Bands Will Make Her Dance….. aka The Murph 2019!!

Bands Will Make Her Dance….. aka The Murph 2019!!

At the end of March I had the really stupid idea to challenge the gang to complete The Murph. 80% of the workout seemed manageable but that 20% that consisted of 100 x pull-ups would nearly impossible to complete. Who could I turn to? Only someone that’s been there through other difficult challenging projects (around the house).

You guessed it – PINTEREST!!! A site dedicated to updating a wardrobe, eating like a gerbil and other great/absurd things. I stand by it as one of the greatest apps of all time and over beers I would be happy to show you all the projects I’ve robbed ideas from. But back to those damn pull-ups….

A quick search for “pull-up challenge” and BINGO! Most of them were 30 day challenges but we would have roughly 50ish days cram for this exam. After some procrastination an exclusive channel was created in group me “42 Days to Murph” and two documents I found on Pinterest were combined.

21 members in the GroupMe Channel and I probably posted a daily reminder 90% of the time to keep everyone motivated. I’m pretty sure it worked because 20 guys posted this AM!! Bottlecap snagged 2 FNGs for this thing too…..

THE THANG:

We met at the Kensington Elementary School’s playground with a clock I couldn’t get to work, a cooler of Busch Light and an assortment of chalk…

Wolverine and Deadwood got to the site early to walk the course and to look for places to draft with the idea that reducing wind resistance would allow them to see Hollywood in the distance.

At this point I think everyone is familiar with The Murph but one last time won’t kill anyone to hear. On your own and for time: 1 mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 pushups, 300 squats and finish with a 1 mile run.

DiCCS given. No man left behind reminder and that we would do as much together as possible while circling back to finish as a unit. Whoops.

THE RESULTS:

1. Hollywood 27:00 **

2. Wolverine 29:00 **

3. Halfback 33:00 **

4. Swimmers 33:00

5. Bottlecap 34:00

6. Deadwood 34:00 **

7. Rubbermaid 35:00

8. Moneyball 37:00

9. Foundation 38:00

10. Damascus 38:00 **

11. Dana 39:00

12. Banjo 40:00

13. Spaceballs (FNG) 42:00

14. Jingles 42:00

15. Snoopy (FNG) 43:00

16. The Knish 43:00

17. Chicken Little 43:00

18. Zinfandel 44:41 **

19. Rudy 47:00

20. Eli 49:20 **

(**Zero Assisted Pull-Ups whether by man or band) If I missed anyone holla at me. I wasn’t paying attention but asked around.

MOLESKIN:

Whoa! Well done everyone, today was a gauntlet and we each fought our own battles. Mentally and physically. Shout out to Hollywood and Wolverine for being sub 30 minutes insane. 1000% chance you all wear vests next year.

Speaking of vests, my two closest bros prepping for all of this via the Pull-Up Challenge – Damascus and Deadwood! Thanks for helping to keep the energy up on the channel and pushing each day. We were unsure if we could get to the point of wearing the vests for the actual Murph but you all were impressive over the weeks rocking vests to post. Last night at 9pm I pinged them and I told them I’m taking my vest out of the package (finally) to wear while running the 2 miles. DW got sunburned and wasn’t excited and Damascus was ok with it. We rocked those miles this morning with 20lbs each (minus DW on 2nd mile, I’m sure he’s beating himself up about it).

Bands, bands and bands. If I never see another band in my life it will never be too soon. I’m taking an easy shot at you guys because I can and it’s what I’m good at. I know most of you guys and know you all have it in you to push (pull?) harder. All jokes aside, way to push through but now is the time when I tell you that we won’t be allowing bands in 2020. Partner assist yes but no bands. You’ve been warned.

This morning was incredible feat to complete whether you have been training for the last 6 weeks or just in great shape and able to knock it out. Let’s continue to think of other events/challenges to throw out there to make each other better. I couldn’t do a single overhand push-up without looking like a fish out of water. Proud to say that I can knock out 7 classy pull-ups like I’m putting on a clinic. I know that others have seen the same type of progress like Gerber and Chicken Little. It’s uncomfortable, some self doubt periodically and a ton of anxiety leading up to this AM but I couldn’t be prouder of what we each accomplished. Let’s keep it going!

Thank you Wolverine for laying out cones for the run this AM and thanks to Deadwood for the assortment of chalks. Sidewalk chalk for tracking rounds and hand chalk to help with grip on the bars. The help was appreciated!

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

We are 365 days away from The Murph in 2020. Next year many more pull-up prep via longer term challenges and a lot more vests.

July 27th Spartan Race in Asheville. Deadwood and I are hard commits. Banjo is dipping a toe in. We plan to go a weekend out of it with the Ms. Go up Friday, a well rounded dinner of sorts, Saturday morning race and then brewery hoping the rest of the day.

Ive talked of a GoRuck challenge in the fall and a quick google searched revealed a 50-miler in Nashville, TN on November 1st! Stay tuned….