Tag: Witch Hunt

Santa’s Trip Around The World

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It was a cold one at the Abyss on Wednesday.  Sub-freezing temps at COT as everyone slowly made it out of their warm vehicles before starting.

Nice-long mosey to get the blood flowing and the body warm… again… sub-freezing temps.

Warm-O-Rama:

SSH, Windmill, Hillbilly Walker, Peter Parker, Mountain Climbers, Honeymooner/Downward Dog

The Thang:

Take the 4 corners concept and make it into 7 to represent the different continents of Earth.  In the center is the North Pole. Partner up.

One partner runs to one of the locations while the other stays in the center (North Pole) and chooses an exercise (AMRAP) until the partner returns.  When the partner returns, they switch places.  Repeat this until all places have been visited twice (2 different exercises at each place).

What made this fun for me was choosing exercises that were loosely connected/related to each continent/location.

EUROPE- Visit 1- Freddie Mercury x 30 and Visit 2- Ski Jumps x 30

ASIA- Visit 1- Sumo Squat x 30 and Visit 2- Bear Crawl (to cone)/Crawl Bear (back)

AFRICA- Visit 1- Diamond Merkin x 25 and Visit 2- Moroccan Night Club x 30

ANTARTICA- Visit 1- Seal Jack x 30 and Visit 2- Imperial Walker x 20

AUSTRALIA-Visit 1- Peter Parker x 25 and Visit 2- Spiderman Crawl(Cone & Back)

NORTH AMERICA-Visit 1- Carolina Dry Docks x 40 and Visit 2- Crabcakes x 20

SOUTH AMERICA-Visit 1- Mountain Climbers x 30 and Visit 2- Monkey Humpers x 30

North Pole-: Rotate between Sleigh Stuffers (with weight, start to the side of one foot and raise above head to opposite side of body, wash/rinse/repeat), Boxcutters, SSH’s, and American Hammers

Some of us made it through the full rotation.  Some others got relatively close.  Due to it being cold, I didn’t fully go over my master plan.  PAX had a choice on how they and their partner would complete the 7 corners.  Some chose to complete an exercise, swap with partner, then return to the same location to complete the second exercise.  This was the way it was intended.  Others chose to run to a location and complete both exercises before returning.  This was also acceptable, however it did lessen the amount of running.  As long as PAX are completing exercises, does it really matter?

Circle up for COT… annoucements, prayers… and peace out!

I really enjoyed getting my first chance to Q at the Abyss.  I look forward to Q’ing again in the future… thanks Bones for the opportunity!

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Big 50 Birthday bash

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Today was my 50th Birthday and Maximus allowed me to lead a Beyond so that I could take some extra time to discuss somethings that I have been pondering as I approached this milestone birthday.  To go along with our monthly theme of Vulnerable I took the opportunity to share some struggles as well.  With that we moseyed.

Warm up of SSH, Imperial walkers, Squats, Mountain Climbers, Merkins, and Plank Jacks

Moseyed to Rite Aid parking lot(some chatter about too much running, but I ignored it).

Sharing time #1 – Shared with the Pax that I feel like 30 year old me would have thought that 50 year old me would be “further along”.  Further along Professionally and Financially, Further along Spiritually and in Family.  In 2001 I was recruited to Charlotte for a position with a new company, for a salary that I thought would be my ticket ahead.  I had great plans that I could do this for a bunch of years, make a bunch of money and then I could check out and go do something that I wanted to do , maybe full time ministry or teaching.  Within 1 year it all blew up, I was demoted for not doing a good job, salary was slashed plans were gone.  17 years later we’re still feeling the affects.

First circuit – Partner up – Partner 1 does People’s Chair Partner 2 does a lap, then flip it.  Next Partner 1 does Plank, Partner 2 does a lap, flip it.  Next Partners do 100 Merkins as a team, 1 runs I does Merkins, flip it.

Sharing time 2 – Felt like I would be further along spiritually.  30 year old me would have thought I would have gotten past my need for man’s approval.  I would have thought that the sins that tripped me up back then would be conquered and pride & lust would no longer be an issue foe me, but they are still there.  Felt like I would be further along in family & parenting. My plan was to be an empty nester at this point, but here I am with a 7th and 9th grader still at home, and t top it off I’m not particularly better at parenting then I was when I 30.

Circuit #2 Partner again – Lap #1 Partner 1 does Al Gore Partner #2 does a lap.  Lap #2  Partner 1 does Flutters Partner 2 does a lap.  Lap #2 Team does 100 Big Boy Sit ups total while 1 partner runs.

Sharing time 3 – The truth is that when I look at my life with clear eyes I can see that my life has been Blessed beyond measure!  I have a job that I mostly enjoy, and work with great people(shout out to Royale) and I am well compensated.  I have a beautiful wife of 26 years and we have a great marriage that keeps getting better.  I have 5 awesome kids who are healthy and bring me great joy, and sometimes frustration.  To add to it I have found this thing called F3 and a group of friends and Brothers that I never even knew I needed!  To see my 50 year old life s anything but blessed is ridiculous.

Off to COT for 2 minutes of Mary

Final share – What I have found is that the only times that I get down about where I am at 50 is when I look around me at others and I compare myself to what  my perception of them is.  This can lead to pride but for me it mostly leads to despair.  What I am trying to learn is contentment as Paul describes it in Phil. 4, whether he had much or little Paul was content.  The source of this contentment is found in Phil. 3 where Paul shares that all of his achievements, any possession he may have or any legacy he may be able to boast about , all of is it is worthless, or as he calls is a big pile of manure, compared to knowing Christ.  Paul says he has 1 aim, and that is to Know Christ!!  The secret Paul learned is that all he need was Jesus and if he had Jesus he had all he needed, and if he had Jesus, he could never lose him so therefore he could always be content.  In whatever amount of years I have left let this be my aim; that I may know Christ!!

Thank you for the opportunity to lead.

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The Deep – Literally the water was deep and coming sideways in 36 degrees!

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Laying in bed and listening to the water running down the downspout on my house was discomforting. Realizing it was only going to be about 35 degrees made it even more agonizing. “If I was not Qing, would I still go?” YES and I have gone. In 6 years of F3 I have worked out in single digit temperatures and in ice and in snow and in lots of rain. Honestly the cold rain is the worse and that is what we had on this Saturday morning. It may have been the worse conditions because of the combination of cold and wet that just goes right through you, but here I am, 2 days later alive and well. Actually stronger because of the experience. In 6 years the best and hardest workouts were the ones in the worse weather and I’m better for it. I know others agree. Point is that one of our core principles is that all workouts are outside and that is not a tough guy thing but something to make you stronger. By getting to the AO, out of the car, in the workout you have told your mind and body you are in control. By pushing through the discomfort of the conditions, you can push through the discomfort of tough things in life like conversations and personalities and circumstances. By doing this over and over and over, confidence spills over in you and in your life. Stop making excuses and post. Hold someone accountable and they hold you and both of you will get better. Thank you Pusher and Mr. Clean for accountability and thank you PAX for showing up and supporting your Qs

I locked my keys in my truck and thank God I had my jacket and gloves!! Whew!!!

The Thang:

  • Warm Up!!!
  • Mosey up and down each of the overhang sidewalks for COP
  • Wall Sit with bearcrawls length of wall

 

  • Mosey across the street for 11’s
  • Derkins – bridging the river of water along the curbs
  • Bombjacks at top running through the puddles

To the Track

ladder work with 100 yard run between each
1 merkin = 10
2 squats = 18
3 lbcs = 24
4 bombjacks = 32
5 Burpees = 30
6 Freddys = 30
7 Diamonds = 32
8 lunges = 24
9 Moracan night clubs = 18
10 donkey kicks = 10

Mosey back to front of school middle school

YHC shared with the PAX a conversation I had with a friend who mentioned that the older he gets the more he adores his M and appreciates her. Even more than when they first met and dated he “adores” her. I told the PAX it was like a light bulb lit up in my head. We (the church) are the bride of Christ and he adores us from day one…..even through our mess and our tough stubborn times he loves us. As we come to Christ and grow in him and realize the love of the father…..we adore him more and more each day. This is why the relationship of marriage is so important because as we learn what it means to be husbands we also learn how our Lord adores us and we him to be better men each day.

Finish strong with Partners 2 rounds

  • Dying Cockroaches
  • 20 dips
  • 15 merkins
  • Big Boy sit ups
  • 25 Irkins
  • 20 Steps ups

COT

Thank you for the Opportunity Shakespeare!

Cake Boss

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Four Corners of Heck at the Abyss

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Twas a nip in the air this morning but nothing that would bother the mighty lads of F3.  We gathered and at 5:15 sharp disclaimer was given and we moseyed.   Here is how it went down:

Warm-o-Rama

  • 400 Meter Mosey with side shuffles and toy soldiers thrown in
  • 20 SSH IC
  • 10 Imperial Walkers IC
  • 10 Hillbilly Walkers IC
  • 10 Wind Mills IC
  • 10 Merkins IC

The Thang, Part I

YHC asked Captain Jack to pick a number between 39 & 41.  With that we settled on the number of pull-ups each Pax was to complete.  Each was instructed to do as many as possible then at failure, run to the top of the inclined road behind the school, execute 5 merkins,  run back down and pick up the pull-ups where he left off.  Repeat until reaching 40 pull-ups or 5 trips up the road, whichever came first.  As we waited for the six, the Q regaled the team with an amusing tale about forgotten reading glasses and a Portobello Steak sandwich minus the steak.

The Thang, Part II “Four Corners of Heck”

  • Bear crawl to the middle, execute 5 burpees and lunge out between stations

Station #1

  • 10 Medicine Ball Jump squats
  • 10 single count curls/arm; 25lb or 20lb dumbbell, Pax choice
  • 20 Nolan Ryan’s (10/side)
  • 25 LBCs (single count)

Station #2

  • 10 Lunges per leg
  • 10 WWI Sit ups
  • 10 Tricep hammers/ arm with 20lb or 15lb dumbbell, Pax choice
  • 10 Diamond merkins

Station #3

  • 30 SSH – Single Count
  • 20 Flutters – Double Count
  • 15 Derkins
  • 15 CDDs

Station #4

  • 20 Ranger Merkins
  • 20 Monkey Humpers
  • 10 Lt. Dans
  • 15 Crab Cakes IC

Repeat one station

The Thang part III

These Pax are finely tuned boot camp machines and as such, finished parts I & II with time to spare.  YHC, not wanting to cheat them, ad-libbed:

  • People’s chair during which Pax on each end ran 5 yards out and executed 5 squats
  • Repeat with balls to the wall

Mosey to COT with 2 min to spare; 10 crunchy frogs IC; 10 Freddie Mercuries IC; 10 American Hammers IC

Ended the session with a reminder about the F3 Christmas party, praise for family gatherings, prayers for travelers and those dealing with loss.  Gentlemen, being part of the F3 brotherhood brings me great joy.  It was an honor to lead this morning.

Wolverine out.

 

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Hills, Hills, Hills

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We ran.

Mile and a half-ish warm up around the parking lot, up the back hill, around the front on 49, back into the parking lot, around towards the back of the school, around the track, and back out to the front entrance near the metal barrier.

Ran the hill from the barrier to the stop light on 49 x 5 at a 3-5K pace with a light jog back down and a 30 sec – 1 min rest between.  Note: some people’s 3-5K was more like a sprint.

Indian Run from the stop light to the back bus parking lot hill.

Hill sprints from the 2nd light pole to the gate x 6.

After final sprint, we took a run up 49 in front of the school again back down to the main parking lot .  With a few minutes to spare, we were able to get in one final Indian Run around the parking lot before COT.

Announcements: Turkey Day Convergence, Band Aids, F3 Christmas Party…

Prayers: Travels for Turkey Day and Royale for patience as he continues the journey of Fatherhood (which we all can use).

 

Thanks for the Q opp. Hauschka!  Put me back on more often to keep me accountable for getting out and keeping me honest in my runs!

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Cold Blooded at the Swamp

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So it was the coldest day of November (so far) but at least there was no rain.  A balmy 33 degrees to start the workout.  My goal was to keep the energy level high to keep the blood flowing!  Only 3 of the 15 men planned on rucking this morning, so I gave the disclaimer and the other 12 of us were off.

Mosey with a dynamic warmup to the Home Depot parking lot.

COP with IWs – Windmills – SSHs – MNCs – Mountain Climbers – CDDs – Plank Jacks – Merkins?

These days whatever keeps me moving is what I call.  I like to take Pushers guidance and change the count for each…which always gets the PAX talking! It’s almost impossible to get Jedi and Witch Hunt to stop chattering nowadays… which always adds a fun playful air to the warmup.

Enough of that stuff… moving on!  I like to find new routines in the Lexicon that we might not have done before.  I found these:

“The Dab”  (I was immediately asked why it’s called that…not idea just from the workout)

10 burpees in 1 minute

Run a quarter mile lap around the parking lot

Do this 4 times

It went pretty well…and it kept us warm unfortunately Half Shell “popped” his calf muscle… that’s not good for running! No man will be left behind so I tried to modify a little.  I’m sorry if it was not enough Half Shell…

Slow walk towards Target, but a bear crawl for good measure to keep everyone together for about 50 yards.

“Triple Check”

Teams of 3

1st PAX wall sit

2nd PAX Plank

3rd PAX run 50 yards and back.

Rotate through your team and complete this 3 times.

This took longer than expected so item #3 of the evolutions was left off and we moseyed back to COT.  With 2 minutes to spare more burpees were completed.

Namorama

Announcements & Prayers

An Honor to Lead,

Royale

 

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Homecoming Season

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Thanks to Peg for the opportunity to lead!  It was something different today and it was fun while it lasted.

Let’s get to it… shall we?

Mosey to empty-ish parking lot behind Bagel Boat. (Hi, NASA’s twin brother on moving truck!)

Warm-O-Rama:

SSH x 30, Windmill x 10, Hillbilly Walkers x 10, Weed Pickers x 10, Peter Parker x 10, Parker Peter x 10, Mountain Climbers x 10, Honeymooner/Downward Dog x 2

The Thang:

Split into two teams… 4 vs. 4 FOOTBALL in the parking lot (at 5:15 A.M.?… you betcha!).  1 or 2 hand touch.  Witch Hunt as all-time QB due to an odd number (did I say Witch Hunt?… I meant Ryan Leaf).  Parking lot light to handicap signs were end-zones with parking spaces in the middle serving as a first down marker.  If a team scored a TD, 5 Kraken burpees to the defense!

***Crazy Cat Lady Sighting*** ***5 Burpees***

We played with each team getting 3 possessions.  Highlights included: Respectable Olaf with the catch of the day, Shakespeare getting burnt like toast on defense, Shakespeare dropping passes on offense, and no injuries.  I can blame a lot of things on my performance today… the rain, the gloves, lack of sleep, the QB… but it was simply, just me.  Can’t wait for some redemption…

——————————–

After our Homecoming football game, we moseyed back over near COT area because it was time for the Homecoming Dance!  3 songs with exercises in cadence to the beat (not really, but that was the idea).  Songs were a throwback to when I was in high school… why not?  After each “dance” we did a little something in between.

Song 1: Pretty Fly for a White Guy – The Offspring (note: apparently played at Witch Hunt’s wedding)

  • Crabcakes during instrumental/”give it to me…” parts
  • Dying Cockroach during verse
  • LBC’s during the chorus (missed the first one)

Break in between:  People’s Chair near Bowl N’ Bounce, 1 person at a time come off wall and complete 5 sandbags curls, stand up when all have completed.  After which, we did an Indian Run with sandbag starting up front, passed to the back of the line, once it reaches the person at the end they run it to the front and start passing back again.  Came up with this idea a few days ago and wanted to see how it was.  It wasn’t fun.

Song 2: Where The Party At- Jagged Edge

  • Imperial Squat Walkers during instrumental/verse parts
  • Side to side ski jump/strides (something like that) during the chorus
  • Overhead press/raise the roof during the “oh ooooohhh…” parts

Break in between: BTTW, starting at the end one person at a time complete 1 burpee, all come down when everyone has gone.

Song 3: Smooth Criminal- Alien Ant Farm (idea courtesy of Jedi… RIP… errr, thanks I mean)

  • Shoulder taps during instrumental
  • Plank Jacks during verse
  • 1 merkin for every “Okay” in the chorus… it’s a lot

Cut short of the end to start COT on time.

Announcements:

read the newsletter, Ragnar, Fast Five, Convergence, etc.

Prayers:

missing boy and family in Gastonia, continued recovery and support for people affected by Florence.

 

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Making an IMPACT at Poopdeck

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Another great morning in Lake Wylie.  I got to the Poopdeck a little early to set up some cones, and still some of the PAX are already there stretching and yapping. By 5:15 we had 10 guys ready to roll out for the bootcamp as Davinci & Shakespeare were leaving for some miles.  Gave the disclaimer and we were off.

We ran over to west parking lot (the best one of three) for COP.  A standard group of warm up exercises to loosen up.  I like using random counts to keep the PAX guessing!  We moved on to the first evolution.

Evolution 1 The Burpee Mile

I set up 3 cones around the lot.  We would run up a lane and back down the one to the right, at the turn where the cone is stop and do 10 burpees.  We did this rotation around the parking lot for 3 cones and then back around again.  Total 60 burpees and about a mile run.

Evolution 2 Merkin Mania

No running in this one. We moseyed over to another cone with a nice list on it.  This was the non stop rotation.  As I was explaining we see our favorite car… Cat Lady sighting! 5 burpees!

20 Diamond Merkins

20 Plank Jacks

20 Ranger Merkins

20 Shoulder Taps (SC)

20 Hand Release Merkins

20 Plank Jacks

20 Ranger Merkins

20 Shoulder Taps (SC)

20 Wide Arm Merkins

20 Plank Jacks

Shared some words about IMPACT. I stole the message from Qsource 2.1.

(Read it HERE https://f3nation.com/2018/04/22/impact-q2-1-2/ )

We discussed the “Survivor <——-> Servant” scale and how my father was an unfortunate example of a survivor during his homelessness last year.  Lucky for all of us in attendance we fall further down the scale towards Servant.  But many men fall right in the middle, and that’s a sad clown.  How do we find these men and move them forward?  Proximity is required to have a strong effect on the life of a sad clown!  At one point I shared a paragraph or two from the Q source directly. No need to make it up when it’s right there for you to share with your brothers!

Evolution 3 Sprints

Back to running.  We moved to the other side of the parking lot where another 4 cones were set up.  We would sprint  to the closest cone and then back to start, second cone and back, etc until the final stop was tapping the building at the end of the lot. After a 10 count  we did it again, cutting off the final stop.  We continued working down the stops. total number of sprints around 10.  That sucked, but everyone pushed hard!

Time for a slow mosey  back to COT.  With 5 minutes to go we circled up.  We have an announcement today, someone was turning 34!  So I asked Birthday Boy Witch Hunt to call an exercise.  He picked his favorite…Crunchy Frogs.  So we did 17 double count Crunch Frogs (34 total).  A few minutes left, so around the horn for some U-Call-It ab lab.

COT

Nameorama

Announcements

Invergence Friday – 6th Anniversary Convergence Saturday 9/29 @ WEP

Iced-T on Q at the Deep – read your newsletter!

Praises and Prayers

Witch Hunt’s 34th Birthday and Davinci’s son Aiden’s upcoming 9th birthday

Ball-o-Man

An Honor to Lead

-Royale

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Abyss got tired once again

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We started our workout with a quick disclaimer and moseyed to the basketball goals area behind the school, all the props had been distributed into 4 stations.

Circled up for the warm up:

Windmill

Moroccan night clubs

Low Slow Squats

Hillbilly walk

Hillbilly squat (combination of hillbilly walk and squat, we had a few issues coordinating the count with the actual movements of the body but by the sixth rep most PAX got the idea)

Mountain Climbers

Low Slow Merkin

Arm circles

After the warm up we split in 4 groups and each group went to a different station:

Station 1:

-> 15 big boy sit ups

-> 20 Rosalitas

-> 30 Sledgehammer                                                                                                                                                                               swings (15 each side)

-> 40 Heel Touches SC

-> 40 Dying Roach SC

Station 2:

-> 8  Tire flips

-> 20  Monkey Humpers

-> 20 lunges SC

-> 30 low squat (touch the ground with hand)

-> 50 calf raises

Station 3:

-> 15 biceps curls

-> 20 curb dip

-> 25 dumbbell swing

-> 30 SSH IC

-> 40 Carolina drydocks

Station 4:

-> 10 diamond merkins

-> 15 wide arm merkins

-> 20 regular merkins

-> 30 battle rope wave SC

-> 40 Shoulder taps

After each group finished a full circuit of 4 stations we went to the grass area to do a full Captain Thor routine (1 big boy sit up and 4 american hammers, 2 BBSU and 8 AH, 3 BBSU and 12 AH and so on all the way up to 10 BBSU and 40 AH) lots of mumble chatter before, during and after this routine, some requested yoga mats, but we only had the grassy area, everyone pushed their body to the extreme to complete this routine.

On the way back to COT with 8 minutes to spare we found the hill and went for a run downhill, run up to the middle of the hill and perform 3 reps on each position of the around the clock merkin routine, back to the top, rinse and repeat.

Once done with the hill, we moved against the school wall for mike tyson merkins, Wall Makhtar N’Diayes and balls to the wall, more mumble chatting happened here as every PAX counts to 5 at a different speed and everyone had to hold the BTTW position untill all PAX had done their 5 count from left t op right.

Moseyed back to COT, planked for 1 minute, right arm high, left arm high, right leg high, left leg high some chatter included; we figured that our favorite Star Wars character was cranky since he had missed his daily m&m’s dose.

We finished up with prayers, praises and announcements.

Thank you Bones for the opportunity to lead.

Tinsel out…

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Palisades=Hills

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The hills were alive. Rolling in from Tega Cay I was like “How hard can a stroll through Palisades be?” Turns out hard! A couple of notes from YHC before leading a running workout.

  1. Try to post a few times when you are not the Q. It helps with getting a lay of the land. And getting to know the regulars.
  2. Review some of the recent routes so as not to be repetitive and reflect an air of not caring or just “winging it”
  3. When laying out the route on mapmyrun, take a peek at the elevation changes and adjust as necessary (or not)
  4. Know where your going (this is key)

Item 2 above gave the necessary ground for some light twitter cyber-bullying of YHC (deserved). Item 3 resulted in some grumbles, mostly from YHC. And item 4 resulted in some wayward Pax (again myself included). Tclaps to Hauschka for getting me back on track.

So the 13 of us rolled out and took on Palisades. The route is posted somewhere in the Twitter-verse and should stay there. We had a good time, got the heart rate up, got lost (some of us at least), found about 4-5 different ways to get back to Palisades Park Elementary. All told the distances ranged from 4.5 – 5.5 miles. A special thank you to Jedi and Witch Hunt for the conversation rolling back into the school. If you’ve ever wondered the many uses of a credit card and/or penny, just hit Jedi up. He brings new light to the term “penny pincher”.

COT and BOM on me.

Haushcka, thanks for the opportunity as always.

Zima out!

 

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