Well, after our ruck we decided a little stretching out was in order. The temps were in the 50s(which is kind of rare) we were able to go onto the courts for a nice broga workout. The idea to work everything from top to bottom(we needed to when the main workout came up) plus show a new method to get into a stretch that for some is difficult.
A total of 15 minutes, we felt better and ready to go for what was to be the Army Physical Fitness Test
12 Rockin Rollers set upon the stage to assess their own badassery, as they put themselves through the Army Combat Fitness Test with 3 deadlifts, the 25 meter sprint-drag-carry, as well as the long hold half-plank, the 12 pound ball throw, 2 minutes of maxed out hand release push-ups and culminated with a 2 mile run. Only those who scored above a 540 out of 600 possible points could be compared to the “Army Stud” and surprisingly, half of these PAX did exactly that, absolutely killed it!
8 men answer the 530a Monday call to get after it despite the mid 30s temperature and thanksgiving week get out of jail card. Always inspired by their commitment to push themselves and thankful for the opportunity to lead this group of men.
Q shared his perspective on gratitude and the humbling year that was 2023. Pushed PAX to dig deep this week on uncovering what we’re really grateful for and to separate that from the surface level, holiday card version of what we mean when we’re grateful.
For me, it’s the fact that my youngest, Liv (1), is alive today. It’s for my health. It’s for my marriage not only suriving, but thriving, in a pediatric terminal illness diagnosis when data suggests otherwise. And, it’s for meeting this inspiring group of men when I needed them most. F3 has been a boon in what can best be summarized as a traumatic year for me. With those challenges comes transformation, and while it wasn’t a fair trade, I’m a better version of myself because of all of it and to put a positive spin on it, after surviving that, nothing can shake me moving forward.
Here’s what went down:
Warm up — @ Alamo
Blimps
Thing 1 — B.L.I.M.P.S (Rankin Dr)
Plank for the 6, hold — right/left/regular, drop to low hold, recover
Line up — run aheads to Endstone trail
Thing 2 — DORA Abs Verison @ Run past goal, to stop (Endstone Trail) sign/end of street and back
Line up — run aheads to Litton Dr
Gratitude mosey — stop half way for real talk with the men
Thing 3 — DORA (Litton Dr)
Line up — mosey back to The Alamo
Thing 4 — Ring of fire choice of merkin x10
COT — @ Alamo
We had 3 walkers due to injuries along with a couple of dogs. One of the dogs was an FNG. “What was your first concert?”
Mosey to the Corner Parking Lot
Begin with Disclaimer:
I am not a professional. The idea is to get better, not to get hurt, so feel free to modify called exercises.
Mosey to corner Parking lot
Mosey to Asphalt playground
Mosey to corner parking lot
Mosey to asphalt playground
To the grass playground in back; Divide into 3 groups. Rotate Clockwise
To the asphalt playground for 11s
To the wall for
Mosey to the flag: Birddogs
Time’s up!
Announcements: Convergence Thursday 6:00 AM at Mary Mumford
VQ at Dogpile on December 2 (sorry but I didn’t get whose VQ this is)
Take out: Name something you are grateful for; F3, Family, Handshake and others for headlocks.
Seven men materialized from the gloom looking for a personal challenge and hoping it would involve lots of bear crawls. According to the bears at Maymont evaluating the techniques on display this is how it went down.
COP – SSH, Helicopters, DQ, IW, Copperhead Squats, Merkins, LBC, APD all IC
Matriculate from the circle around to the far corner of the “temporary” construction fence and divide up for a triple check: LBC’s, plank, touch 5 different trees
Shuffle to the rusty cage: Another triple check! Pull ups, American Hammers, timer does 30 jump squats
Ease into a light job and head to the bottom of Death Valley behind the Amphiteather: 11’s with WWII’s at the bottom and Merkins at the top. Traverse between the points channeling your inner bear, rotating a quarter turn for each trip. Bears frequently move sideways and backwards up hills according to Mutual of Omaha. QIC called a couple audibles on this one – moved the whole thing to the bottom of the valley traveling the length of the brick building, then switch from merkins to lunges, then end a bit short. That’s a lot of time spent in bear position.
Slide over to the Amphiteather: Take a few minutes to do some stretching…. then climb the rows, doing two step-ups on each bench, turn around and do two dips on each bench coming back down.
Hustle back up the steps over to the field for a single round of Four corners: 10 merkins, 20 arm circles, 30 single count lunges, 40 SSH.
BTTF
Announcements: Thanksgiving Day convergence at 45MOM lead by Mudslide – 6am sharp!
Keep Heist’s friends in your thoughts as they are navigating a pregnancy with twins which is keeping everybody on their toes as they monitor the developing human beings. Also keep in mind F3 brothers who are reopening chapters of their lives they imagined they were past.
As a wise man once said: Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.
On occasion of entry into my second half-century of life I pause to be thankful for my family and friends who are part of my journey and continue to provide the motivation, support, and kicks in the butt to keep achieving more than I would on my own.
Thanks for letting me lead and joining me in the gloom.
16 of this region’s finest embarked on route through the darkness of Windsor Farms before picking up the remainder of the miles in the grid system of the Mary Mumford area.
The 6 route was a little lite and appreciated.
YHC took us out.
One runner and two ruckers rose bright and early to get the juices flowing before Broga and a Ponch beatdown. Weather conditions were ideal considering the recent 30 degree temps. Big Rig got in his early morning miles. Always great to ruck with Mudslide although YHC has to work double time and can still barely keep up.
House Party
2 Davillians got back to running on a Saturday. Route was out to Totopotomoy and back to get in 5.75 miles
Good pace for the first long distance run in a while.
Spit on that!!
A studly pair of trios responded to the SOJ Kettlebell bat signal ready for some ground and pound. Here is what the early dog walkers and security cameras witnessed.
Park the KB’s on the sidewalk and take a quick tour around the school to see what areas are illuminated. Stopped at the blacktop for introductions, disclaimers and a very efficient warm up that included DQ’s, Helis, Jazzercise, Merkins, WWII’s (these were harder today for some reason), Freddies and Rosalitas. All seemed right with the world, so let us begin.
Brocode Lindsey back to the starting point. Exercises were Jump Squats and Carolina Dry Docks performed at various places along the way as we made our way back to the Kettlebells.
4 rounds of Circle work with the Kettlebells. 1st round, timer ran around the school, rotate group exercise; 2nd round, timer runs to the woods and back, rotate group exercise; Rounds 3 & 4, timer runs the bus loop, rotate group exercise selected by returning timer.
Time was called. Numbers, names, Prayers & Announcements. YHC took us out.
Prayers to Gumbos friends family as they work thru some health challenges with their youngest in Nova while their father is on an extended business trip. Good update on Gumbo and his family. Prayers for patience to those traveling PAX during the upcoming holiday season with families and in-laws.
Announcements: Tuckaruck tonight has been turned into a 2nd F at Lockjaws abode. See slack for deets.
NMS: YHC has been trying to improve his kettlebell Q game. Would have failed miserably today without the support of the PAX in calling out a variety of exercises. Thank you brothers. Looking back while concocting the BB, some triple checks or Doras would have been a nice variety. Mumble chatter is always strong in circle workouts. Todays problems that were solved included emergency health care, college applications and upcoming out of town trips.
Great work today gents. Thank you for getting me out.
Seven men considered dispersing in separate directions but opted to join up and see where the wind took them. The wind did the following:
The Route
Numberama, Nameorama, COT
MOLESKIN
YHC started it off, Handshake took it very briefly, Lighthouse followed up, maybe more PAX contributed. YHC suggests a run with a shared Q should have its own name, perhaps a Hot Croissant in honor of the delicious croissants available 1 mile from the AO, not 8,000 miles away as Gomer would claim. Great Friday for a run, if running didn’t suck.
ANNOUNCEMENTS