Off the Grid

Off the Grid

22 pax showed up on time for Centurion. 1 wandered around until he found us, before we went off the grid.

We ran from the launch area, through the Chipotle parking lot, across 51 to the parking lot adjacent Palatine Hill. There, among the intense spring aroma of the row of Bradford Pears, we circled up for COT. Nerves set in for the Q after Snuka was roasted for not going the correct order for moving the pax into the called exercise. Fortunately, it came back to me. We did IWs x 10 IC, MCs x 10 IC, Merkins x 10 IC and Low Slow Squats x 10 IC. It was interesting that a pickup truck coming into work very early pretty much encircled us before finding the perfect spot out the 112 available spaces to back in to. We were not deterred.

From there, we previewed our route by running around Carmel Park I to the courtyard of tables and benches between Carmel Park I and Carmel Park II then down to the stop sign then down the road stopping at the base of the west side of Palatine Hill. The Bermuda Triangle was announced.

• Up the steep west side to the top
• 10 burpees at the top
• Down Palatine and then up the road around Carmel Park I to the courtyard
• Find an open bench in the courtyard for 10 Derkins, 10 Dips and 10 I-Merkins
• Run down to the stop sign for 20 jump squats
• Then back to the base of the hill

7 is the number of perfection. It’s also the number of days Joshua marched around the city before the walls of Jericho fell. So the goal was 7 times.

At 6:10, we gathered and started our run back. With traffic picking up on 51, we moseyed to the CC crosswalk. We pressed the button but we never got the red light so we could cross. Ultimately, we found our opening and started an AYG back to base in order to arrive by 6:15.

After Name-0-rama, we had what seemed like 27 announcements. The ones I remember are:

• Check out Speed for Need race calendar. Run Jen Run is coming up.
• Achilles International is looking for para-guides to run with visually impaired runners.
• Olive’s 8K in Huntersville

Great take out by Hops, reminding us to invest in others and praises for Bout Time’s son Jennings.

Been a while since YHC had Q’d Centurion, so it was time to bring back the Bermuda Triangle. As Chelms pointed out, it’s really a trapezoid. But there’s no deep, dark place from which you never return that’s named after a trapezoid. Plus, he did name it the Bermuda Triangle when it was introduced to the pax back in 2016. The west side of Palatine Hill is no joke and adding the burpees at the top throws the heartrate to epic levels. The rest of the loop is spent simply recovering before you have to climb it again.

The pax did solid work this morning. A handful achieved perfection, completing the 7 rounds. Most guys got 6 rounds, except Pro and Gloss…pretty sure they skipped burpees and quit after 4.5 rounds. For YHC, it’s demoralizing to hear you’re going to do the same thing over and over for 30+ minutes of a workout. But getting through builds some mental toughness and stamina.

Thanks to Margo and Udder for the opportunity to lead such a quality group of men. And thanks to the men for the brotherhood.

-Haze