Exceptional grades aren’t the only thing I’ve been striving for this past week. I also plan on winning first place in the Amazing Race. “But Scott, that’s a primetime TV show and you have no chance of ever being featured, how could you possibly win it all?!” Unfortunately, I’m well aware that I will never be on TV, unless my infomercial ideas finally find a backer, but that’s a topic for another blog. What I’m talking about now is ICO’s Amazing Race. This is a program put on by the school’s own very own fitness guru and coordinator, Sarah Engle. The premise is that students pair up in teams of two and hit the gym. The exercises done are converted to miles that we then use to travel the world. Different exercises are worth different points–for example, running one mile equals 500 map miles, while one mile on the stationary bike is 150 map miles. As we gain miles, we reach various destinations around the world until we finally reach Chicago again–52,800 miles later. The best part is that you can see your progress on the large map outside the gym; all you have to do is move your game piece the correct number of miles!
Needing something to take my mind off all this studying, I recruited as my teammate Brad Boyle, my friend and fellow ultra-competitive gym-goer. We jumped in headfirst when the race began last Monday and haven’t looked back. There’s a maximum of 2,000 map miles one can accomplish per person per day, and we have hit our maximum allowance each and every day. For those of you keeping track, that’s equivalent to each person running four miles every day! Now, this hasn’t been easy. We’re in the midst of some very busy weeks with exams galore and my entrance testing practical this this week, but it’s a challenge I’ve taken head-on. With both Brad and myself pushing each other to finish our workouts each day, we’ve made solid progress along the board and have traveled far, but we’re not the only team with the drive to win. A few teams have kept up and after one week the competition is fierce. Now it looks as if it will become a test of endurance to see who can find the time and motivation to work out every day along with schoolwork. We don’t know what will happen in the next weeks and whether or not we can carry on to victory, but I do know with the gym right across the street and Brad’s ceaseless motivation, there shouldn’t be any reason for me to miss a day in the gym and not get my team the necessary points. Go team!