Some ran and some walked, we all got better.

Our Study

John 11:35 – Jesus Wept.

Our verse this week, is about how Jesus came to earth and was fully man and fully god. In being a man, he felt anger, (Matthew 21:12-13), he felt sorrow (John 11:35),  humor and sarcasm (Matthew 23:24).

He also felt pain.  There no pain is greater than the pain Jesus went through for us.  He felt the lashings, the beatings, the crown of thorns, and the nails. He did this all while carry the burden of man’s sin. This is pain we will never be able to comprehend and he did for our salvation.

All burdens we carry are lifted if you accept, believe, worship, repent, and do what Jesus call us to do.

My shared prayer:

“As I begin to walk, the hardships of this past year come to mind. You took my father’s body and my mother’s mind. I grieved when you took our daughter, whom you called us to nurse back to life and gave her away to another. I watched powerlessly as our son lost hope in you after the death of his best friend. And all the while, you make me tell my mother everyday that I am her son and that her husband has died. I do not understand “the why” in these burdens.

The pain in my leg is beginning to hurt.  I think how we serve you lord and now much we need you. I pray for help, I pray guidance, and  I pray for leadership. I read and study your word and I know you listen, but I lack patience and discipline. I am selfish Lord, this is not my life to live but yours.

It is very painful to walk now and I thank you.  Thank you for hardships of the past year. I am closer to you. I trust in you and I know that you will provide me the strength to continue to do the works you have called me to do. I am committed to you lord and thank you for providing me an abundance of grace. Thank you for my wife, my children, my family and friends. Thank you for my home, my work, and the opportunities to grow closer to you.

I am forever yours. Amen.”

Prayer request:

• Roadie’s Son
• Montross’s Aunt
• Wichita’s Dad
• Gumby
• Medicine Woman
• Silas

Last weeks verse:

Psalm 119 105:

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

We moseyed to the flag.

We did the pledge.

We froggered accross the street.

We did 3 to 4 sets of various exercises, moseying around Walmart after each set.

We did called Mary ab exercises.

We froggered back across the street and the back to start

Ended with COT

It is late and I don’t remember what we did. If Watts Up did not remind me, there would be no BB. The only thing I remember about this is we had an FNG who lived in Australia for the last 10 + years and his F3 name is CYE, Concentrated Yeast Extract. This is the other name for vegemite. Betcha didn’t know that…..You’re Welcome.

13 Pax came out for Crossroads Run or Ruck. 13 for Q Source

These HIMS pushed themselves..and me!

Pizza Man paced me for 5 and encouraged me spiritually. We also got a Rooster roster about set.

Broke lost it at the college (glad you found the phone), but came through in leading the long run and in helping me navigate this camera-phone thing.

Gump joined us for hopefully the first of many of the long runs.

SA is a rock-pusher and an inspiration.

Freight held me accountable on my timing..and is accelerating spiritually and physically.

Passed Leppard going the opposite direction for 10 miles. Next time, come WITH.

Montross went the extra mile..or two..on his birthday!

Blart, Taterhole, Mayor, Big Pappy are consistent Rock Pushers.

Roadie and Gumby joined us for Q Source.

Leppard had to leave after taking us out.

Requests:

Death of Freight’s coworker

Mayor’s sister-in-law-cancer

Praise for Purple Haze’s wife’s test results

Thankful for you guys!

Keep accelerating..no such thing as stagnating.

Seuss

Week 2, GoRuck Training…we are badasses. Plain and simple. Bad. Asses.  At least that is what I have to tell myself when I get in bed on Friday nights from now on thanks to Freight. These workouts are tough but a LOT OF FUN. I started on my Weinke last weekend on my way home from the inaugural GoRuck Training with Freight and think I made some adjustments last night before falling asleep.  Boudin wanted some EC so we did a couple miles before 0600 so when we got back to the parking lot an hour before the start of GasHouse with a bunch of cars in the parking lot, I was a bit surprised.

We started with a short mosey to the steps behind the church to pick up part of a telephone pole I had obtained a few months back. We took turns 2-person carrying this back to the track at Grier. We had a couple 40# sandbags and The Rock as coupons. The Rock is a couple pieces of granite wrapped in a towel that we used some Alabama chrome to attach a speaker so we could listen to Whoopee’s favorites this morning. Thanks for the assistance with this modification to The Rock Voodoo. Once we got to the track we  go to work. The group carried the above coupons in 1 direction and 2 Pax carried the telephone pole in the other direction. The group did 10 squats every quarter lap while the pole carriers kept a steady pace in the other direction until they met. At that time, the pole carriers swapped out for 2 semi-fresh pax. This process continued until all of us had a chance to carry the telephone pole for a lap. I think we went 37 laps in total (see above reference about Bad Asses).

We moved onto the grass for the next part: Bear with Me. This is a GoRuck exercise that we have done before at Diablo so there were some groans when I announced this. We moved the sandbags as our 10 yard markers and started up. The exercise involves Bear Crawls back and forth between the markers and 1 set of exercises at each end. The first round included the following: 20 reps of Squats, Merkins, Ruck Curls, Flutter Kicks, and Mountain Climbers. To be clear, this goes like this-bear crawl, squats, bear crawl, merkins, bear crawl, ruck curls…. For round 2, we did squats, upright rows, ruck curls, chest presses, and flutter kicks (I think). This took us the better part of the first hour so we headed back the long way to start to meet up with the BootCampers/PainLabbers with all of our coupons.

At this point a few of us re-hydrated, said the pledge with everyone, then headed out again after trading the telephone pole for a 60# sandbag (thanks a bunch Boudin). We started walking without any definite plans and miraculously ended up back at start at 0755 just in time for the COT. We got back in time to re-video the joke for my 2.0s about the telephone pole and calling Joe and Angie…..and the Pax ask: “Who are Joe and Angie?”……..Jo-Momma Angie-daddy (say it fast and it makes sense). Thanks guys, they enjoyed that.

If you have not been out on a ruck workout, you are missing out. Whether it is 1 on 1 or a crowd of 5 or more, the camaraderie and 2nd F that goes on is really what F3 is about. We all took turns with the coupons and no one really got too worn down. I will say it is every bit as tough as a typical F3 workouts because it is You vs You and you get your money’s worth out of these rucks if you do this right. Come check it out next week at The Yank starting at 0600 with Boudin as the Q.

At breakfast there was some chatter about IronMan races (technically a half ironman but that is a minor issue) for 2020………the goal may or may not eventually involve a trip to Hawaii……

Whoopee

2020 has been a slow start for me. I did the Murph New Year’s Day and then walked 18 holes of golf (6 miles according to my watch) so I considered my journey to 250 workouts in 2020 +1. And then my course of action took a fantastic nose-dive south. Fever, chills, aches; I visited Urgent Care Saturday morning. I don’t like Urgent Care but my M thought I was near death, so I went. I arrived ten minutes before they opened. I watched the staff trickle into the office ahead of me. The same nurse that was to attend to me didn’t appear enthused to be there. I say that because she barely stuck the q-stick in my nose or throat so I didn’t test positive for strep or flu. So the diagnosis was “flu-like” symptoms…whatever that means – no medicine, just the PA’s encouraging words that amounted to “suck it up and deal with it” for a week. I’m no doctor and didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn but I’d say I had the FLU. I felt like shit. I quarantined myself to the couch for the next eight days. I graduated to the extra bedroom for days nine-eleven finally going back to the office on Tuesday, assuring my co-workers that my coughing and hacking wasn’t contagious. But long before my symptoms arrived, I had put my name on the Q Schedule for Midoriyama for Thursday the 16th. Surely I’d be able to make that after 15 days out of commission. We’ll see…no FNG’s, we’re all idiots, the same ole stuff…like riding a bike:

Warm-up:

• Moroccan Night Clubs x 15 IC
• Toy Soldiers x 15 IC
• Squats x 15 IC
• SSH x 15 IC
• Pledge

Thang: A short mosey across the parking lot to the larger, open lot by the first softball field. Basically because I have no cardio to run any distance. While on the couch for a long period of time and work was little more than keeping current on my email and dialing into the occasional meeting, I had some time to think about this Weinke. So first up on the list took some explaining and then emphasis, and more explaining along with a few demos – this was Midoriyama after all where math can be challenging. So I’ll attempt to explain for those of you that didn’t attend – maybe you’ll get the concept – maybe you’ll add it to your own Weinke, or maybe you’ll complain like my PAX did…

Find a partner and P1 stand on one parking lot line while P2 is two parking lines apart (there is one parking line between the two of you). On the first line both PAX perform 5 (that is the number five, cinco if you’re from Mexico); perform 5 jump squats, then drop down and plank walk laterally (that is east/west) to meet your partner at the middle parking lot line and then do 10 partner merkins (aka Boo-Yah Merkins, aka Hand-Slap Merkins); then proceed plank-walking laterally to the third parking lot line, stand up and perform 5 (once again in English – five or in Spanish – Cinco) Squat-Jacks. Once completed, plank walk laterally the opposite direction to meet your partner in the middle parking line for 9 partner merkins, then continue lateral plank walk back to your starting spot to do another 5 jump squats. Sound simple enough?? Possibly, so just know on your own, do 5 jump squats or 5 squat jacks…plank walk to meet your partner and do descending count 10 to 1 partner merkins in the middle. The point was to burn the shoulders with the plank walk and partner merkins and get the cardio going on the other 5 reps. Complaints started and whether the PAX followed instructions, it didn’t matter – hopefully you felt the pain. Next time, I’ll try to explain better as it’s a good routine that will take about 5 minutes. Let’s mosey to the next part.

Down to the picnic shelter near the BMX track…keep your same partners if you like (or if you’re SA’s partner feel free to switch). Use the picnic tables…P2 gets in plank with their legs under the bench, they are the count doing 10 merkins…P1 sits on the bench and does seated rainbow leg lifts side to side AMRAP and then switches…3 sets. Round II: P1 does the Scorpion Plank x 10 – now this is new so pay attention…P1 gets in plank w/ feet on the picnic bench, they do a Parker Peter (that is R knee to L elbow, then L knee to R elbow) and then 1 merkin = 1 rep. P2 does SSH until P1 completes, then flap-jack x 3 sets. Round III: P1 does an American Hammer (right hand, then left hand swinging across the core) then does two leg kicks where you reach up toward your toes…it’s a core killer – you need to try it. P2 does SSH’s until P1 completes 8 reps. Flap-jack for 3 rounds.

So if you’re paying attention, that’s 2 new ones in my repertoire, that I’ll bring to an AO near you. The whole set seemed to be a crowd pleaser as plenty of grumbling, whining and complaining occurred. The GranTan tried to conjure up old memories of YHC’s blow-ups on relay races but that was just hiding his love for this pain. Let’s mosey back to the parking lot where we began.

Keep your partners for the Lazy Dora (because I didn’t think I had time for the full one). P1 runs about 25 yards and back while P2 performs:

• Diamond Big-Boys x 75 aggregate
• Donkey Kick + Plank Jack x 100 aggregate (another new one – PAX loved it)
• Flutter Kick (right leg) x 150 aggregate

With about 5 minutes left, let’s do more core work so Mary can be satisfied: all reps x 15: Dying Cockroach, Freddie Mercury, Corkscrew, low plank knee touches, low plank Peter Parker –> TIME!

There was plenty of mumble chatter today because it’s Midoriyama and that is what they do as the Nation’s Original Afternoon Workout. Nominated by the PAX is to amend Sister Act’s name to White Claw because he apparently loves the new girly beverage, maybe not as much as Starbucks Iced Coffee, but he enjoyed them at the Christmas Party. HIPAA wore his weighted vest and gutted through the plank work, especially the Scorpion Planks – T-Claps brother. There was a rumor Defib complained…if so, I take that as a compliment from one of the toughest PAX in our region (belated HBD).

COT: Announcements: 1/26 – Cavendish at 3 pm is a P200 meeting, followed at 4 pm by the Leadership Advisory Meeting (Def Leppard didn’t say PAX not on leadership couldn’t attend, so if you’re interested in what goes on at the top level – stop by and grab a beer and listen to the wisdom), look for new AO on Monday’s in Dallas at Ingles (do some exercise and then arrive at 0600 for prayer of the week). Prayers: Defib’s son, Swimmer’s MIL, Tiger’s Dad, Gumby’s recovery from surgery, Lil’ Sweet possible surgery, the prayer list Tiger submitted, there could have been others I failed to remember – my apologies, but the Sky Q knows.

Moleskin: It was good to be back in the circle…I’m still looking to get 100% of energy back but when you’re on the sidelines and unable to participate, I missed the workouts and the fellowship. It would be easy to fall out of the habit of fitness to become a Kotter or Sad Clown, but reading BB’s and Slack kept my interest and focus to be among the brotherhood…#healshortsale.