I swear I was going to go yesterday. Was all dressed up and ready to go. A little bit too early.

I should never be given time think.

No. 1 reason I came up with was stomach cramps. There was no denying that I had them. But okay, okay. I wasn’t going to be a pussy about it. I took two Alaxans and hoped they would go away. They didn’t. The muscle relaxants seemed to have the opposite effect. I could feel my quadriceps tightening from the previous day’s workout. And my left knee was still begging for attention. I tied my hair back and slipped on a bandana.

No. 2 reason was that it was raining carabaos and goats. Non-stop. Still the gym wasn’t too far. I had my trusty Brookstone umbrella. I went to the kitchen for my water bottle.

And then I got the text from my sister-in-law. “Traffic is bad along Katipunan, stay at home.” Hey, that came from someone else, not me! Who am I to question the Deus Ex Machina? All righty then. I stripped off the bandana, left the water bottle in the kitchen and skipped to my room to curl up with “A Feast for Crows”.

Dang. I was thisclose.

Truth was that with the stomach cramps, tight quadriceps and bum knee combo, the thought of doing lunges or squats was enough to make me want to scream.

But I did make it to the 7:30 AM session today. Only three of us did.

Warmed up with three-minute jump ropes, 20 squats and 20 push-ups.

WOD was:

• hand-to-hand kettlebell swings – I finally went with the recommended weight of 16 kilos, which is what I normally use for one hand swings at the PKTC anyway.
• V-ups
• goblet squats – The way I learned this at the PKTC involves holding the kettlebell by the horns either right side up or upside down. Karen demonstrated it by holding the bell itself, which is difficult, at least for me, to do with a very heavy weight so I only used 12 kilos, as opposed to the recommended 16 for women.
• box jumps – Ah, those ever-present, unrelenting box jumps. Yup, still used the small box. (I think it must be around 12 inches in height.) I really ought to get me some shoes… By the time I’m done with CrossFit, I should be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

But here’s the killer part of the workout: First set, 50 reps of each exercise ; second set, 40; third set, 30; then 20 and 10.

Karen extended our time from 25 minutes to 30 and only one of us finished. I came in second, doing only 14 box jumps out of 20. You’d think I would have been able to finish that round, at least. Soclose. But I kept stopping after every count of ten to try and catch my breath and not die. At one point, I could feel the water I had gulped trying to climb its way back out. But, no, it isn’t that day yet. So close though. So close.