September 27, 2005: With all Apologies to Section 41, Row 90
I blame it on a combination of the high heat, the humidity and the stomp lead we hadn’t met thus far this season. It’s the beginning of Fall but Florida provides no hints of pleasant coolness until sometime in October. Needless to say, it was damn hot and it felt hotter than any previous Tuesday or Thursday in the previous few weeks.
As it has become routine this month, Bo and I were in The Swamp running around with a crazy pack of about 20 people known as the Stadium Stompers. It had been about three years since the least time I did Stadiums routinely but I had handled the first few weeks relativerly well considering how out of shape I felt. That would change this particular Tuesday.
Nothing like giving it all you got weekdays in The Swamp
The two instructors we had gotten to know previously had just left at the end of the summer so the group is now at the mercy of four new people: Alena and Megan leading the troops on Tuesday, and Sam and Steve in charge us on Thursday. Unfortunately, as it is the norm in Florida, a couple of the Tuesday stomps had been cancelled because of rain (it’s not really safe running around wet stands) so we’d initially just met Sam and Steve.
Well, as they say when two rivals meet: throw out the record books cause this Tuesday we get to meet Alena. And this Tuesday things start deceptively usual:
- Warm-up lap inside the stadium.
- Stretching.
- ¾-snake around (west, south and east stands) along the bottom 30 rows.
- Jumping-jacks.
- “Cool down” lap.
At this point things change randomly day to day. This Tuesday we do:
- Drills up and down the north end-zone spirals: sprint, jog backwards, lunges, “fairy kicks” (don’t ask).
- Jog around to base of the east stands.
- Sets of push-ups + walk up 10 rows (repeat until row 30); jog back down to row 1.
- Dips + walk up to row 30; jog back down to 1.
- Gator Mountain: The grand finale where you either walk, jog or sprint up the bleachers all the way to the top (row 90).
- Close with abs and lower back plus stretch one last time.
Obviously, we’re all downing water like mad throughout the whole process cause the heat is brutal and, by the time we get to Gator Mountain, we’re definitely feeling it. I am a bit low on energy but still feel O.K. considering. We get the go and I start my sprint up with all I have left in me.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of that “left in me”.
As I’m sure it is in many stadiums, the bottom thirty rows of The Swamp have less of a grade than the upper sixty so the intensity really picks up from that point on. So far, I’d been pretty good up to row 60 but those last 30 are a real bitch. I remember having no problem with this three years ago even when we did tri-levels which I’ve heard is what the real Gator Mountain is all about: walk up 30 rows, sprint the remaining 60 to the top, rest, walk down; sprint up 30, walk the next 30, sprint the last 30, rest, walk down; sprint up 60, walk the remaining 30. I know: insane. And we’re eventually supposed to get back to this but, for now, we’re just dealing with a single sprint to the top. In any event, I make it almost to row 70 where I run out of juice, will and determination but I still force myself to walk the rest of the way up.
Everyone does this together and I imagine that watching us is probably comical once we’re all at the top where we’re a total mess. Alena and Megan remind us the usual: try not to sit down, raise your arms, lean against the wall; catch your breath; don’t try to walk down until your legs no longer feel like spaghetti. Myself, I just can’t catch my breath. I keep trying to slow down and lean against the wall but my body just wants to sit - or more like, lay - down and go to sleep. Finally, everyone starts to make their way down but I’m still trying to keep it together and failing miserable at it cause by now I’m seeing black and red spots. Alena can tell something is up so she comes by to check up on me.
I tell her I have to sit down cause I can hardly stand still. She helps me, sits by me and then tries to make me feel better by saying this is just a sign that my body is getting used to it and that a lot of people go though it and she something else that literally sounds like blah, blah, blah
cause now I’m also hearing black and red spots so I can hardly understand to anything she’s saying. I finally gather enough breath, turn to her and let her know how I’m feeling:
I think I’m going to throw up.
Sure enough, it all comes out. Twice. Alena - what a true sport - just stays by me and keeps trying to make me feel better. Eventually I start to feel human so we both walk down and find everyone doing their stretches and wrapping things up. Quite the humbling moment, indeed. Thursday we’re back for more and I start to tell Sam about Tuesday’s ordeal and she says That was you?
sigh…
No matter, I still poke fun at myself and the moment whenever Alena’s around. Plus, it serves as motivation everytime we find ourselves on row 1, looking up the east stands.
Let’s try and keep it all in today. Right.
As I sat at the Florida vs. Tennessee game the following Saturday, I kept thinking about it everytime I looked at the now infamous Section 41. I do think it rained several times during the week but couldn’t help but wonder. No matter, just in case: apologies to the fans who sat up there but, believe me, it hurt me more than it hurt you.