The morning started out strange. But doesn’t every Monday when we are committing to drag ourselves out of bed after a summer weekend in order to run 5 miles. This is where we ran:
THE THANG:
Up Adrey Kell Rd past the high school and make a right into the first neighborhood. Make an immediate left onto Zackery Ave, right on Pomerane Pl. left on Brandon Brook Drive and right on Old Adrey Kell. Into another neighborhood running on Honeynut, Hazelview, Linden Tree and Society Street. Leave the neighborhood, cross Community House Rd to do a short loop of Highgrove Street, Fortbridge Lane, Summer Club Rd., Pemswood St and back out to Community House, left on Adrey Kell and back to the AO for stretching by Paper Jam
MOLESKIN:
The morning seemed normal enough, as I rounded the corner there was Bunker’s SUV parked in his spot and I was ready to do my warm up routine. The next thing I knew there was a silver pick up truck pulling up. I figured it had to be Depth Charge. I was wrong. It was Bratwurst arriving a little after 5. If that was not strange enough, Bunker announced that he is running with me this morning. I became immediately concerned that he injured himself or may have been feeling sick this morning. He assured me that all was well, this was a new marathon training program that he is working on which requires a PJ pace on Monday. So I guess I am now training for a marathon. To top it off, Bratwurst started running in the opposite direction (towards the big fountain) to go thru the shopping center instead of in the direction of the new Shake Shack.
Glad Enron brought us back to normal with a nice take out.
Another Monday in the books.
Don’t get the wrong idea, won’t be any hand-holding or high fives at this summit, just a worthy North vs. South beatdown brought to you by Mermaid & Fishwrap to mark 260 straight weeks of uneasy cohabitation and questionable legal status……
Dredd was, um, happy to be Q’ing SOFA and broke a guy’s foot
Swamp & Cindy used to post south of Wendover (!)
Bushwood quit bootcamps after this T-R debacle
Alf displayed his creative side
Runstopper lives up to his name
Meet your friend, rival, brother, co-worker from up North at DMZ Monday.
0530 Carmel Road Park
(COP on Bushwood’s lawn if he doesn’t post)
19 Pax came out today in support of my VQ and I appreciated it even with the high humidity. Not sure if there was much chatter going on before we started because YHC pulled in on two wheels at 5:28:30 pm.
Warm-up:
The thang:
We took a mosey to the front of the middle school where we did 30 dips, ran around the car loop, 20 derkins, ran around the loop, 10 box jumps, loop. BC must not have felt safe in the environment as he never ran off of the sidewalk. Plank until six make it in.
Next, took a mosey to the “smooth” hill on the side of the school. We did 30-20-10 rep sets again with 30 squats, 20 lunges each leg (Moneyball mentioned the idea of 20 on each leg. He must have been looking to define his legs a little more for the pool party tonight.) In between sets run up the hill around the tree and back. Plank again while we wait for six.
After that, mosey on over to the cove of the school where we did 30 donkey kicks, 20 mike Tysons, and wall sits with 10 shoulder press and hold it until everyone finishes.
Mosey to the student parking lot. Ran each row of the parking lot in snake formation (After explaining this I think I heard Moneyball as Siri what a snake was?) While doing this do 25 LBCs on the near medians, 25 American hammers in the middle median, and 25 flutters on the far median. SSH while waiting for six.
Mosey over to the bus lot where with a partner we did 10 merkin partner slaps ran down the path and back around up the stairs. Did that 3 times.
Then, mosey over to the benches for a dip ladder starting with 10, a slow dip ladder.
Mosey over to the launch where Halfback led some Mary to close it out. Done!
Moleskin:
Again, I appreciate all that came out today. I really enjoyed getting to do a Q. The support, motivation, and humor is unlike any other way to get a day started. All Pax did great despite the high humidity. Fuse box, nice work through the conditions and still getting all reps done. BC and halfback, good job kicking it into gear during the…snake run? There was nothing but hard work today out of all 19 pax. We circled the whole campus today and managed to not do one single burpee. Nice!
Announcements:
F3 pool party tonight 7:30. Please continue to consider making a donation that will go to the Sandbox. You can bring your money to the pool tonight if you do not want to pay online.
Bible study this Sunday morning at the Fivestones offices.
Mad dog, thanks for taking us out.
We’ll get to the title of the backblast later, but first let’s address a seeming oxymoron / paradox / bit of irony:
Cerberus Q for the morning – Kirk
Kirk, known for not venturing too far outside his ankle monitor limit at Hwy 51, was the Q at Cerberus, which is south of 485. Sadly, YHC actually looked to see if it was south of Myrtle Beach, which remains my southernmost post in 6+ years of F3.
So yeah, it happened. Go ahead and drop the Journeyman (yep, looked it up) Award in the mail.
After a remarkably brief seven mile drive in (maybe 10 minutes), YHC arrived at 0523 to find 4-5 others in the parking lot of Viva Chicken – Waverly. Transporter was drinking coffee, which seemed an odd choice. Bets were made as to the side effects. McGee ran in – questioned YHC’s attendance, more cars arrived, fist bumps, stretches, etc. Short disclaimer given, and launched at 0530.
Warm up mosey down some street to another street with under construction townhomes and a roundabout (realize this narrows it down) beside a retention pond (ah, yes…that one). Obligatory COP of SSH, IWs, and Mtn Climbers. Unnamed street is a bit of a hill, maybe 150 yards in length. Run down, 5 burpees at the bottom, 5 more at the top – 5 times. McGee and Laronda were the Larry Birds of the group, one of whom did actual burpees. The other more cavalierly flung himself to the ground, but the jump at the top was sublime. Reckon someone with catlike reflexes could slide a sheet of 24 lb paper under the soles of those shoes. Anyway, as an opener, this always delivers a swift kick to the nuts.
Mary to regroup – something from McGee, toe tap LBCs from Laronda, and Freddy Mercury from YHC, including a “half-way-there” that garnered applause and adulations, or something.
Mosey past the apartments and HUB to the parking deck. Bit of meandering to find the right overhang for pull-ups, but the group arrived safely on the 2nd floor of the deck for a little of the original “Magnificent 7s” thrown out at Casbah a few years back, which thanks to Starfish, has now made it all the way from Winston-Salem to F3Austin.
7-pullups
14 burpees
21 merkins
28 squats
35 LBCs
Normally run a lap, but in this case, take the stairs to the top (unfortunately way shorter than a lap). Original call for 4 sets, audibled to 3.
Recovered back on level 1 with more Mary – flutters, Boone LBCs.
And then, on the mosey out of the deck….it happened. Dude was “cleaning” out a row of port-a-johns on the backside of the parking deck, and…well, Red says it better:
“Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of shit-smelling foulness I can’t even imagine- or maybe I just don’t want to. Five hundred yards… that’s the length of five football fields; just shy of half a mile.”
Fortunately, there was no crawling, and it was maybe 50-100 yards…but the sentiment remains the same. Bad doesn’t begin to describe it. Words are just insufficient. We stopped in front of the HUB building just to breathe again.
But we had 10 minutes left – not enough time for the original plan, but enough time for a short modification of it.
(This AO is great. Tons of stuff around, but also dense (more the hotel and apartments – lot of people)…unlike, say Uptown at 0530. BUT, it seemingly lacks a short steep hill in close proximity to launch, unless you count 485 exit ramps, which seemed a little too dangerous at 0530, mostly dressed in black. Someone needs to find a safe one. Anyway, close parenthetical thought…)
Mosey back past Viva to the Panera end of the parking lot, which does at least slope upward toward Viva. Mini version of Quadzilla:
Backwards run “up” to a solitary, sad, small tree. 5 jumping lunges each leg. Run “down” for 5 squats. Repeat 5 times.
Mosey back to Viva, and as McGee adroitly pointed out, we were 8 burpees shy of 100, so finished with 8 burpees OYO. Fin.
COT – McGee took us out.
Announcements
Gents – appreciate the hospitality this morning. Enjoyed the trip south, which remarkably took about as long as winding through Foxcroft to Sharon for Casbah or running over to Charlotte Christian for Joust. This is a really good AO with a lot of possibilities. We covered significantly less ground than most Metro / DMZ workouts, but hopefully everone got their $$$s worth. One of the interesting things with public Q sign-ups is that you may have an interloper volunteer to Q, so with that in mind, direct all complaints to Alf. Oh, and apologies to the lone missing Pax from the Pax list.
The title of this back blast is an actual quote from today’s workout. And it’s all YHC’s fault, since YouTube posted videos with the “13 Exercises That are Better Than Burpees for Fat Loss”. And YHC doesn’t do burpees, so there you go.
Anyhow, 7 men gathered in the parking lot of Charlotte Christian Academy for the Friday beat-down. And here’s how it went.
The Thang:
Run to the center of the field
High knees in place (x20 IC)
Fast, Deep, Squats x15
Merkins x 10
CDD x 10
Mosey to the score board goal post and partner up. P1 runs down the length of the field and back to
P2. P2 does called exercise until P1 comes back to them. Goal is for both partners to collectively make it 100 yards with the called exercise.
Walking Lunges
Bear Crawl
Crab Walk
Mosey to Grandma’s mountain
11’s 7’s, bear crawl up the mountain, reverse bear crawl back down:
Plank jacks & Parker Peter (4 Count)
Mosey to the 50 yard line, ½ the group goes to the other side of the field and partners run on the sidelines and meet at the goal post for called exercise.
Hand-slap merkins x 10
Low five/high five squats x 10
WWII situps, foot to foot, slap hands at the top x 10
Mosey to the playground behind the bleachers
7’s at the playground
Reverse grip pull-ups and tricep dips
Impromptu Mary (thanks Chin Music)
Protractor (somehow in cadence)
Dolly x 10
Mosey back to the cars (the long way back)
Hold squat in the parking lot for 1 minute
Da Moleskin:
There’s something to say about our staggered arrival. YHC arrived about 6 minutes early to find just Boerwors in the parking lot and Chin Music’s truck but no Chin Music. At about 5:28:30 Yeti and Smokey arrive and YHC thinks, “Good there’s four of us, it’s a workout now.” At precisely 5:30, YHC delivers the disclaimer and two runners come hot into the parking lot hot, Funky Cold with FNG in-tow. Said FNG claims to be Funky Cold’s neighbor. Disclaimer re-delivered, now we’re six and this workout is on. Then on our way to the field, Chin Music pops out from behind a building looking like he already ran a few laps without us. Thankfully, he saved us the need to break in open the gate, and fell in with the group.
So the workout was designed as an alternative to burpees. Burpees suck. Let’s all agree on that. So YHC looked online and YouTube provided workout gold. “13 Exercises That are Better Than Burpees for Fat Loss” and “70 Bodyweight Cardio Exercises” were the inspiration for this madness. Somewhere around the bear crawls up and down Grandma’s Mountain Boerwors promptly exclaimed, “This is why You Tube has a terrible impact on society.” And he might be right.
Overall, the pax delivered. Plenty of painful mumble-chatter (and a little second F) told me I had accomplished my goal of a challenging workout and YHC’s shoulders are in pain right now as a reminder.
Welcome to FNG Hammy. Somehow he ran back home with Funky Cold. T-claps to a pre and post run.
Thanks to Smokey for the takeout.
Announcements:
Convergence on 06/22 with Kevlar at Joust. Be there.
Come to the Charge on Wednesday. It’s like Joust but right up the road.
AG Middle School needs a new field and F3 is raising cash for it. Donate if you can.
Rock Zero is looking for Qs this summer. Let us know if you’re interested.
Sorry for the delayed post. I have a 99% same day post rate, but couldn’t make this one happen. Here it is now!
9 men showed up for the first half of the Alf double feature on Thursday. Meathead 0.0 was on tap. I knew I had GhostRunner later that evening so went easy on the legs and decided to smoke the upper body.
Disclaimer was given at the last moment as PAX came in on two wheels. I think guys know they don’t have to be early to Meathead because it’s always easy to find us.
Warm up – 2 handed swings, halos’s, prying squats, imperial walkers, more swings, more halo’s, more prying squats.
The Thing:
OYO – 25 2-handed swings, 10 merkins, 20 2-handed swings, 10 merkins, 15 2-handed swings, 10 merkins, 10 2-handed swings, 10 merkins, 5 2-handed swings, 10 markins.
A little mary until the 6 is done.
OYO – same as above but replace 2-handed swings with Snatches (both Right and Left)
(Note: I did the snatches early while everyone still had grip strength, but 150 snatches was a smoker and the weinke went rogue after this. I might have blacked out, or maybe I should have.)
OYO – 25x lawn mowers (Right and Left), 10 lat pulls (on back pulling bell over head). Repeat for the 20-10-15-10-10-10-5-10 series like above.
OYO – Sumo Dead Lift High Pull and merkins 25 down to 5 again.
Some mary and flutter with press in-between.
5 sets of 10 tricep presses, 10 OH presses, and 10 curls
Finish with: OYO – 25 2-handed swings, 10 merkins, 20 2-handed swings, 10 merkins, 15 2-handed swings, 10 merkins, 10 2-handed swings, 10 merkins, 5 2-handed swings, 10 markins.
Done.
Moleskine:
You know when a workout has 250 merkins and that’s the easy part, you are likely in trouble. The men put in the work today. Mumble chatter was completely extinguished after and during the snatch set. Not sure if everyone got in all the snatches but everyone was working hard to get as many as possible. Good to see Mall Cop back out and working post on a regular basis. Chin Music was a little quieter without Header there to talk with. Rachel and Purell were there (I know, weird that they were at the same workout). They brought two bells each and I don’t think either of them bothered with the lighter bell. Strong work. Blazing Saddles was the first man on the scene and doing a little pre-work KB warm up when I arrived. He may have regretted that choice later on in the workout, but he is better for it. Prohibition and Soul Glow were quietly getting the work done as well. Pro may have been dying inside. Hard to tell. Orange Whip seemed excited about the snatches and like the challenge because it was something he wouldn’t attempt on his own at home. Aye – that’s why we are here, to push each other farther than we would go on our own.
Thanks to Chin Music for the takeout.
Likely some announcements, that are irrelevant now that the day has past.
Keep Utah’s family in your prayers as his father passed away this week.
-Alf
7 came out to relive their glory daze with a little old-school Kevlar action.
The Thang:
Does anyone read this anymore? We ran around and did some F3 stuff. Gummy complained, Orange Whip held back, and Night Court jumped over a fence. We busted out the filthy tires filled with 8 month old slime at the end, which nearly got me a standing ovation. I dumped the disgusting contents of one tire directly into my shoe. Old School Kevlar is back. Somehow, this is a good thing.
Moleskin:
The action started around 5:25 when Whip rolled up in his Lamont Sanford truck and jumped out wearing shorts and body paint looking like something from Cirque Du Soleil, Mt. Holly edition. He claimed that it was some sort of large sized shirt, but caught so much hell about it that he actually changed before we started. Way to stick with your guns. I thought he looked pretty good and tried to claim his as partner before we started, but he just ran off.
The Gummy rolled in next, with his usual encouragement, and shared some predictions on which pax are due for injury. I’m not gonna jinx anyone with some cute sentence that rhymes with their name, but The Gummy basically has a voodoo doll in his car with rotator cuffs, knees, and other old man injuries that he tweaks on while he is driving around. It’s a little unsettling, but I guess it’s better than texting and driving. By the way, I’m going to try out this The Gummy thing for a bit but I’m not sure if it will stick. Anyway, my take on this is what we call the F3 Fitness Sawtooth. After an initial step change, a man gains fitness in a somewhat linear fashion until injury, during which he experiences another step change downward. After this, the typical F3 cycle of fitness looks like a sawtooth function. Generally, we are about one bear crawl away from the dropoff at any time.
Some initial witty banter about the lack of witty banter, which came full circle. F3 is better with a lot of chatter, pure and simple. Working out in that Diogenes Club of a gym you just joined is no good, and discourages fellowship. Pretty soon you’ll be back at home eating cheeto dust from your navel with a homeade Princess Leia doll chained to your leg. You need the 2nd F to keep you going, or at least I do. From Mycroft Holmes himself:
There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubbable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger’s Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere.
Night Court displayed both his old age and football prowess in a 5 min window by tripping in one of tires (hope your ankle is ok) and then throwing some SuperCam bullets with a stray pigskin on the field. His even superior Perry Mason skilz allowed him to turn away from the Football path though, and he is living his best Concussion-free life now. I’m not sure about the van, the video cameras, and that thing about throwing the ball over a mountain, but who am I to judge.
Missing Cottontail, as they celebrate Baby 13, or conceive Baby 14. I’m not sure exactly what goes on in that house during the early hours, but we hope to have him back soon.
Thanks for coming out. Yes, you should probably get a shot or something from those tires. Ask your doctor if that’s right for you.
love,
HH
P.S. – There is a new Beef Jerky outlet at the Arbo. Somehow, this should get connected with Ghost Runner.
21 men showed up for this week’s installment of Centurion, including 2 FNGs and my twin brother, Slow Roll, site FNG. Thorough disclaimer that Purple Haze would have been proud of, was given. Off we went.
Mosey counterclockwise around the football field to Stairwell 2. Up to level 4
COP
IW x 10 IC
Mountain Climber x 10 IC
Merkin x 10 IC
Peter Parker x 10 IC
Squat x 10 IC
SSH x 10 IC
Down Stairwell 1 and up through Chipotle lot across 51 and continue mosey to Palatine Hill. Far end of the parking lot. Chair plank to regroup.
Palatine Repeats
Called exercise. AYG to top of Palatine. Called exercise. AYG back.
Plank series between each round with all the favorites. Mary when done. Several exercises. Feet up for all.
AYG up and over Palatine. 10 Burpees OYO. Chair plank.
Mosey back toward the shopping center. Stop at 1st entrance. Smurf Jack x 10 IC. Continue to cross walk and back to campus.
Enter Tartarus on level 1. Line up abreast.
Plank Start Sprints
Low Plank/Right Leg high/Swap-AYG up full level ramp. Plank at top.
Mosey up a half ramp.
Elbow plank. AYG up a full level.
Mary at level 4. Down Stairwell 2. Over and up Stairwell 1. AYG to Stairwell 3.
Plank series with 15 Merkin IC to close it.
Down Stairwell 3.
AYG back to launch.
Mary to close: Rosalita x 20 IC. Flutter x 55 IC (for Shoe’s bday last week). 30 seconds of burpees to run out the clock.
COT
Moleskin
Apologies today men, pressed for time. Solid work by all. Rachel and Lorax were going head-to-head for most of the workout. Uncle Rico has some fast twitch for sure.
Good work Pro. Runstopper and No Show pushing hard. Uncle Phil getting work done and running in and back.
Both site-Q’s posted. What?
Shoe and Chelms with some good chatter and solid work put in.
Finally got my twin bro, Slow Roll, to post A51. Thankful he could make it and solid effort on his part.
Kotters to Brushback. Always good to see him amongst the PAX.
Welcome to FNG Yao, brought by Champagne. Dude is tall. Great job out there today. See you soon.
Welcome to FNG Scrum, brought by Drago. Well done young man. Way to push through that one.
T-claps to Champagne for the takeout prayer.
Announcements
Pool party in Waxhaw hosted by Transporter/UCo/SOB. Check Slack for sign-up. Tonight at 7:30. Families welcome.
LLS Dinner. 6/13. Bout Time’s M, Lauren, is guest speaker. Cooter 2 is your contact for a link.
1st Tee. Chelms coordinating a 1st Tee with several days over the summer. Has coaches, but could use a few more volunteers. Hit him up if you can help.
It’s hard to avoid the Mafia jokes when you’re short, Italian, from Jersey, and are known as Goodfella. My Italian Hero, Joe Pesci, once asked, “Do I Amuse You?” in one of the greatest movies of all time. YHC decided it was time to “Abuse You” fellas at The Floater on a beautiful June morning in The Haw.
We had some SC boys join us as part of the Journeyman Challenge, with General and Erector showing up right on time after a pre-run (or was it “pre-RUNS” trying to find a bathroom at 5am in Waxhaw?).
Favorite 80’s Rock playlist ready to roll…quick Mosey around the back of the Church for warm-ups. Went something like this:
Mosey over near the Remembrance Wall/Bridge.
The THANG:
Partner up for various exercises. Totals varied:
Short mosey to The Bridge over the train tracks for “7’s”, consisting of:
After working up to about 4 reps, the Pax (or maybe just YHC) was starting to feel it and slow down. The bridge can be deceiving/challenging with the steep stairs on both sides and the slippery incline. It’s such a great landmark in downtown and it’s great to use it during a workout.
Waiting on the Six, we held a pretty good plank and the moaning ensued. Not mentioning names, but Fuse Box kicked it into gear, finished, and we recovered in time to mosey back over to the Water Tower. Nice work, fellas.
At the Water Tower…Jack Webb’s.
Moneyball found his Yoga Mat while the rest of us enjoyed the grass. Who would possibly fathom that doing 10 Merkins and 40 Air Presses could be so hard??? More moaning, so I knew it was working.
Mosey down to the infamous #KeithJongHill. At the bottom of KJH, we noticed our recent FNG, (not so) Happy Ending, seemingly spilling his Merlot on his way to the rock pile, or getting close to it. Posse checked on him, he was ok, then he joined us. Nice recovery, Happy Ending!
Partner up again…grab a Lifting Rock. Some didn’t understand that point, and grabbed pebbles (might have been our Journeymen?), but who are we to judge? Work on those Biceps for the pool, with some Curls:
YHC’s typical 5-minute warning sounded during curls, so we cut it a bit short to head back for COT. Return the rocks…get up KJH for 1 minute of Mary led by General. Thanks, brother. Finish!
Moleskin:
Great to see and lead such a great group of guys at The Floater today. The weather was perfect and we didn’t even have to play much Frogger downtown. Everyone gave a great effort and, I believe, actually enjoyed the workout. I don’t have a fancy mileage tracking watch, or a calorie counter, but we ran some and burned some. More than we would have sleeping! Nobody took me up on my offer to buy them coffee to-go at Crossroads Coffee House…maybe next time. Awesome job today, fellas. Until next time…
Announcements:
YHC took us out in Prayer. We are truly Blessed to be part of F3 and able to workout like we do.