That damned hot chocolate. It really made sure I paid the price for cheating on my diet.

Since my stomach was still a bit woozy yesterday, I had to give CrossFit a miss, which meant that I had to make up for it today. A Saturday. Until today, I had managed to avoid working out on the weekends, as I heard that they were tougher than the regular sessions and that they involved running.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I DO NOT RUN. I absolutely loathe and detest it. I wouldn’t run even if there were a pack of wild dogs chasing me.

I prayed for rain. And it did! Hallelujah! In sheets and torrents. I did a little dance of joy.

Except that, right before I left the house, the rains suddenly ceased, the sky cleared and the sun, mockingly , smiled down on me.

Goddamit!

WOD was:

• 50 pull-ups
• 100 push-ups
• 5 km. run!!!

At eleven in the freakin’ morning. With the heat steaming the rain off the pavement. Beautiful.

Miggy gave us wusses two modification options: (1) Rx pull-ups and push-ups, with 300 km. run OR (2) 25 pull-ups, 50 push-ups and the 5-km. run. Those doing the modifications had to go in reverse order, starting with the run, then the push-ups, ending with the pull-ups.

Despite my aversion to running, I thought I’d go for the 5 km. run, seeing as I suck so badly at the pull-ups but, after the first lap, I changed my mind. I’d take my chances with the pull-ups. Worse came to worst, I just wouldn’t finish them.

Everyone left me in the dust. I tried not to let that deter me. I pounded out a slow and steady pace and, eventually, the ones who started out strong ended up stopping or walking part of the way. I was tempted to follow suit and catch my breath but I forced myself to keep the pace and, ironically, was one of the first to finish the 3 km. run.

I trotted back inside the gym and did 20 quick push-ups on my knees before running out of steam. I slowed down to batches of ten. WODs are easier to digest when broken down to bite-sized portions.

For the pull-ups, there was no way I could do them without the help of a band. The green band too, which is the easiest one. I must have done maybe two or three proper ones. The rest were shit. And I mean absolute SHIT. I was cheating massively, bouncing myself off the band. But I wasn’t going to kid myself that I could do 50 proper ones. I couldn’t even do five! So I counted the lame, fake “pull-ups” and finished the WOD in 30 minutes.

For a bit, I contemplated going back out to complete the 5 km. run – to make up for my shameful pull-ups – but, as I stood in the glaring sun, the threat of wrinkles and nasty tan lines saved me from suffering such foolishness.

But I really do need to step it up this September. It’s obvious that my fitness level has suffered because of my long absences and inconsistent attendance. Today, I did the 500 m. row in 2:30 minutes! That’s 12 seconds slower than my last row and ten seconds off being a well-rounded beginner athlete! Faaaaark! Two steps forward, a thousand back.