A few weeks ago my handle showed up in a tweet from Wild Turkey looking for Qs for Stonehenge. I’m always up for a challenge, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I’ve worked out once in SOBland. It was hard. I wanted to make sure I brought it for these guys. Then, just to make sure I was nervous and worried about being able to make it hard enough, Mario calls me out a couple days beforehand… Great… Mario is expecting pain… He’s nearly half my age and easily twice as fit… Sure… this is going to go well…

The Thang:
The SOB boys were especially rowdy and hilarious this morning, so I knew I was going to be in for a treat…
Warm Up:
Mosey down Conlan Circle to the roundabout, past Duckworths to Ballantyne Medical Plaza/Brixham Hill and up to corner parking lot with dynamic stretching as we go…

Circle up in lot for following:
SSH x 30
Mountain Climbers x 30
Squats x 25
Merkins x 15
CDD x 15
Jump Squats x 15

Mosey down Brixham Hill to putting green in front of Hixson building

6 count burpees x 10

At this point, it was my intention to split into teams and run relays on the green. I’m not a golfer. I guess I didn’t think that it would hurt anything. Well, Frehley’s Comet decided to take his Site Q role back (he gave it up a while ago apparently) for a moment while he yelled and hollered (clearly a skill that he learned from other old, crusty, “get-off-my-lawn”/rent-a-cop type gentlemen) about how we weren’t going to do any of that up on the green.

Point made. Easy tiger. I foolishly asked where we could find a field of grass. There were 17 men at this post, and I am sure I got no less than that many opinions on where we could find grass. A vague consensus was reached, and so we grabbed the sandbags that I had laid out for part of our fun, and we moseyed to the back of the building to the field of… asphalt… that was there. No grass? Oh, maybe that’s a building or so away… Is it the building to the left? No! It’s the right. We’re pretty sure it’s just over there… (At some point this morning we’re going to workout, right?) Enough arguing… I need someone who is good at math to help me split this motley crew into teams… Also, a mistake. The only thing that this group was worse at than finding grass, was simple division. Not that I can talk… I couldn’t figure out any of it. I was O2 deprived from trying to run and keep up with Mario so I didn’t look like a pansy at my own Q… Bad idea.

We finally get the team thing figured out and then we did the following relays at this locale:
Sandbag Carry Relay
Bear Crawl Relay
Partner Carry Relay
Crab Walk Relay
(Pax who are awaiting their turns were either doing squats or LBCs, while team members ran their legs)

I was beginning to lament that I didn’t have grass, because there were a couple of other relays I wanted to do. The Bulls! The Bulls have grass, they said… OK… Let’s head over there. They failed to mention, however, that the Bulls are like a quarter mile away… Some of us were pretty smoked already, and carrying sandbags didn’t help… It’s all good. The Bulls will solve everything!

We finally all get to the Bulls (Walk On and I were bringing up the 6) and keep the same teams for a few last relays:
Hairburner Relay
Low Crawl Relay
Backward Run Relay
Hairburner Relay (again) (crowd pleaser)

Then, we picked up the bags and attempted to run the 1/2 mile back to COT. (I think mine was more of a shuffle at this point…) As we did Name-o-rama, JRR Tolkein worked on his 200 burpees he owed for not losing 10 pounds in March. If you’ve never seen him

NMM:
– I find it to be a lot of fun and very invigorating to post with guys that I don’t usually post with. I like to meet new Pax and learn a little of the character of their Region.
– THIS AO IS HUGE. Everything looks a lot closer together on Google Maps.
– If you are visiting a place that you don’t usually post, and there is a coffeeteria you can attend after the workout, GO. I went with the SOBs to Einstein Bagels and had a great time being obnoxious and getting to know them better.
– On that note, Fire Hazard lost the bet that JRR Tolkien would come in to the Einstein’s shirtless. Apparently, he has a problem with that…
– I am pretty sure that I didn’t make it hard enough for some PAX, but I almost made it too hard for myself. I’m sure there is a lesson in there somewhere for me, but I’m sure I’ll screw that up again later…

It really was an honor, and I was humbled to go and to lead these guys. As I continue to participate in F3, I become increasingly grateful to be meeting some of the best men that this country has to offer. It really is awesome.

Helmet, out.