Saturday, October 8: Special Attention from the DI (yummy)

Friday was a good day. I was hoping Saturday would be just as good, or better. Purposely did not go out on Friday night, well, let me correct that - I went home to Mom/Dad's place, to hang with my cousin and my mother - given that my dad was in Washington DC playing tour guide to some friends visiting from India. Just so I wouldn't be late, I went home straight from boot camp. My mom and Pooja took one look at me and started cracking up......they had never seen me in my camos. I mock-sulked and threatened to leave, then Pooja redeemed the moment by telling me my butt looked good in the pants. Needless to say, it got me back to BPC at a reasonable hour.

The next morning, despite having gotten a fair amount of sleep, I was still tired. Did the ultimate lazyass move and took a cab to boot camp, because as I was lazing around in the morning, eating my healthy breakfast of oatmeal, fruit and coffee with soy milk, the time flew by, and then, topped off by the fact that for now, the 1 train doesn't come down to Rector on the weekends, and the R/W is always slow, I decided that springing for a cab was the far better option. Call the $10 I spent on the cab a lazyass tax. In the back of my mind, I was like, I would so rather be lazing at home......before we boarded the elevator, we saw DI Wong come out of the stair case, in non-DI camos, with a loud "Hoo-rah!", so I knew that he wasn't going to be teaching the class.

It feels like lately it is more of the exception to the rule when Sunil and I are in the same class; since I switched Friday times, and then when one of us has a re-schedule. Today was one of those days where we were in the same class, so we chatted about the next day's fun event, attending a taping of Celebrity Jeopardy at Radio City Music Hall. And, my neighbor Private Davis showed up as well - after not seeing her for a long time, she had been coming to the last couple of classes. As well as Fischer, who I hadn't seen in a while (attributing it to the high holidays), and of course, Private Flashdance. Time for class, Titus called for 8 laps around. Willing myself not to panic, I was up front with my petite heroine (aka Ms. Perfect, now Mrs. Perfect, having returned from her honeymoon earlier in the week), and started off. By the time I finished, thankfully not in last place (I don't know if you guys understand how this messes with my mind - maybe it is my own ego or sense of self-expectation which comes into play), the heart was beating hard enough that when I partnered up with Fischer to do our stretches, I let her shout the countown, while I focused on my breathing. They were easy on us, only 50 jumping jacks, then, into the pushup position, where we were ordered to do mountain jumpers. Didn't know how many we were going to, and I snuck in a rest on my knee at 15 - of course Alex noticed, and hollered "keep going, Vincent!" Next up, feet together, feet apart - managed okay. But then it was plank position for 60 seconds, I focused on keeping my rear down, as to not attract attention. On our backs, feet facing each other, butterfly kicks for a count of 25 - I cheated a bit, my feet hit the floor and rested a couple of times, but it was during the time Titus and Alex were strolling down the other way. Then, ugh, 15 squat thrusts. Okay, this was one of those days where I didn't feel the need to keep up with the class, and maybe did about 60-75% (arbitrary) of them, I know myself well enough that I didn't want to be derailed early on. As much as I want to be a purist and follow the exercises to the T, I know there are people who get around them, and so for this rare moment, I chose to go that route. Then, lunges around the gym. A good way to control my breathing and heart rate.

I think at this point, we were instructed to grab a mat, and then do two sets of 25 throwdowns. Purely from a positioning standpoint, Titus took the part of the class closest to the wall, and Alex took the remainder (where I was positioned - purrr).

I partnered up with Davis, my BPC Neighbor. She started, and then I muscled through it - now that I know how to breathe, they are infinitely easier - after which point, we were directed to the hurdles and 4 walls. I was wearing the right sneakers and was in the right frame of mind, so I got over the first one in effortlessly; Davis let me go ahead of her and I got over the second wall with little difficulty. And then it was time for the 3rd wall. I looked around, Titus saw me, but since I was not part of his platoon, he wasn't going to give me a boost. I caught Alex's eye, and asked him for help. With him giving me a boost, I scrambled up with no problem, grabbing the top of the wall, and throwing my leg over and landing on my feet. Alex walked around and said, "Excellent, excellent work, Vincent". Full of energy and happiness and gung-ho-ness (fine, I know it's not a word), I gave him the high five he was holding out, smiled, and replied, "Boo ya." I have no idea if this was a military term, but I didn't care! He told me to go grab a bar, and go once around, raising it to shoulder length. Going back, I recall, I had major difficulty doing this weeks ago, but I concentrated on my breathing, and made my way around. Didn't quite did long lunges, but overall, kept it together. Second time around, military presses. Alex had said we were going to focus on the upper body that day (wondered how I would fare, given how much upper body we had done the day before).

In the PT area, we were given this circuit - 25 bicep curls, 25 over-the-head tricep extensions, and then a lap around; repeat 4 times. Private Flashdance was bitching and whining as usual; I tuned her out, and focused on myself. For some reason, the laps weren't hitting my knees as hard today. Could it be the Ben Gay, the knee wraps, the aspirin, or the healing presence of my favorite DI? You make the call. The final set was the toughest, my biceps and triceps started to waver, but I gritted my teeth and kept on going. I finished and looked to Alex for the next step. He asked me how many I had done, and when I responded "Four," he grinned and said, "Amazing." I resisted the urge to say, just call me Chocolate Lightning! But I was thinking it :) He told me to grab my bar and go over to the weights area.

Because I was the first one to finish, he directed all his attention on me for the first task *coo*. I was handed an 8 pound dumbbell, sat down on the weight bench, feet planted firmly on the floor, knees apart, held the weight in my right hand, and rested it against my thigh. They were called concentrated curls, and I was to do an initial set of 12 on each side. Afterwards, over to the windowsill, 15, dips, and then a lap around; second time was 10, then the next time was 8 - for a total of 3 circuits. When it was time for the dips, I was so pumped that as opposed to doing the bent knee dips that I had done in the past, I went at it straight legged, and went down lower than I had ever done. Slowly, breathing evenly, counting quietly. Light as a gazelle around the perimeter. When I was finished, the next task was 25 reverse bicep curls, and then a lap around. REOW - he stood close as he showed me how to keep my form, and at some point, I distinctly recall an arm pat. I completed 3, which I thought he said was the number, but then he said that we had to do for. Coyly, I said, 'You said 3 before! Where's the integrity in that?" (yes, recycling what I had said to Wong not too long back, but the emotion was different this time). He grinned and chuckled.

If there were more exercises, I don't recall after that. All I know is that Saturday was 'DI Alex pays special attention to Private Vincent' day. A very fine day indeed. Teacher-figure crushes are so tingle-inducing, aren't they?