YHC’s first Q in a hot minute, so I decided to stick with what I know.

Off we ran to the Mt. Holly pool (after a few distractions) for some mobility work, then back down the uphill to Sake (after some more distractions) for some core work. So far so good.

Now we run down the hill to Main Street for some leg work. Less pleasant. Now down Main to FBC, but stopping at every opening (road, gate, or otherwise) for Leppard Merkins.

Once at the bottom of Baptist Hill (or is it K2?), time for triple nickel with burpees (for SA) and Peter Parkers (w/o a merkin attached, unless you’re Canadian).

Time to work our way back to the flag, now stopping for jump squats at every light pole on the left, until mutiny ensued. We came up a hair short of the promised 3 miles, but some were closer than others.

Announcements: mountain climbing, convergence, and a trail 5K. You know the drill, check Slack.

Prayer Requests: SA’s family, Catheter’s family, Turtleman, Norwood, Huck

Pallbearer took us out.

13 HIM braved the heat for a Defib Q at Midoryama.

Warm up 5 Burpees, SSH, Imperial walkers

The thang:

Mosey to dog park for triple nickel with Burpees and CDDs

Line up on the field and breakout into teams of 4 for sprints and merkins.  Teams were to compete for bragging rights and to choose the next exercises.  Congrats to Broke and his team

11’s with Flutters and Big Boys

Time

Sometimes its not the exercises but the conditions that push us.  In this case having the heat and throw in a little competition makes all the difference.  Way to push men!

Announcements:

YHC with annihilation Q at Gashouse 8/26

Kings to Crowders Ruck Sunday 8/28

Coconut derby 9/3 – come try to pry the belt from Flintstone

Convergence Labor Day at Fuse 7am – all other AOs closed

Prayers:

Hacksaw

Mayor

Turtleman

5 HIM’s at the Sword.  The verses that were spoken about was Proverbs 3:5-6. It was a great conversation by all. It went from college, to swimming, to Stogie in flip flops this morning?, to some sort of shake Wirenut puts together that would most likely give YHC a heart attack.  It was a great time by all.

Prayer Request

• Huck
• Turtle man
• Norwood
• Mayor
• Def Leopard
• Kids going back to school.
• Unspoken prayers

Announcements

• Crowders Mtn Hike next Sunday 8/27
• The Coconut Horse Derby 9/3
•  Convergence at The Fuse 9/4

Im putting this BB in way too late. Thats my bad.

It was a great morning with a strong group of Pax.

I cant remember what we did but I see from this my biggest struggle.

Procrastination.

Back to Back Q’s for me but Sunday is pretty easy, except I was 55 seconds after 0630. Still by the official clock in my car, I flew into the parking lot and told Roscoe, JJ and Winehouse to take off. Hunchback had his 2.0 and Scrat who has more posts than Allen Tate this year. Flintstone came in later than me, but he was rucking since he put in 15 miles yesterday. Since I was the Q, I felt obligated to run the main loop and not the wus route. So, I compromised and took the short cut down Hudson and onto the greenway. I jumped ahead of the real runners, but I did finally run the gut-check this summer – not great, but completed – Who Dares Wins as the story goes.

Turns out Gavel was on the course early and it was nice to have him join us for Q-Source. Had a girl in training at Starbucks so it took a minute before we could begin.

We’re reading The Wisdom of the Bullfrog by Admiral William McRaven. I had the pleasure to cover Chapter 8 Who Dares Wins. The title comes from a British officer named David Stirling who created a mission to defeat German holds in North Africa in 1942. The mission was to have machine gun mounted Jeep raids go into enemy territory to take out positions and men using his Special Air Services (SAS). Stirling was asked to develop a motto for his team which he chose “Who Dares Wins.”

McCraven used the term before sending 24 Navy Seals on a covert mission called Operation Neptune’s Spear. You may be more familiar with the outcome of the mission than the name itself, which culminated in the death of Osama bin Laden. Leading up to May 1, 2011, the US had gathered intelligence on a unique compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan where a tall figure would briefly walk outside of the 3-story building in circles. The “Pacer” as he was known on the images was purported to be non-other than bin Laden however the accuracy of the information ranged from 40 to 80% depending on the small number of individuals that were briefed, including President Obama. McCraven was brought in to design the mission which had 165 phases. There was high risk should the mission fail, but McCraven planned for every possible contingency, including if one of the two helicopters were to crash (which one did).

Obviously this illustration is a fantastic point to describe the ultimate risk and reward. This could translate into your life if you were considering a job change, a life change, maybe opening a business, or making an investment. You must carefully weight the risks and decide your tolerance should the objective fail. We often read about the founders of companies that bet on themselves and ultimately won, but the reward didn’t come without failures and learning along the way. Obama had the ultimate decision to approve the mission. He was reminded that he’d made a pledge to the American people that if given the opportunity, he’d bring bin Laden to justice. In this window of time, the intelligence was never 100%. But McCraven planned the mission so well, the President was confident Seal Team 6 could execute the plan and capture or kill the Pacer. His decision paid off and the mastermind was brought to justice by American forces.

Who Dares Wins – try that on the next time you’re faced with a decision.

I read the backstory for Operation Neptune’s Spear at Politico. Interesting at the time was the Press Correspondent’s Dinner that Donald Trump was the “roastee.” Also some of the familiar names that were providing counsel to the President. One in particular seemed to be more concerned if the mission failed, the possible impact for the President’s opportunity at re-election. I guess that person was less concerned with avenging justice for the American people and more about his own interests. See if you can figure out who it is, or read for yourself:

‘I’d Never Been Involved in Anything as Secret as This’ – POLITICO

I re-committed to running another half marathon – a “thon” to Sargento. I began that journey in late 2022 only to have South Point schedule their athletic awards the same weekend as the Austin Thon, causing our trip leader to cancel. Ooompa takes the Texas bull by the gonads and commits in 2024 and that prompted Sargento to go for his Texas state running event once again. Now comes the physical and mental challenge of committing to that training (Again!). My last “thon” sucked because I failed to train properly. This time, I’m trying a new approach which is to strengthen my legs so they will be prepared for the mileage. I’m in week 2 of multiple leg focused workouts. Lots of squats, Romanian dead lifts, and Bulgarian split squats…basically any European based leg exercise. I decided to share this fun with the PAX attending my Q at the GasHouse. An hour of leg work and we only ran a mile and a half. I only did 20 total upper body reps. If there was ever a Q built for Quiche, this was it but alas, he probably chased Buckeye for another hypothetical half marathon. But here is the good news, Spiderman posted on a Saturday. The Bulldog Q wanted some sunlight, and it was a pleasant surprise.

Warm-up:

• Good Mornings, Toy Soldiers, Imperial Walkers, Side to Side Lunges and MNC’s all IC x 10
• Pledge
• Mosey

Five men followed me out of the parking lot and we headed to the front of the First Presbyterian Church at the circle. Leg day began with 5 jump squats then run the circle to the benches to do 10 Jump ups, run to the top of the circle, 5 jump squats, then 10 right leg step-ups, top of the circle for 5 jump squats, back to the benches for left leg step ups; top of the circle for 5 jump squats, then to the benches for 10 glute bridges. We repeated that routine.

Time to stretch. When Wojo Q’s his speed workout, I like that he does a warm up and then builds with stretching before adding the next phase. I demonstrated some hip mobility movement that can free the hips and upper thighs. We did some patented right over left followed by left over right. We then worked on calfs and hamstrings followed by glutes. This was done to limit some soreness from leg day.

Thang #2 – mosey to the rear of the church where there were 6 stations, only one card failed to be marked by the Q (q-fail).

1. Regular Squat – use kettlebell in any position
2. Deadlifts with 30 lb DB
3. Elevated front lunge left leg w/ 20 lb DB
4. Elevated front lunch right leg w/ 20 lb DB
5. Alternating Side Lunges w/ 30 lb DB
6. Heel Elevated Squats using the curb (no weight)

We all ran through this routine three times. Each round was 40 seconds on and 15 second rest. Without counting this was perfect for mumble chatter – which ensued into a variety of male subjects and humor. Roscoe found some Slavic leg competitions to entertain he and Whoopee…Spiderman surprisingly remained quiet and pushed through. JJ lamented over the Tarheels supposed improvement in defense,  Whoopee shared he was going to be in a car for 7-8 hours to Nashville with his M and daughter taking her back to school. Whoopee had done such a great job helping his wife recover from surgery, it was suggested the return home trip could bring the just reward of a road hummer (What on earth?!) Yes, the mere mention of this activity had all of us aging men reach deep into the memory banks for those dating years when such a concept actually had a snowballs chance in hell of happening. Man, leg day does challenge the mind.

We stretched a second round. Thang #3 occurred at the Youth PAD using the half wall for 5 Bulgarian Squats R then L then we lunge-walked through the porch and once at the other side of the parking lot, we did 10 Mike Tyson’s just to say it was not all legs. Two rounds of that were enough and it was time to mosey back. We had 3 minutes to spare – I introduced the bicycle pretzel crunch to much delight, followed by dollys and flutter kicks. Tube piped in with American Hammers and Spider/man finished it off with none other than Peter Parkers.

Announcements – Next Saturday at the GasHouse, Defib is digging into Hell and bringing a shovel full of Annihilation; it is best if you plan to fart-sack b/c pre-annihilation was awful. Crowders Mtn Hike next Sunday 8/27 meeting at the parking lot at 0800. Pack light as this will be a lengthy ruck ridge to ridge.  Sunday, 9/3 is the Coconut Horse Derby where Flintstone’s belt is on the line. I hear Gold Digger is not competing, so this opens things up for a competitive push of 5 miles. The next morning at 0700 at The Fuse (that is the big stadium down from the Leather and Lace – in case some of you need a landmark – we’ll have a Convergence inside the stadium. Parking is behind the field. Look for a re-post of the pre-blast b/c there seems to be confusion.

Prayers – Turtleman is battling his ass off…keep lifting him up; Norwood is recovering, a football player from Forestview was carted off the field, get well Mayor and Def Leppard, and there were a few more. I took us out.

Quiche – we missed you but you are loved in your absence.