Showing up is half the battle
So quick back story General was soliciting Blackhawk Q Signups for December about 6 weeks ago, the only day YHC knew for sure I’d be home was Dec 9th so of course I fill one of the open slots. Fast forward a few weeks and realize that’s the morning after my work Christmas party. Alas I tried as hard as I could but the pull of the open bar was too strong to be a responsible adult and I found myself looking for keys at 620 the next morning only to realize we had Ubered home. Anyway if showing up is half the battle then I completed exactly half the battle, General bailed me out of my Q duties and survived the hour (50 minutes since I was late) without puking. Fast forward a week and General needs a Q time to redeem myself. I pull in a minute late and off we go.
Warm up (General departs for the heated restroom)
1/4 mile
SSH
Civilian Merkins
Imperial Walkers
More Merkins
The Windmill by Ringer Special Request
Main Event
Next up is the Burpee Mile
10 burpees + 1/4 mileish lap around the pond x 4
After regrouping on the six (guess who) we mosey to the tennis court parking for some dealer choice
Atlas/Erector – Can’t remember…….
Fallout – Boxcutter
General – 5 merkins, 5 wide arm merkins, 5 diamond merkins, 10 stagger right/left
Ringer – Build A Burpee
YHC – Morrocan Nightclubs
Followed up by Bearcrawl to the other end of the parking lot
Mosey to the EMS Station for 20 Carolina Dry Docks and then back to the launch.
10 minutes left and off to the hill for Burpback Mountain with Squats replacing burpees. Burpback Mountain = Partner 1 doing squats while Partner 2 runs the hill 5x for a total of 200 squats.
Back to launch for Pistol Crunch & LBC then done.
Moleskin
No prerun for this guy but General did a 9 mile prerun and the rest of the PAX took on the usual trail through Walnut Creek in addition to the 3.5 miles we covered during the workout. As usual great group and great job by all.
Announcements
- Sign up for Joe Davis
- Christmas Party Tonight
- Fallout asked for prayers for a family situation
- YHC’s company is hiring an Analyst position if you know of any recent personable Finance grads looking for a good opportunity
Ringer took us out.
Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
Blackhawk is a great AO and strong group, come check it out on the very southern edge of SOB land one of these Saturdays.
SO…MUCH….Pressure
To be honest I don’t think there has been as much pressure to write a Back blast since East UC tried to run our ship two years ago. Bottle Cap apparently can’t cope unless there is a BB posted for his AO. So I’ll do my best to oblige so his anxiety level can drop so he can review and know what happened in today’s work out.
WU: Standard mosey to the front of the school for me 15 SSH, 20 MC, 10 Cherry pickers, and 15 IW
Mosey to the sidewalk and partner up. one partner planks while the other does 10 merkins alternating at every light all the way to my office. MB does a quick mary till the six is and and next grab a friend. 15 Curl to press, 15 forward lunges, 10 curl 10, then 5 and 5. Mosey to the back of the school, plank it up mix in some plank jacks.
Doc takes the Q, and heads to the hill on the side of the high school. Triple Nickel on the hill 5 burpees at the bottom, 5 pushups at the top 5 times. That chews up most of the time leaving only 3 minutes left for pain after we mosey’d back to the start. 15 Burpee’s per minute for the last 3 minutes. It was brutal way to finish.
Moleskin: Gents, as I stated it has been a tough couple weeks for me, I am proud to call you all my brothers. For some of the newer guys, F3 is about propping each other up, helping each other out and doing what ever we can to be better men than we were yesterday. Thanks for all the support you all have given me, thanks for taking us out BC
I didn’t have the recording so If i missed your name I am sorry
Impromptu 2 year anniversary
12 men posted on this cold December morning for the 2 year anniversary of #F3Impromptu.
This workout originated in my garage while I lived in Lawson, It started by being a gear only workout, using various free weights, as well as rower, pull-up bar, jump box, slam balls, sand bags, etc, we started with Transporter, Dasher and Frack, then more wanted to join to the point that I couldn’t fit any more guys in my garage so we decided to move it to Cuthbertson Middle School and make it an official F3 workout, soon we had between 10-15 guys, shortly after we had a solid 20 guys posting for a gear workout that transitioned to a boot camp due to the number of people posting that made it challenging to provide gear for all.
This morning I pulled out of my garage and noticed there was a gentle drizzle on this 40+ degree weather, as I drive into the Cuthbertson campus I don’t see any cars in the usual parking spot, instead I see a few cars parked as close to the front entrance awning as possible and see a few guys running from their cars for cover as it was raining acid.
After a short disclaimer we did COP, it went like usual, SSH, Imperial Walkers, Merkins (At this point probably I already commented on somebody’s bad form), Plank Jacks, I think some LBCs were done too, some more plank jacks.
The Main Event:
Cant really remember what we did since I usually do no planning before my Qs (There you have UC’s best kept secret), and also for the fact that I did the first paragraph of the BB, my ADD kicked in and then forgot about it/ ignore it on purpose due to BC constant harassment asking for the BB. I recall the workout was brutal, we did a lot of chest and shoulder exercises , heard a lot of grunting, also some complaining about running exposed to the elements in between sets (At this point there was no precipitation and temp was close to 50 degrees). I think at this point I called somebody a P***y, commented again a few more times about someone’s poor form probably BC or Foundation. Then 6:15 am arrived and we were done.
The Mole Skin:
Thank you again for the opportunity to lead this group of men, thank you Bottle Cap and Hollywood for your leadership at Impromptu and all the effort that you put making this a great AO. I also appreciate our site Qs from our Western UC F3 Posse, Gator Cub and Foundation I guess Frack too (He was absent this day), and talking of leadership I cannot forget to mentionTransporter, I met him at my first F3 workout and he has become quite the leader of our group. Recalculating is a regular, I think from the guys I EHd he is the one that posts the most and not just on Group Me (RIP). Rockwell strong performance as always, he also doesn’t miss many workouts. Dough Boy I am glad he joined F3, I tried to EH him a few times a while back and he politely ignored me, I am glad he found someone with better marketing for F3. And Radar, this guy drives from Monroe to workout with us, proud of you brother, maybe we should learn from him and try to every one in a while post at AOs beyond the 2 mile radius from your house.
There were some announcements, probably Christmas Party, something about Posse pushing a convergence….
Thank you again for your support brother, SYITG
Doc
SFN does it again at the Let Them Soar 5K
Link to the most awesome pre-blast is here: https://t.co/63ZSd1UaqW
On November 4th one team pushing two chariots and several support PAX ran the Let Them Soar 5K. The route started and finished at Christ Covenant Church, Home to both Skunkworks and Kevlar workouts.
We had the honor of pushing 2 special needs kids and benefiting hundreds more in the Charlotte Community through our partner and race beneficiary The Exceptional Foundation of Charlotte. Pine Tar took the lead chariot, Geraldo and Tackling Dummy split time on the other. Both riders were all smiles and kept us going throughout.
Moleskine:
It was a full moon kickoff to race day with great weather for the 250 race participants. Huge shout out to Madison and his daughter, as well as my son (Honker) for the early morning setup and post race clean up. They grabbed some prime real estate for our tent, and the chariots were a huge hit for the whole crowd.
The race itself went very well…good course with a tough climb up Fullwood to get back to Christ Church to make sure you feel the burn. Post 5K, there was a Fun Run for the younger kids with participants as young as 4 yrs old. Friends from Boosterthon provided MC services and a nice dance party warm up for the Fun Run. I heard that Horsehead was giving out Electric Slide lessons during the dance party warm up, but didn’t actually witness it. Likely to incorporate that warm up @ Kevlar during his next Q.
The Exceptional Foundation board, the parents of the participants and the community of runners supporting the event were inspired by the Speed4Need cause. They prominently highlighted the video captured by Madison on their website (www.tefcharlotte.org) and shared via Facebook, twitter, etc. The purpose of the organization is to provide social and recreational activities for the special needs community, and I expect this will be a partnership that lasts for a long time.
Overall the day was a huge success…check out the video here: https://youtu.be/4lngQMANEjM
Certainly there are plenty of other perspectives to share on the day. Comment below!
Just some bells with the roll of the dice
It was another brisk morning in Union County and the PAX were ready to Git Sum. While a certain person was at Fight Club (AKA Fartsack) and another to tired from travelling to a place of light sabers/Wookies the Seven PAX pushed on.
The Thang
Once the disclaimer was given and Bernanke showed up late, the PAX started a quick mosey around the parking lot ending in circling up for exercises.
The exercises consisted of: 20 SSH, 20 Imperial Walkers, 20 Mountain Climbers, and 20 Squats. Now let’s mosey to the hill for some work.
At the hill the exercises went as followed:
First set: 20 Kettle Bell curls at the bottom of the hill. Roll the dice and that is the exercise to do at the top. Exercise at the top of the hill was 30 LBC’s. Three sets of each running backwards up hill to do the LBC’s and running back down to do the curls.
Second set: 20 Kettle Bell Triceps Extensions at the bottom of the hill. Roll the dice, 20 Jump Squats at the top. Three sets of each exercise while running backwards up hill to do the called exercise and running back down regular to do the rolled dice called exercise.
Third set: 20 Good Mornings at the bottom of the hill. Roll the dice, 25 Bicycle kicks at the top of the hill. Three sets of each exercise while running backwards up hill to do the called exercise and running back down regular to do the rolled dice called exercise.
Fourth set: 20 Oblique Rows(10 on the left side & 10 on the right) at the bottom of the hill. Roll the dice, 20 Squats at the top of the hill. Three sets of each exercise while running backwards up hill to do the called exercise and running back down regular to do the rolled dice called exercise.
Fifth set: 10 Kettle Bell Press Flutter Kicks at the bottom of the hill. Roll the dice, 10 Inch Worm Merkins at the top of the hill. Only two sets were completed due to time.
Mary:
30 Flutter Kicks, 35 Dolly’s, 10 LBC’s, and done.
Moleskin:
It was a great effort by all. Great to see people still coming out in the below 50 degree mark. It’s hard to get going sometimes when under the warm covers, but it’s harder to deal with clothes that are getting too small or getting winded going up stairs. Just saying.
Please keep Bout Time and his family in your prayers/thoughts.
Please remember the Joe Davis run coming up in January. There are 5K and 10K options(I know, I know guys that are rolling your eyes at me right now). Please continue to stay in contact with our guys that are on IR and/or held back from coming out due to work, school schedules, or lack of motivation. Let’s stay in contact with these guys. A call, text, or a little cyber bullying(joke) can make a difference for someone. Stay safe out there and make sure to stretch well in this colder climate. Do not rely on a quick warmup before the workout to stretch you as needed, try stretching before coming out. It was a pleasure this morning.
Shake N Bake, OUT!
It’s the Week of Weinke Sharing
14 of South Charlotte’s finest gentlemen gathered at the most frequently used AO in the land for a mid-December edition of Mountain Goat.
Quick disclaimer given to the veteran crew before a warm-up mosey down and back on Strawberry Lane, then continue moseying to the track. Once at the track, commence dynamic stretching consisting of heels, toes, high knees, and butt kickers.
THANG
400 meters at repetition (R) pace, 400 meters recovery, 800 meters at R pace, 400 meters recovery.
Rinse and repeat until time is called.
MOLESKINE
This must be the week to share your Weinke. YHC was schedule to Q at The Matrix on Monday, but came down with a case of the winter plague Sunday night. Being a conscientious Pax, YHC messaged the planned Weinke to Pop Tart in the event YHC was unable to make it. While YHC was cocooned in the FS Monday AM, Pop Tart bestowed YHC’s Weinke upon the Matrix Pax. Fast forward to Friday at 0500, and upon arriving at SCMS, YHC was summoned to Slim Fast’s driver-side window. Turns out he’d been afflicted with the unwanted funk and won’t be able to Q today. He was kind enough to pay his Weinke forward before heading to an appointment with Miracle Max. Rest up and get well soon SF! Thanks to Nomad for stepping up and guiding Sensei this morning. The two of you fell down only three or four times. Not bad. Just kidding, you were flawless.
Total mileage ranged between 5 and 7 miles for the Pax, with Purell and Fleetwood leading the way. Benny was held back by a cranky IT band, otherwise he would have been up front as well. Lots of strong efforts and determination on display this morning. The 400/800 workout is a grind, and it hurts. But we keep going because it makes us stronger, faster, and better.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Sign up for the Joe Davis Run for Recovery, which takes place on January 6. 5K or 10K option. All Pax that attend Mountain Goat can easily knock out a 5K. Sign up today. Just do it. It’s the right thing to do. 2018 Joe Davis Run for Recovery
It’s good to be back
There was a tear in the space time continuum this morning. A runner showed up to lead a bootcamp. Back from all the running….and running…and running. And by the looks of his midsection the running wasn’t working. Nope…not talking about Fire Hazard…you assumed because I referred to the large mid-section, but you know it’s not, because I mentioned running.
That’s right…YHC back at the helm of The Brave after a very long time. I would like to think I’m noble by stepping up to Q…blah blah blah. In reality my Brave Q happened like all the others…Mario told me I was signed up for a date so I showed up. That’s how it works.
The Thang:
I had to give this one some thought….it’s much easier to Q a non-Swift running workout. I tried to come up with some semblance of a new route, some running to hit the requisite miles, and some exercises even though I had forgotten what all of them were.
Stop 1 – corner of Ballantyne Corp & Ballantyne Commons. Run 0.8 miles to the top of Bagpipe hill stopping at every break in the road for 10 merkins (100 total). Then turn around and run back stopping for 5 burpees at the same breaks (50 total).
Stop 2 – up Ballantyne Commons and turn right onto Durant and into Ivy Ridge neighborhood. Partner up. 3 cross street…P1 goes right, P2 goes left and when you meet back in the middle 10 hand-slap merkins. Repeato on all three streets. Then reverse route with American Hammer.
Stop 3 – Brixham Green track 4 corners. P1 runs the park while P2 does Merkins, Burpees, and American Hammer. So nice we did it thrice.
Stop 4 – some mary at the end
Moleskin
Good group this morning and some good chatter. Fireman Ed was pissed when he saw who the Q was…I’m going with the assumption that he thought we’d be running too much vs. him not liking my wonderful personality. Fire Hazard said he hated me on the way back from Bagpipe hill but I don’t think that had to do with the workout…that’s just man love between F3 brothers (did I really just type man love?)
Other chatter heard this morning:
Frehleys “hmmm…those sweat stains on the ground look like tits”. FireHazard – “that’s where I did my merkins”. Frehleys – “oh…nice”
Fireman Ed – “4 miles is fine”. I’m glad he made sure to clearly say miles and not inches.
Wingman “I can’t do superman because I have my HR monitor on….but if I had tits like Tuck I’d be fine”
Frehleys “oh that wasn’t bad…it was just a squeaker”. Good thing he carries the towel.
Wild Turkey – “I can run this pace all day”. Yeah…but he didn’t mention he’d probably get lost doing it.
Thanks for the opportunity to lead today. It’s been too long since I’ve Q’d The Brave…I won’t let it go so long before next time (that means Mario is probably already penciling me in).
Bunker
Announcements:
Joe Davis – sign up…or just donate like FH
Go to workouts tomorrow…Cheddar at DaVinci, Lex Luther at Stonehenge, and Goonie at Rock Zero
And please keep About Time’s family in your prayers.
Van Pelt Sendoff to the City of Texas Pete and Camels
24 men gathered for VP’s final stop on the farewell tour, including no fewer than 7 Respects, guest of honor among this esteemed sub-group. YHC disclaimed the group thoroughly and off we went, VSF flying.
Mosey through campus to stop light at crosswalk at 51. More traffic than usual, and safety first, we hit the button and waited for the light to change. Cross over and circle up in front of Amelie’s.
COP
D-Diamond Merkin x 10 IC
A-Abe Vigoda’s x 10 IC
S-Side Straddle Hop x 10 IC
H-Heels to Heaven x 10 IC
High Plank. Hold. Low Plank. Hold. RLH/LLH. Hold both.
Merkin x 10 IC
Mountain Climber x 10 IC
Mosey over to Palatine Hill. Line up abreast at the bottom. Chair plank to regroup. Next set intro while plank. Winston-Salem (W-S) has several nicknames, one of which is the Camel City, due to the prolific production of Camel cigarettes by the RJ Reynolds company.
The Camel
Start at base of Palatine. Run up and over the Camel’s Hump to bottom of hill. 20 Merkin. Back up and over. 20 Jump Squat. 5 Repetitions.
Mary to regroup. W-S formed by the partnership/merger of the cities of Salem and Winston in 1913. By 1917 W-S was the biggest city in NC and was also deemed a port of entry in the US for shipping purposes, even though it is 200 miles from the Atlantic. The designation was due to the massive importing of Turkish tobacco and paper from another country that eludes YHC at the moment.
Mosey back over to CCHS campus and into Tartarus, the parking deck. W-S is also known to most locals as The Dash, due to the hyphen between the Winston and Salem. It is only one of a handful of US cities to include a hyphen. Suppose that makes it special.
The Dash
Very simply, AYG to the top of the deck, Stairwell 1. Mary and more info on W-S. The number 5 is prominent in useless W-S facts, but YHC’s favorite workout number. W-S is the 5th most populous metropolis in NC. Just as importantly, the movie The 5th Quarter, was filmed in W-S. At this point, some pax had clearly reached saturation with W-S facts. Marconi was not among them. He really enjoyed the information. We pressed on. Descend the stairs to tie in the number 5.
Triple Nickel
Run up Stairwell 1 to level 1. 5 Burpees. Run over to the Stairwell 2. Descend. 5 Jump Squat. Run back to Stairwell 1. Repeat for 5 reps.
Mary to regroup.
People’s Chair
Take a seat in the People’s Chair and learn that W-S is the seat of Forsyth County.
Alternating Leg Lifts x 20 IC
The Dash
AYG to the top, one more time.
Last W-S fact to take us home. In 2012 W-S was named to the top 10 Best Places to Retire in the US list. Time to retire to the launch lot.
COT
Moleskin
YHC wanted to do a sort of roast of Van Pelt for his last post. Didn’t have much to go on though. Could have made some bald jokes, but he does that himself and wears it well at the same time. Other than that, not much to bust on him about. Van Pelt has been a strong leader, friend, and brother to Area 51 since 2015. He has Q’d workouts, was the BB-Q for the last pool party, has offered endless BBQ tips to YHC and others, and been a fine example of a High Impact Man in our community while on loan from The Dash. We will miss him. T-claps Van Pelt. The Dash is lucky to have you back. Good luck with the next professional chapter.
Workout notables: Thin Mint skipped the Brave to join us. Always glad to see him. He was out front with Rachel. Checkpoint and Brilleaux not far back. Drago was on time and had his fast moments. Snuka crushed the sprints. Scabby is always fast. Kotters to Godsmack. Keep posting. Got to post with Semi 2 days straight. Always a good thing. 7 respects all crushed it. Tater Hole joined us from Granite Falls. Strong work and a pleasure to meet him. Good to see Cheddar shredding it up out there. Kotters to No Show. Kotters, this week, to Haze, fresh off of completely slaying the Kiawah Half-Marathon. He doesn’t brag, so let me brag for him. 8:01 cumulative pace for 13.1. YHC is impressed. Well done brother. Paper Jam always looking out for the pax. Appreciate him. Congrats to Thunder Road on co-site Q at Basecamp. Awesome choice.
FORMER SITE-Q CHELMS DEMONSTRATED THE BEST FORM IN ALL OF AREA 51, PERHAPS ALL OF F3NATION. HE LEFT EARLY ONLY ONCE, AND NOT BY ALL THAT MUCH.
Yesterday we held a workout to support Bout Time and his son, Jennings, and his family. Approx 120 men attended. It was powerful to workout with this many men. More importantly, to lock shields in prayer with these men after the workout to lift up the Palmer family. Please keep praying for Jennings and the Palmer family. YHC took us out today.
Announcements
Apologies men, short on time, please check the website for announcements.
Legs Don’t fail me now
9 souls at Devils Turn today
Per posted plan on Slack (a.k.a. the official run channel): Easy 20min, Tpace 20min, Easy 20min, and a route conducive to this agony.
The actual execution:
- Lap 1 easy pace: head down Bevington, left on Baybrook, right at 51, right at Carswell, right at Bevington. Lap complete, approximately 2.4 miles from the parking lot.
- Lap 2-3: Threshold pace for two laps starting at the corner of Carswell and Bevington, approximately 3.3 miles.
- Final miles: Easy pace until time for COT.
The take aways:
9 eager runners headed out into the cold for some laps around The Village and a little threshold pace interval in the middle. After the easy pace lap, Bunker and others opted for a more gentle pace on the old legs, while the balance of the crew continued on for some beloved threshold pace miles.
Worthy of mention today: Great to see Hairball and Pop Tart coming out more and more. Depth Charge was only seen in the first mile until he disappeared from sight in front of the PAX. Laronda, while not having a watch that worked today, still managed to pull Enron and the QIC around the threshold pace laps.
Thanks for bringing us out today in prayer Hairball.
Next week Enron is on Q.
Thanks for allowing me to lead you guys today.
Gumbo
Announcements: Keep BoutTime and his family in your prayers. You can read their latest updates here: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jenningspalmer