One Hundred. You Heard Me: One Hundred.

So at my job back in August, one colleague said something about her boyfriend doing the hundred push-ups challenge. Six weeks to a hundred push-ups.

We appreciate quick opportunities to blow off steam at my job, and it's a genial atmosphere full of hard work and laughter. It's a pretty good job. So most of us decided we'd try out this six-week workout.

You begin with a test. Do as many as you can. I've never had much upper body strength, and the fact is I am, as the Scots might say, a big girl's blouse. I also haven't done much working out of any sort over the past few years, and I sit at my desk all day writing (and we're not on manual typewriters or anything, so even my fingers are pretty weak). I had pretty low expectations.

Eight, OK? I could do eight.

So we worked our way through the thing. There were six of us participating. A couple tried it out. A couple others never bothered. But on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, beginning at the end of August, we did push-ups as a group. Camaraderie, B&E readers! 5:00 pm rolls around and someone shouts: "Push-ups, people!"

Six-week workout, my ass. I'd say it was just us effete white collar dweebs, but one of my colleagues very nearly made the women's Olympic field hockey team. That woman is strong, and that woman can do push-ups. So it's not just that I'm, as the Scots might say, a total Jessie. Six-week workout, my ass.

Still, we were making progress, and we forged onward. If we couldn't complete a week's workout, we worked our way through anyway, and then repeated the week. A couple of people gave up, and dropped out. But most of us stuck it out.

Ten or twelve weeks into the workout, we all ended up taking a couple of weeks off around the holidays, which set us way back. But we came back and picked up where we left off. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. 5:00 pm.

About three weeks ago, our field hockey player did 105 push-ups, finishing the challenge. The rest of us forged on.

I did one hundred push-ups today. The last three were a little feeble, but I did them. From eight to 100 push-ups in six... months!

This big girl's blouse of a Jessie did 100 push-ups.