The Birds Are Chirping and the PAX Aren’t

Thursday Linus posted on the twitter-verse the GasHouse Q is open. I’ve not Q’ed very much this year and have a few ideas in the hopper. One I’m going to save for another few weeks because it deserves a larger audience and it will be a beast that I need some additional preparation so I can follow the mantra to be able to “do it, so I can Q it.” The other idea is not of my creation. Like the Murph we enjoy a few times each year (and Pizza Man does weekly), I saw Dark Helmet post “The Bert” at the end of July. Apparently the Honey Badger at The Fort does a Hero Workout of the Day (WOD) each week. If you’re unable to post at F3, checkout some of these workouts that you can do OYO. Some require coupons, many do not. So the Weinke was built and my only question was how much time will this take? I guessed 45 minutes since the Honey Badger is a Monday workout. Oh well, may as well try it and see what happens.

The circle formed at 0700, Tube brought an FNG so I stumbled through a disclaimer of sorts, no one left, so we proceeded with a warm-up:

• Seal Jacks IC x 10
• Imperial Walker Squats IC (sort of ) x 10
• Toy Soldiers IC x 10

Channeling my inner Whoopee, I was tired of the warm-up – I called for the bootcampers to follow me. Five guys pursued, some had seen the pre-blast, others had not. We arrived at Grier Middle School track and I offered the PAX a choice to go OYO or stick together – the vote was for the latter. Roscoe who gets major props for a 7.5 mile EC run suggested we split the workout into partners…I said “no” and Roscoe retorted that he was trying to share Candor with me which was the Qsource topic a few weeks back. Nope – this workout was intended to be completed in the designated format, otherwise it wouldn’t suck as bad as it did. So without further ado, here tis:

• 50 Burpees (it became awful about halfway through)
• Run 400 meters (heard a train so added 5 more burpees at the end of the lap)
• 100 Merkins (my arms became numb about 60-ish)
• Run 400 meters
• 150 Walking Lunges (did this as a group, counting each leg, about 175 meters)
• Ran the remaining 225 meters
• 200 Squats
• Run 400 meters
• 100 Merkins (Linus said he blacked out for a few moments, forgetting where he was and what he was doing)
• Omaha: only 7 minutes left – skipped the final 400 meters and did 10 burpees to be back to the AO

MARY:

• Flutter Kicks while some PAX assumed the workout was over, this isn’t FIA…once everyone got on their six and joined, the count began
• Flutter Kicks IC x 10
• American Hammers IC x 10
• Freddie Mercury IC x 10
• Leg Lifts IC x 3 —> TIME!

Announcements:

• Roscoe collecting final donations for the Rotary Pavilion bathrooms – if you’re donating – get your money in ASAP
• Wednesday, October 2nd at Ray Nathans from 10 am to 8 pm is a fundraiser for Officer Chris Wooten – all proceeds supporting him
• Prayers: Les Nessman’s Father-in-Law went to memory loss facility – prayers for his family in this transition; friend of Tube and Fugitive (Nehemiah) that has a unique disease that’s impacting his career – both men indicated their friend is inspirational for all that he does, but he needs special doctors to help him fight onward; continued prayers for Watts Up’s M that is improving from her battle with blood pressure.

Moleskin:

I listened to 43 Feet’s latest podcast on my drive home from work yesterday. Our QSource discussion last Sunday after the Coconut Horse was lively on the topic of Contentment. I’ve built a routine that I look forward to reinforcing the discussion hearing DREDD and Dark Helmet go through the Socratics and providing additional color infused with humor and lecture. In episode 65 for QSource Q3.11 (the “idiotic numbering system”) the primary point is the difference of Happiness and Joy. I’ve enjoyed all of the Qsource series but along the way of the main point, I keyed on a sub-point discussing chaos and in particular why F3 is designed the way it is. In order to be free, working outdoors is a given – it’s not difficult to make that connection. But what struck me was about the workout plan, for some the Weinke and for some a ‘figure it out as you go’ plan.

I posted the Bert on Slack and Twitter partly to entice some PAX to attend, knowing a portion of our region were running the JJ5K. The 5 guys that posted are Saturday regulars. Defib thought I was joking and we’d end up doing something else.  Hearing DREDD describe the PAX not knowing what comes next is part of the intended chaos that trains HIMs to deal with the obstacles that we face in every day life: at home, at work, with our families. The PAX follow the instructions of the leader, once instructed, you then have control of your situation – perform the task to the best of your ability, modify, quit, or leave. Knowing the Weinke ahead of time can be comforting, but it’s not the point. I thought about that having released the workout ahead of time – and there’s no rule against it. But think to all the workouts that you post and you fall in line and embrace the suck. It makes us all a little better.

Despite having released the workout ahead, the PAX forged on. We all agreed it was an awful routine. I had expected to hear more mumble chatter but at that time of the morning, mostly it was the birds chirping. All of us took some breaks during the exercise portion to muster the required strength and fortitude to push to completion. This was a grind for sure. I couldn’t decide if the Murph was worse, maybe not because the Bert takes longer. Try it and judge for yourself.

The BERT:

U.S. Marine Cpl. Albert Gettings, 27, of New Castle, Pennsylvania, died on Jan. 5, 2009, while conducting counter-sniper operations in Fallujah, Iraq. Cpl. Gettings was serving as a team leader with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, at the time of his death.

Every quarter, Cpl. Gettings’ fellow Marines in Fox Company complete a special CrossFit workout in his honor as part of the Cpl. Albert P. Gettings Award ceremony.

He is survived by his wife, Stephanie Palimino; parents, David and Juliet; and sister, Cori.

This workout has modifications that we should have followed. If you’re ever short on creativity, use this one or another Hero WOD. Motivation comes easy as you think about the one that died serving our country. You may not complete it record time, but the effort and sweat not to quit can offer the perspective of freedom that we enjoy for all the brave men and women that face challenges far more difficult than we do.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Short sale