The story revolves around a man who is about to turn thirty and has reconnected with two old friends from high school to try and get himself into better shape. They decide to put the narrator through a routine at an old park they used to frequent. The narrator seems to be at least a bit surprised at the activity the park has gained over the years since it seemed to have gone unknown for a long time. His friends arrive and he spends most of his time either jogging around the track or doing either sit-ups or push ups. By the end of the routine, the protagonist is exhausted and seems like he is ready to keel over when he notices his friend lying on the grass. The narrator finally collapses to his knees in the grass but not from exhaustion. We see that his friend has collapsed from anaphylaxis.
I found it peculiar that the protagonist rattled off random city names (which quickly became the names of actors) to get himself through the final part of the routine. A rather…interesting quirk. I liked some of the descriptions the narrator gave while going through the exercise, such as “my heart started to pound against my stressed lungs, struggling to feed my body more oxygen.” It really made me feel how grueling this routine was for him.
The story felt like it ended rather abruptly. I didn’t really see much off an arc and the ending felt like it was cutting off at the halfway point. Also, I’d like to see more about how the park played a role in the characters’ lives. It seems to become nothing more than a backdrop before too long. This could go along with maybe a bit more background for them. They seem like they were good friends but seem to have grown apart. Why?
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