4 sit on the thrown but only one takes the crown

/in , /by

EC: Dawgpound, Dumbo*, Emeril, Lipstick*, Pablo*, Skidmark, UTI

* Lipstick never made it out of the parking lot but instead headed to try his seat on the throne. Pablo made it about 200 yards before he left for his turn to sit on the throne. YHC made it all the way across the street and to the top of the hill before turning back to take his seat on the throne. Lipstick did complete a full EC route and due to his shortened time, he took the EC route crown from 187. I did hear some mumble chatter during 2nd F at Panera Bread that this could be what we need to get 187 out of Planet Fitness and back into the gloom. Only time will tell.

All in – 4 traditional ECs, 1 crown inspired by a seat on the throne, 1 abbreviated EC and 1 PAX never made it out of the chitter! You know it’s going to be an epic day at this point! I’m unaware of there ever being a morning with this much activity in the trailer. Maybe this is why the grass is so green at Paradise City.

FNGs: Not today!

Warm Up: GM x 10, SSH x 30

The Workout: Indian run to the corner for squats and Fazzio Arm circles. PAX were not happy with the time on the corner and the mumble chatter started. Better start moving cause I’ve had a ROUGH weekend and don’t need this in my life!

Indian run resumes all the way to the cul de sac past the green way. PAX are instructed we will run the hill doing 10 star jumps on the slick bridge at the bottom and 10 Carolina dry docks at the top. Everyone got at least 6 trips up and down. Indian run back to the parking lot at Ting with a stop at the light again for the dookie squat hold (in honor of our EC triumph and because its fun to do dumb stuff at intersections).

Upon arrival back at Ting we made a trip up the ramp and around the Ting loop with a stop at the guardrail for 30 dips.

Mary: Dawgpound led us in some Yoga while Slide Rule attempted to hold his chit together (literally). After COT Slide Rule made the days fourth trip to the throne before joining us at Panera for coffee.

Announcements: Check the interwebs.

T-Claps (Recognition): All the PAX who swallowed the DRP and posted today.

Prayer: Those with struggles.

YHC took us out. It was an honor to lead you guys and I’ll try to do better next time!

Did someone say…Do a Movie?

/in /by

I pulled in at Honeycutt Park at what I thought was 5:20. At least 7 vehicles in the parking lot. Noticed shovel flag already planted. I quickly looked at my watch to see if I was late. Pumps had texted me just as I arrived and asked: Is everybody running? Evidently…EC was in play with what appeared to be 6 vehicles. I was relived since I had the Q. I would not live it down being the Q and late.

EC: H1N1, LED, Fonzie, Butter Milk, HOA, Fedex

FNG: Chris (H.O.A) Welcome

Warm Up: As we struck off for a mosey a lap around the club work a truck pulled in HOT. Could not tell who it was. . Circled up for the following: SSH-25, Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies, Moroccan Night Clubs, Fazio Arm Circles, Daisy Pickers, Seal Claps, Overhead Claps

We separate into Munity & Red October. Duaber had the Q at Red October and LED joined him.

 

The Workout: Moseyed to the rock pile and YHC advised to get a smedium rock. Rock would be traveling with you. Over to the soccer field where the following took place:

IC 20-Curls for The Girls, John Q to middle of field, 15-Merkins, Sprint back to start, 20-Tricep Extensions and sprint to middle of field, 15-hold Plank alternating rock taps, sprint to start, 20-Squats sprint to middle, 15- Merkins sprint back to start. This was a 3 rounder.

Moseyed to parking lot where we lunged with rock to middle of parking lot island, bear crawl with rock back to start. Repeato

Next PAX laid on our backs and formed a Train (every white line). Hold 6” while rock is above your head IC PAX would run in between start to finish with rock. We went through both sides of lot. IC various core exercises, hold rock 90 degrees, WWI. Dropped rocks for curb to curd work exercises. Merkins, Derkins and Erkins on my count. Returned rocks to rock pile. Lined up on curb for dips IC. Returned to parking lot area and bear crawled to every white line, Merkins from 1-6. Noticed Dauber was ready for Mary. Moseyed to tennis courts.

Mary: Dauber took Mary with several core exercises and ended up with some good stretching.

Announcements: Saturday F-V has walk at Noon starting at Mineral Springs. 1 Free beer at the end of walk. Dauber is putting together movie night (DO A MOVIE). Info to follow. Check Slack & Facebook

T-Claps (Recognition) to Butter Milk for bringing new FNG & for all those guys who got up early to put in the miles.

Prayer: Dauber sister involved in an MVC. Keep her in prayer. Fedex, wifes Mom, Health Issues. Wife is flying out. Pray for travel mercies and safety. Unspoken

After prayer it was brought to our attention that Norm was the reckless driver. 5-Burpees OYO!

It was an honor to lead! I appreciate the opportunity. Sprinkler

The LED-Dauber Show!

/in , /by

FNGs:  Welcome HOA!  Damn homeowner’s association preventing a working man from parking his work truck in the driveway.
Warm Up:  Chilly start (high thirties) with a glorious full moon.  Sprinkler led combined PAX of Mutiny and Red October in the warmup.  Ran around the gym and circled up for the following exercises:  SSH, Fazio arm circles, seal claps, Overhead claps, Moroccan night clubs and Daisy pickers.
The Workout:  LED saw I was going to be solo and quickly ran to his vehicle to grab his kettlebell and joined me.  THANK YOU BROTHER!  We moseyed to the shelter and agreed to divide and conquer.  We would each call an exercise, up to a 20 count and then alternate calling kbell exercises.  Focused on arms, legs, back, shoulders, core and lats.  The following exercises were completed:  swings, rut-rows, toe-taps, tricep curls, lawn-mowers, power thrusters, bus drivers, step ups on the wall, goblet squats, plank from the wall – single arm pulls, slaps from plank, from our 6 – WWIIs, American hammers, straight arm Tricep curls, chest presses, hello dolly with bell above, lunges, side lunges.  Headed to the wall for BTTW, hand touches from plank and people’s chair.  May have missed a few.  We kept busy and the mumble chatter was great!
Mary:  YHC had PAX circle up for Mary on the tennis courts.  Started off in a chill cut plank and went into pickle pounders and Superman.  Homer to Marge, box cutters and Freddie  Mercuries.  Finished off with YOGA – Runners, Downward dog, Pigeon.
Announcements:  MULE, 5K runs in HS, Q-sheet, Wrightsville
T-Claps (Recognition):  PAX coming out dealing with their injuries and still getting it done in the gloom!
Prayer:  Farva’s colonoscopy today, Dauber’s sister in a car crash, FedEx family member I’ll – family needs to travel to NY; TN victims, Injured PAX, UNSPOKEN.  Sprinkler took us out.

2nd F at Panera.

An honor to lead in the gloom. – Dauber

I Wonder Why He Moved That Trash Can?

/in , /by

The Downtown Train didn’t stay at any stop for long today. Not sure how many miles this train clocked, but it was more than usual at least in YHC’s experience on the Train. 10 passengers got stronger and faster on the DT express today.

FNG’s: None

EC: Coal Ash, Nemo, Yogurt
Warm Up: Moseyed a reverse traditional loop around the front of the stores and back into the parking deck. Circled up for SSH x 30 and 10 counts of GM’s, Sir Fazio Arm Circles, Seal Claps, IW’s, and HB’s. While doing this YHC moved the rubbish can away from the wall. A pax said, “I wonder why he did that?” We’d be need that wall and all items cleared for later in the workout.
The Workout: Upstairs we went.  Fast feet the curbs to one end of the lot. Squat hold for 6. Typewriter the curbs in reverse direction. Squat hold for 6.

Moved on to 7’s. These were done the length of the parking lot. We waited until the 6 was in on each pass before pax did exercises on YHC’s  “up” and “down”.  Full range of motion was the focus here. And pax sprinting and pushing hard was encouraged. Exercises were Prisoner Squats and Hand Release Merkins with Superman holds on the “down”.

Mosey down the stairs and around the block to the knee wall. YHC called: dips x 20, irkins x 15, dirkins x 10, dips x 15, irkins x 10, dirkins x 5.  Most pax opted for some reason the knee wall sections that had the bars on them.  Had to caution the pax not to concuss themselves on the wrought iron fence during irkins.

To the Wall. Cleared the rubbish barrel from here earlier. Each pax 5 counted for People’s Chair. To the far wall we ran. Each pax does 4 count for BTTW. Back again. 3 count People’s Chair. Back again once more. 2 count BTTW. Lucky Charms is noticeably an absolute beast. This guy goes from sprinting to handstand to BTTW to handstand wall push-up. People are crazy…

YHC called a line series where each pax had a parking line. Bear Crawl along the line to the wall, perform an irkin, lunge walk back, and do a Merkin. We did this 5 times with reps on each end increasing to 5. Once again, Lucky Charms probably got to 8-9 reps for some EC while waiting for the rest of us.

Finally, straight outta Yogurt’s playbook. Let’s empty the tank fellas! Sprints from one end to the other of the parking deck. When 6 got there, squat hold for 10 count and take off again. At each end we decreased squat hold count from 10,8,6, and 4. This gave us 4 hard sprints.  Great work pax!
Mary: Back to flag in time for what I think was LSF’s x 20 IC. Thanks Nemo for taking up the count when YHC started gagging on a snot rocket.
Announcements: upcoming Q’s for pax (POTS Tuesday at Purple Cobra, Yogurt Wednesday at TBD, YHC Friday at Cletus).
T-Claps (Recognition): Pax running hard today. Lucky Charms for giving us all some moves to aspire to!
Prayer: YHC had some pre-cancerous watch spots frozen, scraped, removed last week. Just another wake up call. Pumpkin Spice neighbor that he would get his drivers license today and have healing from grief. YHC took us out. Honored to lead!

A Rucking Headlock… 9 PAX spring forward at AGS

/in , /by

Pre-blast for AGS called for a main event ruck with a running option. A few Slack posts revealed that Coal Ash would be getting running miles for those not wanting to ruck. With the time difference, YHC didn’t know what to expect, but did expect a few PAX to show. Rolled into Womble around 5:50am to find a few dudes with headlamps fleeing Womble on foot (no cars) getting early miles.  Parked and quickly saw Dauber on the right side of Knight Rider.  Planted the flag and then saw a few trucks started to roll in and quickly had a Sprinkler sighting, then followed by Oboe. Master Shake rolled in as well. I haven’t seen him in several weeks and having missed his appearance last week. It was good to see him back in the gloom.

Double D also came ready to ruck and later discovered that he was the recipient of a Brutus “the Barber” Beefcake-sized headlock\sleeper hold by Sprinkler. Exchanged a few fist bumps with Double D and Sprinkler before Double D inquired, “who’s truck is that?”… “Oh, that’s Vasoline…”

Boy George also came rolling in. This dude was on the second to last leg of a 48hr Goggins challenge. Not sure if he was awake, but his eyes were open and he was responding to visual cues and verbal commands. To round out the field, Midget came rolling in equipped with 3 ruck sacks ready to go. 6am hit and we were ready to go.

Warm Up: Boy George did a solo mission run around the soccer fields, while YHC lead PAX with a light mosey to the opposite end of the parking lot, with alternating lunge walks to the center. Circled up for SSH X10, Imperial Walkers X10, Hillbillies X10, Morocan Night Clubs X10…Midget, nice of you to join us, Fazio Arm Circles 10F\10B. Prisoner Squats X10 on YHC’s up\down. Squat hold for the routes.

The Workout: Only 2 runners. No sign of Coal Ash, unfortunately. Master Shake and Vasoline did the standard loop around the lake, while rucking PAX took the greenway to the lake (bypassing the lake segment) and continued through the backside of Sugg Farm. Lots of great mumblechatter along the way. Did not have an opportunity to get in between Sprinkler and Double D until the end of the ruck as we made our way down Grigsby, but that is when we discovered that Midget’s texts in a group chat got a 1-way ticket to vibrate on Sprinkler’s phone last night. Hopefully, more rucks will be planned in the future at AGS. Great fellowship and a great opportunity to connect with PAX at a different pace than a standard running or high-intensity AO. Arrived back to the flag about 2 min past 7am and performed a series of stretches, while waiting for Master Shake and Vasoline to come in. Great 2nd F followed at Sir Walter, where Oboe, Midget, and YHC got a visit from Skidmark.

Mary: Good Mornings X10 IC, Right over Left\Left over Right. Planked Calf Stretches. Downward Dogs and quad stretches.
Announcements: Mule next Saturday. Tobacco Rd. Half Marathon next week
T-Claps (Recognition): Master Shake and Vasoline holding each other accountable on the run this morning. Boy George completing the Goggins 48 hr challenge. All PAX battling the time change to post this morning.
Prayer: Prayers for Forceps and family. Those battling health issues. Sprinkler’s friend, Laredo, who has battled recent tragedies. YHC took us out.

Told you I’d get it up…. Possum Trot 3/4

/in /by

FNGs: None
Warm Up: SSH, IW/HB, Frankensteins, Cotton Pickers, Indian run with “drop and give me 5 merkins” down to the concession stand. “Musical cones” – bear crawl to cones, whoever is last gets 10 burpees while “winners” get monkey humpers – remove one cone rinse and repeat until final winner is crowned…. with more burpees.

The Workout: Theme of the day was about picking up the six, specifically not letting another PAX struggle with life alone.

So we partnered up and did three workouts where failure was inevitable. Balls to the wall until someone bails, broke back merks until someone bails, and forward facing Bubba/Forrest Gumps (deep squat holds with interlocked hands holding each other in balance). Which ever partner group bailed out first, the other PAX got to do burpees while the “failing” group recovered. The point being for all of us to encourage, cheer on, not allow the others to fail and when they did we pay the price for them to help carry the burden. PAX suffered through two rounds of that only to be greeted by the tennis court marry go round of stomach pain-

starting at one corner, WW2 x 10, bear crawl to next corner, American Hammers x 10, bear crawl to net, low slow flutter x 10, bear crawl to corner, LBC x 10, bear crawl to corner, heel taps side to side x 10, partner carry the long side back to start – rinse and repeat

Mary: we listened to NEEDTOBREATH “hard love” while squat holding. Message is in the song

Announcements: usual

T-Claps (Recognition): all you legends!

Prayer:

Poker at the Fire House

/in , /by

YHC pre-blasted with the promise of picking things up and putting them down. The implication was that was simply kettle bells – the fire hose waiting to greet pax as they pulled in proved that was not necessarily the case.

EC: Full House and Deadbolt for some miles, Dawgpound, Flanigan, and YHC for some yoga.

Pax just kept pouring into the parking deck – not sure if it’s the pleasant location or the attractiveness of the scaleable workout, but for two weeks in a row we landed at 20 pax for Ivan.

FNGs:

None today – a shame.
Warm Up:

SSH x20 IC

1x Burpee

Right leg swings x10 IC

2x Burpee

Left leg swings x10 IC

3x Burpee

Daisy pickers x10 IC

4x Burpee
The Workout:
Pax maintained the circle around the fire hose. One pax left their kettlebell and picked up the hose for a lap around the bottom of the parking deck. Another pax flipped a card out of the deck which determined what exercise we did while the pax was traveling.

For the first 12 minutes we did:
Diamond – Squat Thruster – Tragically we didn’t get to do a single one of these. The problem with randomization I suppose.
Spade – Kettlebell swing
Clubs – Curls
Heart – Merkin shuffle (Merkin with one hand on bell, slide bell, merkin, repeato)
Joker – Turkish Getup

For the second 12 minutes we did:
Diamond – Lawnmowers
Spade – Midget cookie pouch
Clubs – Triceps
Heart – Midget getup
Joker – Turkish getup

At some point in this second set a 3rd and 4th joker were drawn and the pax learned that YHC’s deck was a bit doctored…..woops, might’ve failed to mention that at the start.

For the third 12 minutes we did:
Diamond – Boobity boobity (squeeze bell and press up from one pec to the top down to the opposite, repeato)
Spade – Low slow flutter w/bell overhead
Clubs – WW1 w/bell
Heart – Single leg deadlift
Joker – Turkish Getup

During this set UTI remarked that there was a difference between Jacks and Jokers. YHC assured him that there were in fact only 6 jokers in this “deck” of cards.

Mary: Incorporated into last set

Announcements:

Run for Dee Dee – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/4th-annual-run-for-dee-dee-5k-registration-84539745655

T-Claps (Recognition):

Yogurt for the triple down option this morning (Crazy Ivan, Mountain biking in Umstead, 5K in Umstead). Keep your eyes out for this one to repeat itself!

Prayer:

A note about the requests – we have some of the same requests that come up for long standing issues. Please do remember to conciously lift these up in whatever way matches with your creed – don’t just check the box at the end of CoT, make it real.

Wallaby. Forceps and his family. Lipstick’s family and his sister. YHC’s M’s back.

YHC took us out.

Hey Pax, Can Someone Give Me a Ride to…

/in , /by

YHC discovered a new way to get someone to a workout.  There’s the standard EH. Then there’s the “smack talk ‘em into it”. Finally, there’s the I locked my keys in the car, need a ride to the AO, and btw…I’m supposed to Q. That’s where I was after some miles at U-Turn this AM. But Sprinkler came to the rescue to give me a lift. Without my shovel flag, gloves, dice, winky, and other non-sweated through gear in my locked car… we began the AO at 0730.

FNG’s: nada
Warm Up: SSH x30, and then 10 counts of: IW, HB, Good Mornings, Frankenstein’s, Moroccan Night Clubs, Seal Clap, and Overhead Claps.
The Workout: To the rocks men!  YHC called a series of exercises with 20, 15, and a few 10 counts of the following:

Rut Rows x 3, Ground Pounders (only 1x), Squats x 4, Curls for the girls x 3, Tricep Press x 2, Bus Drivers, Wonder Bras, Shoulder Press x 2, Toe Taps, and, of course, in true GP fashion…the Rock Spanks! Pax switched rocks frequently.

Pax bring rocks to parking lot with everyone on their six. 6 rounds of Chest Presses and 6 rounds of ab work all with rocks. Ab work was 10 cts., presses were 10,15,20,20,15,10 counts.

Over to the bleacher area…an area apparently historically underused at this AO judging by the mumblechatter. Let’s open up this can!

Pax grab a fistful of fence for 30 count fence squats.

Half the pax engaged in a bleacher close grip Merkin ladder up and down the bleachers as the “timers”. Remaining pax did AMRAP dips at the knee wall. Switch.  Arms spent!

20 count step-ups at the knee wall.

We moseyed over to the restroom hut for some alternating series of People’s Chair and BTTW.  3 rounds of this with all pax counting the time with 7 counts, then 6, finally 5.

Moseyed back to the flag.

Mary: YHC realized we skipped dirkins, so we did 10 of those IC. Finished with 5 burpees OYO.
Announcements: Lots of things to get involved in on Slack. Wilmington race coming up.
T-Claps (Recognition): Needless to say…Sprinkler for making my Q happen. Farva… for always choosing a rock that makes the rest of the pax suffer…I mean…get stronger. Martini for doing a triple down after running like 14 miles or something this morning.
Prayer: Those sick and the hysteria that seems to follow Corona Virus situation. DOA’s family with sickness and M close to giving birth. Laid hands on our brother Forceps. Honored to lead… even without my car, keys, or gear!

3 Ring Circus at U-Turn, but No Dumbo…

/in /by

Q Tour rolled into U-Turn this morning. Nice brisk temps. Pre-Blast went out late last evening from YHC after assessing the multiple feeds on Slack to determine what many of the PAX were thinking heading into their Saturday runs. Saw many were looking to get in some early morning miles, some looking for 5 as usual and others feeling nostalgic, looking for the ‘old school’ U-Turn route. For YHC, the plan was to start em off with warm-up and close em down with COT, but lead a 3 mile route for those looking for shorter distance. The combination of age setting in, my stupidity on Monday ‘getting way after it’ at PC, as well as my unfortunate lack of common sense trying to make Emeril all salty during Indian runs has earned YHC a well-deserved hip issue. To that existent, YHC had to rely on the strength of the PAX to push each other during their 5 mile runs.

Lots of PAX rolling in from EC and also many rolling in for Main Event. Planted flag, exchanged pleasantries with several PAX. Around 5:58am, Pablo was seen coming in hot, but no co-pilot in the form of Dumbo to be found. After seeing some early morning feeds from Slack on my porcelain throne this morning, it appeared that a great evening was had by many PAX at the NC State game last night. Dumbo’s morning scratch, however, was about as disappointing as Danny Manning’s .411 winning percentage at Wake Forest to many PAX in attendance,  including DawgPound, Pablo, and Emeril.

6:00am hit and after confirming no FNG’s we were off with the following warm-up.

Warm Up: Light jog around the lot with alternating carioca R\L, L\R. Continued on the light jog and circled up for SSH X15, Imperial Walkers X10, Hillbillies X10, Good Morning X 10 IC. Squat hold while YHC explained the options.

The Workout: Old School U-Turn with Dauber and Doc, Newer School (current standard U-Turn) route with 10min\mi and higher starting first, and a 3 mile with YHC, heading in either the New School or Old School direction. After explaining the route options, YHC sent the 10min pace groups first, but then Slide Rule said he’d have to be back before 7am, so would head out with the 10min group and then at that point after witnessing his long strides, the gazelles got triggered and just headed out all at once. They all knew what to do so…run pick up the six, repeat for 5 miles.

Boy George, Vasoline, and YHC stayed back, did some additional exercises to continue limbering up and to burn some time at the beginning so our 3mi route would end around the same time as some of the 1st PAX starting to filter in from their run. We chose new school route and headed up about 1.5 mi and just circled back to the lot. 15 PAX at the start and about 21ish PAX on the return for COT, accounting for those that headed out for early EC. Definitely didn’t lose anyone, but gained a few along the way.

Mary: OYO
Announcements: Dad-2.0 Workout with Mr. Terrific at 9am Womble.
T-Claps (Recognition): Deadbolt shaving 20seconds this morning compared to last week’s U-Turn post. Kudos to DawgPound with a strong finish at the end in picking up the six onto a solid 5mi run pacing around 9:13. All those getting extra miles out there this morning and pushing each other

Prayer: Continued prayers for Forceps. YHC took us out.

Oh! It’s a car thing!

/in /by

Abe was set up to Q Cletus, but his 2.0 was under the weather and he needed to stay home to be a good husband and father.   YHC stepped into the void to lead this AM.  Much to Da Business’ disappointment, I did not popcorn the Q and instead went for a regular Cletus beatdown.

FNGs: Nosir
Warm Up:
Run the lines on the courts
SSH, Imperial Squat Walkers, Mtn Climbers, Merkins

The Workout:
Bear crawl the lines, then repeat-o the other direction (star jump x10 between)
Hop the lines, both legs, both directions (merkin x10 between)

Burpee-indian-run, then double-burpee-indian-run
Plank Hold for indian bear crawl
Indian run to lot

Grab a fence, 10x derkins on the low run, 10x derkins on the high run
Sprint to end of fence, 10x sumo squat jumps, sprint back
Repeat 8x, 6x. etc

2 line indian run to the playground for
PULL UPS (and 90 degree hangs)

Mary: POPCORN! (just for Da Business)
Announcements: Please make Wrightsville a priority.  Also, 2.0 workout tomorrow
T-Claps (Recognition): we all had fun.  not a lot of chatter, so appreciate everyone pushing themselves this morning
Prayer: FloJo’s accident; Crab Legs, Forceps, Lipstick’s sister, lots of others