www.usacyclingchampionships.com & PLANK RECORD

So the USA cycling championship is being held here today.  I thought they'd be going right by my porch, but after sitting here for 10 minutes with traffic still rolling by, I went for a walk.  OH, aha, a block south of here.  So I watch... alright cool.  Well, cool as far as clapping and hollering for 30 seconds then waiting for at least 15 minutes more before another 30 second spurt.  OH OKAY, I'm now sitting on my porch an hour after that, posting to my blog, and here come the leaders.  So in a bit... OK, there's 4 more... waiting on the pack... yep, there they went.  Cool!

But they aren't the only champions today.  So back in my earlier recovery, I made it a goal to get very good at planks.  I was doing them morning and night, every day, for as long as I could hold it.  I know that the owner of my gym holds this position daily for over 5 minutes.  I made it my goal to beat that, did them morning & night for months, and I held it for barely over 5 minutes twice.  But then I realized, "You know what?  I'm in good shape.  Quit trying to push the envelope."  So I stopped doing them for a few months.  Much later I thought "Well, yeah, so I'm not gonna be a superstar, but it's still good to do, when I think of it, just general fitness."  And I've been sporadically holding planks as long as I can for the last few weeks, nowhere near the level I was at.  I mean, last night I only could hold a plank for 2:30, half my old goal.  Yeah, well, whatever, it still keeps your ab muscles fit, works off my milk gut. (which replaced my beer gut)

But then I was bored while waiting for the cyclists to come around again the circuit today, so I found a shady spot on the sidewalk and dropped to my elbows & toes.  I must have been inspired by the cyclists and the disabled cyclists pedaling like mad with their arms and then just being in public probbly helped, because I held it for...

6:01.  Darren, I know you're going to see this because I'm gonna send it to you.  I just owned you.  And I've said that I wouldn't claim I've recovered until I could beat the owner of my gym at his own game.  So I have done what I set out a year ago to do.  God that feels good.  Now, I almost certainly won't do that next time, but still... I've done it.  Next?  (and please don't say 7 minutes)