Challenge at the Colvin

Okay, so I am sure if you are a Twitter-er you have seen my two tweets so far about the #colvintabs. If you are on campus, I am sure you have heard about the usual outrageous upsurge of people at the Colvin. And, if you are a normal Colvin goer, you are probably JUST as annoyed as me with the little thing called, "New Years Resolutions."

Quick thoughts from my perspective about New Years Resolutions. If you need a new year to start in order to make a goal for yourself... Odds are you probably aren't going to stick with it. I saw a stat that 3 out of 10 people have already given up their New Years Resolution. It is Jan. 16. Check Mate.

College OSU law states that spring semester shall be a busy time for the Colvin center. With the New Years Resolutions, peak times are about every hour of the day until around the start of February. Then February is chill until the end. Then the men and women of OSU begin to panic. Two words will define their diet and exercise habits for the next month. Spring. Break. And the crowds fill the Colvin once again. After we jump the SB hurdle, the Colvin goes back to those people who either A: Enjoy working out (my past roommate) or B: Has to combat the grizzly fate of becoming the half ton woman on TLC (me).

Even today, a lazy Sunday on a three-day weekend, the Colvin was hopping. Now, this past week I have been noticing a trend. Lots of "challenge" t-shirts have been coming out of the wood-works. Normally I notice an abundance of high school shirts, greek shirts, and OSU paraphernalia, but this week.... T-Shirts sent me strong messages. One I wasn't keen on....

So here I am walking at my brisk... okay at a speed of 2.5 WHILE on a high incline when I see a gazelle on an elliptical. I look at the back of her shirt and it says, “GET ON OUR LEVEL” in obnoxiously large print. Nothing else. No explanation of what level or directions on how to do it. Just a threat and challenge to get on an apparently desirable level.

Now, you can say that I am reading way to much into this, but it is a feat to trot my less than enthused rear over to the Colvin to work out everyday. It’s not like I enjoy working out, so seeing overly abrasive t-shirts really pushes my buttons. Can't a girl work out in peace? I then got curious if anyone else had something to say... I looked at the machines to the right and saw my next one...

“GO CLIMB A MOUNTAIN”

What? ... I mean I am walking on a 9.5 incline. To my knowledge, this is basically Mt. Fuji without rocks. Thank goodness this one had something to reference though. In small print at the bottom, it said.... “Yosemite Park.” Go figure. Now, this one was less offensive. I mean there was some kind of point and direction. I came to the solution that if I was ever in Yosemite, I would take this young lady’s advice and ‘go climb a mountain.’ Great. Another one for the bucket list.

Finally as I am finishing up on my very extreme work out... 3.2 speed now! I see the last straw:

“YOU CAN’T HANDLE THIS!”

Ohhhhh reallllllyyyyy... I can’t? Maybe I can! Double dog dare me to do whatever it is and I bet... Oh wait. Subtitle at the bottom. Marine Corps. Yeah. You got me. I probably couldn’t hang with that... Ugh. Dang you challenge t-shirts!


In the spirit of the blog, I now challenge you to go on over to the Colvin. Well, actually scratch that. Don’t go intentionally to see the infestation of t-shirts with dares on them. We are already over-populated, and I need a parking spot when I go to work out.

Instead, if you happen to be at the Colvin for whatever reason... Take tabs on the overly zealous t-shirts. Perhaps one might even inspire you to do something... Or, you might just understand where my annoyance spawns from. Either way, remember the truly important things:

Only 349 days left in 2011

Only 55 days left till Spring Break 2011

Happy Work Outing, dedicated readers!