TIME

0500 Thursday morning my phone, serving as my alarm, chimes and I avoid the snooze button, why? because I’m the Q today at Goat Island. In order to make it on time, I can’t “tarry” as my wife often, almost daily reminds me. Time management is a vicious opponent of mine, one that provides a daily challenge. I constantly seem to be in a hurry and my family and friends will attest, often late. I can report that I’ve never been late for a Q, though when some set-up of a pain station or depositing coupons is required, I’ve managed to arrive at the start. Back to Thursday morning, I leave in plenty of time to arrive at 0520, good so far. I break up the ladies at About Face Bootcamp performing burpee-long-jumps down Center Street. I check and do not see Roscoe. His sweet M must have shared that painful exercise with the lovely Misty leading her troops. Alone in the parking lot, I stretch in the quiet gloom hopeful a few PAX will post. Mayor and Dolph are typically early birds, so I figure they have other plans this day. Finally a car pulls in and Dr. Seuss joins me. Tiny Tank was famous for skipping the warm-up and that was my plan today. At 0530 Slim Shady appears from the shadows, as I’m about to mosey he informs me GQ is expected and could we wait a few minutes. Informally I suggest Moroccan Night Clubs. After a minute we see headlights; “side to side lunge.” GQ is primping in the mirror to ensure his hair and beard are tight (lookout Frank…). 0532 Slim Shady runs to retrieve his brother in law and guide him to our circle…more informal warm-up: “Toy Soldiers.” GQ finally joins us. “Do you need any warm-up?” I ask. GQ replies that he’ll be fine. 0533 we set off on a mosey up Center Street toward the empty church parking lot at the corner of 10th and 8th. Another tip of the cap to Brownstreak, I announce the first pain station will be my version of the “Dirty Thirty.” The twist is to perform 3 burpees between 9 other exercises that were performed OYO at 30 reps, single count (when applicable). It went like this:

Thang:

• Merkins
• Mountain Climbers
• Sumo Squats
• CDD’s
• Plank Punches
• Baby Dips
• SSH
• Alternating Lunge
• Flutter Kicks

Wouldn’t you know a train rumbled through around CDD’s so we added two extra burpees to pay our dues. From here we moved across the street to the Rec Center parking lot. When I’m unable to attend F3, I’ll supplement my cardio with Insanity workouts in my garage. There was a good set from the most recent Max 30 Cardio disk that I thought the PAX would enjoy. I set the timer for a 30 second circuit of 4 different exercises and a 30 second rest between.

• Medicine Ball Jack (pretend you have a medicine ball and as your legs split, twist from side/side)
• Plank Jack then do an In/Out
• Power Knee (set 1 – right, set 2 – left)
• Suicide Flying Squirrels (use the width of a parking to run between and perform FS each side)

On a reconnaissance mission, I found a baby hill that Gastone would salivate to inflict pain. Individual 11’s were called. Begin with 10 Merkins at the top and 1 LBC at the bottom; progress down and up. The hill provided enough resistance to burn the quads a bit. Once that session was completed, it was time to partner up. I paired with Dr. Seuss while GQ and Slim Shady kept it in the family. Partner 1 would perform flutter kicks while Partner 2 ran down a set of steps, around the building and back up our baby hill. No time and no limit on the reps. We went two rounds. I checked my watch and thought it said 0605. So I went for another round, this time with American Hammers. After both partners complete a round, Slim Shady confirmed the time was 0613. Looks like a jail break is in order. We returned to the AO at 0618. We recited the pledge and heard prayer requests for Slim Shady’s father hoping to hear good news about an upcoming treatment; a new leadership program at The Pointe Church; Dr. Seuss and all the kids, teachers, administrators and parents with school under way. It was a little tardy on the start and the finish, but it all worked to produce another good start to our days.

Moleskin:

William Penn said “Time is what we want most, but use worst.” My M challenged me on the way out the door this morning to be home by 0630 in order to take our kids to their youth groups Bible’s and Biscuits at Bojangles. She may have huffed under breath that she would be the one that ends up taking them. She works out at the aforementioned About Face Bootcamp, enjoying the camaraderie as well as the exercise. But they don’t have the COT and Ball of Man which are key elements of F3. The power of prayer is a weapon at our disposal. Ephesians 6:18 says: “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” So in typical fashion, I get home a little later than intended and hurry to shower. My time this morning was well spent. A small group of four allowed for direct conversation with Dr. Seuss, GQ, and Slim Shady which made for very little mumble chatter. We all bared down to push through the “suggested exercises.” The Cramerton Rec center is a good spot with lights and a hill to employ as a natural coupon; we should hit that more often. Though there isn’t a set deadline to write a back blast, this is a day later than intended, but I’ll keep working on my nemesis, trying to get better, as we all are. BTW – I did gather my kids to arrive at Bojangles at 0700, right on time. Maybe I’m getting better already. Until the next time, it was a pleasure to lead.