11 HIMs came out to ruck/run in the 14 degree the gloom blessed us with today. Q source topic was Lizard building the last of the quadrant.  No bullfrogs or leeches to be found in this group.

Day 1 of the Pushing Rocks’ Challenge I intended to post at the Pub but my M said she already had plans with her workout group. Well, what to do? Party of 1 at the newest AO that no one knew about. We’ve had defections in our region. F4, the Rhyne Alliance so now it’s just in time for the Pushing Rocks Challenge: F-THAT!

As it says in our guide manual DRED says we are “Freed to Lead” and with that as of 6:00 am this morning I executed that very plan to perfection. My alarm rang and I did what any Fartacker would do, I contemplated hitting snooze. Which I executed in one singular arm-swipe – oh Hell yeah, it’s on MFer. I snoozed for a good 9 minutes until the bell sounded once again. This time it’s REAL my friend. I sprang out of bed, went to piss and promptly returned to the fartsack for another Snooze period. At 6:18, I realized I was not going back to sleep (dammit) so I begrudgingly put on 8 layers of clothes so I could handle the shock of 29 degrees and walked outside to the launch point of the newest AO: Short Sales Driveway. I quietly wonder, ‘Where is Everyone? Don’t the other PAX know this AO begins promptly at 6:30 am sharp?” Huh, guess it’s a solo start – F-That!

So I moseyed 4 miles around my neighborhood (check Strava if you want to validate). It mostly sucked because my legs are tired from this half ‘thon training Sargento is forcing me to run. But fortunately for the Q, the mumble chatter was damn near silent.

After 39 minutes, I crossed the finish line and called it a day. At most running AO’s like the Pub, this is the time when bat flippers  like SA and Seuss bemoan the slow-pokes with expressions like “it’s 6:42, don’t this jack-legs know I need to get to work?” or so I hear…but not today, it was eerily quiet as I waited on the 6 to arrive – oh yeah, that was me. TIME!

COT: Prayers for my family, Turtleman, and batflippers. Announcements – Pushing Rock’s Challenge begins today, Folsom Winter Nationals on 2/10, and the Krispy Kreme Challenge in Raleigh – Sargento, JJ, and Short Sale are making the trek for this epic CSAUP, see Sarge for details.

Just like FRC and the Half-pipe got approved for the PRC, I’m excited to see F-That build roots as one of the newest AO’s in our region. The last time Short Sale (yeah I went 3rd person on you) started a cool new AO in McAdenville called Snooze, this must be an awesome place I should visit to get an exquisite workout from the First F Champion. Well you better check yourself before you commit to this epic endeavor. But if some of you PAX are wondering – what, where and when is this exciting new AO?

F-That –

• what day of the week? Whatever day Short Sale doesn’t post at F3 and decides to workout
• what time? when Short Sale quits hitting snooze and rolls out of bed
• where is the workout? Normally Short Sales house (bring your own block or kb)
• how long – depends on the activity
• what do you get? an epic beatdown

If anyone is interested to learn more – DM me. SYITG (or not)

Hey Hunchback – put me down for a point!

F-That!

SSH 20, squats 10, air press 10, waist bends KB, around world 10, merkins 20, plank Jack’s 10, lbc 10, flutterkicks 20, american hammers 10.

20 KB swings
20 Monkey Humpers
20 Curls
20 Chest Pulls
20 Merkins
20 Dips
20 LBCs
20 Reverse LBCs
20 American Hammers
20 Big Boy sit ups
20 Shoulder Taps
20 Merkin pull through
20 squat curls press
20 lawnmowers
20 Around the world
20 lunges
20 Calf raises
20 Incline merkins
5 burpies

Completed 1.7 rounds!

Warmup: SSH, Squats 10, Air Press 10, Waist Bends 10, Around the World 10, Merkins 20,  Plank Jacks 10, LBC 10, Flutterkicks 20, American Hammers 10

PLEDGE

Thang:

20 Squat Curl Press
10 Burpies
10 LBCs
10 American Hammers
10 Burpies

10 Big Boy Sit Ups
10 Shoulder Taps
10 Freddie Mercuries
10 Merkin Pull Through

15 Squat Curl Press
10 Burpies
10 Lawnmowers each side
10 Flutterkicks
10 Burpies

15 Dips
10 Incline Merkins
10, 10, 10, Calf Raises
20 Curls

10 Big Boy Sit Ups
10 Shoulder Taps
10 Freddie Mercuries
10 Merkin Pull Through

10 Squat Curl Press
10 Burpies
10 Lawnmowers each side
20 Flutterkicks
10 Burpies

15 Dips
10 Incline Merkins
10, 10, 10, Calf Raises
20 Curls

COT

Welcome to day 1 of the Pushing Rocks Challange, Part 2.

With better numbers than usual and weighted packs on tow we clocked in just over 2 miles this morning.  Left out of Pelican’s Snoballs just after the 5:30 pledge headed for Robinson School.  Rucked around the rear for the school where the stairs the go down to the baseball field is located.  Just eyeballing I would estimate the number of the stairs to be around 30.  From the bottom of the staircase 3 calf raises per stair.  Pax waiting to go at the bottom and Pax at top waiting for everyone to finish do AMRAP squats.

Scrat had to modify because it was needed.

Headed back in the direction of Snoballs we took a quick trip up Gastone’s hill.

Return to flag and time.

Everyone here now has 1 point.

Nice start to the day, month, and challenge.

It as always was an honor and privilege.

AYE!!!!!!!!!

Timeframe

Started with standard warm ups, and a lap around the parking lot.

From there it was Merkins on the clock:
– with your feet staying in the same place, and in the plank position, hand walk to the one o’clock position from the 12 and perform 1 merkin, without rest, hand walk to each succeeding number on the clock, performing that number of merkins.  In all, each PAX will have performed 78 merkins after the 12 o’clock position.

With the same concept as above, we did Heels to Heaven on the clock, with one’s head as the center of the dial.

Mosey into town to the brick pallets lot
Grabbing two bricks, one in each hand, we conducted shoulder exercises.

Mosey to adjacent parking lot.
15 Burpees
20 Triple Bears
60 squats
Lap around the lot

Nur up the road
Bear crawl to next drive
Crab walk to next drive
Broad jump to next drive

Mosey to AO
~100 yard dash Rabbit Chase
Airplane extensions to close out

Prayer requests for Turtleman’s recovery, new 2.0’s entering the world, aging relatives battling health issues, and a friend experiencing a troubled marriage.

Day before the “Pushing Rocks” challenge kickoff, rocks were already being pushed at The Ricky Bobby.  Here’s what I remember:

5 burpees to start, then standard disclaimer and warmup.  Cheesesteak was amazed as I called 5 more burpees for the train 2 seconds before he heard the whistle!  On to The Thang:  Each pax received a pink folded-in-half sticky note “wild card” to – optionally – be presented at any point during the workout, at which point pax were required to follow the written instructions.  Then, the regular beatdown continued.  We got through a full round of dirty 11s (hand-release merkins and jungle-boy squats with 1 burpee in the middle each way) and moved on to alligator merkins the long way across the parking lot.  This was intended to suck.  It took 30 seconds of alligator merkins before Orangeman pulled out the wild card.  We did 59 burpees (as a group) as instructed, then Omaha’ed the remaining alligator merkins and circled up for a called exercise (AMRAP) while each pax in turn ran to the end of the parking lot and back.  We did Bobby Hurleys, American Hammers, and Nolan Ryans until they hurt or someone pulled a wild card or both.  Somewhere in the mix, Tesla presented the wild card that called for Stargazers!  Too bad there were no stars to gaze at on this cloudy humid morning.  After another round with Heels to Heaven, moseyed back to the flag for 4 minutes of Mary.  Orangeman’s 6-shooter was fully automatic with an infinite magazine, so Kool-Aid pulled one last Wild Card and did 10 burpees while the rest of us did Mike Tysons until time.  Whew, that was a lot!

Announcements – Folsom Nationals Feb 10

Prayers for marriages, pax on IR, Orangeman’s friend struggling, and Nutria’s daughter in spelling bee

I appreciate the HIM’s who came out today and didn’t take a “rest day” before Pushing Rocks.  I hope you got your money’s worth and even had a little bit of fun, except for the alligator merkins, that was just stupid from the get-go.  Thanks also to Roscoe, from whom I shamelessly stole the idea for the “wild cards.”  Good ideas are worth repeating/copying!

• Nutria