A Royal Flush

What a fun way to burn calories! Today, Mike made bootcamp into a competition. He took our minds off of the sweating and panting we were doing and put our focus on winning a mystery prize. How did he do it? He challenged us to a game of poker.

When I arrived at 5:25 this morning, I saw Mike wandering around the park. In my fuzzy morning state I didn’t think much of it. But then, mere moments later, he explained what he had in store for us. We were going to play 5 card draw. But there was no dealer. That morning Mike had placed various piles of cards in each corner of the park. Instead of drawing from a deck, we had to run to find the card piles in order exchange our hand.

As we ran from corner to corner of the park collecting our 5-card hands, we returned to the center of the park to do an exercise which coordinated with each number we drew. Of course, the better the card in your hand, the more difficult the exercise. God forbid I get four aces!

We spent nearly the entire hour running to the decks and swapping out our cards in order to make the best possible hand. As I concentrated on pulling the missing King of Clubs for my Royal Flush, I lost track of how out of breath I was or any pain I might have been in. My concentration was on finding that card and beating the odds.

After everyone had the chance to exchange their cards, do their stationary exercises, and put their best hand together, Mike examined our collections. The hands were close: two women had full houses but I came out victorious as I did stumble upon my missing King of Clubs just before the final ante. Tomorrow I’ll find out what prize Mike has in store for my jackpot.

It was great to be the winner of the mystery prize but it was even greater to spend and hour running around on a silly mission. The best part is that on this silly mission I was working out. Other than jumping on a moon bounce as a 10-year-old, this is the most fun I’ve had burning calories. I hope Mike pulls out this deck again in the next bootcamp session.