Pain and a Competitive Spirit

Yesterday I did something different. I tried out for something physical related to my company.

I mentioned this the other day, but I tried out for my company's "crew team" that competes every 2 years against other large companies in the area. One of the guys on the team attempted to get me to try out 2 years ago but as soon as I heard that practice was every Saturday in the summer from 9-11am, I responded with pffft! as if!

Now that I'm older and much less cooler (i.e. I can't handle going out too much anymore and the idea of staying up late makes me sleepy), I thought I'd give it a go. Its a good way to get me active in the summer, I can work on a tan and I can network a little bit.

Yesterday was my tryout. The tryouts consisted of:
- push-ups (modified - and as many as you could do in a minute)
- sit-ups (as many as you could do in a minute)
- chin-up hang (hold yourself above the bar for as long as possible)
- row 500 meters twice and the average is taken

I arrived at the tryouts a little early so only 2 women were there. The coach let us begin (and thank god we did because the gym was PACKED after that with people trying out). One woman was a middle-aged mom. She wasn't overweight but she didn't appear to be in top physical form either. The other woman was a 22 year old, just out of college girl wearing a college women's rugby shirt. Shit.

The mom did okay on the push-ups (29), sit-ups (not sure, I had to pee!) and could only hold herself up for 10 seconds. But she was able to row 500 meters in 1:59. Naturally I thought, if SHE can do it, I certainly can do it.

I ran through the first activities at the same time as Rugby girl. Hot damn - she did 54 push-ups! I've been repeating that all day and nobody seems nearly as impressed as me but hot damn. I tried to keep pace with her only to crap out early. I did 36.

My competitive juices were now flowing so I HAD to beat her in sit-ups. Rugby girl = 63. Me = 67. Winner!

For the chin-up hang, I assumed she was going to be tough competition but she crapped out after 10 seconds. I held on for dear life for 39 seconds. I probably could have stayed up longer but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to do anything for days afterwards.

Rugby girl rowed 500 meters about 2:10 each time. This confused me since she was obviously stronger than the mom.

I rowed around 2:07.

I can't begin to express just how sore I am today.

We won't find out who made the team for another 2 weeks but as I was leaving, I saw a ton of athletic ladies hanging out. I'm hoping that the fact that I'm loud and sometimes crazy will work in my favor (I know one of the coaches on the team).

We shall see.