Gastone took the realm of Snoballs this morning for a good old fashioned Beat-down.

Pledge then disclaimer for FNG.

The Thang:

All 3 Count

30 SSH

10 Merkins

30 Imperial Walker

10 Diamond Merkins

Mosey around baseball fields.

Short stop for some plank a rama followed by 10 Burpee’s while the 6 joins us.

Mosey the the back of the soccer fields to the bottom of the hill into the woods.

OYO, 30 Monkey Humpers, 20 Squats, 30 Gorilla Humpers

Backwards up the hill or as we call it Urr.

OYO, 30 Mountain Climbers, 30 Monkey Humpers, 20 Squats, 30 Gorilla Humper (Little brain problem as I forgot the name of Mountain Climbers, thanks Defib)

Backwards up the hill, Urr.

OYO, 30 SSH,  30 Mountain Climbers, 30 Monkey Humpers, 20 Squats, 30 Gorilla Humper

Urr up the hill.

Mosey around to the field next to the pull up bar at bottom of the hill on the path.

While waiting on the 6 we did 40 LBC’s and then 40 Flutter kicks to my count.

Jack Webb all the way up to 10 and then back down to 1. Starts with 1 Merkin and 1 Arms above you head and then goes to 2.

Mosey around the field and up the hill backwards to the pull up bar. Once at the pull up bar do 1 pull up each.

Mosey through the shortcut through the woods. (Some thought they took the better way back but they actually took the long way. )

The Pax did 40 American Hammers counting our right side.

The Moleskin:

Great morning and always a great group of guys. Monty Miller was named during the workout because of his love of Motorcycles like Harley’s, so he is Moped. He should make a great addition to the Pax.

Announcements: Convergence on the 9th at Midoriyama. 6/23 Calloway Peak Hike to the top and back.

Prayers for Madoff’s friend with Cancer.

Ended in Prayer as is done in every F3 workout.

Gastone Out!

Way back, coming up on two weeks Turtle Man takes the Q at Snoballs. For as much mumble chatter as he provides, he doesn’t take the Q too often but I’m sure that will change soon. The circle began to form and Turtle Man stepped forward with a disclaimer and the pledge. We did a light warm-up of a few things that I can’t remember because, well, it’s been nearly two weeks and I can barely remember my own Q from a week ago. But as you maybe began to detect – if you don’t write a backblast for a workout which I attended, I want credit – especially during this 40 Days of Discipline. The Weasel Shaker can be a thankless job and the pay is awful, but there are certain privileges that will be invoked from time to time and this happens to be one of them. So after a brief warm-up, Turtle Man announces the sometimes disconcerting “follow me,” out of the parking lot and away we went traveling down Riverwood Parkway. We stopped after maybe two minutes of action and were commanded do to 25 merkins on our own. Turtle Man was announcing his presence with authority. He announced it a few more times so that by the time we reached Gastone’s Hill, we’d done 100 merkins. A nice shoulder burn was going and then the Thang was announced. NUR Gastone’s Hill all the way to the top; once at the top, perform 25 American Hammers (or maybe it was Flutter Kicks, or maybe he omaha’ed to Flutter Kicks, but we did 25 of an ab exercise at the top). Run forward all the way to the bottom and do I think 10 or maybe 20 squats (or some exercise like a squat intended to burn our quads). That was the loop: NUR up, ab exercise for 25 reps, Run down, 20 of a leg exercise = 0.4 of a mile each trip. Nice idea Turtle Man, which I later learned he borrowed from Stone Cold. The challenge was levied as to who could complete six rounds. To conserve time, Turtle Man omaha’ed the NUR after the third trip, opting for the standard forward mosey. At some point during the trips Stroganoff and Stone Cold had to leave a little early. We reached 06:10 and Turtle Man called for the jail-break. Sargento had been leading the charge the entire workout and following his Q, about-faced on the hill maybe 3/4 up and headed back. Gastone and maybe Whoopee decided they were going to complete the 6 laps, which they did and hustled behind us. We had a brief COT and Turtle Man took us out in a prayer.

So as you have read – a pretty good Q. That very morning after the workout I set up Turtle Man with access (again) to write his backblast. He even thanked me for doing it. But then the Sad Clown attacked him and he got lazy or lost his focus. So I’m picking up the Six in the narrative way. Here is looking forward to Turtle Man’s next Q and writing his first backblast. For all of you among the PAX, many have the ability to post a backblast. If your Q falls short – you step in and write one for him, we’re always here for each other.

Short Sale

Now I know how Whoopee feels when he Q’s. I woke up at 3:30 this morning in a panic that I had overslept. This was a hangover from Monday when I hit the “off” instead of “snooze” and came in hot to Rudolph’s beatdown. Excitement sped through my mind which became occupied with my opening monologue, the “suggestions”, the count and order – all the fun stuff that comes with the Q. The Weinke was pretty well set but you never know how things will go once the red light comes on and the cameras are rolling. 0500 hits and I suit up arriving early for me (thought I’m not usually on “Sparky time”), passing Stroganoff on an EC run. I was happy to see our contingent from NOGA in the SnoBalls lot, mingling with a regular Wednesday crowd that began to expand. Was there a convergence that I missed? No, this is Folsom, our brothers only 15 minutes north of us deciding to get some extra work between their Tuesday and Thursday standard AO. No FNG’s though Diva popped in for his first boot camp after torching the Coconut Horse on Sunday. So the brief disclaimer was shared: “follow my suggestions, modify as needed, you verses you, etc.” As I’ve heard the Folsom boys say 0530, “time to clock-in” we did that quickly.

Warm-Up

• Moroccan Night Clubs IC x 11 (meant to stop at 10 but you got an extra rep)
• Seal Jacks IC x 5

Let’s Mosey to Martha Rivers Park, Field #1

Thang:

As advertised, the upper body challenge would begin, albeit on a soggy field. At least it beats working out in a rain storm. We’re tough and handled it with a few complaints (=Sandy V’s). The set below could be completed in any order the PAX wished using the hill between the field and paved track for the Joe Hendrix.

• Pull-ups x 3
• Burpees x 10
• Imperial Walker Squats x 20 (count both legs)
• Merkins w/ alternate toe tap x 10 (count both legs)
• Joe Hendrix up the hill

We went three rounds total. The unexpected large group challenged the space and with only one pull-up bar we had to adjust but the PAX managed through it. This took a little longer to complete so already my Weinke was under modification. A quick count off was all the rest the QIC offered then the PAX had a choice: Option A or Option B. The echo of mumble chatter said “C” – that wasn’t on the list so you then get both – we’ll squeeze them in. Mosey through the gloom and into Riverwood then making a left on Riverwood Parkway to the office building.

The Triple Nickel is a Brownstreak special (feel better soon brother). We used the small hill of the parking lot to perform 5 monkey humpers at the bottom NUR (that’s R-U-N spelled backwards if you’re a Chapel Hill fan) up the hill and in honor of our sage veteran we did 5 Def Leppard Merkins (CDD’s). Run down the hill, navigating the busy traffic to complete 5 rounds (2 different exercises with 5 reps each x 5 rounds = triple nickel. I didn’t name it, I just run the exercise). Another quick count off became confusing because Stroganoff had to leave early for a work meeting. We escaped over the rear wall to the back of the old Harris Teeter, circle to the parking lot.

Option B or Option W were offered to the PAX, only a few raised their hands for B (which would have been Burpee-cides using the parking lot lines – I’ll save that one).  So we go with Option W which was some wall work with other fun stuff to burn the shoulders.

• Hip Slappers x 10 (total)
• Bear crawl to the median
• Merkins x 10
• Run to the end of the parking lot
• Flutter Kicks x 20 (count one leg)
• Rinse & repeat, rinse & repeat

Most of the guys finished their third circuit and began chatting – what is this a FIA workout? You can compare weight loss tips after you clock out; we’ve got 5 minutes left – “get on your 6” we’re gonna give Mary some love:

• Flutter Kicks IC x 20
• Freddie Mercury IC x 20
• American Hammer IC x 20

Time to mosey home, arriving at 0615 – Done!

COT: No real announcements other than the Folsom guys recruiting for their Saturday AO selling us on Def Leppard as the Q and the Country Kitchen’s breakfast (0630 at Biggerstaff Park – meet in lot by the tennis courts, contrary to rumor, cars are welcome). Prayers were lifted for Allen Tate’s mother-in-law, a friend of Medicine Woman, Def Leppard’s son and his upcoming travels and finally for each other.

Moleskin: You ever get those little pimple/ingrown hairs? Of course you have, you’re a man. Pesky little things that you suck it up and try to pop but sometime they don’t pop. Or worse, you scrape them off and they leave a mark and sore spot. I opened the session this morning to share with the PAX about a work task my boss had asked me to do that I had been dragging my feet to do, coming up with any excuse to push it aside; kind of like avoiding busting the little pimple, avoiding some pain. He’s a good boss that I uses some tough love to express is message occasionally; this was one of those times. I shared some of the struggles for the “ask” and he saw it was a tangled mess. So we devised a new plan of attack. The story was a bit faster in person than for you to read, but hopefully you get the point. It lead to this scripture: Colossians 1:11: “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.” The size of the task can be overwhelming until it is broken into parts. If we lead off our Q’s with the open kimono for the total of every rep, it can be a daunting task. But we break it up into circuits and smaller reps it is a bit easier. It works in life, not just a workout. But like life, we need each other for encouragement. The Sky Q helped with the Colossians verse.

This was a great morning for many reasons. Always fun to Q but better yet when you get the surprise of an AO converging. The power of F3 bringing guys together from different parts of our home county – there is strength in numbers and mumble chatter, which was constant. Clear instructions were provided, some listened, some modified, all got better. Sparky claimed to have been running for the 25 minutes or while he searched for us. Someone needs to buy that boy an alarm clock and set it 5 minutes ahead. Nice work by the PAX today – too many to call out. Thanks to Gastone for setting a great tone for this AO and all that get to experience it, whether leading or following.

The gauntlet has been laid, you better make your way to Folsom, otherwise they will come to you.

Until the next one, thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Short Sale

10 Showed for the bootcamp and 1 for the sadclown run.

The Thang:

25 SSH

5 Diamond Merkins

25 Imperial Walkers

Mosey to the back of the soccer fields.

Bottom of the hill 25 Monkey Humpers, up the hill backwards 15 Merkins. Rinse and repeat 3 times. Merkins went down 5 each time.

Bottom of the hill 30 Squats, up the hill backwards, 25 Mountain climbers counting the right leg. Rinse and repeat 3 times.

Mosey middle path of lower soccer fields.

Lunges for 50 yards.

Mosey to upper soccer field.

Bear crawl about 30 yards recover. Then Bear crawl next 40 yards.

Mosey up little hill past pull up bar then to the middle of the baseball field.

Against one of the dugout walls we did 3 sets of Balls to the Wall. First set we held position for 40 seconds, then 30, then ended with 20 seconds on last set.

Mosey towards sidewalk with a stop for 40 Flutter kicks on my count.

Mosey to close to the start but to the half wall in front of the bank.

15 Dips, rest, 10 Dips, rest, 5 Dips, rest, 10 Dips.

Mosey back to start with 1 minute left for 30 LBC’s

The Moleskin:

Great morning with lots of good guys. Bear joined us about halfway in when he found us for his first but he made it. 5 minutes late with a hundred directions to turn can make for a hard find. Welcome Bear. Gastone, made several count errors. I guess my brain was not working fully but I still put out a bootcamp worth attending. Timeframe did ask if I had a Winky when we started, I always have a Winky.

Prayers for Clavin, hope your knee heels with great speed and we will miss you out and about while you are on the IR. Please everyone reach out to Clavin, it’s hard not to be present.

Gastone Out!