REMITTEKRAM
Lots of partners stuff, lots of backward running and a standout performance by Market Timer. It’s The Maul! Here’s the run-down:
From the Cineplex we trekked east to the glow of Wells Fargo ATM.
Standard COP
Side-staddle hops x 20
Imperial Walkers x 15
(at this point Cheddar joins the group.)
Mountain Climbers x 20
Peter Parkers x 10
Parker Peters x 10
The Thing
We descended Piper Station Dr. past Chik-Fil-A and across Rea Rd to the Uwharrie (baby) Deck.
P1 Burpees
P2 Run out of the deck, around the corner, up the step and meet your partner
Repeat for a combined 100 burpees
During a medley of dynamic running – shuffles, high knees, butt-kickers and BACKWARDS – Market Timer turned on the hyperdrive. He should only run backwards.
We took the unnamed alley a bit too far and ended up in the Residence Inn. Not wanting to just turn around, we did 10 regular, 10 wide and 10 crucible ‘mericans. We backtracked a bit to the office building next door for more partner work.
P1 & 2 run down parallel parking lanes and return for
30 partner sit-ups
20 partner slap ‘mericans
10 partner slap burpees
We began our return via backward running Piper Station Dr. Market Timer moving like he’s on skates!!
Back to the ATM for Tammy Wynette (Stand by Your Man)
P1 10 ‘mericans
P2 10 squats
repeat until you compete 100 ‘mericans and 100 squats (not 50!!!)
Some bear crawls and 50 calf raises capped the workout.
Moleskine
As noted Market Timer was in the spotlight most of the morning.
Happy Meal and Mic Check always churning toward the front of the pack.
Thank you to Squid for carrying me on the early burpees.
Heartbreaker is still not 100%, but he was out there putting in the work. Glad you’re back!!
As a father, kudos to Cheddar for making it out of the house, albeit late.
Toolbag and Big League Chew were non-stop hustle!
Announcements:
Stonehenge converges with DaVinci this Sat.
CSUP Vagabond is 11/10
Winging it on Day 3
Anvil today was my third Q in 3 days and I had to try to motivate myself – leaders can’t quit on their men. However, I usually only have a rough plan when I start and today was no exception. 11 men gathered on time and were properly disclaimed before following the Alpha Stallion – wait Alpha Stallion leads from behind – before following YHC down the lane by the church.
The Thang:
Mosey over to middle parking lot for some warm up:
- IW x10
- Mtn Climbers X15
- Windmills X10
- Cotton pickers X10 (Purple Haze request – didn’t want to make him grumpy early so I complied)
- Peter Pakers X10
- Merkins X10
Partner up and mosey over to rock pile to grab 1 lifting rock per team. Partner 1 runs down to end of lot and back while partner 2 does called exercise:
Round 1 – Backward run down and sprint back while partner does curls – flap jack
Round 2 – Karoke down and sprint back while partner does overhead push presses – flap jack
Round 3 – Bear crawl to first light (about 25 yards) and then sprint down to end and back while partner does squats – flap jck
Mosey to parking lot down near fields for some shoulder/core work. Partner 1 does called shoulder work while partner 2 holds the rock while doing called Mary
Round 1 – Flutters and merkins
Round 2 – Dolly and CDD
Round 3 – American hammer and Diamonds
Mosey over to picnic area for dips X20, incline merkins X10 and dips X20. Mosey to other side of building for people chair with rock while partner does balls to the wall. Flap jack twice
Mosey back to rock pile to drop off rocks and then circle up for more Mary. Rosalita, High flutter, dolly, flutter, and side crunches
Back to parking lot closet to 51 for a modified beast. Three rounds with six stops at each island in the middle for 6 of called exercise.
Round 1 – Squats
Round 2 – Lunges
Round 3- Burpees (always finish the beast with burpees even if modified)
Mosey back to launch point for two quick sprints down the lot to kill the remaining minute
Naked MS
Glad to have this stretch of 3 consecutive Q’s is over. It wasn’t as bad as I thought even with Fast Twitch in the middle. We kept the mileage down and that kept Purple Haze happy since he ran about 7 miles with me yesterday (well not with me as I only got in 6). First time working out with Clover, Muwana, and Cocoa. Snooka continues to amaze the pax with his speed for old man as he refuses to tell us what PED’s he uses for his fountain of youth. Caddilac is now posting regularly and good to hear plus he gets bragging rights for at least a day over Dr Belding who fart sacked. Appreciate the invite from Lorax to Q even though I didn’t plan on 3 in a row when I originally accepted.
Apologies for the one PAX I forgot. I spent so much time remembering the names of the new guys that I forgot one of the regulars (I think he is a regular but not sure since I FORGOT). (EDIT – Utah was there. He beat me in a 10K few years ago and I still have not forgiven him. HIPPA made me add his name)
Announcements – Get out in the community and lock shields with other F3 men to make an impact. We need more leaders now than ever and there are all kinds of needs.
As always, humbled and honored to lead such a great group (and Haze).
PreBlast: VAGABOND 2018 CSAUP Info and Shirt Order
What?
VAGABOND merges F3 Area 51’s “Southern Discomfort” and F3 Sons of Ballantyne’s “Balrog” into one epic #CSAUP (completely stupid and utterly pointless) event. PAX from all over South Charlotte and surrounding areas will run a ~13 mile loop course through the Area 51 and SOB F3 regions, stopping for six 15-minute pain stations along the way. Those looking for a modified version can start at one of the AO’s along the way (more info below). For those nursing injuries, cyclists are welcome.
When?
Saturday, November 10th. Launches @ 0630 sharp, ends by 1100.
Where?
Start/end is at Hickory Tavern on Providence Rd. in Charlotte (11504 Providence Rd.) across the street from the Waverly shopping center.
Why?
It’s free, all your friends are doing it and we have badass shirts. Plus, free beer and apps. Need I say more?
After Party / Donation:
Join us for food and drinks at Hickory Tavern immediately following the event @ 1100. 1 beer and apps provided at no cost, courtesy of Kid Rock! We only ask that you please make a donation ($5 suggested minimum) to Veteran’s Bridge Home, a non-profit that helps Charlotte-area Veterans successfully transition home after military service by identifying their education, employment and healthcare needs and connecting them to available community, state and federal resources. Link: http://veteransbridgehome.org/ (just click “Donate” in the upper right-hand corner)
What to bring:
- Shovel flags (we’ll be carrying them for the duration to show support for Veteran’s Day and F3)!
- Fuel (GU, chews, etc.) *this is important*
- Hydration will be provided at each pain station, but feel free to bring your own
- Gloves
- Blinkies, reflective vest, etc.
- Change of clothes for after party
Course
Here is the list of AO’s we’ll be stopping at for pain stations, and an estimated range of when we’ll be arriving at each one:
- Waverly: 0630
- Charlotte Latin: 0700 – 0720
- South Charlotte Middle School: 0735 – 0805
- Calvary Church: 0805 – 0845
- Stonecrest: 0845 – 0925
- Blakeney: 0920 – 1000
Shirt Pre-Order
Turkey Leg’s M designed us some killer shirts. See the design below. The prices are very reasonable: only $10 for tee, $15 for long sleeve, $12 for sleeveless. The shirts are performance fabric / moisture-wicking and athletic cut. These are shirts you’ll wear proudly to any F3 workout. Several colors are available. Place your order by midnight on Monday, November 4th to get your shirt the morning of the event. We will also place an order after the event if there is enough interest. Send funds via PayPal to joesavarese@yahoo.com
Shirt – Front Design
Shirt – Back Design
PreBlast Trailer
“Can I get a 90 count?”
I’m not sure if I had more or less attendance after posting a pre-blast stating that we would start the morning with a 1-mile run. Many thought I changed my mind after some crying by Zinfandel in The Playground but I wasn’t willing to budge. That pinky out wine drinker not only threatened to fartsack but asked others to leave a negative rating on Yelp for my personal business. Would I back down from the persona I had created for myself thus far here at F3 of being the PostNoPost Police or would I get soft??
I woke up feeling enlightened and ready to crush whichever PAX showed. Recently adding to my titles with this organization it was important that I set the tone after being named the newest Site Q. I strapped on my white and baby blue, size 14 ass kickers and the Q juice was coursing through my veins…
And wouldn’t you know it, the Briarcrest caravan was the first to arrive. After all that mouth Zinfandel showed and was towards the front of the pack during the run. After the run, he wished Breadbowl was there to give a nice and slow “90 count”! There was a bit of whining from Fusebox regarding multiple items but mostly because he was not informed I was co-site Q… the man needs a hug. Those gigantic sweats he is wearing in the morning now are weighing down his ability to laugh anymore.
Moving along, we had 15 PAX show up at Watchtower even though they knew how it would start. My goal today was to get in around 3 miles of running and we used every ounce of this location to achieve that goal!
The Thang:
1 mile run around Target shopping center, down HWY 84 and back to Target parking lot. A bit of mumble chatter during the run, that was about to be squashed!!
Circle up: We were already warm, let’s make this quick.
- IC 30-SSH
- 20-Potato pickers
- Leg stretch
- 10-Merkins
Suicide squat/merkin ladder (AKA mumble chatter killer): This was not fun!! 6 trees total.
Start in Target parking lot:
- 1 Merkin/4 Squats – run to the end of the parking lot to last (6th) tree, 2 Merkins/8Squats – Run back to start, 3 Merkins/12 squats – Run to the 5th tree, 4Merkins/16..etc until the 1st tree.
In all most of us did 91 merkins and 364 squats. I called recover before Fuse could get his last two Merkins… Pretty sure he turned green and almost ripped his shirt off.
Four corners: Well it turned into 3 corners (audible) – We just did 91 merkins!
Start in Target parking lot:
- 5 merkins at every other corner. Totaling 105… We were all gassed – 7 mins to go!!
Mosey to Brooklyn Pizza – The long way!! Remember it’s all about the miles!!
Partner up: 50 dips, 50 step ups, 10 burpees – Total between both partners
P1 – run around the building while P2 does the above. Flapjack until done.
1.5 mins to go!! Run around the parking lot twice – We hit 3.06 miles. Nice work guys!!
The Moleskin:
I may have hyped up the workout a bit and mentioned it would be a Moneyball style work out and I think it was close. My goal during each workout is to keep up with the lead guy and today it was Bottlecap. Did I keep up, no, but I tried. Taking advantage of his gimpy leg I kept up with Moneyball. I think if I put a weighted vest on Bottlecap I could keep up, Fuse what do you think? A wise man once said “the 6 is just temporary housing” and today some of the Clydesdales pushed hard and may be looking for a permanent home in the middle or front of the pack!
I learned quickly that it’s not good to show your hand before the workout happens…Lots of whining. Doughboy is on Fuse’s hit list for lack of communication. All the pax did excellent today and are getting much faster. Be warned if you get new shoes you may be heckled by Bottlecap and Moneyball, FYI Dana has some on order!!
Workout route from today: https://ibb.co/gcM0Aq
Announcements:
BONE FROG NOVEMBER 10th 2018
https://www.bonefrogchallenge.com/event/2018-bonefrog-charlotte
BONE FROG OCTOBER 19th 2019
https://www.active.com/concord-nc/running/mud-runs-races/bonefrog-charlotte-2019
New work out – “Client Dinner”
Thursday nights @ 6:30 Foodlion parking lot Waxhaw – Intended for anyone who thinks 5:30 is too early, F3er’s that have gone MIA, or folks that travel.
Deadline has passed for the loto… We may buy you a beer once we claim and split the winnings!
If you travel be sure to collect any extra shampoo for Dancing Bear and The Shampoo Crew.
Copyright Infringement – Alpha Stallion
Somehow, the Fast Twitch site Q got the “brilliant” idea to ask YHC to Q the hardest workout in Area 51 – he may get fired this week. Not sure if site Q asking me to lead or me accepting was the dumber decision although likely me as the site Q figured it would be a taper week with me on Q (or maybe not). The site Q hasn’t seen me because I generally don’t do running workouts anymore (although I am huge fan of Ragnar now). I generally now hang out at best mid-way during boot camp and in the way back for running portions. I even tried to switch with Swiper, who had the Hawks Next Q, but he wouldn’t take the bait (or help an old man out).
So, Monday night and I am asking myself how I can lead this crew when I can’t see most of them during the workout. I remembered a Spooky John post from last year about “Leading from Behind” and knew I had the answer. Here is an excerpt from his back blast
[“Leading from behind” was a thing a few years back, right? Something out of Harvard Business School so it MUST be legit. That’s right, now I remember. Just a quick call up to Foggy Bottom and I should be set.
Me: Hello, I need Mike (1)
Operator: Who?
Me: Rex! You know, the SECRETARY!
Operator: Sorry sir, he is a little busy right now. You have heard there are a few things going on right now right?
Me: Uh… yes, but this is important. I need to learn to Lead from Behind and I hear you are the guys to teach me.
Operator: Sorry sir, that is SO last administration. These days its all about MAGA!!!
Me: Hmmm… MAGA doesn’t really fit with my theme ma’am.
Operator: Well, how about America First?
Me: Well — -not really. These guys I work out with are all about being third or something like that.
Operator: THIRD!!!??? Our boss calls third the second loser.
Me: Yeah, well I don’t think he would quite get it. So, no more “Lead from Behind” experts up there anymore???
Operator: No.
Me: Alright, I’ll try elsewhere. Thanks for the effort and good luck with the world and all that.]
(1) Updated from original post to reflect current office holder, who replaced Rex Tillerson
Herds of horses (yes HORSES, what could be better?) are lead by an Alpha Stallion. And guess what? He leads them FROM BEHIND. Oh yeah. That works. The Alpha Stallion might even bite a beta horse or two just to keep them in line. No biting but I did nudge a few guys to run faster. Seriously look this up and feel free to call me Alpha Stallion from now on.
Oh, and we ran 6-8.5 miles (Rosie said he ran 8.5) doing a merkin/burpee ladder on Raintree with merkins at each intersection X4 (first intersection = 4, 2nd intersection = 8, etc) and burpees of round X 1 (1 burpee after round 1, 2 after round 2, etc). Rosie and a few others got close to 6 in while the rest finished at least 5. Strong work. Alf was disappointed because only an Ethiopian marathon runner could have finished all 8 legs in one hour but I say set the bar high and see what you are capable of – might surprise yourself.
Rosie out front all morning but he should be at 19 (I am almost 3 times his age – damn). Ironsides kept me company in the back while Full House tripped on a toy a few weeks ago at Fast Twitch and was nursing a sore knee. Alf will be nursing a bruised ego all day since no one finished all 8 rounds but everyone pushed hard and got in at least 6 miles. Surprisingly, Haze was not grumpy this morning and Gummy didn’t complain much (or I was too far back to hear them is more likely). Strong work by all 12 (even Gummy).
All will be good with the world if I can just get my wife to call me the Alpha Stallion.
PS – Hopefully, Spooky Jon (the original Alpha Stallion) will not read this and sue for royalties. This is my 2nd Q in a three day stretch of Q’s so creativity is hard to come by. Post at Anvil tomorrow for completion of my tri-fecta, especially if you don’t want to run a lot tomorrow.
The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming…
My second Q since popping my cherry just 12 days ago and I was already feeling really apprehensive about the next one. I could barely sleep last night and was nervous after all the older guys were so relentlessly bashing my gearless-gear workout. I’m kidding, I’m Bruce Wayne and I immediately tapped my Batman spirit when I got the signal from Foundation.
The title for this workout came to me while pooping in the Batcave and it would serve as my homage towards the Dark Knight. You might remember this quote from that movie as said by Harvey Dent when the Joker and the guys from Asylum & Ignition his goons were threatening civility in The Playhouse Gotham. The loose meaning of the quote is to say that its about as dark as its going to get right now but from this moment we start heading towards the light.
I spent part of Sunday mapping out each of the street lamps across the campus of Cuthbertson and created a workout solely focused on the “light”. On Friday Dasher handed us a whooping but one that I actually enjoyed. I needed to some how keep my brethren, the 6, closer. Could it be that I might create a workout with as little stoppage time as possible but somehow spread the pain across different parts of the body so that we don’t loose the 6? Oh we did just that….
The THANG
Disclaimer given right at the start
Long-ish Mosey into nearly complete darkness and the basis for the theme of this workout. 35 degrees out this AM and figured being under what I assumed were heat lamps would help with the mental. It didn’t….
Made it to the first light out in front of the middle school closest to Cuthbertson Road. I attempted thought about lining everyone up bootcamp style but instead were just a mess of dudes. Regardless I wanted to try something other than circling up. So we warmed up at each light until we got passed Moneyball Mountain (12 lights):
- 20 x SSHs IC
- 20 x Mountain Climbers IC
- 20 x Merkins CC
- 20 x Squats CC
- 20 x LBCs IC
- 20 x Potato Pickers IC
- 20 x Peter Parkers IC
- 20 x Heels to Heaven IC
- 20 x Parker Peters IC
- 20 x Carolina Drydocks CC
- 20 x Paula Abdul’s IC
- Leg Stretch
Small Lot = The Burpee Loop (7 lights)
- 1st Light, 1 Burpee
- 2nd Light, 2 Burpees
- 3rd Light, 3 Burpees
- 4th Light, 4 Burpees
- 5th Light, 3 Burpees
- 6th Light, 2 Burpees
- 7th Light, 1 Burpee
Speedskater Strip (5 Lights) – get deep & touch the ground like you mean it
Massive Lot – (18 lights)
- 1st 8 lights: 10 Imperial Walkers for every light, stop at the top
- Next 10 lights: 10 merkins, 2 squats, 8 merkins, 4 squats, 6 merkins, 6 squats, etc, etc. We got a little confused here after literally all of the workout so far had been done with 1 exercise per light but the train fell off the tracks for a few of us here. We recovered. Let’s mosey.
8 pack bridge (8 lights) aka “my elbows hurt”
- 30 second side plank
- 30 second side plank
- 30 second elbow plank
- 20 x LBCs IC
- 30 second side plank
- 30 second side plank
- 30 second elbow plank
- 20 x LBCs IC
Tennis Courts (3 lights)
- 10 x Bobby Hurley’s per light
Beltway Home (6 lights)
- Quickly modified due to time, 5 squat jumps per light
Made it back probably 60-90 seconds late, my bad. COT & thanks to Damascus for taking us out!
Moleskin:
It was a great workout in my mind. Other than arriving a bit late to the finish all of it pretty much went as planned. The two highlights for me was when Tupperware’s little baby skin elbows were in such pain he needed to take his shirt off to act as an elbow pad? Stop it. Its freezing outside. The next memory was moseying towards Transporter’s Poopoo Palace shed and Posse shared some thoughts on our distance when compared to the amount of time left. I barked at him since I thought I knew what I was doing but he was in fact was right. A public apology was given at 6:45AM. I was hoping and had planned for 71 lights but feel good about getting to 59 street lights!
I appreciate my second opportunity to lead you fine gentlemen and thoroughly enjoy the fear each of you showed up with this morning knowing I might start doing aerobics at any minute. I don’t think we did any 80s-style aerobics but we did keep our heartbeats rolling for the full 45 minutes. Only one time did we wait on the 6 after 8 pack bridge which was my goal.
I will continue to improve with the support and push of each of you. If you have ideas, let me know as long as your name is not Keith or Lou.
Lastly, zero thanks to anyone from Briarcrest today as all 10+ members bailed on me this morning. I hope each of you gets a flat in the near future. Post picture on GroupMe please.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Lotions & Bone Frogs
- Welcome our newest FNG who was named given the name High Life, I’m noticing a trend for those from CO. Thanks for joining us this morning
First NameClifton and I will make sure to get your first name next time! Great work recruiting Damascus. - Posse announced the Crane Relay, still opportunities to sign up and/or volunteer this coming weekend. Starting Friday night at 9pm through Saturday.
- Bottlecap is starting a Thursday night running group with pain stations. It will start at Food Lion parking lot @630pm followed by a beer afterwards. If this becomes a permanent spot it will be referred to as “Clyent Dinner”.
- WUC F3 Initial Stock Offering aka $1.6B Mega Millions Lottery Pool is running now through tomorrow, Tuesday at noon! A minimum $2 a share buy-in and no maximum contribution. All details posted in News Channel and The Playground.
Premature Evacuation
23 PAX accepted the annual Ballantyne “deck run” challenge and posted at The Brave to see what it was all about.
THANG
The plan was to run to the top of 8 parking decks in Ballantyne using the deck ramps, stopping at the top of each one for 10 burpees in cadence before heading down the stairs to the next deck. With 10 burpees at the start and at the end we would have performed 100 burpees in total, ascended 33 parking deck ramps and traveled roughly 6 miles.
Everything started out great. The big group of 20 PAX managed to stay together, with Tolkien leading the way up the ramps. Burpees were getting knocked out (despite a refusenik by Frasier to call burpees in cadence for the group in deck 1). No issues crossing 521. No one ran into a pond or sand trap crossing the golf course. Made it through Room 101 (the 8-story deck) despite a security car sighting on the ground level. It was starting to look like the plan would go off without a hitch.
UNTIL…
Somewhere in the middle of the sixth parking deck we were rolled up on by Northwood security and encouraged to vacate the premises immediately. “You cannot be in this deck for liability reasons”, we were told.
“So we can’t be in THIS deck”, replied YHC, hoping to create a binding legal loophole whereby we could use all the OTHER decks at our leisure in perpetuity.
“You cannot be in ANY deck”, replied our friend, who, in the midst of this career defining moment was now drunk with power.
Quick search of empty pockets hoping that a Starbucks gift card would magically materialize. It didn’t.
“Ok then” replied YHC, deflated and annoyed.
After prematurely evacuating the deck we ran around past the remaining 2 decks, just to keep our new friend on his toes. Back to launch for one AYG around the parking lot. In total we got in 60 burpees, 25 deck ramps and 5.2 miles.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE
Just as the crushing disappointment of a failed weinke was sinking in as we formed our COT circle, out of the ashes of defeat sprung the heroes of our story, PAPER JAM, KIRBY AND MIGHTY MITE. As it turns out, these three mavericks had left early and got through not six, but ALL EIGHT parking decks, cleverly outwitting the security guards at every turn. A subset of our group had in fact achieved the parking deck goal! And just like that, all was right with the world. Thank you, PJ, Kirby and MM for being truly Brave. T-claps to Wingman and Fire Hazard for being the only PAX to post at YHC’s deck run all three times we have done it.
POSTSCRIPT
Bunker bought Fire Hazard a t-shirt with a giant pig face on it for his birthday and gave it to him before the workout. After COT FH modeled the shirt for the PAX and it was truly a sight to behold. If you are lucky he’ll wear it to Crane Relay so that others can bask it it’s glory.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Spots are filling up for the mission trip to Peru. See Tolkien for more info on this life-changing event.