Hope is an Axe

Janine has an important announcement! The horde is still surrounding Abel, so you will need to remain in a place of safety. However, Janine will do whatever she can to support your physical and mental wellbeing during this time. To that ends, she will continue to broadcast the Ministry approved workouts. She even has a Ministry-approved musical collection to aid in these trying times. Get warmed up with some jogging in place, star jumps, or dancing!

Well, that music was... educational. You should be feeling warm and limber by now. The first exercise is Step Ups. Use the bottom stair of your hiding place, or a sturdy box, and go for sixty seconds. Stop immediately if you feel any sharp pain. This exercise will build your quadriceps muscle in your thighs, good for a burst of speed if you encounter a zom! Take a few moments to recover, but it's best to keep doing gentle movement so you don't stiffen up. Screen reader support enabled. Well, that music was... educational. You should be feeling warm and limber by now. The first exercise is Step Ups. Use the bottom stair of your hiding place, or a sturdy box, and go for sixty seconds. Stop immediately if you feel any sharp pain. This exercise will build your quadriceps muscle in your thighs, good for a burst of speed if you encounter a zom! Take a few moments to recover, but it's best to keep doing gentle movement so you don't stiffen up.

Janine had expected more Elgar, and less... whatever that music was from the Ministry. The next exercise is Incline Press Ups. Take a press up position with your hands on the second or third step of your stairs, back straight, hands shoulder width apart. Bend your arms at the elbows to bring your chest close to the ground. It's perfectly acceptable to put your knees on the ground instead of your toes, and if you are used to Press Ups, feel free to do them on the flat, or reverse the incline. Sixty seconds of these! Janine says that the music reminds her of the early days of the outbreak. She was holed up in a basement, and listened to the radio while she took watch duty at night. With one minute over, it's time to return to your warm up exercises.

Janine wonders if this is really the Ministry's idea of appropriate exercise music. In any case, it's time for some Bodyweight Squats. Make sure to check that the floor beneath you is solid; plenty of buildings are decaying since the apocalypse! One minute of these! Remember that form and control are more important than speed. You're doing well! Janine recalls how the wind up radio had been a life-line; listening to a news presenter reporting things so calmly made it feel possible to survive and rebuild. But one night there was only static. Janine hadn't been able to imagine a good future, but Abel Township, and that voice on the radio, has become a community for so many people. They will bring you home, Runners!

Good job Runner! The final exercise is the Plank. Lie on your stomach, with your elbows tucked in, your forearms on the floor, and your toes tucked under you. Then lift yourself up on your toes and forearms and hold that position for as long as possible. Runner 8 introduced Janine to this exercise. Runner 8 had told her that hope is an axe that you could use to break down a door and take out a zombie, but it's no use if you can't wield it. Time for more music, or you can try holding the plank for longer if you want!

This music really can't be Ministry-approved! Janine checks the tape and finds that tape has been put over the write-protect notch. And there's a note inside the case! It turns out it's a mix tape from Eugene. Janine says that she will be keeping the tape until Jack can come home to collect it. She never much liked Elgar anyway. Time to cool down now with more gentle movement.

Take a well-deserved rest. Janine says that she'll be waiting to shake every one of you by the hand when you finally get to return to Abel. A few months ago, she was able to correspond over Rofflenet with the BBC newsreader whose broadcasts had kept her going at the start of the apocalypse. She now broadcasts out of another settlement. It reminds her of a quote from Rebecca Solnit: “To hope is to give yourself to the future – and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.” Good work Runners. Janine de Luca signing off.