FIGHTING FORCE
My VQ
Conditions: Good
PAX: 22
FNGs: 1 (Jim Beckman AKA Chestnut)
Warmarama
The Thang
COT
Tribute to the U.S Marine Corps, gratitude for their service and freedom, prayer for elected leaders
A beautiful morning awaited 10 magnificent warriors on the Gridiron. With 1 hour to burn, here is how it went down:
Great work from the PAX today. Great to have Spit visit Gridiron, and to have our marathoners back in the fold. 210 merkin reps today for the November challenge, and the PAX were true gentlemen in letting the young girls warm-up on the turf soccer field. Good to be with these men today for a modest beat-down. Plenty of arm work, so no complaints there.
There will be a Thanksgiving convergence at 6 am. Please look for announcements on location. YHC already forgot.
God is good all of the time!
Attila
A double dozen came out on a beautiful morning at Ms. Mary Munford’s Elementary School for a Friday the 13th edition of RAMM.
After a few were lost last week on the Windsor Farms route, we wanted to try it again, with a bit more specific directions.
YHC did realize something during the jaunt that most likely is happening on this particular run. Three or four years ago we would run Hillcrest with regularity…it even became (and still is?) a Wednesday afternoon Q. Of course, we’ve had a plethora of guys join us since those runs, and they may (MAY!) not be as familiar with Hillcrest as others. After all, it is dark and there are a decent amount of offshoots around that hill.
From what it seems, everyone got back in good shape today and no one, to my knowledge got lost. It’s not the easiest of runs…Hillcrest at the top is a bear…but hopefully the PAX is figuring this one out.
Head east on Wilmetta which more or less turns into Kingscrest. Up the hill on Kingscrest until it dead ends at Malvern.
Right (south) on Malvern. Malvern crosses Cary and heads into Windsor Farms. You veer left on Canterbury which takes you around the backside of the neighborhood.
If you take the left the first time you see Dover, you’ll end up on the Powhite Parkway. Don’t take the first left on Dover. Continue to go around past Agecroft Hall and Gardens and then you come upon Dover again.
Take that left. That shoots you out to Locke Lane. You hop across an overgrown median and end up on Pocahontas. Take that until it ends on Hillcrest.
Take a right (North) on Hillcrest and start up the namesake of the street.
4s…exit Hillcrest (on Hillcrest, ironically) and cross Cary. Head west for about 15 paces to Oak. Go North on Oak, across Grove to Patterson. East on Patterson, south on WestMoreland, east on Grove, back to the flag.
5s…take another loop around Hillcrest, then exit on Hillcrest and follow the path of the 4s.
6s….take the same 2nd loop on Hillcrest but keep going back down the hill…go straight on Charmain, which ends up being WestMoreland. Hairpin turn at the end of WestMoreland (at Cary) back south on Locke. Take a RIGHT on Dover, then left on Berkshire to Cary. West on Cary and Circle MM back to the flag.
Everyone have a good weekend.
7 friday the 13th warriors posted for what started as Dan’s Dojo and ended with slaying the Beast of New Market at Satan’s Hill. It was 530. Let’s go
COP
The Dojo opened and we honed our front kick, side kick, jab, cross, and upper cut skills. On your 6 for some ab work and Rosco comes in hot and almost takes out the PAX. The PAX welcomes him and YHC decided that since Rosco missed the shadow boxing rounds we should indulge him. Mosey to leave Satan’s hill so that we might find the Beast in New Market division II.
THANG
Beast – The Hard Way. Exercises were SSHs, front kicks, copper head squats, mountain climbers, merkins, and LBCs. Start with 6 SSHs at 25/50/75 yards, mosey to 100 then back for 6 SSHs at 75/50/25. Wait for the 6. This was a BUILD A BEAST – every new exercise was compiled on top of the previous. TIme was almost up at 6th exercise so audible was called for only last 3 exercises at each station to make it back to Satan’s Hill on time. Rosco praised and offered a God bless you. With the beast slain mosey back to Satan’s Hill.
YHC was disappointed and thought several of his markers had been taken after their careful placement the evening prior. With no Markers to be found on the 100 yard beast, the PAX continued running well beyond where the markers were after performing the 1st exercise. New markers for stopping points were designated, and what started as a beast s&%$ show turned out just fine. The cones were not taken. Turns out the PAX suffers gloom blindness.
PAX was quiet this morning, with Rosetta leading most of the way. The men pushed hard and stayed ahead of the Q for most of the beast. They themselves are beasts.
Numberama, Namerama, announcements and prayer requests. Rosco lead us out with a good word, prayers for several of the PAX family members, and recommendations to look up Booker T Washington.
It was a pleasure and privilege to lead such a fine group of gentlemen.
2 dudes arose from the sack and defied all odds to post in the rain alone. It was wet and it was warm just the way we like it. With no Q on the sign up and just us at 530 we were off for a Hot Pot.
There was a COP warmup with the typical COP stuff followed by track work disguised as 4 corners with 20/30/40/50 merkins, mosey on the straights, side shuffle on the corners. It was followed by 20 mountain climbers, 30 squats, 40 of something and 50 Carolina Dry Docks with mosey on the straights, bernie on the corners. We did another round and the only thing I can recall is that it was wet. Beavis lead a few DORA type double checks in between rounds with multiple exercises which YHC can’t recall all of – there were no surrenders, shoulder taps, LBCs. It was wet.
We bailed on the track and took a mosey to the tennis courts. There I introduced Beavis to our local prostitute. She consisted of 10 merkins, 20 squats, 30 LBCs, and 40 SSHs. With her taken care of time was up.
Prayers to our Good Good Father and a good beatdown under our belt. On the ride home we decided that the theme of the day would be forgiveness. “For if you forgive people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Matthew 6:14-15
23 or 24 posted on a perfect November 12 morning. Seventy and sunny.
The Thang
5 Don Quixote’s to start. 5 Don Quixote’s every five minutes during the workout (real crowd pleaser). Ball lickers for 55 seconds…Swirly was counting too slow so we moved on. Run to the tarmac and Triangle Up (Yep, Saabski loves a good triangle). Bunch of exercises, topped off with 55 SSH. Move to the side of the school for a triple check. Peoples Chair, WWII, run forward then backwards (twice). Repeat 5x. Mosey to the tennis courts for four corners. First corner 15 Merkins, second corner 20 jump squats, third corner 25 carolina dry-docks, last corner 30 SSH. Mosey to side of school for some more exercises and 55 side straddle hops. SAAB lead us in Esther Williams style scissor kicks and then 55 seconds of 6 inches. Mosey to the parking lot for COP where Saab took us out
NMM
55th Birthday for Saab. Great celebration and awesome to have such a big crowd out there. We tried to stick with his favorite exercises along the way. When Saab started F3, he dipped his toe in the water and decided he was a run only guy. After the first BRR, he went all in and has been fully committed to F3 since. Cannot think of a better guy to be part of the group. It has been an honor to have you part of the group. Plus, if you ever get in a fight, he is well versed in Queen’s rules boxing.
For anyone wishing to continue the birthday celebration with Saab, he is going to go to the China Buffet tonight for a late dinner at 3pm. He said he would buy and Ensure for all that attend.
TYA OUT
3 puddle jumpers ignored the hysterical weather forecast to find a perfect morning. 66 degrees, periodic drizzle, and a slight crosswind of tsk tsk for those who were not able to join us. To be fair, water from the sky can be terrifying.
Warmups: side straddle hops, Don Quixotes, cherry pickers, imperial copperhead squats, copperhead merkins, etc etc.
Triple check: tooth fairies up the stairs, jerkins on the bar and some wet concrete flutter kicks.
Fire on the mountain: climbing Mt. Chaplain with lunges across the flat parts.
Triple check: run the loop, flagpole smokers, elbow plank hold.
11s on the lightposts: Merkins and jungle boi squats.
Circle up for some special stretching to find muscles not currently known to the scientific community.
Prayers for the the strength, the patience and the wisdom to navigate the decisions we make each day – and gratitude for all the brothers, both wet and dry, who hold us accountable.
Post on behalf of WordPress-less Pinto: (maybe a little commentary added in)
Here’s how it went down:
Into the muggy hot gloom 7 men started the day wondering if it was August or November 11th.
COP: Circle up Disclaimer given (minus the one about Pinto is not awake for calling out cadence and its really an OYO until he stops counting to some random number)
Start with 17 side straddle hops
Next 9 don quiotes
10 merkins
20 LBC
Time to roll:
4 warriors ran by lake and across Three chopt to Culpepper sac number 1, circle back to wait for remainder to catch up.
Nowhere in sight (cuz the Q said they were running around the Goose lake), keep backtracking and get back lake.
Roger Roger whistles and gets reply from across water.
Run continues to meet in the middle, 25 merkins, head back to cul de sacs. At each cul de sac and do
10 burpees,
run to next one,
25 merkins,
run to next one,
10 burpees,
run and repeat until 5 sets of 25 merkins completed and 5 sets of 10 burpees.
Mosey back to flag and meet up with our lost warriors (we were not lost…we just didn’t have our cell phones for GPS and the 1st door we knocked on for direction to find ya’ll offered us some breakfast and coffee so we took them up on it and then decided to head back the AO. Did a few exercises so when you guys got back, it looked like we had been working hard) and did 25 celebration merkins to round out our 4 mile trot.
Name FNG Bacon Bits
Close in prayer, get the day started!!
1 Davillian traveled into the city in the last afternoon on Wednesday to stamp his passport for the second evevning workout.
After not being able to recurit any other Davillians to make the jounery. YHC went solo to Hillcrest and ran the long loop extended for 3.2 miles
Was able to get the run done before it got to dark and in between the ran.
Hillcrest as always is a beast
SPIT ON THAT!!
8 Early Rising Sexy Men converged on the humid streets of First Watch to start the day with minimal running. YHC had been sucking wind that last few weeks with First Watch becoming a 2nd Spider Run AO. To avoid another tour of Westham, I grabbed the Q last week to minimize miles and promote stationary exercises with some light jogging.
5.30 rang and off we moseyed down passing bumpers for Burpees to front of the Church for THE THANG:
COP #1 included F3 waiver, DQ’s, Helis, Cherry Pickers, Arm Circles, Reverso, Freddies, LBC’s, Scorpion Kicks, Merkins.
COP #2 Parking Lot Beast: A Typical Beast is an up and back routine. This beast was a modification with a mixture of 4 corners and 2 additional stops along the way. 6 Exercises at 6 stops for 6 rounds. Routine included Hand Release Merkins, 2 count Mountain Climbers, WWII’s, 2 count American Hammers, Plank Jacks and the always popular Burpee.
COP #3 Mankillers: Following a quick rest to allow for some oversharing, mosey to the Main Church Entrance to circle up. Would not be an SOJ Q without bringing in a SOJ tradition of Mankillers. After a quick counting error, YHC got the ball rolling for 10 sets of SSH’s starting at 10 Full SSH, 10 3/4 SSH, 10 1/2 SSH, 10 1/4 SSH. Next up is 9, 8, 7 etc. Not much mumble chatter.
COP #4 Circle Work: With the calves burning, slow mosey back to original parking lot for some routine circle work. Coupons were brought out for some AMRAP work with 8 exercises. Timer was a jog around the parking lot. Rotate exercises upon runners return. Chest Press (w/ coupon), Curls (w/ coupon), Rows (w/coupon), Squats, WWII’s, American Hammers, Mountain Climbers or Lunges. 1 round with each exercise.
Stay in the Circle for a Merkin Ring of Fire. Variety of 10 merkins OYO in order while rest of the PAX planks.
Numbers, Names, Announcements. YHC took us out.
Announcements:
– Veterans Day is today. Thank you to Honeydo and all those Service Men and Women that help keep our country safe to allow us the ability to live of life of freedom.
– Thanksgiving Miseducation by TYA at Mary Munford at 6 am Thanksgiving morning. See Slack for details.
– Black Friday runathon following – see Slack for details.
Moleskin: Running is not a specialty of YHC so seeing the Q was open, was quickly grabbed to minimize future miles. Great Mumble Chatter this morning including some Honeydo oversharing, penisillin, and stories for “friends” getting busted watching Cinemax late night. Future generations have it so easy now with 24/7 internet. YHC always enjoys the challenge of Mankillers that Doozy started at SOJ. Glad to hear the PAX enjoyed this time burner.
Honor leading you boys today. Thank you for the good times and laughs along the way.