Day: September 5, 2023

The event is simple, we’ll ruck 13.1 miles, but with an extra incentive for finishing the half marathon distance.  It will be a 2-loop course that is a combination of our Wednesday Ground Assault & Sunday Members Only ruck routes, and it will start at The Yank at 06:00.  Route maps will be provided the morning of the ruck.  Carrying your normal ruck weight is encouraged but you can participate with any amount of weight…..you versus you.  The 2-loop course will give you options to stop at your car at The Yank for supplies that you bring or at Harris Teeter for bathrooms or supplies that you can purchase.  We’ll gather at Everyday Market after the ruck for breakfast.

And here’s your extra incentive.   Each year, Least of These Carolinas (LOTC) provides Christmas presents for about 900 children in foster care.  Each child is able to send in a wish list of presents that they would like for Christmas and donors/volunteers take care of the rest to ensure they receive their presents on Christmas morning.  On average LOTC needs about $150 per child to fulfill their wishes,   Your part in making this happen is simple……for every person who finishes the half marathon ruck, a donation of $150 will be made in your name to LOTC to provide a child with all of their presents for Christmas this year.  That’s it, just finish.  The first 10 finishers/$1,500 of donations are covered.  If we end up with more than 10 finishers, there are options to get them covered too.  Let’s show them the heart of F3 Gastonia this Christmas!

12 hours of christmas

Additional info:

• We’ll be starting in the dark, so come equipped with lights and reflective gear.  This is actually mandatory for you and your PAX’s safety.
• Bring extra fluids and nutrition to leave in your car.
• Bring money for necessities at Harris Teeter.
• An extra pair of socks in case you need to change them halfway through.
• Glide or other anti-chaffing products could come in handy.
• A change of clothes for after.
• Finish times will likely be in the 3.5 to 4.5 hour range, so the six should be in by 10:30 am or so.

This special edition of the coconut horse was brought to you by none other than our 1st F Q and current belt holder – Flintstone.  After capturing the belt from Slaw in June by posting more times than Slaw he challenged us to a 5 mile race around the horse.  This would be no easy task to dethrone him since he has been really pushing the rock and then some with his marathon training.  12 HIM however posted in an effort to steal the belt.   After a quick disclaimer and explanation of the rules the runners were off.  Our finish line judge was Hunchback who also doubled as our photo finish photographer.  The pax were pretty bunched together for the first half mile but then Flintstone and Maybelline started to pull away.  Unfortunately some of the pax caught a 6 minute light (or so I was told) at Hudson which negatively impacted their ability to win.- -I will get in touch with the race director and plan to refund their entry fee.  Maybe next year we can get some of Gastonia’s finest to control traffic.   By the time we hit the greenway it was pretty clear there would be only two competitors.  Both Flintstone and Maybelline enjoyed a commanding lead with JJ and me giving all we could in hopes that one of them would run out of gas.  However the two of them pushed all the way to the finish with Maybelline stealing the belt with an average time of 7:26/mile.  Kudos to the rest of the pax who all turned in performances better than their usual averages.  Congrats to Maybelline who proved that you can be last (to show up for a workout) and still come in first.  Next opportunity to steal the belt will be the pax with best rank in Ironpax so sign up if you haven’t already.  After COT 10 men stayed Q Source with a discussion of “No Plan Survives First Contact with the Enemy” from Wisdom of the Bullfrog by Admiral William McRaven.

Announcements:

Lunch 9/20 Pita Wheel downtown

Fall Ruck event

Austin Half Marathon Feb 18th

JJ 5K Sept 30th

Prayers:

Turtleman, Tooth Fairy’s wife and daughter, Huckleberry, Jackson Hall

I broke out an old weinke for this beautiful Saturday morning – Montross’s Nursery Rhymes for HIMs (Mayor always loves that extra ‘s’). The book has been in laminated form for a few years now after the rainy debacle at Midoriyama cira 2019. There were some notes taped into the book that suggest it hasn’t been used since an online workout in 2020. That means many of the PAX at Folsom now days have never seen this book. There were some suggests to upgrade the binding from staples but we’ll work with what we’ve got!

Quick warmup and disclaimer. We revisited such classics as Jack and Jill, Red Rover, Jack be Nimble, and Eeny Meany Miny Moe. There were plenty of good cardio opportunities to be had. The partner wheel barrels up the amphitheater hill took a lot of determination to complete! If you want more details, show to know next time.

Prayer Requests: Huck, Hall family, Wirenut (supposedly he was walking at Old School this weekend), Pastor Wells, Haze’s friend, Brillo, Stogie’s friend.

–Montross