"You can endure anything for 30 seconds!" so said Julia, personal trainer/fit camp instructor/all-around bad-ass. During the summer of 2008, in Nashville, my sister talked me into attending a fitness 'boot camp' that she had just completed and enjoyed. I signed up for the next session. 6:00 am, Monday through Thursday for 4 weeks.
Wednesday of each week was "leg day." Julia took pride in torturing us on leg days. As we held wall squats (this fit camp was outside, so our wall squats were actually fence squats), legs shaking, 2 seconds from buckling, and 5 seconds away from vomiting, Julia liked to yell, "You can do it! Come on! 30 more seconds. You can do anything for 30 seconds!" Turns out, Julia was right. You can endure anything for 30 seconds if you really want to.
Fast forward 6 years to this past Saturday. Julia's 30 second rule was my mantra during our bike trip. You see, there is one particularly steep, nasty hill that has been my Achilles heel on our bike rides. I just cannot make it to the top without getting off and walking my bike. That walk of shame ended Saturday.
As I started the climb, I focused my gaze downward, to the ground just in front of me. I didn't want to see the hill. I wanted to keep the steepness of it out of my mind. I just needed to feel the incline, and switch gears accordingly, and as I did so, I repeated to myself, "You can do anything for 30 seconds." I began counting, "1 and 2 and 3..." At 30, I was in 1st gear and struggling. "See, you can survive anything for 30 seconds!" But damn, I was still only 1/3 of the way up that hill. I started over, "1 and 2 and 3...you can survive anything for 30 seconds. You can do this" I made it to 30, and I didn't die! Wait, double damn. I still haven't reached the top. So, again, I counted to 30. I did it! A minute and a half, and I made it to the top of the hill without having to get off and walk my bike. I made it to the top without dying! I kicked my Achilles heel's ass.
There was no containing my ego after that. I was on fire. Fierce! Poseidon and I stopped off for lunch, then biked around NCSU campus for an hour or so. I took him to the tunnels on campus. My inflated ego decided I could recreate a photo of me from 1996, holding myself up in one of the tunnels. I tried. Poseidon snapped a picture. I wasn't able to get my 2nd arm up without a nagging feeling that a face plant was imminent (I did have my bike helmet on though), so I aborted the mission. My goal, before the end of the summer, is to work on my arm strength and nail that pose from 18 years ago. Not only nail it, but hold it for 30 seconds.
Amphitrite
