The Coop Shovel Flag Hand Off

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It was a crisp February morn… crisp enough to wear short sleeves, in fact. A change was in our midst and you could feel it coming in the air as Phil Collins would say.

Three weird-O’s (NASA, Dirty Harry, and YHC) showed up at approximately 4:10-4:13 to pre ruck four miles. Wegmans joined in somewhere along the way to get his daily mileage in, and then peeled off to get the field ready for his Weinke.

As Wegmans prepped, we finished our rounds and met up with other PAX around the shovel flag, which would soon be in my possession. Sixteen was the count.

Wegmans called the time, disclaimed the disclaimer, and then took us to the field.

We moseyed, we circled up, and we wind milled. Three times, in fact. Just enough to get Ginsu going about his affection for this specific movement. I cannot recall the other warm up exercises, but they were all counted to prime numbers in true Weginator fashion.

It was at this moment that I realized I had to utilize the best part of the AO. The toilet. I truly understand why NaFo is the #bestAO now.

Wegmans counted us off by 1’s and 2’s as I ran for the facilities. I took my break and found there was a 100 yard race of burpee/tire flips (one at a time), and my team has lost. This meant we did 10 Burpees while the other team did monkey humpers in our direction. We had a second chance, and we just about prevailed until shenanigans took place. Wegmans punished all of us with Burpees. That was fair.

Then he handed it off to the new site Q. I had some plans as well…

Football Field Circuit

Partner Workout

Each Partner Wheel Barrows every other 10 yards, both partners complete workouts equal to yard marker on the field that you land. Start at one end zone and work toward the other.

Endzone – Burpee Broad Jumps x 7
10 – Donkey Kicks
20 – Hand Release Merkins
30 – Jump Lunges (each leg)
40 – Air Squats
50 – LBCs
40 – Air Squats
30 – Jump Lunges (each leg)
20 – Hand Release Merkins
10 – Donkey Kicks
Endzone – Burpee Broad Jumps x 7

Gotta go back across the field.

All Together
Bear Crawls every 25 yards, stop for a workout
25 Yards
15 Bomb Jacks
25 Yards
15 Jump Squats
25 Yards
15 Bomb Jacks
25 Yards
15 Jump Squats

Props to Shield for kicking this weinke’s tail on his second post.

End with some Jack Webbs to burn the shoulders – made it to 5 Push Ups & 20 Claps.

Headed back to COT to do some quick Mary.

Ended with a shovel flag hand off. Looking forward to Site Q’ing the Coop for the foreseeable future. Hopefully I can keep the same momentum that Wegmans had working. Thanks to Wegmans for what he’s done with this AO. A true HIM.

Due to my slacking and not submitting this backblast immediately… I’ve lost track of the prayer requests. Please forgive me for that.

Some @HeardatF3 Mumblechatter…

Dark Helmet: “I wonder how this split Q is going to be?”

Wegmans: “Well I’ve already seen PL’s Weinke… so…”

Punch List Out.

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FACT: The human body will not melt in the rain

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9 strong at The Ballroom, a place that typical brings crowds in the 20’s. I can’t explain the low numbers, I love my BCs.

I can only assume it was one of 3 things:
1. Hatred for the Copa Cabana
2. Rain
3. Blame it on Lola (she was a showgirl)

The thang:
mosey to the lot on the other side of the track, line up on the side of the lot
10x weed pullers, 10x SSH, 10x windmills
back and forth across the lot
high knees, butt kickers, soccer knees, squat walkers, windmill walkers, toy soldier, karaoke L, karaoke R, knees to chest, imperial walker walker, power skip x2
mosey to the track, 50% down the straight away, 75% around the corner, sprint down the straight away

mosey to the gym wall
wall sit, ends bear crawl to end of curb and LLS, all 2 at a time, then bear crawl back to the wall.
pop out burpees x2 from both ends
plank on curb, walk left, walk right, merkins and 10x plank jacks
wall sit w/ overhead claps
pop out burpees again

mosey across the bridge for some cover next to the field
Matt Foley, 1 animated squat, 4 dying cockroach, 2-8, 3-12, 4-16, 5-20
10x LBCs, 10x SSH, 10x hello dolly, 10x seal jack, 10x dips, 20x line hops, 10x freddie, 10x merkins

mosey across the bleachers, the wet, slippery bleachers, 10x dips along the way, and back to the front of the school
PAX blind picks 4 of 1-6
5. 10x hillbilly walker
2. 10x mahktar n’diayes
3. 10x donkey kicks
1. 10x shoulder taps
(jump squat and MNC not picked)
10x LSS, 10x CDD, 5x burpees, 10x monkey humpers, 10x donkey kicks, 10x burpees, 10x Travolta, 10x bombjacks … COT

looks like we made it,
Barry Manlow

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Soggy Bells

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7 PAX showed up for another soggy outing and I have to admit I was a little nervous to lead my 1st kettlebell workout.  Sure I’ve been to a few, but this was my first time leading one so it was difficult estimate the time and reps.  Not mention it was wet and raining so I was concerned someone might slip or let go of their kettlebell…which ended up giving me an idea that worked out really well in the end.

We started with the usual disclaimer, nothing fancy, and took a mosey around the parking lot.  Some karaokes and toy soldiers were mixed in before circling up.

CoP

  • 9 Windmills
  • 15 Low Slow Squats
  • 10 Tempo Merkins
  • 25 SSH

1st Routine

After the warmup it stopped raining completely for about 5 minutes or so so I checked the time and decided to bear crawl to the middle island of the parking lot, about 40-50 yards.

“Bear & Bell”, by getting in crawl position with the bell between our legs we would then reach back with one arm and bring the kettlebell up and past our head.  Crawl until the bell was between our legs again and reach with the other hand, once again bringing it above our head.  We repeated this until we reached the middle island.  Extra kudos to Chop Block and O’Reilly for hauling at the end as I counted down the seconds before coming up with some sort of penalty.  We then walked back to the front of the building with our kettlebells held high above our heads.

2nd Routine

As I mentioned earlier, I knew the weather report was going to be bad so I planned something that would keep us as dry and safe as possible.  I put together 30 minutes of a Tabata-style workout set to some fun music and with no running around in the rain.  All the cardio would come via stationary exercises so we all just huddled under the awning of the Church.  Luckily, it wasn’t raining too hard throughout the workout and we all appreciated that it warmed up a bit.

There were 10 “routines” and they all followed the same pattern. The 1st exercise would be 30 seconds of Kettlebell work (with a rep goal in mind) so whatever came 1st, 30 seconds or the rep count, followed by 15 seconds of a cardio/kettlebell-less exercise and then 10 seconds of rest before repeating 2 additional times and then moving on to 3 sets of the next routine.

Here is the list:

  • Kettlebell Swings (20 reps or 30 seconds)
    • SSH (15 seconds)
  • Kettlebell Curls (25 reps)
    • Merkins
  • Kettlebell Rows (25)
    • Mountain Climbers
  • American Hammers (40 single count)
    • Plank Jacks
  • 25 Tricep Extensions
    • Burpees
  • Goblet Squats (20)
    • Monkey Humpers
  • Single Arm Bench Press (15 each arm)
    • Crab Cakes
  • Single Arm Shoulder Press (10 each arm)
    • MNC
  • Dead Lift (25)
    • Bombjacks
  • American Hammers (40 single count)
    • Plank jacks

This brought us to 6:00AM on the dot so we circled up for CoT.

Yeti coming up as well as the Joe Davis run and Operation Sweet tooth at the end of March– read your newsletter.  Prayers for sick and injured PAX and family and for the ability to come out and be together every morning.

Speaking of every morning, LKW is getting strong and I love how consistent we are, rain or shine.  I feel a real brotherhood with these men and I’m honored to know each and every one of you.  A special shout out to some of our newer guys like Chop Block and O’Reilly who have been coming out consistently since their 1st posting during the toughest time of the year to post consistently.  Also, Wolverine, who is a seasoned vet, but getting better with age.  He posted every day last week and is back at it again this week!

It was a privilege to lead you all this morning.  Thank you for the opportunity to Q Two Ferns.

Until next time,

-FLUX-

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Pain

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We had a blast on this rain day. Several Pax pre-rucked. Sleep does not matter those #HIM. YHC intentionally pushed the Pax to prepare them for up and coming CSAUP. The Pax took the downpainment as challenge and got stronger.

Mosey to the side Parking Lot:

Warm up: Wind Mills (15x), Squats (15x), Mountain Climbers (15x), Ruck Swings (15x – OYO)

Grab Partner

Partner chase with both rucks to the other side of the building.

Mosey to the other side of the building.

Partner Drill 1: One partner bear crawls to the stop sign and runs back.The other partner does upright hold with his partner’s ruck, keeps his ruck on. 2x

Partner Drill 2: One partner crab walks to the stop sign and runs back.The other partner lunges with his partner’s ruck above his head, keeps his ruck on. 2x

Partner Drill 3: One partner burpee broad jumps to the stop sign and runs back.The other partner swings his partner’s ruck, keeps his ruck on.

Mosey to the bus loop.

Jacob’s Ladder. Man makers on one end of the bus loop (7x), burpees on the top of the hill on the other end of the bus loop.

Moleskin:

Today, we discussed how we need to be patient fathers. A lack of patience causes us to miss key coaching opportunities for our children. To exercise patience, we need to limit the disciplining our children.

Disciplining results in painful and short-term lessons. Using a coaching approach helps to teach our children how to make better decisions in the future (see Proverbs 22:6).

Remember, that you’re not disciplining children, you’re training future adults.

Peace,

Deacon

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Love Hurts

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Maybe it was three days early, but YHC thought it would be fun to do a Valentines Day Q. It was 37 degrees and raining – love was in the air.

9 of the regular LW crew and 1 FNG (this must be the winter of the FNG) showed up to feel the love. After a full and complete disclaimer, we moseyed to the back of the school.

Warm-o-Rama

A bunch of the normal stuff. Merkins, low slow squats, produce pickers, downward dog. Probably some others.

The Thang

 

Cupid Shuffle

YHC had his speaker in tow so all the PAX could have a romantic Valentines dance. First, the song Cupid Shuffle was played. When “down” was said we did a merkin. “Kick” = donkey kick. “Left/right” = side plank to the left/right. Mountain climbers were done in the intervals.

 

Get Lucky

Next on the Valentines playlist was the Daft Punk song Get Lucky. Because, let’s face it, we are all hoping to get lucky on V-Day. “Up” = bombjack, “get lucky” = burpee. Crab cakes to the rhythm during the rest of the song. Lots of mumble chatter by this point. Repeatedly going from a bombjack directly into a burpee is a great crowd pleaser.

 

Heartbreak 1,2,3

Sometimes playing the game of love you get your heart broken. This routine is like Doras, but with a heartbreaking hill to run. And they don’t come more heartbreaking than the Green Monsta. We moseyed to the Monsta and PAX partnered up and as a team completed: 100 diamond merkins (diamonds are forever), 200 boxcutters (boxes of chocolate), and 300 monkey humpers (the ideal end to Valentines Day). Originally YHC had thoughts of playing 80s love ballads during this segment, but I decided against it and went for 90s rock instead. Who knew Two Ferns was such a Pearl Jam fan?

 

Rosham-Burpees

The final segment of the morning. Sometimes in a relationship you need a tie-breaker, and a little rock-scissors-paper is as good a way as any. In pairs, PAX played RSP. First round: winner does 1 merkin, loser does 1 burpee. Second round: winner does 2 merkins, loser does 2 burpees. Go all the way to 10 rounds. We managed to get to about 8 rounds each before time was up and we headed back to COT.

 

COT

FNG AJ was asked to tell a story that he would use to impress people at a cocktail party. After a detailed account of getting conned by an old man, he revealed that the whole thing was a fabrication. He hoodwinked us. Therefore, we welcomed FNG Ponzi to the crew.

 

Thanks for making a rainy morning fun fellas. And thanks to Flux for the opportunity to lead.

 

Stay Classy,

Homebrew

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The Armory – Viking Metal is always better in the rain

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YHC arrived and wanted to do some sidewalk chalk writing but the rain threw a wrench in that plan so had to use the phone as my weinke while also playing the traditional Viking Metal for kettle-bell workout.

After 1 1/2 rounds the cold weather shut my Apple 6plus down. My son would be throwing a fit and saying we need a new phone as this is junk……however just plug it in and it works nicely. Plus saves you $500+ dollars.

So the PAX arrived and we had a kotter, Gridlock come home to the Armory. It was some years ago that I was Q for Gridlock’s FNG appearance. Was great having him and the others there this morning. Nice work men!!

The Thang:

  • SSHs
  • 5burpees
  • squats
  • 4burpees
  • merkins
  • 3 burpees
  • Imperial Walkers
  • 2 burpees
  • Moracan Night clubs (half while holding squat)
  • 1 burpee

Mosey across front of FHC looking for cover, but the rain had stopped so it wasn’t needed.

3 sets of exercises, run lap between them, until time runs out or phone dies….whichever

  • Kettlebell swing
    5 Single hands each & 10 double
    10 Two arm bent row
    10 Figure eight
    10 Goblet squats
    10 Upright row
    10 Dips

    • RUN LAP
  • 10 Lunge press
    10 Sumo upright row
    10 Curls L/R
    10 American Hammer
    10 Bench press L/R
    10 Plank Rows L/R
    10 Tri Extension

    • RUN LAP
  • 10 Flutters
    10 Hello dolly’s
    10 Freddy’s
    10 Deadlift
    10 Sidestep upright row
    10 Kettlebell Merkins

    • RUN LAP

We made it through about 2 rounds of these.

Fun times by all!!

YHC talked about life expectancy  and that wherever we are on the timeline, we should start living intentional. I only have 40% of my life expectancy  left and so there is no wasting the days or hours on silly stuff. GET SOME!!! 2 guys decided to GET RIGHT while in COT and make choice to get better alignment. Well done gents!! We are here to support and encourage you!

Thanks JWOW for the opportunity to lead.

 

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SlowBurn – Wegman’s Send off to Chimbote

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Today at SlowBurn it was about Wegmans and his choice to say YES to a calling to serve. He heard this calling and it spoke to his heart and he accepted the opportunity to be vulnerable, uncomfortable and go into the world for his creator Sky Q. The cool thing about mission trips is we think its about serving others, but in reality its about Sky Q working on us.

38 PAX came to show Wegmans support. They were running, rucking, boot-camp and even Broga was represented. for 45 mins everyone got better in some fashion, but for YHC I felt led to honor Wegmans by pulling some of his work from previous workouts. I felt the best way to respect a man is to use his material. So away we went.

The Thang:

Warm Up mosey to lower lot

  • Typical COP stuff 5-7 exercise moves
  • Line up at end of lot for some others
    • High Knees
    • Butt Kickers
    • Karaoke
    • Shuffles
    • sprints

Mosey to far side of Indian Restaurant

DMB from Wegmans Ranch workout

  • Duckwalk – 20 yards
  • Merkins – 10
  • Bearcrawl back – 20 yards
  • 3 rounds

Mosey to Far side of Lowes

From the Wegninator’s Coop workout

  • Partner up
    • #1 = Wall Sit
    • #2 =
      • 10 Broadjump Burpees
      • 10 Powerskips
      • 10 Plankwalks (right and then left)
    • Flap jack
    • 3 rounds

Mosey to opposite side of Lowes

From Wegmans’ Slow Burn workout – The Triple Check

Groups of 3

  1. Al Gore
  2. Plank
  3. Run Lap around parking lot
  • 3 rounds, with each person rotating position

Mosey back to COT

Wegmans’s shared his WHY during the workout and serving others and his willingness to be vulnerable in a strange place and open to see what Sky Q will do.

Many in the group have been on mission trips before and I believe that we all have intentions of serving and helping others, however these trips are about what Sky Q teaches us about ourselves. Gives us perspective and understanding that everyone around the globe are all children of HIS and we should love each other.

Best to you Wegmans and look forward to hearing the lesson’s learned.

Cake Boss

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Getting over a case of the Mondays real quick

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Clearly underestimated the setup time and came in hot to the Chic Filet parking lot at 5:14a.  Was super stoked to see our boy DaVinici in the gloom ready to put in some work after being on IR for the last 2 months.  Let’s get to it:

Mosey over to Home Depot for a quick warm-up that consisted of seal jacks, wind mills and mountain climbers.  The balance of the warm-up was a little more painful:

  • Descending alternate sets of merkins / diamond merkins starting at 11 reps – 11 merkins, 10 diamonds, 9 merkins, 8 diamonds…down to 1 merkin.  66 in all, as quickly as we could.
  • Next set was the same idea, only wide squats and super narrow squats – wide x11, narrow x10…you get the point.  Went super fast here, which hurt on the next part.

From there, we took a long 3/4 mile mosey behind home depot, target, down to Kohl’s then up Rivergate View Road and parked it front of Buffalo Wild Wings.  From there, the pax were able to observe the sea of yellow cones going the length of that straightaway – 10 cones (we only saw 9 until the very end lol) over a 1/4 mile stretch.  Quick and dirty – I give the exercise and rep count, you run to each cone and do the same rep / exercise at every cone the whole way down and then run back.  You get in a 1/2 mile per exercise / set (1/4 mile down, 1/4 mile back), and a ton of reps.  Sets as follows:

  1. 5 burpees per cone (50 burpees in total) – run back
  2. 10 big boy sit-ups per cone (100 big boys in total) – run back
  3. 15 jump squats per cone (150 jump squats in total) – run back
  4. Had three more planned out (a 15 rep, a 10 rep and then 5 burpees again), but time was running low.  Compromised at 10 merkins per cone (100 merkins in total)

At that point we had about 2 minutes, so we moseyed to the corner of Pet Smart and then sprinted back to CoT covering a good stretch, the length of the Pet Smart, Marshalls, Office Max and Best Buy store fronts.

Final count:

  • 166 merkins (66 merkins / diamond descending + 100 on the cones)
  • 150 jump squats
  • 100 big boy sit-ups
  • 66 squats (wide and narrow descending)
  • 50 burpees
  • 2.5 miles covered

So thankful to see DaVinci back this morning – he gave us some really encouraging words on preparedness – the importance of being ready for both the expected and the unexpected things that come up in our lives.  Thanks to Royale for making the trek up to Quagmire today, and always a pleasure to see the regulars on Mondays w/ Bones, Copyright and Jedi.

We said a prayer for our sick pax, especially those w/ sick 2.0’s, for travel mercies this week (Royale and myself going opposite directions, but nonetheless, a car-full of kiddos and spouses) and for the trials that we find ourselves in and how it will develop us into better HIM’s because of it.

Until next time – thanks fellas.  Always a pleasure to serve you guys and lead a beatdown!

ChaChing

 

 

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4 Cones and a Teabag

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10 Pax today including Chop Block, who rolled in 20 minutes late.  Better late than never I suppose.

I gave a somewhat sarcastic disclaimer and then made everyone do 5 fingertip merkins because Two Ferns gave me the finger last night in a Tweet.  Not very nice!

We took a mosey around the 1/4 mile dirt track and did some side shuffles and toy solders before circling up.

CoP

  • 10 Windmills
  • 20 SSH
  • 10 Merkins
  • 15 Low Slow Squats
  • 20 LBC’s

I then explained the routine for this morning, nothing fancy.  4 cones placed in the shape of a rectangle with an exercise written on each of them.  Pick a start cone and make your way around the cones as many times as you can, with a few small wrinkles.

  • Cone 1 – 5 Burpees
  • Cone 2 – 10 Merkins
  • Cone 3 – 15 Big Boy Situps
  • Cone 4 – 20 Squats

This was meant to hit some of the core muscle groups and is a great youvsyou routine.  The wrinkle was the ever changing method of travel between the cones.  Once Chop Block joined us, we took another lap around the track to let him warm up a bit and then got back to it.  That also gave us an even # of PAX so I threw in some partner work as well.

Transport methods included:

  • Bear Crawl long side
  • “Itchy Back Merkins” short side (plank position, down, roll over completely, push back up, down, roll over, etc., until we hit the next cone.
  • Crawl Bear long side
  • Crab Walk short side
  • Partner Assisted Bear Crawl Long side (this is what Chop Block affectionately named the “T-BAG”)
  • Partner Wheelbarrow long side

We finished up with a NUR around the track before banging out a set of flutters and then circled up for CoT.  I think most of us made it around 8-10 times which really starts to add up.  A good setup for some of the newer guys so they could pace themselves and it encouraged mumblechatter so it was a lot of fun this morning.

Announcements, Praises, Prayers

Yeti, Joe Davis run coming up.  Homebrew is changing jobs so prayers for that along with all the sick and injured PAX to get HEALTHY!  Also, some prayers for my sister-in-law who is in her mid-30’s and has to have all of her teeth pulled.

Thank you for the Q Homebrew!

Until next time,

-FLUX-

 

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We’ll Make It Breathable

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I know Beacon had this idea in mind but as you’re reading, think about an area of your life where you can push yourself just a little bit more. Not in the sense of looking to DO more but rather, looking to BE more. This comes from pushing yourself. Push yourself to meet guys at another workout, push yourself to be present for others, push yourself to be more engaged. When you get comfortable with your routine, you coast rather than accelerate.

23 was the number at Footloose this morning and evidently, not everyone knew who was on Q. Once they learned, I was happy that nobody left. We started with 23 and we finished with 23. My ask of the PAX was this: I don’t know what you’re carrying on your mind as you roll in here at 0515 but as you’re here for the next 45mins, be HERE, be present, enjoy the guys to your left and right.

Once we were disclaimed, we took a long mosey over to and up Main Street to the Methodist Church to circle up in their parking lot.

Wind Mills

Imperial Walkers

Hillbilly Walkers

5 Burpees by special request

Squats

Moroccan Night Clubs

Carolina Dry Docks

5 more Burpees by special request

Mosey over to behind the Baptist Church

Switzer to explain the deal. Partner up while partners start on opposite ends of the large parking lot.

Each partner bear crawls to their respective 1st island then run to meet their partner in the “middle” of the lot. 20 Single count merkins, run back to that previously-mentioned island and crawl bear back to your starting point. Remember, push yourself just a little bit more.

Rd 2 was crab walk to that island, then run to meet the partner, 20 Wide Arm Merkins, run back to the island and walk crab back to your starting point. Remember, push yourself just a little bit more.

Mosey back to our starting parking lot for a little plank work.

20 Mountain Climbers

10 Peter Parkers

10 Donkey Kicks

10 Parker Peters

2min plank hold

2min Al Gore

1min Burpees

Remember, push yourself just a little bit more.

1min Side Straddle Hops

7min of Mary

WWII Sit-Ups

Flutter Kicks

Freddy Mercury

Heels to Heaven

Protractor

Remember, push yourself just a little bit more.

And that was it…well done.

Announcements:

  1. Mini-convergence at Slow Burn tomorrow to pray for and send Wegmans off on his F3 mission trip to Peru. (Broga will be at 0500 at Slow Burn AO)
  2. Engage in the running training plan that Anchorman and Barry Manilow are leading guys through
  3. Read your newsletter b/c I forgot the remainder.

Prayers:

PRAY

 

Until next time.

Maximus

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