A solid group of nine men decided reignite the Black Diamond Torch and beat down the path for all future Black Diamond PAX.

YHC promised a solid beatdown and hopefully came through.

Warm-up

I would prefer to just jump right in, but a warm-up is a necessary evil with all the blue hairs that showed up. I tried to keep it short. Just enough to get the blood moving.

SSH x 20

Imperial Walker x20

Windmill x 10

Squat x 20 (double counts)

The Thang

The first exercise was called “The 6 minute mile”. No demo needed.

3 laps around Loch Ness with a target time of 6 minutes.

This exercise on had a 30% success rate. JRR Token took an impressive lead and showed what he can do with some fresh wheels. He easily finished under the 6 minute mark.

The remaining PAX were not given the privilege of finishing and were intercepted and quickly ushered to the next station.

There was a little confusion during the mosey (potentially intentional on the part of the PAX) which led to a little more recovery  than YHC would have preferred. Once we regrouped, we completed 10 muscle ups on the retaining wall along the south side of Brixham Hill Ave.  The section of wall we used was between 5 and 6 ft and height.

After completing the the muscle ups, the PAX were ready to increase the difficulty and tackle the next challenge.

Mosey to the retaining wall on Conlan Cir.

The retaining wall on Conlan circle is approximately 200 feet in length.  It comprised of 11 sections that increase by approximately 1ft in height as the PAX travel from east to west along Conlan Cir.  The PAX used their muscle up technique to vault themselves over the wall beginning with the shortest wall (~3ft) and running around to the next wall section until failure.

Most PAX put in a Superhuman effort, typically reaching failure around 8 – 8.5 ft; however, Mario and Lex Luther, set the bar high with a maximum height of approximately 9.5 ft.

After completing the Zombie Apocalypse training portion of the workout.  YHC had the PAX stop for 10 more muscle ups (set at 7ft) at the Brixham Hill retaining wall while I thought of what to do next.

The following evolution was thrown together-

Begin on the east side of Loch Ness and run counter clockwise, stopping to complete the following stations:

station 1 – (south patio) 10 burpees

station 2- (west patio) 10 box jumps

station 3- (fit trail) 20 dips

station 4- (fit trail) 10 pull-ups

run out to the marriot parking lot

The PAX were given 6 minutes to complete the exercise.

This exercise had about a 50% graduation rate- much better than before.

With some impending gloom, I gave the PAX a little rest: aka 3 minutes of Mary

Following the Mary, we moseyed to a quiet, well lit corner of the parking lot, and got in a tight circle as I announced the closer.

The 10 minute 100 burpee challenge

Complete 10 1-minute rounds of burpees in the following set scheme. Any time left over in the round is yours for rest. (typically PAX finish the set between 25 and 40 seconds)

Rd1- 8

Rd2- 9

Rd3- 10

Rd4- 11

Rd5-12

Rd6-12

Rd7-11

Rd8-10

Rd9- 9

Rd10- 8

Total – 100

I saw some men beginning to fall out around round 4 and 5, but they re-established themselves after some encouragement from Mr. Bean and others and powered through.

After the 100 Burpee Challenge, the PAX came in for a quick huddle while I tried my best to speak some words of encouragement.  Following the Pep talk, the PAX were instructed to run to the top of the B-village parking deck, where we would rendezvous and call it a day. With only 4 minutes left, the PAX new they would have to be fast.

Everyone took off in a impressive manner…and then my calf exploded….

I was left in the dust, but was happy to see my F3 brothers waiting for me at the top of the parking deck returning their own words of encouragement as I hobbled to the top.

At this point, we were beyond the 615 deadline and completed a mobile COT.

Announcements:

Soft Pretzel is nominated for your next BD Q. Its sure to be a good one…as long as he doesn’t launch down in Lancaster, or where ever the hell he lives.

JRR Tolken is throwing down his “Lord of the Rings Trilogy Challenge”…if your not sure what that is, just stand next to him for about three minutes…I’m sure he’ll mention it.

Please pray for MT’s sister and her new baby.

One of the things we’re known for here in F3 Nation is our ability to do stupid things for no reason. We do them all the time through CSAUPs and other events. Here’s an opportunity to do something completely stupid, but for a great cause!

The Krispy Kreme Run 4 Reading is a 4 mile race, starting in #OldTown Rock Hill. You’ll run 2 miles to the Winthrop campus, scarf down a dozen donuts, then run 2 miles back to Fountain Park in Old Town. (There will be trash cans available throughout the route to make deposits). Rumor is that Burgundy finished 3rd last year and is going for the win this year. There are also options that do not include eating the donuts as you run, including a 4 mile run and a 1 mile relay on a team of 4 participants.

Who is it for? This run supports the York County Early Learning Partnership. This organization is a nonprofit that exists to support the health and development of children from ages 0-6 in York County. They do this through supporting literacy programs, the 4 Family Resource Centers (one in each school district in the county) that include medical clinics for uninsured children in York County.

Why is this important?

Educators know that the first 4 years of life can make all the difference for a child. A few facts:

• Studies show that children entering Kindergarten may have as much of a vocabulary gap as eight years. That is because a child who has not been read aloud to may have limited vocabulary of a 2-year-old, while a child who has been read aloud to every day may have the vocabulary of a 10-year-old.
• The average middle-income child has 100 hours of being read aloud to as compared to 25 hours for low-income children.
• 35% of children arrive at kindergarten not prepared to learn (11% for York County).

Ok–so I’m in. What are the details?

Sign-up:  https://run4reading.racesonline.com/

Date/Time: Feb 27th at 8:30 AM

Location: Fountain Park in Rock Hill

Options: 4 Mile with eating doughnuts at Mile 2, 4 miles with carrying doughnuts, or 1 mile relay

We’ll likely meet up before the race to warm up and do what we do–likely at the Old Town AO behind Wells Fargo. (more info on the Twitter to come). I hope to see many of my F3 brothers out there as we continue to get the word out about F3.

Edit: Just found this coupon for half off on registration. Coupon

I was honored to lead 8 of my brothers this morning for a bit of Palmetto 200 training in the Hot Box (the Garage) in Old Town Rock Hill.

At 5:15 sharp, we moseyed over to the Garage. Once there, we did the following:

Warmup:

SSH x 25

Windmill x 10

Merkin x 10

Moroccan Night Club x 20

Karaoke from one side of garage to other, come back the other direction

Butt Kickers from one side of garage to other, Toy Solider the other direction.

The Thang

AMRAP – Run to top of parking deck, 25 Merkins, back down on ramps, back up 25 Squats, back down on ramps, back up, 25 LBCs. Do as many as possible. Most guys got in at least 6 down and ups.

At 5:50-we moseyed for a spell.

Stop in front of the mural on Main Street covered by the scaffolding. Most of us pass this mural each week and don’t give it a second thought. This mural was painted last year by students from Ebinport Elementary and South Pointe High School. Unfortunately, the art teacher at Ebinport, Jimmie Matthews passed away Thursday night. As we looked at the mural, I asked the Pax one question: “What have you poured into another today?” Jimmie was well known for the many things he did for students and families around Rock Hill–and we’d all be challenged to follow his example.

We ran on to the alley beside COT for a bit of people’s chair. As we were in people’s chair, alarms went off letting us know it was 6 AM and time to get back to COT.

Announcements:

Continue to support Popeye as he launches F3 York

Donut Run on Feb 27th

2.0 workout coming on Feb. 27th (see more details soon)

Prayer requests:

Apollo Creed’s friend who is having housing issues

Young man that Tinker Toy has worked with for years to get settled

The family and friends of Jimmie Matthews, including the staffs of Ebinport Elementary and Independence Elementary (where he worked for over 20 years)

Everyone got in at least 3 miles, some more. Great work by all men today!