December 18: Haranguing, and Hating Upon

December 15 was the night of the Pure Power Boot Camp Holiday Soiree. The course had been completely transformed by dimmed lighting, Christmas lights all over the obstacles, and plenty of poinsettia plants everywhere. The pup tents had been transformed into bars, and there were abundant snacks along the wall. This was an event we had been looking forward to ever since it had been announced. Most of the excitement was the opportunity to see everyone in their 'outsider' clothes, a vast change from the no-makeup-hair-pulled-back-camouflage-wearing-sweaty people that we usually saw in boot camp.

Trying to stay true to the nature of this blog, I am going to leave out the details of that night. Safe to say, I got to see a lot of people dressed in their going out clothes, learned various people's first names, and got obliterated by 2AM, which made it difficult to get ready for my tree trimming party the next day; but I managed to pull myself together, throw another successful party, and spend all of Sunday on the couch recovering. (If you want to get an idea of the craziness of the night, visit my photo albums)

Monday came, and I was eager to get back to my normal schedule, both work and otherwise. Work was sort of aggravating, given that I am trying to close a huge placement for one of my clients, and there are factors which are beyond my control that are holding this up. And at the end of the day, this very tense conversation had me raring to go to boot camp and just get it out of my system.

Walked in, dressed very differently than I had the Friday night before - a vision as the harried yuppie in a suit and sneakers, sporting specs, and whose hair hadn't really managed to behave on that day, due to the weird weather. Swapped war stories with Linda, and then went to change. And in the minutes before class, chatted up one of the other recruits, who, as it turns out, does the same thing I do. Except she has been doing it for 2 years, as opposed to my 11. But then when I mentioned that my main client is Goldman Sachs, I sensed this pulling back; not like I was trying to brag, but it's like being part of "The Skulls" - there are only 12 companies who are granted 'Platinum' status, and we just happen to be on that list. Years of work, and sweat, and abiding by every rule they throw out to us. I digress.

Wong and Titus were running the class, a different combination than before. Wong had returned after a bit of a sabbatical, brought on by a football-related knee injury. So, what was to come was somewhat difficult to figure out. But then again, boot camp is never predictable - you never know when you are going to have a strong day or a weak day, which of the DIs are going to be in bad-cop mode, or most importantly, what the workout will be. There were only 8 in the class, ideal size, but it also meant that we would be more under the microscope. Fine by me.

Determined to have a strong start, I didn't cheat when Wong called for 7 laps around the gym. Trotted around, counting lap by lap in my head, 3-4 were fine, 5 was okay, and 6-7 were the tougher ones. By the time I got back to the PT area, I welcomed the partner stretches, as they would allow my heart rate to slow down just a bit. 50 jumping jacks, no problem, but then, 20 squat thrusts (are you frigging kidding me??), followed by 25 pushups. I still haven't gotten to the non-girly ones yet - will get there eventually! Another 25 jumping jacks, 15 squat thrusts (cheated on them a bit), 20 pushups, and then 25 feet-apart-feet-together, which was decidedly tougher this time. 25 fly kicks, and we were instructed to hold our legs up for a count of 25; they threatened to make us start over if someone dropped their legs - as tempted as I was, I only brought my legs up to my chest for a split second while they were walking up and down the lines.....although I suspect that Wong spotted me, and was being merciful.

We were then instructed to partner up, and thankfully, I was moved down to face another partner, given that my former partner, the OTHER recruiter, had neglected to partner up with me for our previous routine, making me wonder what was up her rear end (call me delusional, but I think the Goldman comment earlier made her turn a bit). And I suspect that my cute young partner was a bit disappointed at not being partnered up with her boyfriend, another cute young I-banker (you have to wonder, how do 23 year olds afford this sort of thing, and if they are in finance, how are they getting out in time enough to get to a 7PM boot camp session). She set herself up in plank position, while my row was ordered to bear crawl 1 lap around the gym. Tough. I do okay on the wood floor, but once we hit the shredded tires, I was brought to my knees. And, in the interest of keeping up time, I cheated a bit and crawled on my knees behind the rock wall, and then when I got back onto the wood, went back to the bear crawl. Then it was my turn for the plank position, and it felt like I was in the position for a mere 30 seconds, and then my sprightly partner came back. The next lap around was a crab walk. IMPOSSIBLE. My arms are NOT long enough to support the weight of my body in its present form, and I spent the better part of the lap on my butt. Titus, sensing the pathetic-ness oozing out of me, ordered me to run it in.

Back to the PT space, we each did 35 throwdowns, no sweat; followed by 15 diamond push-ups, 2 laps around, another 15 pushups, and then another two laps. Over to the hurdles, where we were not going to go over just once, but Over (forward)/Over (back)/Over (forward). Given that I still can't jump these things, I concentrated on doing right leg-left leg-right leg, and then onto the next one. 2 laps around, then over to the 3 walls, and then another 2 laps. Over to behind the Intensity wall, where I found myself partnered up with Junior Recruiter Chick again, and we were ordered to do 75 canteen sit ups. Made it through - the first 30 were speedy, just so I could get through, and then I paced myself, and we got through it. Thankfully, we were given a water break. Not long enough, then it was time for another 2 laps. Titus pointed us to the doubled up tires for squats. I walked over to one set and the Titus directed me to another set, a bit lower to the ground (by a few millimeters). Looking at him inquisitively was all that he needed to start going off -

"What, you want me to be more obvious? You're short!"

Okay, a bit more blunt than EVER. Not like I haven't heard short jokes from yahoos before; as opposed to the past, where I would get all angry and huffy, I decided to take the high road -

"You're kidding. I never knew that. Are you going to tell me the sky is blue next?"

With the eye twinkle, he replied, "That's debatable."

By then, I had settled into my 35 squats. 2 laps around, and then over to the hurdles, in the same fashion as before. Over to the rope net, where I got my usual boost, accompanied by a smug smile, and then I got myself through, and over the rope wall. Over the rope swing, under the barbed wire, and then Titus ordered me to do 15 jumping squat thrusts. BLEAH. I thought he couldn't see me pulling a face, but apparently he did. And then? "It's 20 now, since you rolled your eyes at me". Hated him at that moment. But, I was determined not to fail - I got through about 12-13, and then he called me over for another 50 sit-ups. JRC (for short) was my partner again, but this time, she didn't sit across from me - and how were we going to do canteen sit-ups in that position? It was definitely a bit awkward - I don't care what you do outside of boot camp, none of it matters when you are in class. Titus immediately set upon her, asking her why she was always on her own. Hah, that got her in line. We got through our 50 sit-ups, thankfully. Then over the 3 walls again, and to the rock wall for 25 sit-ups.

Next was upper body time. 25 dips against the windowsill, then 2 laps around; then 20 dips, and another 2 laps; lastly 15 dips and another two laps. Got through that fine. But of course it couldn't be an easy ride.....Titus ordered me over to the monkey bars. I looked trepidatiously at him, as to try and convey my utter dislike for the monkey bars. He looked at me and said, "Come on, it'll give you something to put in your blog." The utter cheek, he actually went there! I was shocked, couldn't even think of a retort. I gave him my best death stare, and said, "What I told you on Friday stays on Friday." As of Monday, he went back to being just DI Titus....

I made it through 1.5 of the monkey bars and felt myself start to slip, and vociferously told him I was losing my grip. He was probably trying to avoid a repeat performance of months before, so he let me down. I used him like he was an oak tree and climbed down.

Then over to the hurdles - Davis and I didn't have time to go all the way back down before we were ordered over to the rock wall for our 25 group sit ups. After we were done, we all dilly dallied in the girls' pup tent, and shared war stories from the party on Friday night. Davis was my (female) knight in shining armor - she found me on the corner at 2AM with a shish kebab in my hand, and got us a cab and back down to Battery Park City.

A punishing, yet satisfying session. Very necessary, given the day's conversations.