My brother Dale, an avid runner, belongs to a group called Men Run Deez Streets. They are committed to helping men to consider running as a consistent lifestyle and adopting habits that lead to healthy living. Dale, like all my brothers, has been committed to fitness and has been running for years. He has completed many marathon events in various parts of the world. He encouraged me to “like” their Face Book page and I have been enjoying their posts and seeing pictures of this group of men running through the streets of Chicago.
Several weeks ago they posted an event on their page. A 21-day, 1000 push-up challenge. I saw the post for the challenge late. Like two weeks late. I couldn’t resist supporting this event by the group. This past Sunday night I started my push-ups. Maybe I bit off more than I could chew? With only one week to complete this, I knew I had to put numbers up quick so I did 100 after 8PM. That left me with 900 to go by Saturday night. Using my trusty mathematical abilities I calculated that I would need to do 150 everyday from Monday through Saturday. A little daunting, but when I commit, I am going to follow through.
I figured that I could do 50 every morning and 100 every evening after work. Monday morning I started strong, dropped to the floor after waking and did 2 sets of 25. Success. After work I got home to start my 100 for the evening. Got through 80 and fell asleep. So much for success, now I had to do a makeup set in the morning. So Tuesday morning I do 70 before going to work. When I return home I felt like a run, so I did a quick 3-miler before doing four sets of 25. This is how I would finish the remainder of the challenge. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday went as planned: 50 in the morning, 100 in the evening. Then came Saturday, the last day.
Because this day I don’t follow the same routine as during the weekdays, more than half of the day passed without a single push-up. I have completed 850. I worked on several projects and ran a number of necessary errands and before you know it, it was almost 6PM. Now my wife informs me that we are supposed to go visit a friend’s home this evening at 7PM. So after 6PM I knock out the first two sets of 25 before leaving for the Ivanic’s. When we arrive, I tell them about the challenge and where I was, as my phone alarm was blowing up to remind me to do a set of push-ups. They know me quite well and are familiar my antics and don’t seem put off at my finding a semi-secluded area to rattle off a set, and again one more time just prior to leaving. I got home around 9:30PM with just 50 more to go and found my son TJ watching TED episodes on Netflix. The shows presented on the menu looked interesting so I start watching with him. I went ahead and knocked out one set and then felt pain in the back of my right shoulder. Ruht-Roh! After all that I sure hope this wouldn’t keep me from completing the challenge. So I massaged it out and hit the floor for 20 more…just 5 left. At 11:30PM I rattled off 15 more to complete the challenge with 1,010 push-ups completed.
For sure after completing these push-ups, I felt that if I did another push-up, it would not be too soon! I am really just thankful that I was able to participate and that I am healthy enough to complete the challenge. Hats off to all the men and women who completed the challenge. Also many thanks to Men Run Deez Streets for putting it on!