Some Like it Hot!

This is where I wish I were this past weekend. I took this photo in March of 2007 on a hill overlooking Estes Park, Colorado. It was chilly but not cold, and I was surrounded by good friends.

This weekend I was also surrounded by good friends, but we were enduring a brutal full weekend rehearsal under the hot Texas sun. It was about 125 degrees on the field and even hotter in the aluminum stands where our Visual Caption Head was positioned.

On Saturday alone I drank 2 gallons of water and almost a gallon of gatorade during our 9am to 7pm rehearsal. It was hot, it was hard, and I conquered it! Sunday was much easier and maybe a couple degrees cooler, plus an occasional cloud would cross the sun, and it felt like it cooled off 20 degrees during those times.

Playing is not hard; marching is not hard; not breathing regularly is not hard; and the heat is not hard. But when you combine all that together, it's hard! It is physically and mentally demanding, and those of us who march drum corps like that it is difficult. We are pushed to our limits and beyond.

We have a performance on Friday and another on Monday, both in the Dallas area, and it's going to be hot hot hot with our full uniforms on. It's good that it was so hot this past weekend so that we could get somewhat acclimated to it.

After this heat, Minnesota and Rochester, NY will be a breeze.