Always great to Q outside of Any Given Sunday every now and then. Monday was my second time Q’ing Paradise City and have always loved the options at this AO. You have the ramp, rock piles, a tunnel, plenty of parking spaces, and a long line of guard rails, which are almost as long as the line of excuses Midget gives YHC when he HC’s, but never shows to the next day’s workouts.

This morning, YHC rolled in about 15min early. Several cars were parked already to get some EC. One I recognized was Full House, fresh of a solid Torch Run on Saturday. Particle Board was already in the lot with an FNG he had headlocked for this morning’s workout.   FNG introduced himself with Hospital Name-Todd…..Yes, men another guy named Todd. Now he was provided a quality F3 at the conclusion of the workout, but have to say F3- SouthWake is a breeding ground for HIM that regularly post with the hospital name of Todd- Maybelline, Norm, Coal Ash, Pablo, Wiggly, YHC, and now the newest member of our group who is now commonly referred to as F3-Utah.

Thank goodness for F3 names as you can imagine the confusion that this creates at the Wescott pool when the Wescott clowns Pablo, Maybelline, and YHC are present at the same time and one of our M’s shouts, “hey Todd” to the pool from the lounge chair.

Anyway…7 Todd’s… I digress. As Particle Board, FNG, and I were wrapping up our conversation the sweet sound of a diesel engine in the distance cut the humidity… Could it be?…..Heck yeah it was.. Roger Roger has returned from hunting wolverines in Alaska and has come to re-engage with this F3 thing we have in South Wake.. Welcome back, Bro. We missed you and glad you are here.  Next to roll in was Deadbolt, then Bufford, and Pablo. Just in time as Full House came rolling in from EC, along with Yogurt and Go-Gurt who had already worked up a lather on the way in.

Disclaimer provided the FNG. A quick 2 minutes to go for last minute stretches and we were off at 5:45am.

FNGs: Welcome FNG-Utah (named after Johnny Utah from Point Break. Hobbies included surfing and is also a Michigan fan- Go Blue! Name was fitting considering in Point Break , Utah was a former Ohio State quarterback turned FBI agent). Kudos to Pablo on the solid name and reference.

Warm Up: Light jog weaving through the parking lot around the medians, with alternating shuffles and butt kickers. Circled up for SSH X20, Imperial Walkers IC X12, Hillbillies X12, Mountain Climbers X12. Recovered on the jog to the guard rails adjacent to the basketball courts. Time to warm up the upper body with a Slide Rule special of Erkins, Derkins, and Dips X20 each. Recover on the jog up the hill beyond the tennis courts for a set of Jack Webbs in a 1 merkin to 3 air press ratio, incrementally increasing to 10 merkins and 30 air presses. Recover on the jog to the lot before the concession stand. Time to warm up the legs. YHC called for a set of 20 prison squats with a squat hold at 15 and 20 where we held for a 10 count in cadence of Morocan Night Clubs.

The Workout: Accountability sprints up the ramp. YHC called for a partner up by speed. Challenged PAX to partner with another HIM that was going to push them on the ramp for a set of 7’s. With 10 PAX we had 5 groups of HIM that were equally matched in speed except for YHC, who was paired with Pablo… we’ll get to that in a minute.

Pairings: Yogurt and Go-Gurt, Full House and Bufford, Roger Roger and Deadbolt, Particle Board and FNG-Utah, Pablo and YHC

Started at the bottom of the ramp and sprint all the way up to the concessions. At the top of Partner 1 performs 6 broke back merkins with Partner 2 in plank position. At the bottom of the hill Partner 2 performs 1 merkin all the way to 6 with Partner 1 in plank, until both partners share equal numbers of broke back merkins at both sides of the ramp. Strong pushes by all PAX with solid efforts up and down the ramp. For YHC it was more like Pablo pulling his partner up the hill, in what I can only imagine looked like a speed boat pulling a tug boat up stream. Just didn’t have the legs this morning.

PAX finishing early picked up the six and upon completion of the final set at the bottom of the hill, YHC led PAX to the middle parking lot area for a set of Build-A-Bears. PAX would bear crawl each parking space performing a merkin incrementally in the middle of each space, skipping a space in between before bear crawling the next space and performing 2 merkins in the middle and so on until we had a total of 10 spaces and 10 merkins.

Mary: Cardio Abs…. In the same lot, each PAX occupied a parking space with their backs to the far end of the lot. YHC called WWII’s IC X10. After performing this first set, PAX would remain on their six with their backs turned. On the word “GO” PAX would sprint to the other side of the lot. At the far end, PAX performed Homer to Marge X10… “GO”- turn around and sprint to the opposite end..LBC X15…”GO-turn around and sprint to the other end..Freddy Mercury X15..”GO- turn around and sprint to the opposite end… Circled up one final time for a set of planked Shoulder Taps X15..Ended with Have a Nice Day.

Announcements: F3 Family Cookout. YHC is looking for PAX to donate pasta and sauce as part of a non-profit charity Grow Our Kids for under privileged family’s. YHC’s PT-Erin Blankenship of Thrive Physical Therapy is running the Richmond Half and is targeting a goal of 680 items of pasta and or jars of sauce in support of this charity through Nov 1st. YHC will be at AO’s and collecting any donations that PAX may have.

T-Claps (Recognition): All PAX coming out and pushing each other and getting some EC in before workout.
Prayer: Continued prayers for Shredder and Bernie and their families. Prayers for those on IR and prayers for continued health for all PAX training for upcoming races. YHC took us out. Always an honor to lead.