Operation Red Wings, it is the story where the movie Lone Survivor came from. The anniversary was on June 28th but due to the way the schedule worked out, today was the day we honored those that were lost.
The call went out for everyone to bring a ruck/backpack with some kind of weight in it. Not being sure who would bring them I planned for the worst and hoped for the best.
I got there early to set out the stations and along with them, printed out info sheets on some of the 19 that were lost that day as part of ORW.
To my happy surprise we had a ruck for everyone, some with ruck plates, some with bricks etc. Very quick disclaimer since we had all regulars and into…
COP
A quick #HairBandMile
20 Side Straddle Hops In Cadence
20 Imperial Walkers IC
The Thang
I went into a quick history of ORW/Lone Survivor and explained that to honor those lost we will ruck the entire workout (modify as needed of course). Special Forces can often have about 70lbs that they carry as part of missions so while we won’t carry that much we will all be carrying extra weight. Also a strong theme in the military, Lone Survivor and F3 is no man left behind, it’s a brother hood so we will partner up and the partners stay together the entire time.
At each station I left an info sheet about some of those lost that day. You are to take 30 seconds or so to read that before beginning the exercise to appreciate and remember those that sacrificed everything.
Everyone RUCK UP! The stations were:
We rotated through this for about 35 minutes
5MOM
Flutter press w/ ruck
Back Scratchers
LBCs
DONE!
Ye Olde Moleskine
I was happy to see most brought a ruck and since a couple of us had extra everyone was good to go. Most of us had ruckplates, bricks etc. but the creativity award goes to Woody who had a ruck full of bullet casings! #TClaps
Smaller group today but once we get going numbers don’t matter and it was great to have The Late Show back out in the Gloom! #Kotters
Wearing the ruck really changes up the workout and most would probably agree but I thought it would be a good change of pace and for an great reason. Always an honor to lead, and we need more Qs so step up and take the lead, we need you!
Here are the names of the 19 lost during ORW June 28th 2005:
Navy SEALs
SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2, Virginia Beach, Va.
SEAL Team 10, Virginia Beach, Va.
Army Night Stalkers
3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Hunter Army Air Field, Ga.
HQ Company, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Fort Campbell, Ky.
YHC sent Hannibal, the scheduled 7/23 Base Camp Q, an email Sunday morning to confirm his Q make sure he didn’t forget he had volunteered to Q Base Camp the next day. Hannibal’s response:
“Yes, sir. I’m not a big tweeter, so fee free to put anything out there that you might want.”
Eh, no need. Hannibal is sure to draw a crowd. 8 pax showed up by 5:30 this morning. Hannibal was not one of them. Ooooooookay. Who wants to share a Q? Fireman Ed volunteers and was accepted. Probably should have waited for someone else to volunteer. Ed promised upper body, so YHC decides to give the pax some time on their feet.
The Impromptu Thang:
Mosey a lap around the parking lot to see if Hannibal is just running a bit late. No dice. Head south on Strawberry. 15 merkins at each of the first three speed bumps. This was apparently not “moderate enough” for Gummy. Circle up for a quick COP in the middle of the street (that was smart):
IW x 15 IC (to keep it moderate for Gummy)
LSS x 10 IC
MC x 10 IC
Hillbillies x 10IC
Mosey over to Fairway Downs Ct., a very under-utilized cul-de-sac with a gradual incline, for a triple nickel. 5 HR merkins at top, 5 werkins at the bottom, 5X. The pax started dropping like flies during this. Thumper did something to his leg. He tried to run it out, but couldn’t, so he called it a morning and bolted. Hammer got called on a code brown from behind, and headed back to SCMS. We headed back with a 200m AYG up Strawberry and YHC turned it over to Fireman Ed in the parking lot.
Ed’s Tomfoolery:
Mosey to the ball fields to see how many pax can get bitten by red ants this morning. 2 rounds of utter stupidity Planker’s Delight. Mosey to the benches for 20 step-ups, 20 supine pull-ups, and 20 dips x 2. For those that didn’t get bit the first time, mosey to the other ballfield for 2 rounds of Tunnel of Love. We followed that up with Ed’s go-to, Jack Webb. Started 1 merkin/4 arm presses and got up to 6/24.
Mosey up to Gloss’ office for some People’s Chair while holding arms straight out. About 3-4 minutes of this with a short break in between. That hurt. Done.
Moleskine
We covered about 2.3 miles, but pax got a good dose of both lower and upper body. Ed eloquently stated the title of this BB at COT. We probably should have spent more time praying for his soul.
Hammer was leading the pax on the triple nickel before he had the runs to run. Can’t imagine how much faster he would have been AFTER dropping the kids off.
Gummy and Ed were having a leisurely conversation during the run. Gummy was trying to make it as moderate as possible. You vs. you, bro. The two of them may have been circle-jerking each other over Clemson’s 2018 defensive line, but who knows?
Thumper – hope you’re okay, brother.
Great to see Young Love out at BC again. You should come more often!
For once on a Sunday, the Yankees didn’t play the featured night game (they were scheduled, but it was a rainout), so Steinbrenner was able to make it to BC. The higher-ups over at ESPN don’t think the Yankees and Royals are worthy of a Sunday featurette this coming Sunday, so we’ll look forward to seeing you again on 7/30.
Thunder Road – the mastermind behind the Planker’s Delight: you deserve to be publicly flogged every time it’s performed. It’s horrible. Keep your sadistic crap to yourself next time (or, at least, when YHC isn’t present).
Great to see you all this morning. Have a wonderful week.
Apology for the delay in the BB – partly due to recovering from the workout coupled with YHC just forgot over the weekend.
13 MEN decided to start off the weekend right this comfortable friday AM
Disclaimer was given while Shoe took his time getting out the car to join the pax
Off we go – to Tartarus: The Region of Torments – and it would live up to its name.
YHC was out of town for work most of the week so needed something to get things back going in the right direction – the result was the yet to be named below workout.
Starting at the bottom entrance, YHC led pax thru one lap of the torments to show all where and what was expected, then it was OYO – as many laps as possible until 6:10.
AYG up the long ramp – 5 hand release burpees at the top
AYG along the flats to the other end – 10 diamond merkins
AYG up the short ramp and across the top to the far back stairwell – 10 heels to heaven
Down the stairwell – AYG to the middle stairwell – up the stairwell – 10 CDDs
AYG to next stairwell and down and back to the start – 10 Jump squats
One lap complete – task was to complete as many as possible by 6:10
Some pax ended at 6:10 and some flutters and Freddie Mercury’s were had while waiting a few who decided to ignore the 6:10 end time.
Fast mosey back to launch
Finished
NMM
Yes YHC took the easy way out, no cadence, no COP, just got right to work. Bu that said, it still sucked and was tough. Great work by everyone , think the group made 6 laps for most if not all – that was a lot of work. And there was no air movement in the deck so the air was pretty thick adding to the fun.
Thanks for the opportunity to lead this great group of men thru the Gloom this am.
Champagne Out
Announcements:
BRR is right around the corner – first weekend in Sept and teams are in need of runners – if interested post it out on slack.
YHC thinks another announcement was made but the recorder missed it – shout out below.
[Written by Cooter]
26 men gathered at the church for my VQ to be split with Gummy. As the Pax arrived from all directions it started getting real and I began to worry that Gummy wouldn’t show. Alas, he arrived exactly 4 minutes prior to launch with no shoes on – that was cool. As the tension mounted I remembered that Gummy had adequately prepared me for my VQ. He inspected my Weinke not 1 but 2 times and provided multiple rounds of commentary. With that in mind and my Weinke in my hand, the clock struck 7:00 and it was time to start the show. Disclaimers were disclaimed and off we went.
Warmup started as smooth as sandpaper as I totally forgot how to cadence count. It turns out Gummy was right as he tried to warn me that my stage fright would get the better of me. We managed to get this done:
SSH X 15 IC
IW X 15 IC [Editor’s note: He had to pull out his laminated weinke after the IWs]
Merkin X 15 IC
MC X 15 IC
Moseyed over to the rock pile and everyone grabbed a good lifting rock. Watch out for snakes. With rocks in hand we lifted as follows:
Curls X 10
Overhead presses X 10
Tricep extensions X 10
Repeat with 8, 6, 4, and 2
Dropped our rocks like a bad habit and headed over to the hotbox for some more fun:
Partner up and P1 runs to home plate and back while P2 finds a picnic table for 20 step ups (10 each leg) and 20 dips. Switch and repeat. We planked up until everyone was in.
Then we moseyed to the ball field where we lined up “abreast” at the 3rd trash can. Sprint to last trash can, 10 count, and sprint back. We did this 4 more times. This was a crowd pleaser. [Editor’s note: that is sarcasm]
By now we’d worked up a good lather so it was time to get on our 6 for some Mary. Some Pax were not so happy to sit in the grass. We started hearing things like, “watch out for the ants”, and “can we do this in the parking lot instead”, and something about someone’s coccyx…however, the Pax persevered and we did:
Flutter X 15 IC
Dolly X 15 IC
LBC X 15 IC
We then moseyed “over yonder” to the grassy knoll for Jacob’s Ladder:
6 squats at top of hill and 1 burpee at bottom. Repeat until 1 squat at top and 6 burpees at bottom. Ouch.
This brought us to the half way point but I was having such a good time that Gummy gave me permission to continue, so we continued:
Over to the parking lot to find a partner. Demo was given showing how P1 was to plank while P2 did 10 Derkins using P1’s back. Then switch. You had to be there. Then we ran to the light pole where we did the same thing but this time old school sit ups were the exercise of choice. One more round of that and we planked and/or fluttered until Gummy took the keys.
[Begin Gummy-authored section]
We ran through the hotbox for a drink of water, then handed it off to Taffy (my 2.0) for a surprise guest Q. He led us over to the dreaded North Face for a Bermuda Triangle. 10 jump squats at the bottom, 10 each leg (excessive) Sister Mary Catherines at the top, 10 Monkey Humpers before going down the hill. Punk teenager.
I led us in a little recovery Mary, then over to the front rockpile for a poorly explained Catch Me If You Can. Even Taffy gave me crap on the way around. Whatever. We got it done, then headed back to the cars.
[End Gummy’s section]
Announcements:
FNG – welcome Stevie Wonder! Welcome to the fold. He’s Norseman’s son and went to the Citadel and recently left the Army as a Captain after 5 years. Thank you for your service! Keep coming back.
Gummy told us about a Brewery Run on 8/18 starting at noon at Sugar Creek. 6 breweries in 4 miles. Check out the slack channel for more information.
Runstopper reminded us about coffeeteria right after the workout at Starbucks down the street, then he also took us out in prayer.
Thank you for making my VQ so memorable! I did not expect 26 PAX. It was my honor to lead you men for the first 35 minutes. Thanks for all the prep, Gummy.
On a beautiful Thursday morning, seven PAX rolled out of Matthews Elementary to run around Matthews. Here’s what we did:
The Thang
Take a right out of Matthews Elementary, to the Corner of E Charles and S Trade
15 SSH
15 IW
Head E on Charles Street
Pit stop at Crestale Road intersection for 20 Hand Release Merkins
Continue on E Charles until the 4 Mile Creek entrance (Across from Rainbow Ridge Road)
Dynamic Stretching, and jog up to Stadium A (where the Eagles play)
Around the Stadium twice, stopping halfway for pain station
Round 1, 20 Jump Squats
Round 2 20 CDD
Head back down the Greenway, and back the way we came- stop one more time at Crestdale for some OYO work
Continue on Charles to Freemont to Main, back to launch in time to meet up with the Peak guys- total of 5 miles on the nose
FIN
Moleskine
Being my first experience at Sparta, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I came to find out that the name Sparta is fitting- these guys are lean, mean running machines!
The group stayed close together the entire time- Madison and Gypsy were of course out front the entire day, followed closely by Christmas.
Somewhere in the woods of Matthews Sportsplex heading towards Charlotte Eagles stadium, we seemed to lose Horsehead for a few minutes. He then emerged from the woods muttering something about the creepy old man in the woods- no one really wanted to press him further. We may never know what truly happened.
Arena was running strong, as well as Arsenal. When arriving at launch, Arsenal gave me all this hullabaloo about him being the anchor so to make sure and be careful and consider him with whatever we were doing.
Being the kind, considerate Q that I am, I changed absolutely nothing and he rocked it.
Honestly I was somewhat nervous of going this far out on my first Q on a route I had never run before- but these guys were more than up to the challenge and then some. I came away seriously impressed- you can tell they have been forged through the fires of running probably every hill that Matthews has to offer.
Much discussion was made about the fact that the 4 Mile Creek at the Sportsplex doesn’t connect to the 4 Mile Creek in downtown (I know right??) Neat to see the stadium in the morning as well- Horse Head gave us some F3 history in the fact that various PAX have tried to get a workout launched from the Sportsplex, but it never worked due to the gates being closed before hours. It would be an awesome location- lots great real estate.
Also- I kicked a toad on the run back. Super random, but it happened.
We actually got back to Renfrow Hardware a lot faster than I estimated (this crew beasted it)- so audibled to the Gumby Loop down Charles to add in some mileage which worked out perfectly.
The goal all along was to try and hit five miles- as we arrived back at the school we hit fix miles on the nose #stravadontlie
Not sure what happeend after that- I had to leave before COT to get to work. If there were any significant announcements, I’m sure Geraldo had them in his Peak Bblast, or post them below.
Thanks for letting me lead- it was an honor to run with you guys. This may have been my first visit to SPARTAAAA- but it won’t be my last.
“By yourself you’re unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped.” (Message Translation)
Three pax gathered at Da Vinci for a fellowship-filled proper beatdown.
As Bugeater and YHC pulled into the CFA at Blakeney, we questioned whether or not we had the right day and time. YHC inwardly questioned his own faith. Perhaps the rapture had occurred and YHC wasn’t taken up in a glorious ascent. Seeing as the CFA (aka Christian fast-food) restaurant was fully staffed and Bug was still by my side, YHC reassured himself that his salvation was genuine and that YHC hadn’t missed the second coming. And behold an angel appeared before us….Stump Hugger emerging from his parked car to complete the biblically referenced “chord of three.” Disclaimer given and all three pax, befuddled at the size of the group but thankful for the low-key feel of it all, commenced the workout.
The Thang:
Mosey to Blakeney shopping center across the street
– Imperial Walker 10x
– Hillbilly 10x
– Slow Merkins 30x (10 diamond; 10 regular; 10 wide-arm)
– Circuit work: Run up stairs meet at top for 5 squats; run back down and meet for 5 hand-slap merkins. Rinse and Repeat 5x
Mosey to playground
– Circuit work: Run thru grassy area to Sbux door and back; flap jack with pax – pull ups (3 sets), Mary of choice (2 sets) 5x thru total
– 5 Burpees OYO
– 3 exercises of Mary (each pax calls Mary of Choice and Count)
– 10 Burpees OYO
– 3 exercises of Mary (each pax calls Mary of Choice and Count)
– 15 Step-ups (each leg); 20 dips; 10 derkins (rinse and repeat 1x)
Mosey back across Rea Rd to grassy area
– Makhtar N’Diayes (MAC-tar JIE) 10x w/ 30 count of plank at the end (rinse and repeat 3x)
– Jack Webb 7x (the number of our Lord) w/ multiplier of 4
Mosey back to launch
COT
Moleskin:
T-claps to Stump Hugger for showing up! Otherwise it may have been Bug and YHC moving straight into coffeeteria. Thus why brotherhood and accountability are so important. YHC was actually thankful for the smaller group and the mumble chatter that accompanied. Stump discussed his professional journey, evidenced by the fact that God’s never early, never late, but always on time. Bug and Stump recalled the days of old when they first began posting and rattled off a list of pax we haven’t seen in forever. Tiger Rag – you are missed, but not forgotten. YHC was happy to add the occasional comment and banter, but was mostly focused on how to audible all the “partner work” he’d come up w/ to adapt to a three pax group while simultaneously keeping his eye on the clock to make sure we paced ourselves well and that the group received a balanced beatdown. Thanks to Bug for the great takeout and for serving as YHC’s personal Uber on the regular. Great coffeeteria followed at CFA. The group was small, but the workout was meaningful. Indeed, a chord of three is not easily broken.
I arrive with a strong clown car of 4 from Briarcrest. Bottle Cap acknowledges the strong Briarcrest presence and starts getting worried. Up pulls Rubbermaid and Tupperware…numbers are back in Lawson’s favor and Bottle Cap breathes a sigh of relief.
As we are circled up waiting for everyone to arrive, Shop Dawg asks who’s on Q. I respond that its me and I get an odd reaction from him…..he was happy. I wasn’t sure whether to take that happiness as a sign that he enjoys my workouts, or a sign that he thinks I’m much easier than others and that he might have an easy workout in store today. Shop Dawg responded that he didn’t want to take another “flat bellies” workout again. Fair enough….6:30….time to bring some pain so that I’m not on the easy Q list (Big 10 approved).
WARM UP
Long run around the back of the school to the bench/rock area. Lots of mumble chatter on the way that there was a short cut. I wanted to start off with a long run as I knew there wouldn’t be much “running” today, but a lot of movement.
Circle up for disclaimer. Give disclaimer again as Shop Dawg comes limping in hacking up a lung. Apparently he did some presanding and forgot to wear a mast for today’s Sandbox pallet project.
30 Side Straddle Hops
20 T Merkins – I caught some grief on my cadence…apparently I was going too fast for some.
10 Potato Pickers
10 count quad stretch on your own each leg. There was some mumble chatter around this being the excercise that I allowed OYO counting.
THE THANG
Grab a rock and circle up.
Mosey to rails for ladder supines. I asked everyone to listen for a special count. Apparently I skipped 8, but no one told me until we were at 4. That was not the special count. At 3, 2, and 1 hold the last rep for a 5 second hold. Pax joked about going back and doing 8, but I was worn out…lets move on.
Lunge walk the bridge and bear crawl to trash can….get to end of bridge…check that, bear craw to concrete pillon. 10 count to catch our breaths before a short mosey to the bleachers.
Partner up again at bleachers. 1 Partner runs bleacher while other partner does an exercise. Derkins, Dips, Step Ups, Right Leg 1 legged lunge, Left Leg 1 Legged Lunge. Repeat each excercise twice. 10 total times running the bleacher…..this one wore me out. Based on the faces of the pax, I don’t think I was the only one.
10 count to catch our breaths followed by a On Your Own count of 40 foot release squats. At 15 I yelled out a modify of 30, but Bottle Cap shamed me into completing the 40. I think most of the other pax did as well. Legs were burning pretty good at this point. Mosey back towards the school with a pit stop on the way for abs. 30 LBCs in cadence, 20 Heels to heaven, 8 each side side crunches. Mosey to side parking lot.
Partner up for Partner Pushes. Lots of groans. Not sure if its due to man touching or hating the pain this one puts you in. For me its a great way to get me out of breath in a short distance. Partner push to the speed bump, flap jack, then run around the loop and repeat for 2 rounds.
Partner Pulls to the end of the parking lot….10 second count and partner pulls again towards front of school. 10 second count.
Beat the Q back to front of school. For every person I beat, we all do that many burpees. Some got an early start. Bottle Cap channeled foundation and got in front of me and hit the breaks….much like a grandma driving in the left lane. Since some started early and I was slowed down by bottle cap, I decided to cut the corner to at least get 5 burpees in. I slowed down until I thought there were 5 behind me….nope there were 6. 6 Burpees on your own. Quick watch check thinking it was 7:30…nope 7:28. 25 LBC’s in cadence. Then Posse let Dolly’s while i grabbed my phone. 7:30 on the dot.
MOLE SKIN
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Apparently I missed a DM from Nemo asking me to post this, so this might be some kind of record for the slowest backblast post ever. My bad, here follow’s Nemo’s backblast. – Boerewors.
13 posted for a rock zero sweatfest
THANG:
After a Thorough disclaimer to my 2 FNGs mosey across rea to Library parking lot
SSH x30
5 burpees OYO
MC x20
5 Burpees OYO
Febreze: stole this gem from Laronda, 1x world war situp then 5 arm presses while holding 6 inches then 2 sit-ups then 3 etc. wasn’t able to capture full effect of this one due to McGee and Spackler’s lovely mumble chatter.
Walk over to parking spaces and grab a line, scoot to the line to the right and do 1 merkin then back to the one you started and then do 2 and then back to right do 3… all the way to 10. YHC thought this would shut up the Mumblechatter but to no avail so took the long way around to 51 and entered Calvary’s 2nd entrance for the main event.
•Start at lot in front of hotbox and partner up
•P1 hairburn to 2nd lightpost and back while P2 did Merkins then flapjack. 2nd set was squats then 3rd LBCs. Mumblechatter started to die down a little bit…
•keep same partners and do catch me if you can with hairburners and get to the end of the lot and back. #soulcrusher
Mosey over to the hotbox for more parter work. P1 runs to far trash can while P2 does derkins, then flapjack. Then dips 2nd round step ups 3rd.
Mosey over to far lot near baseball fields for a crowd favorite cheddar shredder. Lots of modifying going on there. With Out of Ideas YHC took Purell’s excellent advice and deciding to do some rounds on the ye old Northface.
•do 10 merkins at bottom then run loop and complete 2 more sets of the same.
Mosey over to the launch lot and do some circle mary then done.
Moleskine:
•Glad to have both FNGs Swiffer & Rafiki who both pushed hard the whole workout
•Good to see sprocket who is a site FNG and new to area
•YHC rejoiced when McGee pulled in at 6:59 per usual so my 2 FNGs could experience that “McGee charm” which includes excessive Mumblechatter and perfectly G rated humor.
•Marlin on take out
Announcements
•YHC, Marlin, and Rafiki are all traveling to Kenya leaving today so prayers are appreciated
Thanks to Flipper for opportunity to lead
Nemo out.
• Thanks to Marlin with the take out.