Lewis' Boxing Gym

The next leg of my journey into "ultramarathon world" began here. While at Bible College, waiting to be married, I started jogging (a couple miles here and there to get into shape. After all, I was to be married in a month and a half, so I had some work to do.

One of my jogging routes led me to Lewis' Boxing Gym. I had driven past it several times, and perhaps because my name is Rocky, I thought to myself, "I wonder..." With a very meager budget, I decided to give it a try. Either Mr. Lewis was just that nice of a guy, or he really wanted me to box, because after pretty much trusting me to pay him...something...whenever I could, he gave me a few lessons, a workout regimen, and a key to the gym to workout whenever I wanted.

Soon, my mornings were filled (being summer break and not having much else to do until about 3pm when I went into work). A normal morning would go something like this:

First,I would wake up and drink some water and maybe a small bite to eat, then I would jog about 2 1/2 miles to the gym.
Here is a picture of a view on the route to the gym. I had to run up a catwalk to cross these railroad tracks.

Then, at the gym, I would do some stretching, wrap my hands,do some push-ups (three sets of about twenty) and sit-ups (three sets of about 40), and then I would begin my work out. Every workout was to the bell (three minutes on, one minute break, repeat). First I would jump rope for three rounds. Then I would go immediately to three rounds of shadow boxing. Next I would put on 16oz gloves and go three rounds with the heavy bag...the rest of the work out would depend on if the trainer was there or not, but it would often include working on form, focus mits, footwork, etc. After all this was done, I would cool down, do some more stretching, and then make the 2  1/2 mile trek back home(often this would be walked instead of jogged because I would be beat!) and hit the shower.

I often think that I would love to do that routine again to get back in that kind of shape. There is no doubt it contributed to my later desire for pushing myself physically, enduring the pain, and deciding to do something a very small percent of people will ever do (running ultra distances of 50 and 100 miles).