Happy Halloween!

 

Today is one the better holidays of the year. I had a Halloween spin class, and a bunch of people dressed up. Carrie took a picture, but I am not being allowed to publish the picture, and as an instructor I’m not allowed to photograph my own class (instructor’s handbook says so). Bummer.

[Left is what I walked into my bathroom to find a few days ago. This is my mom’s idea of a practical joke.]

Today is also the last day for everyone to sign up for the Pac-10 Fitness Challenge. University of Washington is losing by a shit-ton (Thanks to Kevin Collington for that wonderful phrase), despite the fact that Aaron and I have been slaving away from 4-7pm each night this week trying to get people to sign up. If you like UW, go to the link above, register, and log all your training hours for the week. If it was more than about 500,000 hours, we might catch up to Washington State University.

[That’s Carrie Wigton (my boss) to the left handing out K-Swiss hats and energy drinks to people as they sign up. “Do you know what the Pac-10 Fitness Challenge is? If you sign up we give you free stuff!]

[Here’s one girl registering for the Pac-10 Fitness Challenge on my computer. Isn’t my laptop cool?] 

 

 

Ok, all these photos don’t make up for the lack of seeing my spin class dressed in costumes, so I’m reposting a video that I made last spring. I have yet to come up with a good sequel, but with the season ending I made soon be forced to use my creative mind for something even more dorky.

 

 

 

 

This may still be a lame alternative to posting a picture of my spin class, so imagine this:

Me, dressed up as Sarah Palin: a red power suit, a (very) short black skirt, a dark wig that I tried to style into something like a bun (but it fell apart in my bag on the way to the gym), and my sister’s white tank top underneath (She’s 60 lbs lighter and 6 inches shorter than me).

One person showed up to class and thought he was in the wrong place.

The costumes that showed up to class were:

• a cat (ears and a tail). This was probably the most spin-friendly costume.
• A Baker Woman (long blue with white poka dots dress and an apron that said, “What can I bake for you?” – this costume may also be titled “Ben’s Dream Woman”)
• Sheriff Girl (braids and a sheriff hat.)
• a retired roller derby girl (basically just a roller derby t-shirt)
• a tiger mask (a half-face orange mask)
• Carrie as a football player (she only wore the padded pants and an athletic shirt and gloves – no jersey or helmet)

and the winner of the “Ben Collins’ favorite costume in his spin class” award:

• The Prom Queen. She wore her gigantic dress all the way through class, then ripped it off in true prom queen style.

I gave away K-Swiss hats and visors and Clif Bars to everyone that wore a costume. I’m also giving away another prize: The, “Ben Collins’ Favorite Spin Instructor Ever Award”.

It goes to me.

Here’s my playlist that I got Courtenay to help me with for WAY too long:

1. Your Ghost – Kristen Hersh (I played this before class even started)
2. Insomnia – The Cruxshadows (Creepy goth music while people continued to come in)
3. Walking with a Ghost – Tegan & Sara (Upbeat warmup song)
4. Aisha – Death in Vegas (Iggy Pop on vocals. This song is about a murderer and it creeps me out the same way the TV show Dexter creeps me out.)
5. Ghostbusters Theme – Ray Parker Jr. (no explanation needed)
6. Tomb – Wumpscut (Another creepy goth song, but upbeat enough for the first hard interval)
7. Werewolves in London – Warren Zevon (Another classic)
8. Phantom of the Opera Theme (I love that song)
9. Heart of the Party – Severed Heads (creepy)
10. Toxic (Armand Van Helden Remix) – Britney Spears (10 min techno version for a long interval)
11. Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo
12. Thriller – Michael Jackson (Last interval – give me everything you’re got!!)
13. Friday the 13th Theme
14. Purple People Eater
15. Organ Donor – DJ Shadow

I think the class was a huge success. And I was able to play less crappy pop music with the excuse of it being Halloween. That made me happy, and nobody seemed to mind. Tuesday I get to go back to the 60 minute Christina and Britney slut off that seems to win everyone over. Actually I had a request for an 80’s day, so I may have everyone dress up in 80’s workout clothing and give out more stuff.

 

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