"Hey there...there goes the Spider-Man"

Saturday, May 23, 2012


I was back on the trail doing my first Survival Workout in 10 days and feeling pretty good.  I reached the cabins where I do some abdominal work when I realized there was a picnic going on at the Pavilion and people were using the swing set.  Clearly, they were unaware of my standing reservation to use the poles for my workout…and I considered not using it, but it had been so long and I really wanted to do some climbing.  I figured ‘what the hell’ and advanced.

A dad was pushing two little children in swings when I spat in my hands and grabbed hold of the pole.  Another child…I’d say about six…was playing on a pole opposite  me and a second little girl was carrying her stick horse (haven’t seen one of those in years) towards the swing set to give it a ride.  I climbed quickly to the top, did a pull-up and slid back to the ground.  The girl with the stick horse looked at me with bulging eyes and her mouth hanging open.

“Can you do that again?” she said in shocked amazement.

“Sure can...can you?” I asked.

She shook her head and called to her mom to come and watch as I climbed a second time.  By now, eight or so kids had gathered to watch and four were trying on various poles to see if they could do it, too.  One little guy let out a gasp.

“I think he’s Spiderman,” he cried out as I climbed a third time.

The mom was uncertain about me and moved between me and her daughter, who was pushing her stick horse on one of the swings.  I really couldn’t blame her…an old man with a faded USA bandana, torn up dirty t-shirt and a propensity for climbing swing set poles.  The kids, on the other hand, couldn’t get enough of trying to climb.

I left after my fourth climb, encouraging them to keep trying…at least until someone fell and broke an arm or collarbone.  It proved something to me though…kids love to play at things we consider exercise and, if given the chance, will do it often and be so much less likely to be dealing with childhood obesity.  The Survival Workout is really playing after all and why wouldn’t they want to do it.  I realized too that I should have a children’s version…I think they’d like it more than most adults.

I finished the workout with a short jog to check how my knee would feel.  After maybe fifty yards I had my answer…not so good.  I’m not kidding myself.  I know I have to go see Nilesh and make a decision about surgery, but I also want to test it out so I can tell him what I’ve tried and how it went.  Tomorrow…a long bike.  I suspect it won’t bother much biking since I don’t load it with weight and bang on it, but we’ll see.

Survival Workout: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100-150.
Calories burned:  600.