There’s 20 of ’em

No, not 20 PAX at Gashouse.  There were 8 of those, and the groans were plenty when they heard we were combining PainLab and Gashouse for a joint beatdown, but  no running today.  At all.  If you were a F3 Gastonia PAX and wanted to run, there were plenty of options between the relays and the Community Foundation Run.  Today, at Gashouse, we carried.  Went somethin like this.

The Thang:

• 12 x SSH (IC)
• 12 x Hillbilly Walkers (IC)
• 5 Burpees (OYO – Train)
• 12 x Gravel Pickers (IC)
• 12 x Toy Soldiers (IC)
• 12 x Dying Cockroaches (IC)
• 12 x Mountain Climbers (IC)
• 12 x Mike Tysons (IC)

The Footmobile was loaded up with coupons (cinder blocks), so 6 of us grabbed the 6 blocks that YHC brought, and the other 2 grabbed a kettlebell and we were off.

With a combined beatdown, we could go to the track and take our sweet time and not get run off the track by Wojo and sprints, so that’s where we were headed, but a couple stops on the way:

At Garrison:

Core work

• 20 x Toe Touches (IC)
• 20 x Freddie Mercuries (IC)
• 20 x Heels to Heaven (IC)
• 20 x American Hammers (IC)

Got tougher as we went.  Also, the phrase “hung like a gnat” may have been used.  May have.  Wasn’t the last time unit jokes would make an appearance.

The cinder blocks were like the robot babies that the early childhood development classes made students keep to simulate caring for a newborn.  Wherever we went, our coupons went.  The main difference is you can carry them however you want without fear of public shaming.  Or maybe just being in public with these men in the gloom was shaming enough.

Anyways, up the hill to Grier for:

Partner work

1 partner exercise/1 partner hold, then switch roles

• 20 x Merkins / Plank
• 20 x Calf Raises / Al Gore
• 20 x Reverse Crunches / Six Inches

The “Six Inch Hold” strikes again as a PAX mumble chatter favorite.  Needless to say a number of us overestimated our 6 inches.

Drag the baby, errr the coupon, however you want to the track.  Here we hit a little Wolfpack Grinder, but a little different, with PAX choice and call and a different pair of exercises at each stop.  First stop, YHC asked for volunteers to lead an exercise, and Les couldn’t wait to get out “LBCs” before YHC announced that it need to involve the coupon.  So LBCs with the coupon were born, or rather just described as:

• Les Nessman – Some kind of reverse crunch thing x 20 (IC)

followed by

• Voodoo – Squat Thrusters x 20 (OYO)

Carry the coupon 1/2 a lap

• Clavin – Box Jumps onto and off of the coupon x 20 (OYO)
• Bondo – 30 x Curls (OYO)

Another 1/2 a lap

• Flintstone – Chest Press x 10 (IC)
• Castle Rock – Coupon Swings x 10 (OYO)

Last 1/2 a lap

• Linus – Upright Rows x 10 (IC)
• Orange Peel – Overhead Presses x 30 (OYO)

As we came in we noticed some gates were unlocked, so we meant to go explore parts of the school we don’t usually have access to, but time was getting short on us, so we took our coupons up and down some stairs, and around the sidewalk under a covered walkway that was apparently made for vertically challenged middle schoolers to a spot which was a good length for:

• Murder Bunnies

This was a new one for some of the PAX, and I was glad to dust ’em off.  I learned later that Merlot was considered.  No splashing though, and we still needed to finish up.

As we head out, Leslie is telling jokes about twenty six year olds and we start retracing steps:

Partner work

• 20 x Merkins / Plank
• 20 x Calf Raises / Al Gore
• 20 x Reverse Crunches / Six Inches

A quick spell of dizziness, then we hauled our coupons back to the flag, where we dropped the blocks back in the Footmobile, but not before sacrificing one of the weaker coupons to the PainLab deity-of-choice as it was cracked and care was taken not to have the break and it’s mess take place in the car.

One last round of Core Work before we wrapped up:

• 15 x Toe Touches (IC)
• 15 x Freddie Mercuries (IC)
• 15 x Heels to Heaven (IC)
• 15 x American Hammers (IC)
• 15 x Flutter Kicks (IC)

And that was that.

No relevant announcements as all the runs are already over.

Prayer Requests:

• Bondo’s wife
• Turtleman
• Huck

Moleskin:

Strong showing by the PainLabbers today.  Bondo and Orange Peel threw it down and made that work look easy.  Solid little sweat today too.  Voodoo said somewhere along the way that he saw something where someone was asked to hold an 8 ounce glass of water, and it’s not heavy until you’re holding it for 30 minutes, and hour, 2 hours, and so on.  Sometimes your body can get used to some things, and it just doesn’t seem hard anymore, but sometimes the consistency itself, and a perpetual grind can turn out to be the hard thing over an extended time.  The focus can be exhausting.  What can we do to stay sharp and keep accelerating?  Sometimes it’s just hard as hell to stay focused, because the “stay” part has no end.  We’ve never fully won and it’s never over.  That block never really felt light, but we just kept grinding.  At the end of the day, we do it for each other.  Thanks for the push today and every day.

Yabba Dabba Doo