6 • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2002
--you to try and do everything, and they don't tolerate making fun of each other. Gardner said.
Don "Red Dog" Gardner leads about 250 participants in a before-dawn workout Tuesday morning at Memorial Stadium.
Running with the dogs
We began with 20 more jumping jacks, followed by 15 lunges per leg. They were counting off the number we were doing, and I remember knowing I was behind, but thinking if I fell far enough back, they might think I had done them all. I'm sly like a fox, baby.
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Then we did 20 pushups and 20 sit-ups. Now when I say that I do sit-ups, they are more like little crunches or mini sit-ups. I don't actually lift my head all the way to my knees. That takes work. I got through about ten and my energy gave way.
Next we were told to do 20 leg lifts (I got about 8), 20 leg spreads (I got about 9) and 50 bicycle kicks per leg. At this point I kind of just spaced out and tried to do it until the person next to me quit. To be quite honest, I would have done far less than I did, but a Kansan photographer was standing next to me taking my picture. I didn't want to look lazy, though my laziness was clear.
Then came the big daddy closer. We were told to leave the stadium and run up the Campanile on the far side and return on the near side — twice. Man, people just hopped out of the stadium and took off. I know keeping a heart rate up requires a constant workout, but my heart rate was not only up, I could hear it. So I strolled to the water fountain, started to run and after a few paces decided to walk the remainder of the one lap I had already decided to do.
I got almost to the top and took the shortcut. I remembered my high school basketball coach telling me that if I cut corners there, I would cut corners for the rest of my life. I also remember him telling me to get in the "pain zone." Since I was well into that zone, I thought that advice conflicted with the throbbing in my chest. And since I thought I had not cut corners in any part of my life since, you bet your butt I took that shortcut. A few people lapped me, but nobody said anything. Gardner said this was one of the three rules.
They don't allow Walkmans. They want
"If they make fun of my skinny legs, I am going to yell at them," he said.
The program is free to the public, and in
Jenny Wessles, Lawrence, models her 2001 Red Dogs apparel after her workout Tuesday morning. Wessles is one of many area residents who take advantage of the workouts.
the last four years, Gardner said attendance had exploded. He said last year there were an average of 600 people who regularly met at the 6 p.m. sessions, and attendance rose that morning as well.
With increasing numbers, Gardner said he needed more help. Several leaders faced the crowd and demonstrated the exercises. Some of whom had
"I didn't expect this many in the morning,"Gardner said.
attended for several years.
Casey Lauer, Lawrence senior, said he started working with Gardner while he was a football player at Lawrence High. He said his football coaches required it, but when he went to college, he found different reasons to continue the program.
"You go to college and get fat," Lauer said. "Then in the summertime you just work it off."
Lauer said he had participated in Dog Days for seven years — a little out of my league. I did happen to run into another rookie. Gretchen Chapple, 29, Lawrence resident, said her physical therapist had turned her on to Dog Days. She said she used to be athletic, but having children caused her to slow her routine. She said she was trying to get it back.
"I love it, it's great," Chapple said.
Contact Pilgreen at jpilgreen@kansan.com.
This story was edited by Jason Royer