Tag: 38 Special

Mental Mettle

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A gear workout can also contain items like a speaker and a mobile device!

Warmup:

  • 10 slow burpees, 10 squats, 10 merkins.

The Thang ( lawn chair and sunglasses required )

  • Mosey to the Turner Field soccer field
  • 15 minute basic meditation via Headspace,
  • Quick 1/4 lap around Turner Field parking lot,
  • 15 minute reducing stress meditation.

Praises:

  • The extra time spent with family during the pandemic,

Prayers:

  • All Journey groups for guidance and wisdom as they complete their final stage of the program.
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Pantheon 3/31/21

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It was a beautiful morning with temps in the low 60’s and a light breeze.  Was ready to get in a great workout and was greeted by 38 Special and Flounder.  Thought it might be a light crowd with two Q v Q’s planned.  Was excited to lead these PAX though.

Started with the disclaimer and got to it!

Warmup with: 15 SSH, 10 arm circles, a few downward and upward dog positions to get stretched out, then finished out with a mosey around the field (via the driveway around the field).

Main Event: Planned an 2 minute AMRAP with 4 exercises.  Merkins, Squats, Dips and LBCs.  Started with 2 min. of merkins, had chalk to write down our numbers, moseyed about 50 yards, did 25 SSH, then back to do 2 min of squats, 50 yards, 25 SSH then went back to merkins and told the PAX to try to beat their previous number.  Continued on with Squats and then with a set of dips and LBCs and repeated trying to beat our numbers.

With the last few minutes, I was hoping to get in a set of 11’s.  YHC introduced a new exercise – a burpee with a donkey kick…called it the ass-kicking burpee (AKB).  Started with one AKB, did 10 flutters, 2 AKBs/9 flutters, then 3 AKBs to finish as we ran out of time and were all pretty gassed.

COT where praised were shared and closed out with a prayer.

 

Appreciated the opportunity to lead @38Special and looking forward to sharing some more AKBs at more AOs soon.

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No Shortcuts

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Five men showed up for the workout this morning.  We promptly left at 05:15 headed to Gamestop for further instructions.

Once arrived, I had a quick message.  No shortcuts.  It comes from one of my favorite movies,  “Wall Street.”  The young broker (Charlie Sheen) is getting lectured by an older broker.  He says “Remember there are no shortcuts, son. Quick buck artists come and go with every bull market, but the steady players make it through the bear market.” One can apply this lesson to all aspects of life (Relationships, health, work, etc).  Today, we were focused on tackling Hubert Graham way.

Outbound to Gold Hill Road – Stop at every light pole, alternate with merkins and squats, 10 of each. (Total 80 merkins, 70 squats)

Inbound from Gold Hill Road – Stop at every light pole, 10 merkins and squats (Total 70 merkins, 70 squats)

Bonus miles:  Run around Tega Cay Elementary School.

We all met back at Gamestop for a short mosey back to COT.

Total miles by runners ranged from 4.5 to 3.5.

Great job by everyone this morning.

 

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Swimming Laps on a Frigid Morning

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17 posted to STL on a crisp morning, perhaps one of the last ones of winter 2020-21 with temps in the 20s.  70+ in the days ahead — sunshine and pollen, Spring is here.

The Thang

Pretty simple weinke this morning

Quick mosey to Baxter and the Mushroom Pool parking lot

From the parking lot run out Richard’s crossing back across Front St, past the homes of Sugar Daddy, Tesh and other pax around the loop and back to the MP parking lot

OYO exercises at the parking lot:
10 Burpees
20 Parker Peters
30 Squats

Rinse and repeat

Return run home

COT

Moleskin

Great to see the pax out pushing hard on a cold morning.  The pace was brisk too, so the bodies warmed up quickly.  Those who made 5 laps ended up with 3.9 miles and those with 4 laps finished with 3.4 miles.  A few OCD pax had to get that 4 mile click so they added a loop in the parking lot on return.  Great effort by all!

It was great to meet Juan Valdez for the first time — keep posting, amigo!

My word for 2021 is NOW.  It’s surfaced a lot in the first two months — a constant reminder to live in the real world with the people immediately around me in the place that I’m in at that moment.  Get out of my head and be aware of what’s happening NOW and how I’m called to live NOW.  Hopefully the challenge for each pax to live my word for this day bore fruit.

A big thank you to Vuvu for the Site Q exemption from the Top 3 rule at STL.  Always an honor to lead the pax.

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Non Yeti miles

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When Pothole was reaching out for a substi-Q, YHC couldn’t resist. I really like the Swamp as an AO.  It’s flat-ish, there’s a lot of scenery, and any security guards watching CCTV get some entertainment.

When I arrived at the Swamp, there was a lone vehicle in the CFA lot. I didn’t know if it was one of the PAX or not, as they’d been parking in the BB lot since CFA redid their lot with all those pesky concrete signs and whatnot.

I knew Pothole was DR, so I jumped out of my car and planted the Pantheon flag in the island to see if its magnetism could attract any PAX (Sky Q knows my sexual magnetism would not have done the job). Almost as soon as the shovel hit what I assume is bedrock under the grass of that island, Juan Valdez got out of his car and Uber arrived. Later Uber would explain that he’d been driving all over Rivergate to see where the AO was.

I couldn’t believe it. I took a substi-Q and got to give the nickle tour to two PAX who had never hit that AO before (or Quagmire, for that matter, sorry Olaf)

Warmup

I’ve mostly stopped doing these. They get in the way.  The disclaimer is my warmup.

The thang

Immediately mosey SE around the Home Despot to the back side of Target. Burpeecides. Run to a ball, run back and do a burpee for each ball. 9 balls = 46 burpees.

My original plan was to run these awful suicides, adding to the pain as we went, but with the AO newbies, I knew they wanted to take a more scenic route, so we moseyed on over to the fountain, where I introduced them to The Stairs.  It was just an introduction, though. My knee is still having a pretty bad time with elevations, and so 11s were called.

It took a moment, but we decided to call the “Just Fresh” side of the fountain the “south” side and the other side the “West” side. Uber is a scout leader and didn’t object, so I’m pretty sure everything is legit.

South side: Leg lifts (start at 1)
Run around the entire island past the Wine Shop

West side: Dips (start at 10)
Run around the entire island… i dunno, by that soap store that always has a line.

We all stuck together and finished 5 rounds before it was time to head back to CoT

cot

We talked about how nobody there was hitting the Yeti. Juan Valdez had an amazing praise about his son that had a tear in my eye. Very thankful.

nmm

I really wanted to beat the living snot outta myself and anyone else who showed up this morning, and while I had more in the tank at the end, I think everyone walked away satisfied.

When numbers are low you stick together. This will generally lead to good mumblechatter, and this morning was no exception. I learned a lot about Juan Valdez and Uber this morning.  And Uber told us an amusing little tale about his friend who got robbed three times in one day.

SYITG

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Embrace the low point…now get up.

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It’s Minnow Pond. It’s a 3mi minimum with a few push-ups as we now like to say.
Jekyll asked the question. I answered in the affirmative.
The day before, marketing for competing regional AO’s began and man, it was hot.
The weather was great and I’m hoping these other 15 PAX would’ve still posted in the 35deg rain. But…time will tell. Remember, durability and stories are best formed in adverse conditions.

There you have it, the setup is complete.
0500…A few pre-runners. Remember when guys did that at Minnow Pond? Isn’t the intent to push yourself?
0514 Pledge of Allegiance
0515 Disclaimer for the 16 of us

As a group, run to the FMCOG parking lot at the corner of Withers &  Academy.
Warmup consisting of windmills, SSH & Burpees

The plan…Run each leg then 10 Merkins, 10ea leg Jumping Lunges, 20 American Hammers in the parking lot upon the return.
Leg 1: Run up to Tom Hall & back.
Leg 2: Run up to Banks & back.
Leg 3: Run up to Meacham & back.
Leg 4: Run to Main St & back.

All were able to complete this at least 1 time and some completed it twice for a total distance of 3-4mi.
Run it back to COT for some final closing exercises.

Announcements:
Great Harlan’s Heroes fundraising update from Jekyll. Stay tuned for the next opportunity.
Yeti is coming next weekend. Partner up or do the full thing.

Hey Jekyll. Thanks for the nod.

Maximus

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21s in the gloom

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YHC has only been to the bubble once before, and that was a 0515 pre-ruck in early December 2020. Any Q with Sugar Daddy and the ability to breath is an opportunity for some good mumblechatter. The guy is always bringing up all these “obscure” facts and information that confounds me. Things like “sports” and “Wayland Jennings”…

This is why I was looking forward to my Q at the Bubble. I didn’t know the area (unless we’re talking about the patio outside of  Grapevine… I know that area well). Unfortunate that the Daddy of Sugar couldn’t make it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

the gloom

I arrived in the S YMCA parking lot after reviewing the potential running path, which I determined to be too dark without having notified PAX of needing lights and reflectors. The lot was full, but I didn’t see anyone.  I was prepared to do a few solo miles when 98 Degrees appeared (he was already there, I just couldn’t see him).

warmup

Mosey up through the N parking lot and around to the entrance and back to the N parking lot.

SSH x20
Imperial Walker x10
Full Orbit stretch x3 each side (see this post, warmup #6 for a description)

the thang

Keeping it simple, these were 21’s. The south island to the north island in the north lot. Starting with one BBSU and 20 regular merkins… and go.

This kept us busy, it’s almost like BBSU dilate time… When we finished there was about 5m left. So mosey back out the N entrance and around to the central entrance and back to CoT.

< 2m left. SSH until you drop. 30 down and the buzzer hit.

cot

Talked about the Yeti and encouraged 98º to try running part of it. Me? No, I’m not going to be able to do it this time.

Prayer for 98’s M, a teacher, and the insanity that is this school year. Prayer for YHC and struggles with getting the weight back off.

nmm

Good chatter today. That seems pretty easy when it’s just two PAX who have never met, but for YHC it’s hard to strike up a conversation. Glad to have someone who knows how to carry a meaningful conversation while doing 210 merkins and 210 BBSUs.

We spotted Cobra Kai, Dinghy and one other PAX whose face I didn’t catch as we were about to start our 21s and invited them to stick around. They did not take us up on this offer.

98 recognized a walker out of a trio of women and greeted her. Then, after she left the other two remained to walk laps around the N lot and offer criticism of merkin form.

It’s a good start to a morning.

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Long laps for slow PAX

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10 days ago YHC got a message asking him to Q at Sweep the Leg. Now, a little background, the only way I’ve come close to the top 3 finishers at STL is when there have been 4 people in attendance, and usually STL picks a top finisher to Q.  I accepted almost immediately, but then almost had to take it back when I remembered that today is the M’s (somethingith) birthday.

No false modesty here, my running game has improved significantly over the last 12 months, but it’s still not enough to keep up with the more aquatic, fried-snack based PAX in long distance Qs (though I give a ton of credit to them for kiting me along over the past who knows how long).  At the end of every STL session my brain is usually so starved for oxygen that the left half of my brain has logically concluded that i have died, and the other side is reliving the horrors of the Whinny the Pooh ride at Disney World.  I love it!

So, big thanks to Vuvuzela for inviting me to take the reins.

I knew I’d need something to keep the expeditious PAX engaged that would also make room for personal survival, but also made it difficult, if not impossible, to cheat on the running.

The gloom

After driving out to the Colosseum and dropping off some signage and lights, I hauled arse to CoT and got there with just enough time to realize I had two left hand gloves and swap them out.

6 PAX were stretching and chatting when I arrived and since I used my extra time to replace one of my gloves, the disclaimer was very short. I simply said, “Welcome to Sweep the Leg. I assume you’ve all read the disclaimer, let’s go, wait, who’s that guy?” as I pointed at Grinder. Fishsticks vouched that he knew the risk and off we went as I said, “Oh, and I’m 38 Special, we’re headed to the cul-de-sac at the end of Patricia”

The thang

After the 1/2 mile warmup. YHC handed out instructions. Every stop would need to multiply the lap number by a certain number of exercises. At the cul-de-sac it would be 10x SSH, which we did in cadence before starting.

Run towards the school and at the L that turns in, a sign was waiting that said:
<—-
5x Dips x Lap
3x Werewolf x Lap

YHC forgot to mention what a werewolf is, and I still had energy enough at this point to still be near everyone and demo the werewolf (I call them circular pushups, but in the exicon, it’s a “Werewolf”)

Turning left here (because of the arrow!) run down the hill a little ways and there’s a sign at the bigger traffic loop:
—–>
3x Burpee x Lap
5x BBSU x Lap

Each lap was almost exactly 1 mile.

CoT

Fishsticks and Tesla got 1st place, very shortly followed by Vuvuzela.  The were actually the last three arrivals, but they did four laps and the rest of us just three.

Counted and Announced and asked for prayers or praises from everyone.

nmm

SLT has no ten counts, no stop and breath moments. It’s all about pushing forward knowing that it’ll be over (in one way or another) in 45 minutes or so.  It’s about as blank as my mind gets trying to pull myself up that damned hill on Dave Gibson.  If I let my mind wander, I’d probably just fall into the ditch.

It hurts and it’s cathartic.

You want to know what I’m dealing with inside? Get me  thoroughly exhausted. Too exhausted to care if the world knows the worst things I think about myself. And then head to CoT. Today I shared about trying to get my weight (back) down. I’ve tried prayer, begging the M to hit me with a broom if she sees me unconsciously eating a stack of cookies she insists on leaving in one of those glass displays on the counter, self shame…

I heard some good prayers from exhausted PAX today. Real needs expressed. Always good to hear those.  And Quack Attack is good company on long killer sessions like today.

Looking forward to the next STL…

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Take that, treats!

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IIRC, the last and only time YHC has Qed at Golden Corral was partnering with Slapshot over a year ago, so when Lutefisk said there was an opening, it was time to step up. I had quite a few devious plans built up for Q-vengence over the years of getting my arse handed to me by HIM left and right and had a hard time settling on just one, but then, it came to me in a vision… The PAX were forewarned to bring lights.

the gloom

I pulled into the Corral just in time and saw Skipper, Half Shell, Lutefisk, Geronimo, Fire Marshall Bill, and Nasa waiting to see what awful nastiness would ensue. The disclaimer was disclaimed after I verified Skipper’s identity, because I’m bad with names.

Warm up

LOL, wut?

The thang

Run to the light (okay, no traffic, let’s cross at Burn) and head to Dunkin. Circle up for 15 SSH and 15 Monkey Humpers (faces facing away from Dunkin). This is where Olaf caught up with us.

The next leg was supposed to stop at Brewsters, but a couple of female runners were stretching in front of the building, and I don’t like looking like a creeper, so we just kept going until we got to Abbot’s (YHC was reminded a few times that we were doing a Bootcamp during this leg). 10x merkins and 10x monkey humpers.

Last leg, run to the Model A parking lot and look for any PAX from Colosseum (I talked to Slapshot and he said they’d make their way there if possible).

Quick DORA to wait and see if Colo shows up, only got past the first round but this is what was called:
100 BBSU, 100 Leg Lift, 200 LBC
Partners would run around the parking lot islands or bear crawl to the middle island and back (an option that was picked only twice!)

YHC kept a close watch on the time to ensure we’d get back in time, and with 20 min left, we retraced our steps. The first leg ended in the Gamestonks parking lot (at the top of the hill) for 10x Peter Parker and 10x Parker Peter.

The next leg, YHC began slowing down, but the PAX waited for me at Brewsters and were doing some very nice looking flutters. When YHC arrived we added 10x Low Slow Squat and 10x Imperial Walkers.

Next leg back to Dunkin, where I was smoked by the rest of the PAX, who were doing overhead clap when I arrived, and we busted out more monkey humpers before using the crosswalk.

Finally we converged on the S wall of HT for people’s chair with bear crawl chain. Then BTTW chain with a run (PAX really ran fast here). About 90 seconds left, we took our one and only ten count before a 45s BTTW (countdown by YHC) and back to COT.

COT

Hyped the Yeti and prayed for a Geronimo’s new job and some PAX who were hoping to find something new to do.  Wives were also mentioned (context omitted).

nmm

I generally try to find some kind of message for my Qs, but today was all about stupid fun. My original plan was a bit more ambitious than my body is prepared to pull off, and far more running than a BC should be (this idea will be a thing in the future, though).

Seriously, though. Fun is what I needed.  Fun has been in short supply over the last 11 months.  The kind of fun where you’re laughing, gasping and wheezing because you choose to do something a bit too ambitious and everyone smoked you, but it doesn’t matter because you’re all part of one big stupid group of fun.  And my Garmin says I burned 731 calories during this fun.

Monkey Humpers facing away from Dunkin and the ice cream shops were part of that fun. I hope security personnel get a hearty laugh or a “WTH” look on their faces if we were on camera, too.

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Pantheon Pain

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38 Special asked for a substiq and YHC answered the call

After a proper disclaimer, went into immediate COP then ran a mile to TC Baptist parking lot for vacuum cleaners until fail (flapjack for partner to do the same). An old fashion Dora with the running partner doing bear crawls up and jog back. head back to COT area but do burpee broad jumps the length of the school and reverse was a squat accumulator. pillar 1 was one squat and duck walk to the second pillar. then 2 squats duck walk to the third, etc, all the way up to 11. knocked out some ab exercises to finish it up.

PAX were beat down and satisfied, to my pleasure.  Thanks 38 for the opportunity!

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