Author Archive Doug Boone

Number 9, Number 9

Nine appeared this morning and off we went at 5:30 sharp.

First for a warm-up at the oval, 15 each of side straddle hops, imperial walkers, low slow squats, mountain climbers, and Peter Parkers.

Next a jog to the North rock pile for a lifting rock and three walks around the circle doing curls, then presses, and finishing with triceps.

Then to the north parking lot where we ran a series of three laps from end to end making fours stops completing 20, 15, 10, and 5 reps, the first lap merkins, second LBC’s, and third jump squats.

From there to the hot box where we partnered and completed three sets of rotating step-ups/run to 2nd light post and dips/run to the 2nd light post.

Onward to the rock pile past cemetery for another rock fest, rotating running and lifting with partner.  The rock lifting was in supine position and included bench press, skull crusher, and WWII sit ups.

Lastly back to start with a short sprint to finish and 3 burpees, plus another 3 burpees to finish on time.

Given recent news locally and at UNC Chapel Hill, we closed with a prayer for those who have lost hope and sought refuge with God, for their families and friends who need our prayers, love and strength in their loss, and to seek help from God in recognizing those amongst us who are losing hope and in pain and ask His help in providing the understanding, support, and love they need to live on.

Mall Eleven

Eleven pax arrived for rigorous series of exercises.  Some might say the eleven resembled the cast of Oceans Eleven, but most would not.  Our morning started with a jog to the parking lot in front of Regal for a warm-up series, fifteen each, of side straddle hops, imperial walkers, low slow squats, mountain climbers, and Peter Parkers.  From there we started our first series with a 3 set run to the top of Stonecrest sign hill for 3 burpees and back down for 10 LBCs at the bottom.  The next series started at the entry courtyard between Firebirds and Cantina where we did 20 dips, from there to the parking lot at the rear of Basil for 20 merkins, then to the fountain for 20 step ups, then on to the parking lot at the back of Smashburger for 20 heels to heaven, then circled back stopping at the entry to the large courtyard between Basil and Smashburger for 20 jump sqauts, and then back to start at Firebirds, repeating this three times.  From there on to series three, the rock pile at St. Matthew where we did 3 sets, 10 each of curls, thrusters, and triceps.  On to series four behind Target for bear crawls up the hill with 3 hand release merkins at the top, and back down for 10 WWII sit ups starting at the first light post and repeating at the next two light poles.  We then worked our way back running sprints between speed bumps, and finishing with a time killing series of lunges in the parking lot.  My fitbit showed we did 1.79 miles, the stupid thing must be broken because it seemed like more.  It did say we had a full 45 active minutes, so it least that function works.  We had a visitor from Louisville who invited us to a F3 function or something there tomorrow night.  No takers.  Had he brought mint juleps for us to cool down with maybe a different response.  I enjoyed crossing the A51 line to SOB, thanks to Circuit City for the invitation.  Thanks too for Circuit City including the names on slack this morning since I didn’t record the close out.  Interesting that it counts to 12.  Oh well, I’m not changing the backblast.

Long Legs = Extra Mileage

Started with 9 pax on a run to the parking lot near the hot box for a warm-up, 20 each, of side straddle hops, imperial walkers, low slow squats, mountain climbers, and Peter Parker’s.  From there we headed off on a 3.5 mile route headed first to the McAlpin or McAlPINE school, or however I mispronounced it.  Only 8 pax followed, as Snoopy, nursing a leg ankle injury, decided to instead be an Olympian at Olympus.  Our first stop was at the Elm intersection for 25 merkins.  Next to McAlpine’s parking lot where we did a set of Dolly’s and flutters.  Then we ran down Carswell Ln, crossed to Radner Ln and stopped at its end for another dolly/flutter set in the cul-de-sac.  From there we entered the Greenway heading East stopping along the way for 25 each of derkins and incline merkins on the wood path rail, and two sets of 25 dips on two of the eight remaining benches.  We continued on to the parking lot of the Greenway and its rock pile for two rounds of 20 curls, presses, and triceps followed by 5 burpees.  Then crossed Bevington, crossed Rea, and then ran north on Rea’s sidewalk to the library parking lot for another dolly/flutter set.  Our pace was faster than expected, so with 15 minutes yet to kill, we ran a lap at the library lot with merkins included then up to Calvary for two laps up Mount whatever stopping for 5 burpees at the summit.  Finally, on to the start where we circled for still more Mary’s. Thanks to McGee for a Mary clinic and Runstopper for the close out prayer with the five of the six Olympians of Olympus.  Announcements included a beer run at noon and a Goruck event on August 6.  Mileage for the hour according to my fitbit was 3.5 miles.  But both Hoover and Geraldo’s measures were 4 miles plus.  Just goes to show how much further longer legs can run.  Thanks for the Q invite Geraldo!

Too Much Time or Ran Too Fast

13 pax arrived at Calvary’s parking lot ignoring the threat of rain and the Q’s lack of alternative plans for rain.  Started by running to the parking lot near the hot box for a warm-up, 15 each, of side straddle hops, imperial walkers, low slow squats, mountain climbers, and peter parker’s.  From there to the hot box for 20 step ups.  Then off for a circular adventure, running west on 51 to Elm, for 20 merkins.  From there south on Elm to the first right entry road for 20 jump squats.  Then continued south on Elm to a set of rock piles off the sidewalk for 20 curls and thrusters.  Apologies to the ant colony I disrupted with my rock pick.  On to the Elm/Bevington intersection for another 20 merkins, followed by entry onto the Four Mile Creek Greenway.  Heading east we sought benches for another 20 step ups.  Several modified/ignored the step ups not being able to find a bench in the dark woods.  Rudolph’s, aka Circuit City, red foot light did not help with that.  On to the parking lot of the Greenway to another rock pile for the 2nd round of 20 curls and thrusters.  Crossed Bevington where apparently yielding to pedestrians is optional if you’re turning left from Rea Rd, for merkins until the light changed to cross Rea and head north on the sidewalk back to Calvary.  Arrived at Calvary with way too much time left for the remaining work out plan of 20 jump squats and another set of rock curls and thrusters.  So on to the hot box for 20 more step ups, and then zig zagged through the parking lot adding in more merkins and several Mary’s and an illegal (according to Mermaid) venture down and back up entrance 4 with 2 burpees at the top and bottom, to kill time.  Finished at start with more Mary’s and a plank.  Closed with prayer which I should have scripted vs trying to ad lib it.  Total mileage as reported by Hopper was just over 3 miles.

Engine Start System Malfunction

Eleven braved a cold icy morning at Calvary.  Eight appeared on Floor Slapper’s schedule, one arrived an hour early and was napping in his vehicle, and one joined us in the midst of our warm-up run.  Those at Anvil on the 13th may recognize the routine which was adjusted ever so slightly to extend 15 minutes, at least that was the plan.

Warm-up:  Ran to oval.  15 each of side straddle hops, imperial walkers, low slow squats, mountain climbers, and Peter Parkers.

1st series:  Ran to the rock pile at the North entry off 51.  There with lifting rocks we did curls, presses, and triceps as we walked around the circle three times.

2nd series:  Next we ran to the middle entry to north parking lot.  Started there with 25 merkins, then ran to west end of lot and did 25 LBC’s, then ran to the other side of lot across from the start area and did 25 jump squats, then to the east end of the lot for 5 burpees.  Then back around to the start and repeated four more times but lowered to 20 reps, 15, 10 and ended with 5 reps (remaining burpee reps were 4-3-2-1).

Planked to wait for all to finish, at least some of us did.

3rd series:  Ran to hot box and partnered up.  Partner 1 did step ups, while partner 2 ran to the 2nd light post and back.  But before the swap, our hot box was commandeered by two women exercising (they were very nice about it).  We adjusted to people’s chair on the wall with air presses briefly and then moved on to the next series.

4th series:  Ran to rock pile past cemetery and got a lifting rock.  Partner 1 did overhead extensions lying on back while partner 2 ran to the last tree island in that parking lot and back.  Swapped.  Repeated next with press and flutter, and then big boy sit ups with rocks.

5th series:  Ran to bench/tables near Church entrance at start.  All were iced over, so we couldn’t do step-ups and had to adjust on the fly.  Thanks to Udder’s suggestion we ran an eleven series up and down much of the east Rea Road entrance road with LBC’s at the top and merkin’s.  At finish, ran back to start and circled up for close out.  Various Fitbit’s, Garmin’s and other trackers clocked us at four miles.  Three joined us from Olympus there.

Announcements/Prayer:  Jet Fuel has Rock Zero Q next Saturday (23rd).  Mighty-Mite’s blood drive with anti-body testing.  Hoover solicited runners for a 75 mile run to Greenville in September and said slots fill up fast so sign up early.  Hoover was on a fast pace today prepping for it.  Thanks to Udder for closing us out with a prayer.  Thanks also to site Q’s Hoover and Geraldo.

“Engine start system malfunction” was what greeted me as I started my car and drove to Starbuck’s for coffee.  I made it home and its since been towed to the dealer.

Sweat Sixteen

Sixteen braved the foggy cold morning, several in summer shorts.  Note, they do sell sweatpants on the F3 Gear site or really tall socks (just ask Geraldo).  Hoover destroyed my legs with an AMRAP (crap) session on Monday, but I braved it out this morning.

Warm-up:  Ran to oval.  15 each of side straddle hops, imperial walkers, low slow squats, mountain climbers, and Peter Parkers.

1st series:  Ran to nearest entry to north parking lot.  Started at entry with 20 merkins, then ran to end of lot and did 20 LBC’s, then ran to the other side of lot across from the start area and did 20 jump squats.  Then back around to the start and repeated three more times but lowered to 15 reps, 10 reps, and ended with 5 reps.

Planked to wait for all to finish.

2nd series:  Ran to hot box and partnered up.  Partner 1 did step ups, while partner 2 ran to the 2nd light post and back.  Swapped.  Next round partner 1 did dips and partner 2 ran to the 2nd light post.  Swapped.  Then repeated the routine.

3rd series:  Ran to rock pile past cemetery and got a lifting rock.  Partner 1 did curls while partner 2 ran to the last tree island in that parking lot.  Swapped.  Repeated next with presses, then triceps, then squats.

4th series:  Ran back to starting parking lot.  Circled up for Mary’s.  15 flutters with hands to the side.  15 dolly’s with hands to the side.  15 heals to heaven with hands to the side, all in cadence.  Then finished with 1 burpee.

Announcements:  Spackler’s Beef Curtain persona announced himself.  Mighty Mite (aka Dracula) is advertising another blood drive on slack, so expect a visit from him.

Prayer request for About Time and his son Jennings.

Thanks to site leaders Lorax and Point Break.

Burpee Blast

Fourteen (including an FNG) survived a burpee blast Nightmare on Elm.  We started with a warmup run to the entry to the courtyard/fountain for a 15 each of side straddle hops, imperial walkers, low slow squats, mountain climbers, and Peter Parker’s.  Next began a three-round series around the courtyard area with four stops.  At the entry way we began with five burpees and 20 jump squats, then ran to the parking lot on the north side of the courtyard for five burpees and 20 merkins, then into the courtyard to the fountain for 20 step ups and 20 dips, followed by short run to the parking lot at the south end for another five burpees and 20 diamond merkins.  Then back to the entry for another two rounds with the last round shortened to two burpees and 10 reps of the same exercises.  At completion of the third round, we ran to the parking lot at the southwest corner of the mall behind Target where we partnered up with the first partner running up the hill and back while the second did LBC’s, flapjacked and repeated changing the Mary’s to heals to heaven and then flutters.  Then ran to the parking lot entry to Regal’s for two rounds of burpee suicides running back and forth to the three tree islands with a burpee at each island.  Finally finished at the start with a couple Mary’s.  We learned our FNG Ramon is an aspiring Cintas professional who works as a kick boxer or maybe it’s the other way around.  He mentioned that he goes by “Ray”, but now at F3 he’ll go by “Rousey”.  Welcome Rousey!

Splitting Rock Piles with 16 Paxes

Ran to the rock pile at southern end of parking lot and started with a warm up, 15 each of side straddle hips, imperial walkers, and low slow squats.  All then picked a lifting rock from the pile and deposited it in the grass near the parking lot.  Next ran to the north parking lot nearest the second rock pile for a second warm up, 15 each of merkins, mountain climbers, and Peter Parkers.  Then each picked another lifting rock and deposited it in the grassy circle.  Then ran to the hot box and split into two groups.  In the hot box each did 20 step ups and 20 dips.  One group then ran to the north rocks and did 15 each of curls, presses, and triceps while the other group ran to the south rocks and did 15 each of bench presses, pull overs, and big boy sit ups.  Both groups ran back to the hot box to repeat and swap rock piles.  After the second round at each rock pile, each returned their rocks and ran back to the hot box for people’s chair and air presses.  Finished with a run back to south end of starting point parking lot for a run up and down the width of the lot followed by Mary’s.  Closed out at the start on time with announcements and a prayer from Lorax.  I looked up the definition of “back blast” to see if my report still qualified for entry.  One definition included “the backward escape of gases” which if I recall did and often occurs at our workouts.  “From an earlier time” though seemed more fitting to my tardiness in writing this.

Two Minutes of Overtime

17 strong ran across the street and up to top of CC’s parking deck for our warmup.  15 each of side straddle hops, imperial walkers, low slow squats, mountain climbers, and Peter Parkers.  Back down to the entry of the parking deck for the first series which started with 5 burpees, then a run up the first long ramp, 10 hand release merkins at the top, back down ½ way and around to the second long ramp for 10 big boy sit-ups, then a run to the  top of the second long ramp, another 10 hand release merkins, and around to the top of the eastern stairwell for another 10 big boy sit-ups.  Back down to the parking deck entry, repeating the series three times in total.  After completing the third series, went down the western stairwell and across to the rock pile.  Each, or some, grabbed an appropriately sized walking rock.  Then back to the bottom of the western stairwell with our rocks where we started with 5 squats, ascended the stairs to the top of the deck, then walked to the center stairwell doing rock curls, then descended the center stairwell, 5 squats at the bottom, walked to the third stairwell doing presses, 5 squats before ascending to the top, walked to the center stairwell doing triceps, descended that stairwell, 5 squats at the bottom, walked to the starting stairwell (western) with rocks above head.  Attempted to repeat this series one more time.  A quiet group of protesters modified at the bottom of the starting stairwell for Mary’s instead of a repeat while those dedicated rocksters marched on for another round.  But the Q’s timing was off and, so only ¾’s of the second round was completed before reconvening with the protesters and returning the rocks and running back to the starting parking lot 2 minutes late.  Maybe this would be a better 1-hour routine instead of a 45-minute weekday routine.  Still, all 17 survived.  Closed with role call, announcements, and a prayer.

Fun Facts for Reps on Presidents Day

Warmup:  Ran to the track where we started with 10 side straddle hops, followed by 10 imperial walkers, 10 low slow squats, 10 mountain climbers, and ending with 5 burpees for a total of 45 reps in honor of our 45 Presidents.

Followed the warmup with an Indian run around the track recognizing the Trail of Tears and the correct answer of which President was associated with it, Andrew Jackson.

1st Series:  Three laps around the track for the three impeached Presidents, Johnson, Clinton, and Trump, with four exercise stops, first 50 yard line, 10 merkins, first endzone, 10 LBCs, second 50 yard line, 10 squats, and second endzone, 10 heels to heaven, followed by 4 burpees in honor of the 44 men who have served as President since Grover Cleveland’s two nonconsecutive terms, 22nd and 24th, are both counted.

2nd Series:  Ran to the concession stand and gathered lifting rocks.  There each did 15 curls, 15 presses, and 15 triceps, again in honor of our “45” Presidents.  From there we ran to the bleachers and did 8 step ups with each leg in honor of the 8 Presidents who died in office, Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, Roosevelt (FDR), and Kennedy.  Followed by 15 dips, 15 derkins, and 15 pullups for our “45” Presidents.  From there we ran around the northeast baseball field on the gravel road back to the concession stand where we repeated our lifting rock exercises.  We repeated this circuit three times, one less than the four planned to honor the four Presidents assassinated in office, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy.

3rd Series:  Casually ran to the parking lot where we ran a suicide stopping at each goal post followed by 3 burpees in honor of the 3 Presidents born in NC or possibly SC (Andrew Jackson is listed as born in NC/SC).  Ran a sprint to the last goal post and back followed by 2 burpees for the 2 Presidents listed as born in NC, James Polk and Andrew Johnson.

4th Series:  Circled for Mary’s where we started with 31 dolly’s in honor of the 31 days William Henry Harrison served before he died.  Followed with 17 flutters honoring the 17 Presidents elected to two or more terms.  Then 14 LBC’s for the 14 Presidents that actually served a full two or more terms.  When time expired so did our rep counts in honor of our Presidents.

Snowflake closed us out with a prayer.