This Doors tune was playing as I rode into The Vine parking lot ready for a rainy adventure, but I checked the radar and saw a glimmer of hope, a sliver of cloudless air heading our way. At least until I saw Tolkien dressed in his full Gore-tex rain-suit like he was going on a expedition. But 11 bad-asses were looking at me for direction, So I had faith and headed to the parking deck to wait it out…
The Thing:
Mosey from Vine to Ballantyne Village parking deck, lower level.
Start at bottom:
Invented these on the fly (it showed) using the pylons and forming a square: we shuffled left, backpedaled, shuffled right, thensprint forward (x3). This didn’t go very well, but whatever.
Take stairs down to lower level
Head over to hill for Triple nickel Deuce: 5x merkins, up hill, 5x jump squats (x2) – Yet again it was too wet for hill work.
Mosey out and head for Ballantyne Lake Road towards Lakes (ponds x2)
Partner like speed – Dips x 25 each (posts) Hand slap merkins x 10 – One partner takes a lap around pond on left, one takes pond on right. Flap Jack – Repeat x2.
No waiting on the 6 with this crew – Jameis Skrong
Mosey out to John J, hang a right past Bad Burger
Small parking lot on right: Burpee Suicides x3, x6, x9 – Plus squats at start x3, x6, x9 – Plank for 6 (me)
Mosey to Ballantyne Resort Check time and distance (Yes Mario, I was on track and sad you couldn’t see it)… Cross Johnston road, to Loch Ness (third pond), water theme? Anyone? …dang
One lap around Loch Ness, first patio 10 dips, second 10 derkins
Plank near entrance for 6 (not me this time)
Check time…One more pond, yes! Mosey around Ballantyne Medical towards Ballantyne Commons.
Stop at pond, circle it even though mumble chatter was an all-time high. Thanks Fire Hazard for keeping your wits and encouraging me to go for it.
Head back to Start. Almost lost Tolkien as he tried to collect the layers of said rain-suit he peeled off along the way. I asked if they were bread crumbs for a couple of no shows. You know who you are.
Five minutes left for various mary – yes, more water themed workouts (it was very wet). Almost everyone got one in, the windshield wiper hurt but was my favorite. (still nothing?)
Done
Mole:
I was dead set on getting the four ponds and the mileage, maybe the work suffered a little along the way. We managed about 20 burpees and a few dozen merkins and some killer mary. All good. You guys rocked it today. Appreciate the kind words. Toughest spot to Q in my opinion, hope you all feel as good as me about the beers that are coming soon. No salad tonight ladies…
Thanks again for the take out Squid!
Fredo xoxo
Lots of announcements: Get on Slack or twitter and look up the various awesome causes your brothers are doing this month. Its freakin cool how much we all give back as an organization and even more so on an individual basis.
Do something good this weekend – your heart will thank you.
Last night around 8:30 I logged into Slack for the first time of the day and saw a note from Tagalong and One Niner. I reacted like one of my kids when I tell them to take out the trash…wait what? I don’t remeber volunteering for that, where are the bags, when you say out do you mean outside? Like it was their first time…or mine. So a reminder of my Bagpipe Q was a good thing. Thanks guys! I sort of remember telling Bucky I would take the Thanksgiving Bagpipe Q.
Here’s what happened after writing a short Weinke last night.
Thang: Mosey from Vine to Med Specialist
Parking Lot Shuffle Suicide: Line up at curb facing Vine
Parking lot: plank-o-rama (6 inches, left arm, left leg, right arm, right leg, 6 inches)
Mosey over to the Indian Grill (grab some wall)
Mosey out and down steps to Ballantyne Commons, head straight accross to Durant. Mosey up Durant to fountain (Costigan Park)
Mary: Box cutters x 20, Flutter x 20, LBC x 20
Bear Crawl “ring of fire” around the fountain. – Dang, forgot about this…
Starfish (Split into 5 groups):
Mosey out over to parking deck lower level for ramp runs and more squats. Up 1st ramp, 5 jump squats, backwards up 2nd ramp, 5 jump squats. Rinse and repeat to top. Hops led some mary waiting on 6. Fun times, back the way we came, backwards, jump squats, forwards, etc etc…back to lower level. More Hops mary, thanks bro.
After a brief look at the grass hill in back of the parking garage, lowere level. “Anyone done this before?” Kirby or Mighty Mite or maybe Loogie said “Well there it is, we can go now” or something similar. We had plenty of time to get in 6’s. 1 merkin at the bottom, scale the wall, err I mean hill, 5 squats at top, repeat. Encourage everyone to get one last climb, so Bucky got an extra hill in. Head out of the Village and towards home from there.
Check Time…couple minutes remaining: Audible to BoFA, Partner up for Wheelbarrow races (sort of) 5 parking spots, flap jack, repeat.
Head Home – time!
Mole: 17 great guys showed up this morning, glad I put a little thought into this Q. Doc started the morning w calling me out about an accent comment I made (about Chicago folks). He expects only the best in a Q before and during the workout I suppose. Frehleys was not there so Fire Hazard decided to take up the designated chatter (the whole time) guess that means he likes me? There’s always guys you like to see come out to share the gloom, I don’t get to see Loogie and Pat Pending enough, Paper Jam and Teddy are crowd favorites and mine. Tagalong and Hops are strong out there staying in front and pushing always. You guys rock, thanks for keeping the pace up. Billy goat and War Eagle show up a lot now and the positive attitudes are infectious, maybe you guys can drop back and hang with Fire Hazard? Kirby is actually a pretty good comedian for that early in the morning. Mighty Mite too, but you have to be paying attention or you’ll miss his one liners. Cooter keep coming out my man, it’s good to see you each time. Can’t say enough for Madame T. and my friend Bucky always a positive, bright spots in the gloom, thanks for the encouragement.
It was a honor to lead you guys, really hope I didn’t leave anyone out. Thanks to Tagalong, One Niner (and Bucky) for having me.
Lots to be thankful for this week. Take the time today to tell someone. You’ll make their day and feel better too.
Fredo –
Been looking forward to this ever since me and Wildturkey switched AO Q’s. He’ll be coming to daVinci one day soon. Stay tuned. You guys have seen Tagalong and Shrinkwrap traveling together right? Not sure if they switch it up and not sure it matters, but Tagalong came up to where we were gathering and said “who’s on Q?”. Someone responded “Fredo”. And he let out a solid groan. So…not sure how to take that one, guess I better live up to the hype.
The Thang:
Mosey from Vine to workout trail past Lockness (LOP, it was a line)
Mosey around Snyder Lance to the fountain (there’s no wall on this fountain, fail) used short posts in front of building.
AYG up Ballantyne Corp Place across bridge to first driveway on left.
Plank-o-rama
Mosey to Premier parking deck
Start at bottom level for suicides
Mary, in cadence
Exit down the stairs
Mosey back down Ball Corp Place to pond across from Goddard
Partner up – similar speed
Mosey out and left on Brixham towards home
Moleskin:
MarketTimer thanks for the takeout.
– Fredo
That was a common theme among the early arrivals this morning at RebelYell. So either they forgot to check the Q schedule or ask Argonaut, but this guy doesn’t plan for much running. (Remember the Brave?) We managed about 2.5 which seemed fine to most. I’ve Q’d about 8 times now in 5 different AO’s…still wrote out the weinke. RebelYell usually draws a solid, hardworking crowd and I “planned” to not disappoint. I also draw from a few Q’s from my early days of F3 and borrowed a couple of items I’ve seen over the last several months.
– Brief but important Disclaimer
That Thang We Did:
Mosey to Jersey Mike’s
Mosey behind Jersey Mike’s to 1st speed bump
Plank wait for 6 end of building
Mosey out of Stonecrest to Ballantyne Commons
Mosey across to 1st entrance on left
Mary, wait for 6 (Thanks Rachel)
Mosey to parking deck
Mosey to start – couple minutes remain. Lunges from stop sign to stop sign…well almost – somewhere between 50 – 70 lunges – Time
Moleskin:
Damn does Rachel get after it…I saw Goodfellow hanging with him, but the rest of us were just watching from behind. I heard a comment early “look at those guys trying to stay with Rachel”. Funny. Great group this morning. Lot’s of guys back from BRR; Goonie, Commish, Teddy…others as well. Good to get the guys back after focusing on the Swift like workouts for a few weeks. I managed to incorporate the parking deck – tough to do in Stonecrest. Had to cut out the planned triple nickle on the hill so we could get there and back though. Appreciate the efforts and push from the group. Honor (and a lot of fun) to lead. Thanks Heartbreaker for adding me to the schedule back in June.
Goodfellow – thanks for the takeout
Announcements:
Isabella Santos 5K – Register. Participate.
daVinci to converge w/ Blackhawk and Stonehenge @ Stonehenge on 9/30 immediately before the Isabella Santos 5k / 10k
Susan G. Komen and Speed for Need – Register. Participate.
Dromedary – (Wednesday’s) Great AO, looking for Q’s to sign up
daVinci – (Saturday) Great AO, looking for Q’s to sign up
So back around July 4th, me Goonie and Strawberry posted at daVinci. It was pretty cool with only 3, we even got in 4 miles. One thing I promised to revive when there were enough Pax to enjoy the fun, was the tree line up the left side of Ardrey Kell headed towards Tom short. It’s such a nice clean number, 25, you know?
After a brief disclaimer…
The Thang:
Mosey from Chic-fil-e to the side of Best Buy for the COP:
Mosey to Ardrey Kell headed towards Tom Short, away from Blakeney.
Disclosure, “there are 25 trees on the side…” ughs followed, I didn’t even finish. haha. So 3 merkins at every tree to the shopping center on right. Go…
Not too bad. Mosey into shopping center to far building. Split into two groups. Group one did 15 derkins, group 2 ran around the building and started flutters. Flapjack and repeat x3 with incline merkins, regular merkins and various mary.
Mosey over to center of lot. Line up facing the way we came. More trees 6 more actually. You remember the burbee suicide ladder thingy? We did a jump squat ladder suicide thingy. By twos to 10 and back. Good Fun.
Mosey back to entrance driveway where we did lunge walk to street, Ardrey Kell. (About 30)
When I announced we had to get back via the treeline, Toolbag threw up in his mouth a little… How about every other tree? 3 Diamond merkins on the way back.
Moseyed around behind Best Buy to grab some wall and do people’s chair combined with presses. At each 15 count press, first in line bear crawled from wall across lot to fence. Repeat x7 Pax until we were all at the fence.
Mosey around to last building on right (Newks). Knocked out some Mary in the garbage lane behind Newks. This time Coldcuts did actually, well almost, puke. Partners did handslap merkins ran around building, dips, flapjack x3.
Head out from Newks down Rea Road just past start to BBT building. Took turns getting in some more mary x7 until time expired. Mosey around Chic to start. Time.
Mole:
No watch or GPS for me again. Gotta get one…after 7-8 Q’s its probably time to stop relying on the Pax for time keeping. (Thanks Teddy) I think he said we got in close to 3.0 Coldcuts is a 4 year veteran and it showed, strong outing – he and Teddy crushed the tree line merkins and the squat suicides. Great group of guys. I love the chatter from PapperJam and Toolbag. And the occasional hilarious response from MightyMite. Keeps the Q on his toes for sure. I’ve seen Tumbleweed a bunch lately and it’s good to have him in the mix.
Thanks for letting me lead – Fredo
Thanks for the takeout as always PapperJam.
One week later I’m still hearing side chatter about the burpee suicide up and back…who new a bunch of runners hated burpees so much. Maybe it was because I fell short of the Brave 4.0 mileage requirement.
Well it all really started when I called two minutes and everyone started chirping that I had more like two seconds. Part of my disclaimer was that I grabbed my wife’s watch (fit bit). Well you would have thought the 15 guys that showed up thought I was wearing her heels. It was a standing joke for the next hour and 3.3457 miles (Or something shy of 4.0 because god forbid I use the reading from my wife’s fit bit.)
The Thang:
Mosey around behind Stone Mountain to building across the street
Mosey around back of Building and pond – to the first patio
Plank wait for 6 (at tables) – Not much waiting around for this crew.
Mosey over bridge turn left to grass Hill
Plank for 6 – Or do a 6th
Mosey to bridge left into parking lot
Plank – Wait for 6
All You’ve Got – Up the hill to the bridge (brief disclaimer to get full out, “we will do this only once”)
People’s Chair at guard rail – Wait for 6 – someone lead air presses
Cross street and mosey down past TIAA to parking lot
Burpee Suicides up the middle at each tree
Mosey around to dock at pond – partner up
Mosey back across street
Time about expired – RUN! to Start
Moleskin:
You guys know the Brave regulars. Fast guys. Hard charging. High expectations. Well, no one added good spirited, cool guys that actually put up with my cluster f@*% last Friday. Nearly starting late but tried to stay un-flustered. I had this all worked out and planned ahead to hit the 4.0 mark. My undoing was the burpees as you’ve all heard by now. It killed too much time and too much spirit…LOL. Several guys actually crushed the 112 burpee suicide ladder…and had the balls to run circles around the rest of us so they could get their miles in. They knew way before me we wouldn’t hit 4.0 (remember the watch fiasco). I squeezed in one more exercise before time expired, well nearly. I think we had 45 seconds to get back to start. Several peeled off and headed to work (or so they said, probably getting in more miles, 0.5 at least.) Listening to my recording, I was a bit out of breath, sounded pretty funny…you guys rock!
Thanks for having me guys – enjoyed the Q. Good luck with the BRR next week.
Squid thanks for the take out.
I had the idea of running figure eights around the buildings across the street (19 of them total). The idea was partner work so eight would be perfect for the plan, but only 7 showed up. All is well, we made it work.
After a decent Disclaimer, here’s what we did:
Mosey over to fountain in medical complex (circle up)
Partner Up (I jumped in with FNG Mascot and Pony)
Mosey down left side (10 buildings)
Mary while we wait for 6
Reverse the way we came (10 buildings, figure 8s)
Mary – Wait for 6
Bear Crawl Ring of Fire (Bear crawl once around fountain)
Same Partner – Different direction(s)
Mary – wait for 6
Same partner
A little time remaining…
Mosey out to center two buildings. Split first two, circle Elavation Church, split two buildings, AYG back to fountain.
Audible, roadblock due to Y Mini Tri…10 merkins OYO, then mosey to a brick wall (thanks Bucky for the idea). Peoples chair, shoulder press IC, raise left leg (YHC struggled here) shoulder press, raise right leg, shoulder press.
All you got back to Fountain. Mary called by the team. Mosey back to Chic fil a – Time
Moleskin:
Announcements:
– Fredo
As many of you now know Tuck is in training for the DC marathon, JRR Tolkein said it was the easiest marathon, whatever that means. 🙂 In one of his weaker moments during an early morning Swift run he asked me to take over as Site Q. Well of course I was flattered, honored, humbled…you know? Only Six months into F3 I thought this was a big deal.
Of course then there’s reality: you guys have many great AO’s to choose from on Saturdays; Stonehenge (personal fav), Rockzero (love this one too), Blackhawk, Outland, Ascent, etc. I mean wow…how do I compete against these?
I’ve been pondering and maybe compete isn’t the right way to think about this. Like me, most of you like to mix things up and not get into a rut.
So here’s my ask..mix it up, stir it up, shake it up but include daVinci in your week every once in a while.
Great time 6:30-7:30 (sleep in a little), Great location in Blakeney – https://www.google.com/maps/place/Blakeney/@35.033676,-80.8072029,1244m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xb6980bfd865ed61!8m2!3d35.035944!4d-80.8072757
AND – The best for last – Six (6) of the best Q’s lined up to take you to the next level!! (Disclaimer, really it’s 5, I am bookends to this so no matter how I sliced it, 6 included me at least once.)
July 15th: Yours Truly
July 22nd: Mermaid (you kidding me? Who would miss this?)
July 29th: PaperJam (You all love this guy, he’ll work you.)
August 5th: Heartbreaker (I’ve seen him Q, don’t miss this.)
August 12th: Cheddar (What do I need to say? Really?)
August 19th: Strawberry (Bro, if you think daVinci is easy, better buckle up.)
September is already planned and equally right as rain…just come out and see for yourself.
Fredo –
17 showed up, well 13 plus three or four more as I concluded my Disclaimer.
My Grandfather lived on a farm and would sometimes say “It’s too wet to plow”. Meaning let’s do something else, like fishing. This morning it was definitely too wet to plow, but after arriving early and test running the hill I decided it wasn’t too wet after all and I would stay the course. Modify was mentioned in the disclaimer after all.
THE THANG:
Mosey to Jersey Mike’s (circle up)
• 14 Side Straddle hops – cadence
• 15 Low Squats (hold for 3 count) – cadence
• 15 Mountain Climbers – cadence
Mosey behind Jersey Mike’s to 1st speed bump
• At each speed bump
• Run up hill (yes I know its wet)
• 5 jump squats at top
• Back down do 5 merkins
• Run to next speed bump, up hill, 5 jump squats, back down, 5 merkins
• X5 (Triple Nickel One)
Plank wait for 6 at 5th speed bump – 10 count
Reverse same way we came
• At each speed bump run up hill ‘Backwards’ (yes I know its still very wet)
• 5 jump squats at top
• Run down (forward)
• 5 merkins at bottom
• Run to next speed bump
• X5 (Triple Nickel Two)
Mary wait for 6 at 5th speed bump – Thanks Doc for the Mary
Mosey towards cinema to stop sign in front
• 5 jump squats
• 20 lunges across front of Regal
• 5 merkins
• Repeat = 5 jump squats, 20 lunges, 5 merkins (got us pretty close to other side)
• X5 (Triple Nickel Three)
I had a little direction challenge here, but I think it worked out for most.
Doc lead us in a few Mary exercises again – got a 10 count.
Mosey around cinema across Elm down MurderHorn to 1st light post
• Run to second light post (only a quarter way down)
• 5 Real sit-ups
• Up to top light post
• 5 low plank jacks
• Repeat X5 (Triple Nickel Four)
We had a couple of guys help with Mary (Doc, Teddy, Tagalong) wait for 6 + 10 count
Mosey across to cinema lot
• Line up on sidewalk
• 5 derkins on curb
• Bear crawl across street to curb
• 5 incline merkins
• Bear crawl back… (audible after third round to lunges as needed)
• X5 (Triple Nickel Five)
A little time remaining – partner up, run around small side lot to large oak i middle, 10 hand slap merkins, run back to start, 10 hand slap merkins.
Mosey to start – 45 seconds remain, elbow plank (or lay on your stomach) thanks again Doc for the time check.
Moleskin:
Today was only my third Q. So triple was on the brain when I wrote the weinke for this one. We managed five triple nickels. I remembered Goonie in one of his past Q’s saying, ‘how did they get 5’. Not even sure what workout he was referring to but I knew one day I would see if we could get it done. Some of these triples might be disputed by Goonie, but since he didn’t show up he gets no say.
For those that did show up it was definitely a little wet to start. I thought I heard shoes squishing on the mosey back to Regal. Doc, Teddy, Tagalong, Squid and a couple others stayed out front. Thanks guys for keeping this thing rolling. After the lunges as soon as we turned the corner towards Elm I heard utterances of “MurderHorn”. That made me smile, on the inside. What’s a nickel morning without the MurderHorn?
I’m still a rookie Q for sure and haven’t learned exactly when to call an audible or not. Usually ‘not’ is the right answer. Like me, most guys that come out expect a beat down. During the bear crawl I audibled for lunges as needed and even did a few lunges myself. I hope I delivered on the beat down. Everyone was sweating, but still smiling in the end.
Always a great group at The Maul. Everyone kicks but and I never hear much chatter. I’ve come to expect to see a few of you every morning; thanks for the support today. It was an honor to lead.
Thanks Chopper for taking us out – see you Saturday.
– Fredo
Announcements:
– My Main Man Chopper has his VQ on Saturday at daVinci. Come out and support him.
– If you would like to Q The Maul please see Cheddar or Commish, they have a few spots open this Summer.
– F3 Date Night bowling this Saturday night. https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/20F0A4EAAAF2BA1FC1-2017
– SFN continues on it’s speed course for greatness thanks to JRR Tolkien and the donations of your fellow F3ers. Here’s a quick note from the man himself, “I created a separate channel for future communications called #speedforneed so that Slack can continue to be dead in all the region channels. You can watch cool videos and care for others in that channel.”