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Bootcamp Blast in Boston Common
The sadistic concept: United with a group of like-minded crazies, you run, pant and perform multiple circuits of drills under the throaty orders of a relentless trainer. A blast, as you will, to challenge the body. But the diabolical twist of doing it outside, weather notwithstanding, kept me up the night before as I writhed in my toasty bed with anticipation. Yet the morning dawned on Saturday with temperatures critically freezing with 17 degrees at 9am warming up to a balmy 23 by noon. After meticulously putting on four layers on top, the only real athletic pants I own, a wool hat, scarf and gloves, I set forth outside. My brain can only process: holy balls, it’s cold.

I spot one guy at the prescribed meeting point, the corner of Beacon and Charles Streets on Boston Common. A motley of a class slowly comes together, a grand total of five brave souls—classes can reach up to 30 participants— under the tutelage of feisty, ponytailed leader Chrys. (She’s suspiciously accompanied by a sack of resistant bands and other muscle-melting toys.) Immediately we warm up with a run around the Common, a bit over a mile, my lungs alternating freeze and thaw with each breath. We proceed to do a series of sprints and push-ups, going nose-to-nose with errant snow drifts and horse manure, and flail our limbs while nearly impaling passersby. The public element of thrashing our bodies senseless can not be underestimated.

We head to the monument, the lethal thrill of ice patches and uneven concrete keeping our spirits up. Despite the cold (to which one acclimates reasonably well), the outdoor workout captures unusual beauty with sledders, snow-dusted dogs and the frozen Frog Pond as backdrop. Though the irony palpably thickens, a passing cluster of military bootcampers barking in unison does not faze our glory. We have our own madness to attend to: hustling blindingly on Beacon Hill, or feeling abs burn while buns freeze during crunches on concrete. The 90 minutes fly by intensely with an ADHD thrill, but the moment I think it’s all a piece of cake, I find my bottle of water is frozen.

Mother Nature? More like Ms. Nasty. [CL ]

[Next blast: Sat.1.19, Boston Common, 9:30am. 617.787.1224.
ultimatebootcamp.com]

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