Drones: The sound of freedom

52 patriots showed to celebrate America’s 239^th birthday and put in work under the stars and stripes and the buzz of a drone documenting the whole thing flying above. With 3 shovel flags planted (kinda) firmly in the soft earth of The Rock’s turf, we paused for the National Anthem [Carrie Underwood version not Carl Lewis or Rosanne Barr (audio), we were off. Here’s what went down.

The Thang:

Gummy led the pax, shovel flags flying, around the back side of the church, up the pitch of the North Face to the front lawn of the church for some COP.

COP all IC:

Merkins, Imperial Walkers, SSH

With the shovel flags replanted, the pax split up for a starfish.

At the center: Makhtar N’Diaye x 5

Leg 1: CDD x20

Leg 2: Merkin x20

Leg 3: Jump Squats x20

Leg 4: Lunges

Mosey behind church to rockpile and grab a lifting rock.

15 curls, 15 overhead presses, 15 tricep extensions. AYG ~150 yards around shovel and back. Rinse and repeat x 3.

Mary: Flutter x20 IC, LBC x25 IC, HTH x20 IC, Dolly x 20 IC, Protractor, Hold 6-inches for a BOG 10-count.

Merkinator: x5 IC each – Regular, Wide arm, Diamond, Offset left, Offset right.
Drop the rocks, grab the flags and head to the soccer fields. Count off in 1s & 2s. Teams line up abreast facing one another – line up with a partner. Hand-slap merkins x25.

Plank – on the whistle, AYG to your own goal line, 10 hand-release merkins, AYG back to the flags at midfield. Losing team got 10 burpees. Winning team got 10 merkins. After team 2 threw the Belichick Flag on their distance being “longer” than team 1’s, we swapped sides. Round 2 was close – probably still under review at HQ – yet team 2 took the victory.

Circle up for the Ring of Fire – birthday edition. In celebration of America’s 239^th birthday, each pax performed a merkin, counting up by 1. Rotating clockwise around the circle, the rest of the pax held plank until 239 was reached. Prior to starting, YHC announced the lucky pax who got merkin 239 would get a special birthday treat – 50 monkey humpers in the center of the circle. The Mouth was our lucky winner today, although it’s hard to say who was more embarrassed. Fortunately, the drone had run out of steam (how are these things powered?) and was grounded, not filming the event. The rest of the pax knocked out some LBCs until The Mouth was finished.

Line up in two lines for an Indian Run around the church. Man in the front holds the shovel flag. After a little snaking and weaving, we were on track and ended up back at the lot at 7:59:59.

The Red White and Blue Moleskin-

Lots of ‘Murica pride out there being worn by the pax. IH was rocking a stars and stripes bandana – fortunately, this took the attention off his presumably short shorts. Checkpoint had a legit USNA shirt and probably looked the most official of the bunch. Prohibition brought out the gunshow with his South Myrtle beach American Flag tank top. Horsehead and Tootie had the comic book look with Captian America racing jerseys. Several other guys came in various assortments of red, white, and blue, however Beaker, perhaps won the ‘best dressed’ award with his flowy, short, silky, Stars and Stripes running shorts #strong.

The drone Spielberg brought was awesome. The dude was running and flying at the same time throughout the whole workout – it was impressive. The buzzing overhead was a little erie at times and made you hope he charged the batteries the night before. Young Love will have to review the fine print, but I don’t recall injury from a UAV is covered. Can’t wait to see the video. Keep an eye out for this thing on your next Amazon Prime delivery.

Tiger Rag rolled into the lot pumping patriotic tunes. Shortly after the flyover following Carrie’s National Anthem, the TRuckster rolled out in haste – something about a leaky roof at the pool. Hope everything’s alright.

Lots of guys had their 2.0s out today. It was a tough workout and we covered some ground 3+ miles. Hard work everywhere you looked.

We ended the COT with the Lord’s Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.

T-claps to everyone that posted today. It was a great way to kick off the holiday. Enjoy the celebrations with your families and stay safe with those South Carolina Fireworks tonight.

Announcements: Save the date for Southern Discomfort – Area 51’s signature CSAUP event – August 1st. Preblast to go out later today.

USNWT watch party tomorrow at Yellow Rose – 7pm. If you hashtag #USA on Twitter, you get a maple leaf with the American flag inside. And some nasty comments about being un-American from some of your “friends.” Today, stick with the American Flag emoji.