Top Fun Exercise Ideas: Inspired by Real Experiences

When you have more than a just because to do it.

Some of the most fun I ever had was training for the Nijmegen road march in Holland. This is a four-day international event and covers 100 miles. If you’re in the military, it’s a little longer since the starting line is never in the same place and you walk there.

We trained hard for it, starting with twelve-mile road marches and working up. I was a marathon runner, so the distance didn’t bother me much. What was a problem was that the U.S. Army didn’t have a decent pair of walking boots. I loved the old recruit boots. Once broken in, they were comfortable, and you could walk all day long in them.

But the trouble was, we were MPs and couldn’t wear the recruit boots. We had to wear highly shined boots, namely jump boots. I knew the jump boot was a piece of trash for walking in, so I wore Hermann Survivors. It’s the same boot the German Army used, polished up nicely, and since this was Europe, we could wear it.

I wore it.

Our training marches got longer and longer, finishing with a road march from Ansbach to the outskirts of Nuremberg, to a place called Palm Beach. It was a big water park with Olympic pools, water slides, and wave machines. We started early with a car following us in case someone got hurt or needed water.

I’d already hooked an extra canteen to my gun belt and had a gallon canteen in my rucksack. I’d purchased a Ranger ruck with the frame long ago, and I could carry that thing all day long. And oh, each ruck had to weigh 65 lbs. I’d stuffed mine with extra uniforms, a jacket, wet-weather gear, socks, and assorted other gear. I also took plenty of goodies in the form of beef sticks, chocolate bars, and nuts. And I had the long walker’s secret weapon: chewing gum. I’d learned a long time ago why so many cowboys chew. Part of it is to keep their mouths moist. Since I considered chew a work of the devil, I settled for Bazooka Bubble Gum.

We started early on a Saturday morning and began our walk. It was 27 miles to our destination. We averaged four miles an hour and stopped at a gasthaus around noon for an excellent meal. I had spaghetti. I needed the carbs, and lots and lots of water. Stopping almost undid us because we really didn’t want to leave. But after an hour’s break, we did.

We arrived at Palm Beach by three and were in the water ten minutes later. We spent several hours there, and the warm water felt good on our battered bodies.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to walk back. Some of the mechanics had driven the big troop truck to Palm Beach. We threw our rucksacks in the back, climbed in, and most of us slept all the way back to Ansbach.

A week later, we were in Holland and doing the walk for real.