Following a day of heavy rain and tornado warnings, daylight savings brought the sun out early to confirm it was going to be a beautiful, if not a bit warmer than expected day at the Carillon on its way to Sunny and 70. On occasion of this 12th day of November, QIC arrived with some ideas of how to celebrate his 49th trip around the sun. As documented by YHC it went something like this:
COP – SSH (11), Helicopters (12), Imperial Walkers (11), DQ (12), Stretches, Forward Lunge (6), Backward Lunge (6), Side Lunge (6), LBC (19), HR Merkin (7), Burpee OYO (3) (11-12-1973)
Ampitheater – 7 Incline Merkins and 3 Box Jumps, repeat for seven steps (49 Merkins, “73”)
Death Valley/Fishbowl – 11’s – WWIIs and Merkins
Ha’ Penny Stage – Coupons and Partners – A set = Block Plank while partner does 4 coupon squats, rotate, partner does 9 squats. Repeat set for total of two
Rusty Cage – 12’s – Pull-ups and American Hammers over at two trees a short jaunt away
Return to the flag for Mary – Freddie Mercury’s (11), Box Cutters (12), Elbow Plank, Merkin Ring o Fire
Announcements/Thoughts/Prayers – PAX wished the best for all of the Richmond Marathon and Half-Marathon participants in the warm weather. YHC has been thinking about Anthrax and his Knucklehead 2022 but forgot to include the good vibes out loud in the wake of the workout.
YHC took us out
Musings – Welcome to Joe Pa visiting from Charleston, SC. He and Body Karate are on day 75 of some insane consecutive-day challenge as I heard it. Hats off!
Saturday was my 49th birthday and as birthdays do it got me looking back. I am immensely grateful for Sippy Cup who brought me to a DogPile workout lead by The Carpenter in June of 2017. Hard to believe it’s been more than five years! I went back to that Backblast to review what we did (it was kind of a blur at the time but started with a lot of SSH of course) and a comment he closed with is very apt for today: “YHC couldn’t be more proud of the way each man fought through today’s workout and pushed themselves while encouraging one another. We are all getting stronger as we push through one workout after another together. YHC would not even come close to doing half of what we knock out as a team if I tried alone.”
I came in with a plan built around 11’2, 12’s, 49’s, 19’s, and 73’s. Two-thirds of the way through 11’s in the fishbowl as the mumble chatter was already heating up and basically asking “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”, my thoughts were “Oh no. What have I done? Can I even do this?” but I and the group all pushed on and I said to myself the refrain I’ve heard many a time “If you can’t do it, don’t Q it”. I adjusted the block planks a bit and then we headed to the rusty cage. I thought about changing but ultimately stuck with the pull-ups because those have been the bane of my existence and I always need more. It was a lot. I saw some adjustments from the pax as the total mounted and I myself took advantage of some leg assistance but completed the sets.
On my own I would never achieve anywhere close to what I achieve by being part of this group and today, as I took my turn as a leader, I did even more as I felt the responsibility to follow-through on what I started even tho my body was yelling for me to stop! I will remember this long after the soreness I’m feeling today subsides.
Thank you to everybody who came out and stuck with me as we sweated through this warm November morning. Congratulations and fist bumps to everybody who challenged themselves this weekend.
