John Manning Memorial Sprint Decathlon

John Manning, a friend and great man, passed away unexpectedly last year. We miss you John!

As written in his obituary, “John loved life and lived it to the fullest. A devout Christian father, grandfather and husband, he opened every day with “This is the day the Lord has made especially for you” and he meant it. He was always available to serve and never met a stranger. His laugh was infectious, his smile contagious and if you were honored enough to get a hug, which most everyone was, he could turn a bad day into a good day.”

In his memory, our local YMCA (Fowler Family location) is building a new children’s playground. I had been toying with an idea to organize a timed “Decathlon Themed” workout at the Y and have decided to organize this to kick off the fundraiser for the playground. I know this would have made John happy!

So, on Saturday morning, Oct 26th, we are going to launch the inaugural “John Manning Memorial Sprint Decathlon”. It sure seems like a great idea! However, this morning, reality set in when I led a Decathlon training session with my buddies at the Y. We only did about half the exercises I have planned for our event, and I barely made it. The final set of burpees left me totally exhausted.

Here is what we have planned:

• 200 steps on the Jacobs Ladder

• 1 mile on stationary bike

• 500-meter row on the rowing machine

• 20 pullups and 40 pushups

• 5 track laps with medicine ball

• 60 sit-ups with slam ball

• 50 wall ball squats

• 30 burpees

• 4 sandbag sweepers across the gym floor

• 150-yard swim

Each event is a timed “sprint” and we start every event on 5-minute intervals. That being said, the entire workout will be over in just 50 minutes. If anyone wants to participate, please let me know. For my friends outside Atlanta, you can also participate remotely. I can give you some more details of the official rules. It is going to be epic!  And if this morning was any indication, it could end up being the toughest 50 minute workout I have ever done.