On May 25, 2013 Day Zero was born with 13 pioneers paying tribute to those that lost their lives protecting our freedom. Today, a shade over 3 years later, 42 men from all over A51 and SOB land rolled in to put in work.
At 0700 on the nose, following a mighty disclaimer, the 35+ A51 guys grabbed the shovel flags and took off for the soccer fields. Circling up and taking a knee around the flags a citation we read the Medal of Honor citation for USMC 1st Lt. William Dean Hawkins.
COP – Stars & Stripes
We grabbed the shovel flags and moseyed to the Yellow Rose parking lot. At the YR lot, we took a knee around the flags for a citation reading for US Army Staff Sargent Robert J. Miller.
We split up in to teams of 4. Several of the SOBs joined us, doubling down from Stonehenge with more shovel flags in tow.
Following the circuits and some pax-lead Mary, we grabbed the shovel flags and trekked back to the soccer fields.
Each day, an estimated 22 veterans commit suicide. In an effort to bring awareness to mental health and our soldiers returning from war, 22Kill is a movement working to raise awareness to the suicide epidemic that is plaguing our country, and educate the public on mental health issues such as PTSD. 42 men completed 22 merkins = 924 merkins completed.
Circling up again around the flags, the men suffered in silence through 100 burpees OYO, honoring the men and women that died for our freedom.
We had 2 FNGs today: Nemo (Bennett), and Inferno (Dante). Welcome gents – look forward to seeing you guys post again soon.
Following the burpees, Prohibition and YHC ceremoniously turned over the SF to Dear Abby and Buttermaker, the new Day Zero site Qs.
Pro and I were given the opportunity to lead Day Zero, from Radar and Purple Haze (the site forefathers), at the beginning of 2015. It has been an honor leading the men that Q and post at DZ every week. DA and Butter will carry on the tradition of being A51’s toughest Saturday workout.
Citation 1:
William Dean Hawkins
First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps
Born: April 19, 1914
Died: November 21, 1943 – Tarawa, Gilbert Island – Central Pacific
For valorous and gallant conduct above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of a Scout Sniper Platoon attached to the Assault Regiment in action against Japanese-held Tarawa in the Gilbert Island, November 20 & 21, 1943. The first to disembark from the jeep lighter, 1 st Lt. Hawkins unhesitatingly moved forward under heavy enemy fire at the end of the Betio Pier, neutralizing emplacements in coverage of troops assaulting the main beach positions. Fearlessly leading his men on to join the forces fighting desperately to gain a beachhead, he repeatedly risked his life throughout the day and night to direct and lead attacks on pillboxes and installations with grenades and demolitions. At dawn on the following day, 1 st Lt. Hawkins resumed the dangerous mission of clearing the limited beachhead of Japanese resistance, personally initiating an assault on a hostile position fortified by 5 enemy machineguns, and, crawling forward in the face of withering fire, boldly fired pointblank into the loopholes and completed the destruction with grenades. Refusing to withdraw after being seriously wounded in the chest during this skirmish, 1 st Lt. Hawkins steadfastly carried the fight to the enemy, destroying 3 more pillboxes before he was caught in a burst of Japanese shellfire and mortally wounded. His relentless fighting spirit in the face of a formidable opposition and his exceptionally daring tactics served as an inspiration to his comrades during the most crucial phase of the battle and reflect the highest credit upon the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
Citation 2:
Robert J. Miller
Staff Sergeant, US Army – Special Forces Operational Detachment
Born: October 14, 1983
Died: January 25, 2008 – Konar Providence, Afghanistan
Robert J. Miller distinguished himself by extraordinary acts of heroism while serving as the Weapons Sergeant in Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 3312, Special Operations Task Force-33, Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan during combat operations against an armed enemy in Konar Province, Afghanistan on January 25, 2008. While conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol through the Gowardesh Valley, Staff Sergeant Miller and his small element of U.S. and Afghan National Army soldiers engaged a force of 15 to 20 insurgents occupying prepared fighting positions. Staff Sergeant Miller initiated the assault by engaging the enemy positions with his vehicle’s turret-mounted Mark-19 40 millimeter automatic grenade launcher while simultaneously providing detailed descriptions of the enemy positions to his command, enabling effective, accurate close air support. Following the engagement, Staff Sergeant Miller led a small squad forward to conduct a battle damage assessment. As the group neared the small, steep, narrow valley that the enemy had inhabited, a large, well-coordinated insurgent force initiated a near ambush, assaulting from elevated positions with ample cover. Exposed and with little available cover, the patrol was totally vulnerable to enemy rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapon fire. As point man, Staff Sergeant Miller was at the front of the patrol, cut off from supporting elements, and less than 20 meters from enemy forces. Nonetheless, with total disregard for his own safety, he called for his men to quickly move back to covered positions as he charged the enemy over exposed ground and under overwhelming enemy fire in order to provide protective fire for his team. While maneuvering to engage the enemy, Staff Sergeant Miller was shot in his upper torso. Ignoring the wound, he continued to push the fight, moving to draw fire from over one hundred enemy fighters upon himself. He then again charged forward through an open area in order to allow his teammates to safely reach cover. After killing at least 10 insurgents, wounding dozens more, and repeatedly exposing himself to withering enemy fire while moving from position to position, Staff Sergeant Miller was mortally wounded by enemy fire. His extraordinary valor ultimately saved the lives of seven members of his own team and 15 Afghanistan National Army soldiers. Staff Sergeant Miller’s heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty, and at the cost of his own life, are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.
16 bad mother Tuckers posted at Stonehenge, consistently recognized as being one of the top three (including F3 Dads) workouts on Saturday morning in the Ballantyne area. Today it was definitely top two, with da Vinci closed for the Day Zero Memorial Day convergence. Speaking of which, T-claps to JRR Tolkien, Mario, Cheddar and YHC for doubling down and representing SOB Land at the convergence. It needs to be said that Tolkien wore a 20 lb vest through the entire DD, after running over 40 miles already this week (with Mt. Charlotte on tap for tomorrow morning). #Beastmode. The shovel flag was planted with glee, coupons distributed, and we were off.
The Thang
Mosey to parking lot behind Courtyard Marriott for COP:
Mosey to Snyder’s-Lance parking lot. Form 2 lines facing each other. With Tolkien’s therebands around ankles, shuffle sideways down the lot in squat position. 30 steps IC in one direction, then 30 IC in opposite direction.
Line up on belly at bottom of Bagpipe Hill. AYG sprint up hill to bridge.
Mosey to putting green between Premier and Harris buildings for an animal migration. Traverse the road encircling the putting green, using only the following animal walks: bear crawl, crab walk, duck walk, frog leap (broad jump). Cannot repeat a walk you have already used. Mary while waiting for 6.
Mosey to corner of Ballantyne Commons Pkwy and N. Community House Rd., stopping halfway for some Al Gores while waiting for 6. Head South on N. Community House Rd., running switchbacks up/down the hills on West side of the road for about 0.4 miles.
Form 2 groups. 1 group stays on the West side of the road and the other goes to the opposite side. Both groups go North on N. Community House Rd. all the way back to Ballantyne Commons Pkwy, stopping at each tree for 2 burpees. 30 trees for 60 burpees. Mary while waiting for 6, led by Bunker, Gumbo and Overhead.
Back to Vine the fast way, stopping along the way for jump squats and then mountain climbers for the 6.
Thine One and Only Moleskine
The first several exercises this morning targeted the glutes, as YHC was attempting to get the SOB’s money makers ready for swim suit season. On a serious note, after a bout of knee tendinitis YHC is getting edumacated and learning how important strong glutes and core are for proper running form. We need to do more of this stuff.
Haggis, Mario, Bunker and One-Niner crushed the AYG sprint up Bagpipe Hill. Sorry if I missed anyone, as YHC was dealing with some oxygen deprivation. That was a theme for Haggis and One-Niner, who just destroyed everything I threw at them this morning.
The switchbacks down N. Community House Rd. were a real #crowdpleaser, and it wasn’t long before the refuseniks outnumbered the switchbackers. The grass was a bit slick, but Mario led the charge #likeaboss.
Did you guys know there are a lot of trees on N. Community House Rd.? Yeah, it’s true. How about that. Haggis obliterated the burpee mile, which was really less than half a mile but felt like 2 miles.
Overhead called his first exercise during Mary, and it was glorious. Well done OH. You are ready for your VQ.
Day Zero Double Downers: Mario, Tolkien, Cheddar, YHC
F3 Dads Double Downers: Tolkien, Bunker, Gumbo, Wild Turkey, YHC
Triple Downers: Tolkien, YHC
Thank you Wild Turkey, JRR Tolkien and Frehleys Comet for the opportunity to lead YHC’s first Stonehenge, an institution in the South Charlotte area. Let’s do it again sometime.
SYITG
-TUCK
The 5:30 weekday post are posting numbers. No one signed up for Q today but we still managed to pull off a tough workout. Turtle took the WU, Shop Dawg took the workout and Mary, and I took the,,,well I guess I didn’t do much Qing but put my time in like everyone else.
WU: SSHx 34 LBCx24 Merkin?x15 Tri’sx 15, cotton pickersx15 with a long hot lap around the lot
The Thang:
Shop walked every one through 6 stations, Smash Balls, KB hamstring, Battle rope, Jump rope, Curl to press, abs with med ball. Music on and timer going each station a minute, 3 stations, 1min run, 3 stations, 2 min run, 1 min rest, rinse and repeat. Finishing with a 3/4 mile indian run and Shop taking us out with some Mary.
Moleskin:
This group is continuing to grow and push themselves harder and harder, Hollywood and Bottlecap are got some speed but Shampoodle was going to let that deter him, round two he was keen on showing them who’s who in the zoo and gave it a sprint. Gatorcub and Shampodle also need to show the rest of us how to use a jump rope, the make the rest of us look incredibly uncoordinated (well maybe we are). DirtyBird and Flow are killing it and pushing themselves. Dirty Bird pushed me to get a couple more reps in, he’s got a drive that we all need to take a lesson from. Popeye, Jingles, and Rockwell are picking up the pace in running sections of our work out! As always, enjoy hanging with everyone and challenging each other, I am blessed to have you all in my life.
See ya in the gloom
19 PAX showed up at Kevlar this morning and found out that we would be hauling logs around the grounds for the first 30 mins. It was a risk to bring some new gear as apparently stupid decisions can get you banned from Q’ing (a la Lex Luthor per Horsehead) but not as risky as Cotton Tail going commando during the pre-workout kettle bell swings. He has a reputation to uphold and he put it all on the line this morning. “Out of clean underwear” was his excuse. Mmmmkay.
Horsehead led the pre-workout kettle bells with about 5 others (Bush, Cotton Tail, Bananas, Young Love) – we were going strong until Tiger Rag rolled up in his new orange Jeep which was quickly nicknamed “Pumpkin”. Due to his doors being off he was able to join the workout rather quickly. “It’s a Jeep Thing”.
Warmup
Grab a log from the truck. I put in some XL ones in there for Tiger Rag and Bananas and I think they accepted the challenge. The logs ranged from 10-25 lbs and the ones in the back were about 35. What, you don’t weigh your logs?
Jog down to parking lot – SSH, Low Slow Squat (with log), merkins, shoulder press
Workout
Head over to church entrance and partner up.
Combined sets of 50, 100, 200 or 300
Partner 1 – Shoulder Press (200)
Partner 2 – Run to 3rd median and back
Flap Jack
Partner 1 – Chest Press (300)
Partner 2 – Run to 2nd median and back
Flap Jack
ALL – RUN TO TOP OF HILL WITH LOGS AND BACK
Partner 1 – Curls (200)
Partner 2 – Run to 2nd median and back
Flap Jack
Partner 1 – Right/Left hand merkins on log
Partner 2 – Run to 2nd median and back
Flap Jack
ALL – RUN TO TOP OF HILL WITH LOGS AND BACK
Partner 1 Jump Squats with log (50)
Partner 2 Run to 1st median with log
One more I can’t remember….
ALL RUN BACK TO TRACK AND DROP OFF LOGS
At The Track
Parter bear crawls around the track. Parter 1 bear crawls and Partner 2 runs track and catches them then flap jacks. Once I saw that humans can’t bear crawl more than 25 yards without giving up and reverted to lunge walking I nixed it and we circled up.
We finished up with the hostage which Bananas felt was more of a ladies workout. Full disclosure: It is. Some various abdomen work started until Horsehead pulled a Q-jack and thought it best to end with Eternal Flame, endless pushup, or whatever it’s called.
Good work men – pleasure leading today.
Announcements
F3 Dads
This weekend (didn’t get the local)
In June on Sat Mornings at Francis Beatty at 9am
Convergence Tomorrow
7am tomorrow (Saturday) – Day Zero – McAlpine Elementary
Memorial Day theme
Q School (Alf)
Next Saturday at Arbo – 6am workout then discussions and done by 8
If you haven’t Q’d or haven’t done it much this is a good place to learn.
A solid 17 men posted for some pre-Memorial Day Weekend downpainment. Margo, Jamboree, and YHC sneaked in 2 miles pre-workout. Van Pelt arrived early, but elected to remain in the air conditioned comfort of his car when he saw the intimidating trio of runners setting off on a blistering pace (note sarcasm). I think he was catching up on facebook and tweeter, truth be told.
The Thang
Abbreviated disclaimer given before setting off to the Tartarus aka parking deck. 10 seconds into the run we U-turn to collect McGee who is late or just-in-time or just doing his best Scabby impression.
Announcements:
Good work by all today. Always a pleasure to lead the strong men at Centurion!
Enjoy the holiday; have fun, be safe, and pause to remember why we get a three day weekend. With that in mind, I’ll leave you with the first chapter of In Flanders Fields:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
YHC thought it was a nice warm morning to get out in the gloom and get after it. So, the pax emerged slowly from their chariots, circling up for a disclaimer statement, then we were off….
The Thang:
Mosey to Track; high knees, butt kickers, backwards
Warmup:
IW x 20
SSH x 20
Merkins x 10
Shore Shoulders x 10 (forward, backward, Up)
Merkins x 10
Field Work:
Bear Crawl 25 yds
Duck Walk 25 yds
Scorpion 25yds
Crab Walk 25 yds
Tunnel of Love x 50 yds
To Base of Gma Mt (partner up, like speed)
With Partner’s pushing each other
400 yds around track, Up Gma Mt, 10 pullups each (Rinse and Repeat x 4) Pullups- Regular, Wide, Narrow, Chinup
Mary (Lobsta lead) until Six joined up
Partner Shoulder Press and Declined Merkins combo x 5; flapjack x 4
Teams of 3-4 for Frisbee hairburners x 300 yds
Ye Olde Naked Moleskinny:
Gummy asked me if I was going to go half-speed like most Friday’s. YHC was going on day 5 this week so, YES is the short answer. Tired legs…BRR training. Sorry to disappoint.
It was great to have both Pops out today (Puddin’ and Tart). Dollywood and I have come to the conclusion that Puddin’s shirt is a good intensity measurement/indicator of the workout. Also, it was noted that Pop Tart is large breasted, especially in that tight shirt.
Duct work pulled a Baracus and ran in this am. Somebody EH that guy for BRR team. He’s ready!
The kids (Dolly, Sweeney, Fire wall, and Yeti) were strong as always, but still not sure they can hang with the Lobsta Roll phenom.
I apologize again to Chin Music for cutting him short/out of Name-arama. My Bad! The darn voice recorder started talking to me. #techfail
Brought back some favorites today with the Animals and of course the Tunnel of Love. By the way, YHC have never had the mutiny or refusnik like I experienced this am with the Tunnel of Love closing down on me at 50 yds. We were going for 100 and it was on the weinke. Lobsta was not happy.
Pull-ups are good and we don’t do enough of them, said Tony Horton somewhere, sometime.
A special drop in by Drop Thrill (LIFO) as he was abandoned at Metal Head or no one showed up or something like that….mystery in Mint Hill.
Header, thanks for letting me serve you guys this am. Always a great group of men at Joust no matter what the nuts at Kevlar say about us.
Announcements:
Convergence tomorrow at Day Zero
Convergence Monday at Symphony Park in Southpark
F3 Dads starts in June, check weekly email
Pre-blast:
14 (not really) portly pax gathered at Elon Park Elementary at 5:15. Co-site Q Pebbles got an extra 15 minutes of sleep and joined us at 5:30. #beautyrest
A full disclaimer was given to the pax, then we headed out.
Warm up mosey around the school and down to the sidewalk between the field and the trailers. Line up for COP:
Mosey back to the bells for the Thang:
100 swing set pyramid:
Grab the bells and mosey down to the plush artificial turf field.
Line up along the sideline and begin the swing/dip set:
Partner up by bell size and speed, with bell size more important. This is where poor Uncle Phil got stuck with YHC, farmer carrying ~97 lbs of kettlebells. This appears to be ~65% of his bodyweight.
P1 farmer carries the bells across the field while P2 performs the exercise and then runs the field. Flapjack and come back.
Drop the bells and lunge walk across the field, bear crawl (or bear gallop in MT’s case) back.
Bunny hop half the width of the field, then crab walk the rest. Backward run back.
Suicides to the near line of the big goalie box (I think Argonaut called it the “18 yard line”), then the far line, then the far sideline.
Plank work:
Gather the bells and return to the starting point. Circle up for Mary, initially led by pax that had not Q’d workouts before.
Time. Thanks to Argonaut for the takeout in COT.
Moleskine:
Announcements:
10 meatheads gathered in the slightly warm gloom, ready for a “light” beatdown. Here’s how that worked out for them.
The Thang
Disclaimer
COP:
Main event:
Breather:
Finisher:
Mary
Done
COT
Announcements:
Naked Moleskine:
Great group today, and everyone was digging in. This workout was a modified version of a #sadclown workout YHC made up a few weeks ago, attempting to “de-load”. #fail The workout was not a de-load, and the suck-factor was high enough that YHC had to bring it to Meathead. YHC couldn’t recall the work/rest ratio used then, so 2 minute cycles were chosen for today. That lead to about 60 seconds of standing around sweating between sets. 90 second cycles may have been better, but the smoke-age would have been higher. More tweaking to come before this is repeated…
Also debuted today was a non-rock playlist. It was quickly abandoned for the usual 80’s rock. Too bad The Bangles are not on my playlist…
Thanks for coming out today. Let’s do this again next Thursday! (and let me know if you’re interested in Qing)
Aye.
This morning at Devil’s Turn, possibly due to some kind of clerical error, YHC Q-ed his first running workout. 15 other PAX arrived to see what would go wrong. The preblast promised new hills. Hills were delivered, courtesy of the #WhiteOak neighborhood. Whether or not they were new is a matter of experience. As it turns out, #WhiteOak is a very patriotic community. Full-sized american flags were planted at many houses, helping to usher in Memorial Day weekend. The hills helped usher in BRR training season and the humidity helped usher in the sweaty messes that we all became and i’m definitely over-using the word usher.
The Thang
Hill Repeat Course:
Mole Skinny
Announcements