There’s that saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.” I’ve always been a bit puzzled by it. I mean “What the….” It’s like that one about not having your cake and eating it too. Why would you buy the bloody cake in the first place? What’s the point of having it? I’ve never met a cake I haven’t eaten. Which brings me to my point. On the weekend of October 28–29, I did a good deed and I’ve been punished every day since. What does that have to do with cake, I hear you ask? Well, the good deed involved a 24-hour fitness challenge where I learned that I’ve had far too much cake.
My local gym, Fit Nation (and yes – I am a member), held a 24-hour fitness challenge to raise money for the Graeme Dingle Foundation, and, specifically, for teen mental health. You know this already as I sent you a begging email about it. And thank you for all of the donations — they were greatly appreciated. The teams consisted of five members each. We entered two from the Tauranga Court — Time Served and Early Release which consisted of three security officers, six registry staff, and one elderly, slightly bewildered, fat, bald gentleman. I’ll let you guess who that was.
In our pre-event briefings, I emphasised what this was all about. Winning. Forget the charity. We needed to raise more money than any other team. And we did. Time Served raised $6441 to be the top fundraiser.
There were about 15 teams involved. There were food trucks and a DJ. There were enormous numbers of push-ups, squats, sit-ups, and chin-ups completed and huge kilometres run, cycled, and rowed. None of it by me. There were spin classes, functional classes, box fit classes, and yoga classes. There were tears, sweat, but fortunately no blood. I’ve never felt so old in my life. But then I remembered that I had never been that old before, so it all made sense.
The rules required at least one member of each team to be on the premises at all times. Fortunately, our security officers Xavier, Ben, and Will had decided to stay throughout the 24 hours, so problem solved. They were unbelievable. Another word is unhinged. Twenty four hours taking few breaks. Those boys need help! The event started at 3pm Saturday. At 2.15am Sunday, the temperature had dropped significantly so I sneaked home to get in the spa pool to warm up. Got back to the gym at 6am, at which point my joints were beginning to complain about the weekend’s activities. The good news was that I learned where my abs were — deeply submerged somewhere in the general vicinity of my stomach but sending out a cry for help. TVs were set up for the World Cup Final, as were strategically positioned bikes, so I pedalled my way through the 80 minutes, sharing the highs and lows with everyone else.
The event came to an end at 3pm Sunday. It had been a tremendous opportunity to do some team building and share a lot of laughs. Mostly at my expense. We were supported throughout the weekend by other registry team members, which, given the inclement weather, was a great effort.
There were some ridiculous numbers accumulated. A team of old guys rowed 230 kilometres. One guy did around 1400 sit-ups. I did 3200 push-ups (no I didn’t – it was 32). At the end of it though the numbers didn’t matter. It was a tremendous community event for a wonderful cause, and I was extremely proud of both of our teams and of our supporters, who contributed so much. And finally, a huge thank you to all of my colleagues who donated so generously to the event. But just remember — no good deed goes unpunished!