Author: Montross (Page 19 of 20)

Prison Break at Folsom

Six ran, three rucked, some fart sacked. Two did EC.
All had fun.

YHC took us out.

• Montross….I mean Oompa Loompa

It is just around the corner fellas. The Snowbird Fall Mens Conference is Sept 14 – 16. All I have heard from Sparky and Medicine Woman is how incredible this event is. Men together worshiping God together, doing fun activites outdoors, growing in the word and as brothers…that sounds like a great way to spend a September weekend. There has been lots of interest at Folsom and I think we will have a group of 8 or so going. Join us!!!!

Registration is open now at the link below. It sold out in the Spring amd expect the same this year. Post on Slack or tell Sparky if you register so he can get us in the same cabin. I registered tonight so I am a HC!

Men’s Conference

We run because he can’t

Who is Tronmoss? Well it all began one cold January day back in 1978…ok, we won’t go that far back. I am Montross aka Tronmoss. If you aren’t aware, Allen Tate gives everyone his own personal nickname (this extends beyond F3). He started calling me Tronmoss months ago. He told me once he gives you his own nickname, that’s when you know you have made it to his own inner circle. I am proud to join the likes of Dingleberry, Spar’-key’ (sorry, can’t paste the ‘key’ emoji here), Essay, Skeet, Tink, etc. This probably led to me calling him Chief, but that is another story for another day.

So I believe it was Roadie who first suggested hijacking the Prison Break AO and naming it the Montross Run, primarily to troll Medicine Woman. Medicine Woman was not having it and he is typically the Q for Wednesdays. MW is at the beach this week so when he said he needed someone to pick up the Q, YHC saw opportunity and immediately took the Q! After 1837 messages of discussion, the Folsom GroupMe voted to help select Tronmoss Legacy 5k as the name for todays event. It became a staple in the announcements, guys got behind it, logos and stickers were made, and this became a big deal to the guys at Folsom as well as me.

However, I was a little surprised when I rolled into Folsom to see 13 cars in the parking lot at 5:30 on a Wednesday. Several brothers from other AOs made the trip in to join us today and for that I say “THANKS!” Chief (aka Allen Tate) said all along this was a day for rock pushing and indeed it was. You guys probably saw a few messages on Slack as I tried to do a little live-blogging. Guys who don’t typically ran showed up to run today. There were at least 3 PRs set this morning that I know of…4 if you count Sparky pooping at Waffle House in 6 minutes flat. Essay in particular put in 6 miles and, based on when he started and finished, one can assume Pizza Man ran about 6-7. All in all, it was evident guys were pushing themselves and each other.

As the runners and ruckers returned and we gathered for a few minutes of fellowship, Oompa gave me one of the most special gifts I’ve ever received…something truly from the heart. Since I’ve been on crutches this past week, I kept thinking how much I need a walker with pink fur and butterflies all over it and my man came through! I feel like I was channeling my inner Def Leppard as I pushed my walker around Folsom. Thanks Oompa!

Announcements – 2.0 workout this weekend at Folsom, CSAUP relay coming soon per Broke. YHC took us out in prayer. Prayer requests included Def Leppard as he returns, Bed Pan as he goes on vacation, Montross, Medicine Woman, and all the other guys battling injuries. I let the guys know they needed to do 22 raise the roofs OYO today in honor of Medicine Woman. I knocked mine out in the parking lot.

For real though, what started as jokes and trolling turned into something that did really mean something to me so thanks to everyone who showed up. You supported me when I was the 6, you supported me when I Q’d, and you guys are supporting me now as I heal up. I am looking forward to getting back out there to workout as soon as I can but I’m going to listen to the doctors and not rush it. In the meantime, I’ll stay connected through chats and breakfast at Country Kitchen. Keep pushing the rock fellas!

• Montross aka Tronmoss

For those that weren’t there, here’s my sweet new ride

a gift from Oompa Loompa

Allen Tate put out a call for help on Saturday. His basement had flooded and he needed help moving out furniture and old carpet. Evidently everyone in the city of Dallas was born in July and most guys had birthday parties to attend, but there were 5 men able to anwer the call and stand with the Chief in his time of need.

I try to arrive like a blister (you know, after the work is done) around 1:15 and to my surprise, Bedpan and the Chief are under the back deck, digging in the mud with Tate-in-law (AT’s future son-in-law). The flood was evidently caused from a broken water line so the mission was changed to fix the leak. Father Chief (aka Allen Tate Sr.) offered wisdom and advice. Lots of advice!

Allen Tate and Tate-in-law did about 500 shovel curls in cadence. He noted he likes it when the mud is wet because it is heavier. Always pushing the rock! Aye!!!!

It was around this time AT’s and Tate-in-law did a partner lifts. To step up the difficulty, the Chief submerged his feet in mud. Little did he know this was no ordinary mud, but rather some exotic hybrid of Carolina clay and quicksand. What started as pushing the rock quickly became a rescue mission! The Tate-in-law came through as he pulled the Chief out of his boots, saving him from almost certain death!

As YHC went home to change into working clothes, Bedpan had to roll out.

As YHC returned, I see a familiar vehicle pullig in. It is Roadie! The leak was found and a plan for repair was devised. Roadtrip to Lowes!

As we prepare to leave, Medicine Woman arrives on a Harley with eagles circling overhead and music blasting. MW has things to say, we listen, and he declines the trip to Lowes. Evidently sitting on my lap (or riding on the console) isn’t his idea of fun. MW joins Bedpan as an early departure.

Clowncar to Lowe’s and back. We saw a Prius but we can confirm it was not HIPAA. The leak repair was completed and 100 shovel curls in cadence were called to finish the job. Roadie is a jack-of-all-trades and I learned a few things from him today.

After some cold refreshing drinks, the Chief offered some EC mosey via his chariott (powered by Polaris). Squat jumps were no issue as Chief, YHC, and Roadie took turns putting the RZR in the air. Roadie won the Dale Earnhart award for the longest drift.

Roundup shows up on his side-by-side about 7 to join in on the fun. If you haven’t met him or his dad Hacksaw (hoooooo!), come on out to the Crossroads, pour out a little for your homies, and introduce yourself. These are 2 quality men!

In all seriousness, it was a good time hanging out with all these brothers today and getting to know Allen Tate’s future son-in-law.

Shortsale – obviously don’t count this as a workout. We joked about a backblast and I figured why not…let’s let the guys know we came together for a bit of work and a good time today.

Hope you all got a laugh or two out of this. We had our share of laughs over at Casa de Chief!

Happy Belated Birthday America. Obviously most of Folsom celebrated pretty hard. Between a Murph yesterday morning, working out with The Fort, and whatever other extracurricular activities the PAX found their way into, the fartsack was an unstoppable force. I let everyone know today would be no running, just a physical old-school beating, inspired by the Painlab. I arrive a few minutes early to setup the boombox (because, it’s Painlab) and the parking lot is EMPTY. No one. No Huck. No Roadie. No Medicine Woman. No Volt….wait, there’s Volt and HIPAA. We have a workout now. Medicine Woman pulls in at 5:29 and 45 seconds. I blasted on Twitter that it would be all body-weight work and suggest to bring a vest if you ‘needed a little extra work’. HIPAA was vested for this workout. Props to you brother! Let’s get to work.

Warm-a-rama

• Quick mosey direct to the amphitheater…no trails, no loop, nothing…just jog straight down the hill. Adjust the tunes.
• SSH 10 IC
• Imperial Walkers 10 IC
• Toy Soldiers 10 IC (these last 2 were for me, to be honest…I wanted to get my legs and hips loose)
• Moroccan Night Clubs (this was for MW and Volt…I know they were sore coming off the Murph)
• Various shoulder/arm stretches – again, to help MW and Volt loosen up

Thang

This is basically all circuit work today fellas. 4 exercise per circuit, do each circuit 3 times, move to the next. I gave them about 30 seconds after the burpees to recover…maybe a minute as we got toward the end. The pace was quick. Hard rock music is cranking the whole time.

Circuit 1 – 3 sets
– Hip Slappers – 15 IC
– World War 1 Situps – 15 single count
– Mike Tysons – 15 IC
– Burpees – 5 OYO

The hip slappers were a fan favorite this morning! PAX were falling off the wall and struggling during the 2nd and 3rd set. The shoulders were toast from yesterdays workouts. They got back up though! Those extra 5 to get to 15 seemed to be the extra needed to really punish the PAX. Way to push guys.

Circuit 2 – 3 sets
– Dips – 15 IC
– Imperial Squats – 15 IC (basically, 15 each leg)
– Merkins – 10 single count (props to HIPAA for taking my challenge of Derkins on the first set)
– Burpees 5 OYO

Ol’ Sparky shows up with a vest on during circuit 2. We gave him a hard time about it but AT LEAST HE DID SHOW UP! Sparky did a few extra burpees to catch up. It was somewhere during these sets that Medicine Woman was getting crabby. You know how it goes when she gets some sand in her V. She may have taken a short nap on the wall during recovery but he got back after it! Push on men. We’re 2/3 of the way there.

Circuit 3 – 3 sets
– LBCs – 20 IC
– Sandy Vs – 15 single count
– Banana Crunch-thingies (the exercise of the month) – I called 10 IC, called Omaha on #8 during the 2nd set, replaced with Freddie Mercuries on the last set. Those SUCK!
– Burpees – 5 OYO – Being honest, I called Walmart Burpees but there were questions on my form. I will need some tutelage from Slaw on these! Called the quick audible and we moved on. After the Banana-rama-crunches-thingies, I wasn’t up for arguing.

Fellowship mosey back to the parking log

Pledge

We were out of time but 22 for the Vets – as someone (I believe Volt) said, they made time for us, we’ll make time for them. Aye!

Time!

Sparky did take off on a mosey afterward to make up for lost time. I know we give you a hard time but I’m glad you made it out!

COT – MW has a sort-of-family member we prayed for…not sure if I should put the details here but they are making some big decisions, we pray they make the right one. Volt has a friend of the family who just had a heart attack. Other prayer concerns – each other, those on vacation. YHC took us out in prayer

Moleskin

I did some testing when I co-Q’d with Pastor Clever last week, getting a feel for how I would want to run a workout like this (with no running). I also went to Painlab for Bedpan’s VQ last Saturday. I learned a lot from both as well as my trip to Painlab with HIPAA at the convergence. With that, I started putting my plan together earlier this week. My goal was to keep a good pace to keep the heart rates up and make sure everyone walked away with a good workout, despite not running at all. I mapped it out, timed it, and sent to HIPAA for some feedback. I learned a lot today and I think it turned out well. As the Q of a workout, I feel it is my responsibility to bring a workout that will be challenging to everyone. As we sharpen each other out there each morning (or afternoon for the Midoriyama men), keep learning from each other and looking for new ways to get it done. That being said, I really hope I’m back to mixing in some running sooner than later. It’s an honor to be part of this group.

3:45 – wake up, brush teeth, pee.
3:50 – check GroupMe, send message. Huck is up, Roadie wakes up.
4:02 – arrive at Folsom.
4:05 – roll out.

5 HIM from F3 Gastonia went to the Fort’s convergence and we came bearing gifts…in the form of 2 FNGs.

Sargento and HIPAA did the bootcamp. I am sure it was tough. We saw them after. They survived.

Roadie, Huck, and I went on a ruckin’ adventure. We rucked. We ran. We picked things up, we put things down. We had questions. Our questions were not answered.

Now, let’s see if AT posted with Cape Fear.

As you may have seen, the men from Dallas have no patience for delayed backblasts! I will pick up the Q’s slack here!

9 showed to put in work. 5 brought luggage and rucked, 4 got in some running, and one pooped.

Since it has been soooooo long, I cant remember all the prayer requests but we prayed for them!

Sister Act – get it together brother! LOL

For real though, I am enjoying the Crossroads workout. We have a few non-Folsom regulars showing amd it is nice to get to know them. Plus, I enjoy taking advantage of any opportunity to give Sister Act a hard time!

On Twitter, I noticed F3 Grandstrand does an “Iron Flag”. It is an honor given to any PAX who posts 20 times in 30 days. They have about 5 who have earned it this month and a few more who are close.

First off, I loved the concept. It is like chasing the Iron Skillet, but more of a you vs you concept and can be more about meeting a goal than just “outposting” everyone. Then I thought ‘How many can Gashouse get?’ So, I want to issue a challenge to F3 Gashouse for July.

I want to see how many of you are willing to push the rock all month and post 20 times in July. I want to challenge you all to go for the Iron Flag this month!

Nantan supports the idea, Short Sale suggested we add it to the newsletter along with the skillet. A few Folsom HIM are already in. Now all I need is some more of you to committ to the challenge. I believe we have 12 men who can earn the Iron Flag this month. It won’t be easy but, based on the May posting totals, I know we can do this!

I will be looking for HCs on Slack and Twitter. We will share this with F3 Grandstrand and ask them to set a goal as well and generate some chatter through Twitter. It will be a great opportunity to push our workouts, push each other, let more F3 regions know what Gashouse is all about, and have some fun doing it.

Let’s see some HC’s!

Today was a beautiful day for a workout at Folsom. The weather was cool, house alarms were blaring, Pastor Clever was helping me out as co-Q (his VQ, by the way), and the damn gnats were gone! It is the kind of day Ice Cube had in mind.

Warmarama

Pledge at the shovel flag

Toy Soldiers – 20 IC
Slow Squats – 9 IC …yeah, 9. It was weird.
SSH – 10 IC
Burpees – 5 OYO

Pastor Clever takes the PAX for a mosey to the Ampitheater as Huck and I mall walk across the grass.

Montross back in charge –

Hip Slappers – 20 IC
LBCs – 20 IC
Australian Mountain Climbers – 10 IC
Freddie Mercuries – 15 IC

Super Mike Tysons – what is that? Just a little something I made up amd did on vacation – 10 Mike Tysons in cadence, immediately followed by 10 burpees. About 45 seconds of recovery, repeat. We did 3 sets. I wanted 1-2 more but I was getting gassed and I needed to hand it back over to Clever.

Pastor Clever is back in charge – mosey to Sparky’s Lot (Huck and I mall walk across the grass).

11’s – Imperial Squats on one end (both knees up count as one), Bobby Hurleys on the other. Pastor Clever came out hard, srinting from end to end. In a great Q move, I noticed he slowed a little because no PAX could keep up. Nice pro-Q move from a guy on his VQ! I noticed!

Time was low so mosey back to the lot for Mary.

LBCs – 15 IC
22 for the Vets

Time!

Announcements and COT – clown car on July 4 to Ft Mill from Folsom, time TBD. 4 miler on 7/4, 2.0 Q the 3rd Saturday (not Thursday). Prayer requests for AT’s mother in law, marriages, and a particular family Pastor Clever knew who were really taking the pre-counseling seriously. Clever is a pro so he took us out!

Deep Thoughts –
Billy Madison’s bb earlier this week was so motivating and inspirational. We talked about it during workout and Huck pointed out you never know when your simple presence will brighten someomes day. Like Huck said, sometimes you see a fellow PAX out there and you just think ‘I am glad he is here today”. It is also reassuring you have a group of men you can count on to say a prayer for you when you need it. So, that being said, get out there and post! If you are injured, modify as needed but stay involved.

• Montross

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