It could happen.

Today I test my newfound gun strength in the push-up challenge. So after ten days of 100 push-ups, what's my magic number?

Zero.

About halfway through the ten days I started feeling a nagging twinge of pain in my right shoulder. I attributed it to my growing muscle; why my muscle was only growing on the right side, I didn't bother to figure out. By Day Seven it had developed from the "phone-rings-when-you're-on-the-can" kind of annoying to "asshole-just-cut-you-off-because-he's-on-his-cell-phone" pissing-me-off kind of pain. But like a stubborn ox I befriended Advil and ice and kept going. By the last day it's obvious that I'm hurt; muscle aches don't stab you when you throw a tennis ball. So today I play it safe and forego the final push-up test.
The good news from all of this is that I can estimate my push-up number instead. And I'm guessing I can do...


112.

Fast Food crisis.

Last Friday I'm in a 5th grade class teaching empathy. We'd just completed a hands-on activity that pumped up the message, and now we're processing to drive it home. The class is silent, mesmerized. Suddenly, without warning or a raised hand, a boy in the front announces:

"You have something black in your teeth!"

Instant mental rewind to an hour an a half earlier--I'm late for my first class, dashing out of the office, shoving a handful of trail mix in my face in an attempt to stave off hunger until my 11:00 break. Peanut skin, surely the guilty culprit.
And then it dawns on me:

You have had this black object in your teeth for the last hour and a half. You've taught 3 classes with it. At least three teachers and nearly 75 students have seen this foreign atrosity and said nothing.

I laugh it off and continue processing the activity, purposely calling on the long-winded students to buy time to dig it out. No luck. The class ends ten minutes later, I beeline for the bathroom and take a look. It's the size of a bus and right in front. My worst nightmare realized. Everyone has their little self-conscious quirks, and food in teeth is one of my biggest. I scoop it out (it takes several attempts).

Stupid trail mix. Next time I'm grabbing a banana.

Blue Stuff (an update)

You know that blue stuff they gave you in elementary school to help you learn how inefficiently you brush your teeth? You swish it around after brushing and it shows up on all the places you missed that are rotting of plaque as you stand there staring in the mirror at your blue teeth?

I think push-ups serve the same purpose. For I have done my 100 yesterday and 43 so far today and I'm feeling muscles I didn't have last week.

Did you know that we have muscles on the sides of our boobs?

Yay, push-ups--the blue stuff for muscles.

Onward and Upward!

About a month ago I embarked on a twice-a-week 7-exercise core workout to try and minimize my floppiness. Each exercise involved 2-3 sets of unique body contortions, one of which defies gravity in ways no human with knees is able. It's true--they call it The Matrix. I'm glad to report that after four weeks, I do notice a difference; not in the mirror, but in my posture and in my ability to do said gravity-defying acts. There's only one problem. I am now bored with them and I'm going to cut them off. But it's okay, because I have a replacement challenge. I stumbled across Krista's push-up throwdown challenge the other day and it sounds right up my alley. Buff arms? Yep, want 'em. Solid core? Need it. Short enough time span to keep my interest? Two weeks should do it. The basics, straight from Krista:

ODD days - Do 100 push ups in as few sets as possible in addition to your regularly scheduled workout of cardio exercises. You can still do upper body workouts on these days if you are already on a program. This is a supplemental 100 push-ups using maximum repetition sets (2 x 50, 4 x 25 … it’s your choice how you get to 100).
EVEN days - Do 100 push-ups throughout the day. This can be little sets of ten done every half hour or fifty push-ups done twice times throughout the day.
How it Works - Today, see how many push-ups you can do in one try. Then starting tomorrow, repeat the ODD/EVEN routine for a total of 10 days. Then take three days off from push-ups. On day 14, give yourself the push-up test and see how many you can do.

So it's on. After I vaccuum (because I've put it off long enough and Erika is starting to get irritated), I'm doing my push-up test today. I'm so excited I could pee.

UPDATE: I did it! Twenty push-ups. I can only get better. I wonder what it would have been if I hadn't vaccuumed...