Q vs. Q – Connect the Dots…

Semi-Final of QvQ was set for Downtown with YHC matched against a younger whipper snapper, Balljoint. This would be much different than the quarter finals vs. SA for several reasons. #1, a weekday workout with only 20 minutes to fill and the standard 0530 start; #2, Balljoint is well liked, so I did not have pocket votes for douchyness; #3) BJ is creative, I support that criteria; and #4) Downtown may as well be a satellite AO for Folsom as it is often well attended by the bearded truck driving PAX. So how do I top the quarter final workout with kegs, cases of beer, and women bartenders? I’m not sure I can, but I had several ideas and began refining during the week. While the idea was clear in my head (don’t they all seem good on paper?), as I shared with a few folks, their initial reaction told me I could be in trouble. Uh, oh, not a good sign. Roscoe suggested a pre-blast, but I didn’t want to give away the idea. As you well know, the element of unknown at a workout is part of what makes this crazy thing work. I went with a limited concept of “Pre-Instructions” which drew expected push-back. But at this point, I was committed to the concept and it would be the sword that I either died on or raised in victory.

Friday morning, 0927 zulu time, PAX begin arriving to the base of the Rotary Pavillion. My workout is heavily dependent on the number of attendees, but more on that in a minute. I begin doing a series of head counts as I greet the PAX. I notice new names and faces, likely Folsom men – I’ve got my work cut out for me. We get to about 20 men and I feel strong about the division of teams necessary for the workout. Flintstone begins giving instructions. More men jogging to the circle, but I see several vehicles headlight beams streaming into the parking lot. The circle expands. I quickly go around for another headcount. Part of leadership is changing on the fly but sticking with the strategy. Ok, teams will be of 6 instead of 5. It’s now time and I begin the greeting, more PAX coming. I gave SA hell the week before about not saying the Pledge at the start. So we do that first because we’re America and we’re #1. More people have arrived. Ok, teams of 7 – getting worried. I wish Balljoint good luck because we’ve been keeping it classy all week and he’s a good dude. Let’s warm-up, Side Straddle Hops on my count, in cadence, ready position move: “one-two-three-One! Done” Let’s go. In my excitement, I literally stumble out of the gate and almost eat brick. That would have sucked, but I managed to hang on and get going. We ran to the Parking Deck for the big reveal of the childhood game: Connect Four. Instead of 7 columns & rows, I had 5 on my board. I’m going to attempt to explain this on paper so stick with me. As the PAX came into the deck I grouped them into four teams. More late arriving PAX are with us…now I’m at 8 per team, I think. Too late to adjust – gotta run with that.

The teams were assigned colors: Team Yellow vs. Team Blue, Team Red vs. Team Green and there would be parallel competitions. Each row on the board had 5 slots to correspond to a level in the parking deck. You need to have a foundation to build on put a chip on rows 2, 3, 4, or 5. The PAX would grab their colored folder on each level and select one of the blocks that contained two exercises and a total number of reps for the team to complete. For example:

• Side Straddle Hops – 125 total reps (single count)
• Flutter Kicks – 120 total reps (Count one leg only)

Here is where I mis-calculated (there is always a Q-fail in each workout, the secret is not letting the PAX know it at the time); the fail was the total team reps were calculated based on teams of 5. With teams of 8, it did not take long to complete the required number. Now, since I have your brief attention, the next time I do this work out, (I do think it has potential), note that if a bat flipper does 40 and the other teammates do 30, 20, 18 & 17, that’s within the rules. You could also have half the team do SSH’s and half complete flutters. I knew the instructions would be challenging to communicate, especially with the size of the group. Hopefully a few got it and would help the others catch on. The concept behind this organized chaos was exactly that: organized chaos. Who among the team would lead the charge? Who would focus on the strategy of placing the chip on the board? Because the teams were required to travel as ONE, no man was left behind. Now have 32 guys running all over the parking deck at the same time, yes, it was chaotic. In the end

Maybe some of the attendees gave some thought to the game or maybe you’re like, it’s a workout, I got more important things to do (as you should), but if you did, all four teams had the same strategy which was to go as fast as they could to get a chip on each level – essentially, out-race the other team. What I thought would happen, is one team would choose a defensive approach to place their chip as a “block” on the board and impact the other team’s purpose. Maybe next time. Unlikely the PAX looked at the 25 different circuits created in the book, but as the parking deck level went up, so did the challenge in the workouts (SA). And as mentioned, had I forecasted a better number of PAX, it would have pushed the teams more. Hey, but you do what you do.

So we finished early and that gave me time for some Mary which I hit a number of exercises in quick succession, getting to the famous Baby Makers which most PAX agreed after 10 reps, they were shot.

Notice how Team Blue attempted to cheat by putting a blue chip on the 3rd row w/o having a base chip on Row 2. If they had completed the exercise ahead of Team Yellow’s row 3, they could have blocked. Or they could have gone to Row 4 and blocked. Missed opportunity.

Balljoint Time – he takes over and runs to the corner of South Marietta/Franklin – Seal Jacks for the 6; we quickly move south another block, round the corner and stop in the middle of Second Ave. Balljoint says – this is real simple (he got me on that one), Triple Nickel, ‘Balljoint Style’ which for the non-Folsom crowd mean WTH? Evidently Balljoint Style means instead of 5 reps on the ends, you perform 10 – my Man! Way to “shortsale” that Q, we’re back on even ground, sort of. This routine has half the PAX running east to a handrail to perform 10 Australian Pull-ups, run east to the South/Second Ave intersection for 10 Perfect Form Merkins. When you cross the equator line, make it dirty and perform 5 jump squats with some type of ballerina thingy with your arms. Balljoint called it something that I can’t recall and I’m not throwing shade – I just don’t know what it was called. Not sure if it met SA’s double-black diamond standard. Maybe he can share his workout results and heartrate? We made 3 or 4 rounds before Balljoint Omahaed and had us head north on South Street – doing Seal Jacks waiting on Wirenut before crossing Franklin. Arriving at Main Street, he called 5 burpees (because it isn’t a workout if you don’t do burpees).  We arrived back to base.

I headed to my vehicle for the trusty cooler. Even though it was St. Patrick’s day and I had plenty of beer, I didn’t get any takers. Thankfully I had Gatorade and Water. Upon my return, I noticed not only did BJ have his cooler of drinks (I expected that, actually offered to go halfsies and got no response), but there were several boxes of Bojangles sausage biscuits. Dammit!!! Well played Balljoint. Future P200 teammate Sparky was called in for that part of BJ’s plan. Votes were cast and I got out of the gate about like my (and Balljoint’s) Wolfpack did against Creighton yesterday. Balljoint built a nice collection of index cards. As the disparity reached 12-5, I began thinking of a concession speech. But then Flintstone handed me a vote, and another and another. Did George Soros just show up with a bag full of votes?? Did Putin flip the switch on the electronic ballot counters? Something happened and I got on a heater. We drew even at 14 with one final card in Flintstone’s hand. He then handed it to me. 15-14 was the tally and I was lucky to have good support and maybe sold a few guys on the circus I brought to town. Thanks to the 30 PAX that came out to support this workout (not to non-attendee, Flintstone abstained from voting and Sparky didn’t cast since he just brought bribes). Now it is officially on to the final round where I will battle Freight for all the glory our region has to offer.  I hope you’ll make plans to attend. I assure it will be worth your while.

Prayer Requests: Ratchet’s 2.0 battling cancer; Pallbearer mentioned a young lady that took her life – prayers for that family. Pray for each other and the individual battles we face. Lean on each other for support. Announcements: Blood drive at Twisted Sugar, Belmont on 4/1 from 10-3 pm; Extinction Run presented check to Strong like AK last night at Primal.

QvQ will take a hiatus next week as we have some relays to run. Freight and I are in the same van next weekend – I wonder if QvQ topic will be discussed. So as of this moment, the finals will be hosted at Folsom on April 1st, presumably at 0630. More discussion I’m sure will follow in the upcoming days ahead. One of the Core Principles of F3 is Peer led, which I embrace the concept. I’ll leave you with this. What I have planned has been on the drawing board for about 3 years now. I’ll work on the edges and hopefully make it competitive with Freight’s Q. When you look back to recall a favorite workout, is it one where you did the same old same old? Or is it one that had a little flair? Like a wrestling theme (tag team partner Roscoe), golf, beer or bartenders? If that happens to be your cup of tea, you won’t be disappointed. But in case you are, let me know what kind of biscuits, coffee or beer you prefer. As the commercial sorta goes, beating Freight: priceless, for everything else, including votes, there’s MasterCard. Feel free to DM me your needs.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Short Sale