The Waxhaw April 1 Q Challenge landed in my lap this morning as 11 Pax joined me for some fun. I asked for any requests before we began and at 5:30 DiCCS was given and we were off.
We started with a Mosey around the lower lot to the stairs and warmed up with SSH, Merkins, Mountain Climbers, stretching, and Imperial Walkers. From there we proceeded for a little Paula Abdul to the globe with 10 Hand Release Merkins up and one Burpee on the way back. From the globe to the path on the other side of the middle school we alternated 10 Squats and 5 Mike Tysons at the lights on the left. Wait I know it’s been a while but how could I forget about the walls, let’s do a little balls to the wall with 10 Shoulder Taps then 10 Donkey Kicks, then 8 and well that was stupid so we left for a Mosey to the picnic tables. Partnering up we completed 200 Dips, 100 Derkins, and 50 Step-Ups while the other ran to the right down the overhang and back. As we were proceeding with great time we Moseyed to the lower lot for 4 corners completed 20 reps of LBC, Flutters, V-Ups, Heels To Heaven with a Burpee in the middle. With five minutes to spare we ascended and descended around the right side of the lot. Starting at the first corner we completed 5 Shoulder Tap Merkins at the first corner, the Merkins and added Big Boys at the second. Third corner we added Moroccan Night Club, then lost one exercise at each corner till back at COT.
It felt good to Q again, unless you have taken a leave and come back you don’t realize how much you miss F3 and the brothers in the gloom. Everyone reach out to those around keep pumping them up and stay vocal. Noonan was particularly fond of the Hand Release Merkins starting out today after yesterdays Ab and Merkin fest. Everyone pushed hard today and stayed together with minimal Mary, well done Pax.
VQ alert for this Friday at Last Call at promptly 5:32am Orchid will pop his cherry, this will be the first VQ for the site. Christ Closet Thursday night after Clyent Dinner head over and load the trucks for the trip east to Pender County for the weekends giveaway. On January 1, 8 total guys (Smugler, Orchid, One Star, The Juice) started a weight loss challenge and they lost a combined 100+ pounds with Orchid dropping 23. From the sounds of things they have 4 future Pax to bring out, well done guys. Please keep Honeycombs son soon to be named Chums who will have hand surgery after a fight with a hedge trimmer in your prayers. One Star took us out.
Just 4 dudes in the dark woods for a casual meet up at 5 in the morning. Nothing fishy going on.
Rubbermaid and Paper Jam got a head start at 5am but Carb Load and myself thought that sounded WAAAY too early and opted to leave at a more reasonable 5:30. Fun was had by all. The trails were actually dry this time. No one fell. Good job everyone.
Crazy things happened this weekend in and around the great mega state mountains of Caro-lossus. Things that highlight the S in stupid and the U & P in utterly pointless. 5 men ran 103.6 miles in, around, and out of the mountains in our beautiful mega state. 4 of the men were smart enough to rent a swagger wagon, 3 of them went shirtless at some point, 2 of them covered over a combined 50 miles of that distance, and 1 of them did all their running solo.
This weekend was all about Weird Mountain Stuff.
Start with how Midriff decided to run all of South Mountain. By himself. With no shirt on and taking selfies. Which is awesome BTW. (Disclaimer: the running part of course, jury’s still out on the selfies in the woods) Huge shout-out to Midriff, humble and easy-going in the gloom, but don’t be fooled. Dude is legit. Never done a 50K before? Not a problem. All those “runners” suddenly found something better to do? Their loss. His M was in pre-labor for 10 days? Alright he can’t beat that … yet, but this was a strong second.
In comparison, 4 other men did a slightly less impressive thing. They ran from Asheville NC to Greenville SC in a day. Also known as the Ville to Ville Craft Beer Relay. 70.6 miles from Highland Brewing to Hampton Station. The race is a relay style format with 12 legs. Teams of 6, 4, and 3 are allowed. You accountant types can calculate the square root of who gives a rat’s @$$ to determine how the legs and mileage breakdown. Weather was a fine spring day, no rain, lots of sun, and all the bad clothing decisions you’d expect from people who spent a year on zoom calls while day drinking.
YHC called it BRR Lite, and it is. 1/3 of the miles, 1/3 of the time to complete, and 100% of the chafing. With stops at two breweries along the way and the finish line at Hampton Station in Greenville, SC it’s basically running to the next parking lot so you can drink a beer in a koozie and keep the party going. YHC snagged a spot early in the limited Ville to Ville running field because this thing sells out fast. Spots in this race are gone faster than Willie Nelson can smoke a joint. It’s so fast that the 2022 race is already sold out 3 days after the 2021 race ended.
As Cap’n, YHC wanted to keep the team small. No 15 passenger vans, no extra driver, just 4 men on a mission. BRR veteran a plus, but not a requirement. 4 committed runners, who probably need to be committed to a state run institution. To Flipper’s credit he was the first to HC. Our other two team members would be new and valuable additions to the ever growing roster of Team Up ‘n Over. Fear not UNO alumni, these new comers proved their worth.
Here’s the team breakdown
Flipper: Marathon training may not have netted him a BQ but he got faster, no doubt. In typical Flipper fashion, he took the highest mileage and hardest legs. No surprise, his big personality was only upstaged by a big performance. As captain, YHC was nervous that the marathon recovery might sideline Flipper from Ville to Ville. But not only did he bring the marathon swagger but so the performance to back it up. Flipper crushed 2,000 ft. of elevation gain over 20 miles. Highlight of the day, throwing his sweaty shirt in the driver’s side window of the van as we passed him running. *not* Refreshing.
Day-Z (or Daisy): The story behind the name is worth the rename to Day-Z. Prove that it’s not. Originally hailing from Area 51 but relocated to Metro along with his living situation. A chance encounter at SIBling Rivalry got him on the team and he did not disappoint. Due to a last minute change in the race course, Day-Z had inherited the second hardest set of legs and second highest mileage for the team. Including a 23% incline in the first two miles of his first leg. You wouldn’t know it from his even pacing on Strava. A solid BRR veteran, nothing phased him. Find him running at all the brewery runs during the week in CLT.
Hot Wing: His claim to fame in Area 51 is being related to me. By marriage. There’s no way we share a blood line, he’s like Sprockets with no hair. Shorter than short. Definite contender for rookie of the year, though. YHC got him running during Covid and on our first run together he was outpacing YHC and chatting it up the whole way. This carried over to Makeshift Marathon in November. Mile 10 and all smiles. When I told him about this race he put his game face on 8 months in advance and it showed. If you’re putting a BRR team together, he should be on your short list. He assumed an 8:45 pace but came in way under, like closer to 8:00’s.
YHC: Not one to toot his own horn, YHC took the glory leg. Also got about .10 miles short of a PR on the 10K, sub 50:00. Original distance was over 18 miles, but some construction outside of Henderson-ville-town-ship-burg changed up the route and cut off two miles. YHC ain’t no defeatist, and ain’t no complainer, the motto is to just keep kicking with bigger and better things. YHC decided the end of the race was a good place to run an extra two miles. And by run an extra two miles, YHC means to blow through the last turn and keep going. Serves YHC right for passing like 8 people in 3 miles on that leg and running all alone. (hums Eric Carmen’s “All by Myself”). Eventually, YHC figured out that the finish was the OTHER way and turned around. The poor volunteer at the end of the race was not impressed with the sweaty-yeti loudly explaining that the sign was missing. #YetiKaren
Of course the usual antics happened during the race. Yelling inappropriate things at your runner as you drive by, staring slack-jawed with the 250 other middle-aged men at the female runners way too young for you and way too out of our league on our best day, dirty jokes, and dirty smelly vans. The BRR veterans know that smell, open up that door and it smells like success, or pheromones. Whatever you college types like to call it.
At the end of the day these fellas left their mark on ‘dem ‘der hills. Midriff was the champion/gold-medal/MVP of the South Mountain Slog. Team UNO only took 81 out of 236 with an average pace of 8:15/mile, the slackers that we are. Can’t win them all, but it’s never about winning when it’s Completely Stupid and Utterly Pointless.
Next up, BRR.
#SYITG
Cap’n Hoover
DCCs
Warm-up Run 1.5 miles
The Thang
Spirit Trail 5k pace x 5 w/ 90/120 rest
Lost Easy Button after the second round due to twisting his ankle. Glidah carried him out.
Beetle took a tumble
Cool Down Run 1.0 – 1.25 miles
Moleskin
The morning started of with who hasn’t Q this month? Good Fella was Qing Thursday and everyone else had except for Beetle who was an FNG yesterday. He gladly stepped up to help lead with some guidance.
Mumble chatter consisted of should I refinance, take out equity, housing market. There was also some complaining about getting mud on shoes. Soft!
In COT he shared a quick story about where he’s at today and something the really inspired him to reflect on his own life. I encourage you all to take a look at this story.
Bottlecap taking us out like a pro.
Warm Up – Mosey to Brookemead neighborhood, left onto rd leading to cul de sac, circle back for 6, circle up in cul de sac for stretching – Jimmy Dugans, Can Opener, Calf Stretch, Downward Dog, Upward Dog.
The Thang – Mosey back to Brookemead drive and stop at intersection of Abbeywood. Ever other driveway on the right, alternate between 10 speed skaters and 10 bobby hurleys, down to intersection of Brookemead. Circle for 6. 25 LBC’s in cadence. Continue the mosey on perimeter of neighborhood, every other driveway on the right, this time 10 SSH and 10 Squats, including the culdesac street on the right. Continue to where we started at the intersection. 25 Flutters in cadence. Mosey to entrance of neighborhood and on 6 on the sidewalk. 25 heels to heaven. Mosey to back of school, grab some wall. 40 donkey kicks Audible as ground was to slick. 10 Mike Tysons, run the track. 10 Mike Tysons + 10 Merkins, run the track. 10 Mike Tysons + 10 Merkins + 10 Carolina Dry Docks, Run the track. Mosey back to COT.
Moleskin – Doughboy was to Q today, but personal stuff came up, so he and I swapped today’s Q for my scheduled Q at Blackhawk on Saturday. Welcome FNG Freon and FNG Dishwasher. You can still sign up for WTF (Waxhaw Trail Festival), 5/1 at Blackhawk. 1 Q April still in effect, if you haven’t Q’d, raise your hand in Group Me. We don’t want to do 100 burpees in the event someone Q’s twice in the month. YHC took us out.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
If a #CSAUP happens with one person, does it happen at all?
How do we really know this Midriff guy isn’t full of crap and just faking the whole thing???
Looking good a few weeks before the event with 20 PAX expressing interest and identifying 4/17 as a probable date. Keep the memes coming and guerilla advertising rolling, but doubts begin to sink in. More resounding endorsements for the event just pile onto the reality that no one will be joining YHC in this unruly expedition:
This event in 2020 was genuinely one of the highlights of the year. I wanted to share that similar experience with others this time around. After plugging this thing for months not a single soul joined in. I was disappointed. I was frustrated. I was beating myself up. I began comparing myself to other PAX and wondering what went wrong. I nearly took a few PAX up on the recommendation to simply cancel this year and pick it up again next year. My mind and spirit was in a dark place. Literally on the drive out Saturday morning I nearly turned around and threw in the towel, accepting logical defeat.
But I kept driving. While strapping on my pack and tying up my shoe laces, I realized my motivation to do this thing would have to come solely from inside. YHC would have to dig deep and confront the loudest voices of doubt and questioning largely on his own. You vs. you in the truest sense. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Midriff vs. Midriff
The Thang
Reflections from the Mountain
I’m already stoked for South Mountain in 2022. To the mountains we will go. To lose our minds and find our souls.
It had been about a year since an Ignition with bricks. The people were missing it and would not stop with the “when are you bringing the bricks back, Ice?” “Hey Ice, when are we going to see the bricks again?” “Ice, sir, we really mean it. Can we see your bricks again soon, sir?” Normally, I am not one to give in to peer pressure. But sometimes you have to give the people what they want.
So today we ran between 4-5 miles with bricks, never dropping them, unless holding them on the ground, like for a merkin. We did some Indian runs too, and a series of 7s, and a bunch of exercises which some of the pax opted out of after a few reps, or went to the potty instead, or pretended to trip and “accidentally” break one of my bricks. Other pax refused to keep their feet up during ab work despite me asking, “please.” All in all I’ve definitely seen better effort from some. Others gave it everything. Like Glidah and Ghosted. There was no sign of Popeye, who I think would have done well today, but he is still scared of Ignition.
People keep talking about something called “WTF.” I think it has something to do with “LOL,” or something called an “emoji,” but I am not sure.
Thanks to Xerox for taking us out.
Thank God to the start of another phenomenal week of F3 workouts! Thanks to Chicken Little and Rockwell for allowing me to lead such a great bunch of men today also. I wanted to make the workout difficult but keep it interesting with a variety of running and exercises. I hope you enjoyed it.
The Warm Up – DICCS were given in Middle School parking lot @ COT. Mosey to circle in front of Middle School. Warm up exercises consisted of:
The Thang – Stay at overhang at Middle School circle and partner up. One partner is the timer, the other partner performs the exercise. 150 dips as a team and 150 step up’s as a team. Mosey to road at front of middle school. At each light on right side, alternate exercise of 5 Jump squats and then 5 speed skaters. Head towards circle in front of the High School (come on back Goodfella!) We gathered the pax for a quick leg extension on the curb and we quickly headed to the hill at the side of the High School. At the bottom of the hill we were greeted by plenty of moans and groans. Bear crawl up the hill, at the top 10 Bomb Jacks and run back down the hill for 20 WWII push up’s. Rinse and repeat 3 times. Mosey to the HS parking lot for a Starfish. I forgot to mention the slalom the Shake and Bake performed, impressive! The starfish consisted of 5 burpees in the middle and the 4 corners of 20 LBC’s, 20 Freddy Mercury’s, 20 Box Cutters, 20 Toe Touches. We did a mosey behind the HS to the fence for a quick 20 count fence squat. Mosey towards busses at Middle School for lunges and 40 wall squats. With not much time remaining (The Apple watch was a minute faster) we had to mosey back to COT. At COT we did American Hammers till the Apple Watch had called for time. Again, the other watch had a minute remaining.
The Moleskin– I hope everyone had a good workout and you all worked many different parts of the body today, that was the plan. I might ask Goodfella next time to bring the Rocky music to make it a little more interesting. I had fun putting this together and I hope you enjoyed it!
Announcements – Before announcements we named our FNG for today. Let’s all welcome Rob Bailey who is now called Beatle. Beatle Bailey was shortened. Waxhaw Express – you will need a headlamp! Transporter – They need help Thursday night 6:30 pm Christ Closet @ Byram Road and Newtown Road to load the truck. Mad Dog – who still needs to Q?? Help the Sight Q’s!!
Prayer and Family Photo – I am including all PAX on this post because I did not want to delay this backblast. I hope you do not mind.