Jogging

Yes, I am going to start out working in the kitchen yet again, sorry if I am boring anyone. I got the wakeup tap again at 3:45 am and the and for the second day in a row I didn’t need it. We leave for the kitchen at 4:30 am and the hours up until 9:30 am when we return seem to fly by. Today, I graduated to hot food server from serving milk the past two days. Today I served the potatoes. I am not quite certain as to how to describe these potatoes, but I will give it a try. The potatoes are prepared in an oven and come out like scalloped potatoes without the scallop seasoning. I remember my mother buying the whole or sliced potatoes in a can and frying these up when I was a child. The potatoes I served today were just like these except they were prepared in an oven.

There were only two hot dishes this morning – potatoes and creamed beef (ugh). Along with these items was a cold cereal (bran flakes), with toast, and a nectarine. The service went very quickly and as I had mentioned, the time went by very quickly. My potato station was directly before the creamed beef station and one of these days I am going to have a real problem when I am positioned at one of these repulsive stations. I was able to keep focused on the potatoes and wanted nothing to do with the beef station. I really am a mental case when it comes to certain foods. Maybe working in the kitchen will help with my mental difficulties with certain foods or someday I will just throw up! I guess while I was to do this on the food service line, it may end my career in the kitchen. the coming days and weeks should prove to be very interesting.

One of the perks about working in the kitchen is making up my own tray, thus avoiding the many foods that I do not like. Today, for instance, the cream beef is placed on the top of the potatoes which would have killed one of the foods I actually eat. However, by being able to make-up my own tray, I skipped the beef station altogether and didn’t have to waste any food.

At the end of the food service, we all hurried to clean up because today was yard day. We all noticed that one dormitory had been released for yard day so the incentive was there for everyone to finish quickly. I once again mopped the dining hall but this time instead of having two helpers there was only one. He stopped mopping after a few short minutes to do another task. I certainly didn’t mind mopping almost the entire dining hall because it sure beats standing around doing nothing. We finished cleaning and headed back to the dormitory so we could all take part in yard day. On this side of the prison it is much different. On the other side, there are only certain activities such as walking, basketball, and pull-ups. Whereas on this side, there are more activities such as soccer with a regulation field, and handball which is played up against the walls with a racquetball. There are many different types of equipment for chin-ups, sit-ups, chest presses and more. And, finally we are allowed to run and jog around the regulation track.

I was so excited to jog around the track. It has been almost 2 months since I last ran or even did a decent aerobic workout. I don’t have my running shoes, short, shirt, or socks, but this didn’t matter. I was going to make do with whatever I had. I have loafers which act like sneakers but do not have a great deal of support. I also tucked my pants into my socks for fear of them dragging on the ground and tripping. All of my state issued clothing is much too big and finding my size is very difficult. I had one of my neighbor inmates put a drawstring inside of my pants to keep them from falling. He happily did this and in return, I gave him one of my lunches. I made sure all of my clothing was secure and then I started to jog around the track. However, I made the mistake of going around the outside track. I took this route because it was less congested and it would be a larger loop. As I started to jog, I noticed there were only two other joggers out of the 200 plus inmates. As I made my way around the outer loop, I came to the basketball court where a game was going on. This outer loop crossed on the outside of the basketball court where inmates were sitting. I did my best to avoid them but must have crossed an invisible barrier because I was told, not exactly politely, by many of the inmates near the court to use the inner track. I took this as good advice and headed to the gravel laced inner track.

I didn’t have any problems during the jog on the inner track. I did come upon two “brawling inmates” but they were on the grass and nowhere near where I was running. The brawl seemed to end just as quickly as it started and fortunately it did not escalate into more brawls. There were only two and they were of the same race which prison rules dictate to let the inmates go. Of course, as we headed into the dorm we were subject to a knuckle search which everyone seemed to pass. One of the inmates involved in the brawl was handcuffed and led away. I guess the CO’s were looking for the second one. This wasn’t the first time I witnessed a brawl nor do I expect it to be the last time. The first was in the county jail and I was very frightened after it happened. This was the first one I witnessed here at the reception center and for some reason I was not scared. I did slow my jog down as I approached but as the brawlers stopped, I continued my pace. Maybe I was not scared this time because I am being desensitized and I was having a really good jog.

I fully expect to get less sensitive to my surroundings as my process continues on this journey. I hope I do NOT become fully desensitized because this would not be a good thing. There is a balance somewhere between paranoia and being completely insensitive. I hope to find this balance over the course of the next few years.

My jog was very enjoyable and I did close to six miles in the time allotted. I wanted to do more but our yard time had been used up. I felt very good afterward and proceeded to do 45 minutes of calisthenics inside the dorm. No, it is not my normal workout and I will only be able to jog twice a week on yard days – Monday and Friday – but with this entire situation, I am trying to make the best of everything.

It felt great to get my legs moving and it also felt wonderful to be outside. The weather is still in the high 90’s, but I did not mind and I could have done another 10 miles. Now I look forward to Monday and Friday so I can release as many toxins as I could that have built up in my body in the last two months.

I understand that wherever the next stop is – “Yard Days” are everyday unless something goes wrong. This means my situation will continue to get better and I can apply certain aspects of my workout to my daily activities. This certainly means a great deal to me because it is a slight return to normalcy which has been elusive over the past few months. I look forward to it whenever it does return.