The Mission: Make My First Downtown Q Memorable

I was really excited about having the Q this morning. Huck said similar things last week and I knew exactly what he was talking about. I’ve always thought the workout Downtown seems to be tough. Spiderman brings a tough workout and I see men like Gastone, Sargento, Roscoe, Slaw, Sister Act, Short Sale and several others who are regulars and I know they can bring it! As soon as I signed up a few weeks ago, I had one goal in mind: Montross was going to bring it too! I wanted my Downtown VQ to be a memory etched in the minds of all the PAX who attended. Sargento shows up with Tandem this morning and informs me this is his 2nd time posting. I think I said something like ‘you vs. you’ and ‘modify as needed’, but I probably didn’t hide my facial expressions well as I thought to myself ‘man, you are in trouble today brother!” Easy Rider said he’s glad there’s no Wal-Mart around (in reference to me calling Walls of Jericho around Wal-Mart a few weeks back). Little does he know…..LOL! 21 HIM showed for this workout, let’s get to it.

Warmarama:

• Disclaimer – no FNGs but I wanted to mention it again for the newer guys – I’m not a pro, you vs. you, modify as needed
• Side Straddle Hops, IC, 2. No more needed. Why?
• SLAW-TER STARTER!!!!! 20 Burpees OYO – the ultimate mumble chatter stopper and the greatest warm-up exercise ever! You know if I called 10 at the 2.0 workout, I’m calling them today!

Thang:

Let’s mosey. Let me say it is MUCH easier to run downhill toward Franklin after a Slaw-ter Starter than it is to run up the hill at Folsom. I remembered this parking lot at the First Methodist Church from Spidey’s Q a few weeks back and that was our first destination. It seemed a little further away than I remembered so I ask Gastone to make sure we’re headed the right way and he confirms. The burpees must have just made it seem further away. The po-po were hanging out, waiting for us, but they wanted no part of the mess I was getting ready to call so they rolled out quickly. Good move guys! YHC realized he left the gloves in the car. Fortunately, this is the Cadillac of parking lots. The sealer makes a great smooth surface for my pencil-pushing hands. Things are going in my favor this morning.

• Misspelled BOMBS – I’m going to level with you here. I told the PAX I wasn’t a good speller, but I lied. The Folsom guys will tell you I definitely make a lot of typos, but that’s different..I am a really good speller, I just didn’t want to do normal BOMBS today. Gumby called these 2-3 weeks ago at Folsom and I made note – even went back to the backblast to make sure we did the same thing today. You can thank him for this. Partner up, P1 runs while P2 completes exercise, rotate until you hit the target.
• 50 Burpees
• 100 Big Boys (WW1 Situps)
• 150 Merkins
• 200 Squats
• 250 LBCS (I got you Roadie)

At one point, I asked Slaw “you hear that?” He says “What?” I told him ‘exactly, there is no mumble chatter this morning.” The only sounds in the parking lot were gasps for air, sweat pounding the pavement, and the grunts of men pushing the rock! Good job men! Frankly, we finished a few minutes faster than I thought! On a side note, this seems to be the perfect lead up workout to the Murph on Monday.

Quick recovery – well deserved! Let’s mosey back to the Pavilion. Slaw and a few others pick up the pace and beat me back to the destination, YHC rolls in a 5-10 seconds later and the lead pack grabs the 6 so I grab a plank. Several ask if it’s time for the circle of trust. NOPE!

• Walls of Jericho – Remember Easy Rider made the comment before the workout about this exercise and I think there’s a 72.7% chance he stained his underwear when I made this call! The running was a bit easier today though since time was limited.
• 7 Burpees, 7 Merkins, 7 SSHs, 7 Imperial Squats, run a lap around the pavilion – Repeat 7 times.

I MAY not have explained that part well as some ran early. There was some mumble chatter about this topic and this wasn’t how it happened in the Bible, but I quickly reminded them who was the Q and order was restored. Sargento agreed I called them correctly, BTW. I saw the despair in the PAX eyes as we hit laps 4 and 5. Some were saying ‘looked better on paper’. I replied “No, this is exactly what I expected!”….and that was the truth. I knew this was going to be hard. I wanted to push myself and everyone else. As I mentioned earlier, I had a mission. I was thinking Omaha, but I just couldn’t say it. We were so close to finishing this. Men were pushing and that pushed me. Then it happened….the 7th lap was complete

It was 6:10. Yes, there were a few more minutes on the clock but I was done and most of the PAX were as well. Time!

COT: Roscoe had a family member coming out of the hospital after surgery and I believe Gastone also had one (my apologies, I have a lot of trouble remembering the requests!). There was also a request for the Self family, victims, and the community. YHC took us out in prayer. Announcements: the 2nd 2.0 workout is scheduled at Folsom for June 16, Go Ruck Light event is coming up (see Boudin, a few have already signed up), the Patriot 5k and Murphy are both Monday – see HIPAA if you are interested in some Clown Car action, 40 Day Challenge Celebration Hike at Grandfather Mountain 6/23 (Hot For Teacher).

Moleskin: When I started F3 in January, I was only posting for a few weeks when I decided to venture Downtown. It was tough, but guys pushed me and helped me out. I was most definitely the 6 (and sometimes, I still am). I have always had a great appreciation for the work you guys do Downtown and I’ve learned from it. I’ve taken some of those things to Folsom for my Q’s! It was a little push outside my comfortzone this morning to Q Downtown and I appreciate the opportunity. I did not know whether we could get all that in and in planning this Q, I used the Pavilion for the Walls of Jericho to shorten the running and so we’d be in the right location if we couldn’t finish. Frankly, I fully expected we would have to Omaha about 1/2 – 3/4 of the way through it due to time. When I saw guys finishing the misspelled BOMBS and I noticed the time, I think started to think we may finish. I was tired but I had more left in the tank than expected. I got better today and I hope you did too. Thanks for the opportunity.

-Montross