set up as well, but nothing, at first glance, seemed as intimidating as those damn tires.

We started the day with having our picture taken, since I had to leave right after the compeition to make it to the wedding, and then we got started on warming up our muscles.  The way that the event worked was that we spent nine minutes at each "station."  The stations were created by the two trainers from each club.  Each station was different and used different parts of your body to complete the tasks at hand.  Plus it allowed us to experience the training styles of the different trainers from each club.

Each team began the day at their own club's station.  Andi and Greg created a fast paced combination of activites that I think was the best way to start because you used your entire body to keep going for the full nine minutes.  Greg had us dribbling a basketball in a weaving pattern around cones and then Andi, who loves her kettlebells, created an exercise where you use the hip swing movement to toss different weighted medicine balls granny toss style, up into the fence trying to hit targets that had been hung up.  The first time through I hit most of the targets but man after about the third or forth time through my hips didn't exactly want to swing.  :-)

Next we huslted on over to the Blue station.  This station started with team push-ups, slapping your partner's hand each time you came up.  Then we moved on to see-saw sit-ups, which don't look hard at first glance but my abs are S-O-R-E today.  Then they had us do lateral and various drills through a ladder on the ground.  Finally we played tug-of-war.  Now you have to remember we moved through this circuit and did each activity all within NINE MINUTES.  You can imagine at this point the amount of sweat that was starting to occur.

Orange team was next.  Now these two trainers have a bit of reputation.  They're tough.  They expect a lot of their team.  Their attitude was no different with us yesterday.  We started this station with a sort of "capture the flag" drill where we were all in a circle and we had to grab the t-shirt haning from the back of our team-mates' waist bands.  Needless to say this was not easy on uneven ground and I was out pretty quickly.  I think that if I hadn't been so concerned with protecting my knees that I may have been a bit more competitive at this point.  Then as we were eliminated we had to go over to the side and do different drills, high-knees, kicks, jumping jacks, etc.  I had to modify a few things, but I think that we all tried to do everything that we were able to do.  Unfortunately, this is where the negativity started for some.  One teammate of mine overheard a comment that was made by one of the trainers about our team.  Thankfully she didn't share that comment with me until close to the end of the competition.  When I'm in the middle of battle (whether that battle be with myself or as part of a competition, especially physical) I tend to be a bit of a hot-head.  What matters though is that we made it through the station and moved on....where did we go next? 

THE DREADED TIRES!  Now I have to admit, the only saving grace here was that this was the Black team's station and Shane is definitely not hard on the eyes.  ;-)  You know what I'm saying ladies, that eye candy can be a bit of a motivation to keep going when you honestly feel like falling out on the ground.  Anyway, Erica and I started on the big mamma jamma tires OF COURSE!  The first time we lifted it up and tried to flip it I thought I was going to die.  It's amazing how heavy those darn things are!  But we soon figured it out and learned to work together to get the behemoth flipped over and over again.  We then switched and flipped smaller (but still not regular sized) tires and then had to hop our way through them.  Seriously a difficult station to say the least!

Next we got to play a little Ultimate Frisbee with the Yellow teams' trainers.  This was a lot of fun and it kind of took me back to my days at American U in DC when we used to play frisbee on the quad after class during the fall and spring.  I wasn't overly familiar with the rules, but honestly it kind of reminded me of soccer and when we got to about the middle of this time frame my competitive side started kicking in.  Man I MISS playing team sports.  I didn't really realize how much I missed it until we all started playing yesterday.  I think I may just have to get into the RSSC or something when this competition is over with.

At this point I know we were all T-I-R-E-D but we had two stations to go!  Our next station was another station that intimidated me.  The Red team's station.  They had set up over in the sandpit where the swings are located at Bryan Park.  Sand intimidates me.  Only because I know that running in sand, and especially quick movements in sand are movements that engage all of the knee joint.  Uneven ground, especially sand, is something that makes me think my knees are going to go out again.  That is the last thing I want to deal with EVER.  So we started this station doing high and fast knees through a grounded ladder.  Then we moved on to making a serpintine jog/walk through cones in the sand.  I went a little slower than I would have liked through this, but I still did it and that made me happy.  Then we were to crawl under the swings through the sand.  Unfortunately, with the screws in my knee, I absolutely am unable to crawl.  (Where the screws are placed in my shin bone prevents me from kneeling at all on my left side.  The pain that kind of pressure exerts on the screws is absolutely blinding.)  So the first time I just low walked through it along the side.  The second time though one of the trainers had me bear crawl through it.  If you don't know what a bear crawl is, look it up and do it.  HARD!!!  I think that's another reason my abs hurt.  When we got to the end of that part of the station we did push-ups.  Why do trainers love pushups?!?  LOL!

Our last station for the day was the Green Team station back over on the tennis courts.  The Green Team is the team from Swift Creek.  This was a combination of Japanese hopscotch and jumping rope.  Now I just realized this past week that I am able to jump again.  I haven't jumped or hopped at all since the surgery.  Dr. Stadler doesn't really want me doing it, but it's so much of an accomplishment for me that I can't help myself really.  (She doesn't want me running either but I tried to jog from station to station, carefully of course.)  Hopscotch was actually hard, because you go from two legs to one leg, and being left handed and thus left-side dominant it was hard for me to not hop on my left leg alone.  (That's my screwed leg...LOL.)  Anyway, what I was really proud of myself for was actually jumping rope and jumping rope WELL.  I mean in time, caught it a couple of times, but I was DOING it...just like old times at soccer practice.  If nothing else it was a personal victory for me.

I really think the whole day, no matter the slight negativity that we had to deal with, was a sort of personal victory for every one.  At least I hope it was.  I know it was for me.  It was an added bonus that by the time I left, I had burned almost 2000 calories for the day and it was only 10:45 a.m.  Now if I could figure out a way to do that every day, I'd be skinny in a couple of months!  It was on to the wedding at that point and for friends I hadn't seen in quite a while to notice that I really am losing weight just topped off my day as pretty damn near perfect.  I was able to be at the wedding for one of my best friends and share in her happiness all after accomplinshing so much at the field day.  Days don't get much better I don't think.  I'm looking forward to the rest of this competition with so much enthusiasm that it is hard to contain at this point.  I just about wish we could have field day every Saturday to keep challenging us!!

Be well.  All of you!