A trip to the Five & Dime

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23 HIM’s posted in the gloom at the Trot this morning for a little arm work with a little gray block of cement!

FNGs: None

Warm Up: Led by FedEx – 5 burpee penalties were doled out to all pax who showed up to run EC while remaining pax held squats, SSH, Good Mornings, IW, Hillbillies, Michael Phelps, Fozio AC forward / reverse all in cadence. YHC added an additional 5 burpees in honor of Puddles who had requested on Tuesday that the pax perform burpees on his behalf since he had to return to his new abode in Beaufort, NC. We miss you Puddles!

The Workout: Two year F3 anniversary for FedEx and Double D who co-Q’ed a trip back in time to the days of the local Five & Dime. Cinder blocks were conveniently placed across the parking lot and Pax were instructed to push, pull, drag, or get cinder block anyway they so chose across parking lot to tennis courts without block leaving the asphalt. Once inside all Pax lined up at one end and a series of sets of 5 & dimes were called by YHC across the courts of curls for the girls, overhead presses, uneven merkins, blocks around the waist, rut rows, box jumps and plank jacks on blocks. At each end FedEx called an exercise with or without blocks of balls to the wall, mountain climbers on blocks, LBC’s, American hammers, wonder bra’s, etc, and then the series of 5 & dimes resumed back to the opposite end of courts. After a several trips to the Five and Dime blocks were then carried back out off the courts to be pushed, pulled, dragged back across the lot to YHC’s truck to be loaded up for another day! An audible was called for 10 burpees OYO after loading up the blocks.

Mary: Led by FedEx for a series of LBC’s, American hammers, pickle pounders, Homer to Marge, WWII’s

Announcements: Both FedEx and YHC expressed our thanks for this group of friends who inspire and challenge us here in SouthWake. YHC encouraged the Q’s to mix up their workouts by adding whatever they so choose and to think outside the box like assigning penalties to those who performed EC. Yoga tonight at Snap Fitness, Deadbolt’s & Gump’s 5 year anniversary Q at Womble on 7-19-19 – don’t miss it! The Arena workouts every Friday at 2:30 PM – try to do our best to give back to those men at Healing Transistions

T-Claps (Recognition): Mookie sporting Breath taker this week. Strong work Mookie!

Prayer: Robinson family whose husband/father very recently suddenly passed away, Noah’s Ark’s wife FedEx led us out in prayer.

If you don’t read any backblast, I would read this one for sure.

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Do what you want……..  YHC is not a marketer and prefers not to preblast. (unlike our friends at TBD…I hope you got your moneys worth over there this morning, they need some revenue to pay for all the marketing expense)  You all know where to find me on Wednesday’s and if you don’t, check the South Wake site for AO time and place.  EC was on for 0500, YHC arrived at 0501 to pass by a good group of ECers making there way to Bridgewater.  The pace was steady and YHC was almost caught up when _____ well you know what happened.  EC group made it back to Ting to greet Nemo who was ready for some running.
Warm Up:  Consisted of half the ECers still out and about doing there thing and the remaining group sharing there thoughts on what route to take.  YHC had enough and declared the AO as “Do what you want and be back here at 0615”.  YHC did tell the group the planned route and kicked off some warm-ups.  SSH x12 Good Mornings x6 Stationary Butt Kickers x8 Frankensteins x7 and Phelps
The Workout: Leave Ting and head into Bridgewater. Take the right that leads you to the greenway to sunset ridge and follow the sleepy hollow path.  Turn left on Crossway and do and out and back.  Come back through sleepy hollow greenway and back to Ting.  Various distances were accomplished this morning 5-10 miles
Mary: She is still waiting
Announcements: R4TJ will no longer be a people pleaser.  When YHC has the Q don’t expect a preblast or giving in to PAX request on route options (I do except bribes). I will commit to posting the route the night before on the R4TJ Slack page.  We will be doing what I want to do from now on and you can either like it or leave it!
T-Claps (Recognition): Redenbacher! This guy is killing it. He has been committed to the run and is showing some great GAINS!
Prayer: Crablegs and his ALS Summer Tour

Have a great day! Lipstick

 

PS: This is all fun and games.  Take it with a grain of salt.

Rise of the Dodo Bird

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20 Pax showed up for a beatdown by YHC after a week of being downrange. It was good to be back in the gloom with these HIMs and this morning was no different. A strong crowd for EC on a hot and muggy morning, the definition of gloom. Breathtaker made an appearance after the reassurance that running was not the focus of the morning. There were chafed nipples, a malfunctioning light vest, and a Skidmark. As 0530 hit, with no FNGs and 1 self proclaimed Kotter, we were off

ECEC: Warbucks, Skidmark, Redenbacher, UTI
EC: Warbucks, Skidmark, Redenbacher, UTI, Axe, 187, Plex, Dahmer
Skins: Skidmark, UTI, Warbucks

Warm Up:
SSH x30 IC
imperial walker – 10 IC
hillbilly 10 IC
squat 10 IC
sir fazio arm circles 10/10 IC
moroccan night clubs 10 IC
seal claps 10 IC
overhead claps 20 IC

The Workout:
Everybody was warm, so we moseyed to the Path to nowhere for:
People’s chair – 5 count by pax. This took a really long time, resulting in mumble chatter about partner leg massages and 187’s strong legs from carrying so much weight around.
Ascending testicles – 1 round
mosey to better wall for round 2

Mosey To loading dock grab 2 rocks
Curls were done while the 6 arrived

Circled up for 2 rounds of:
Overhead press
Triceps extensions
Dodo bird – 187 gave history of the dodo bird
Curls for the girls

This circuit was going pretty smooth, but got way off track when 187 gave Pax a history of the dodo bird. Apparently they are extinct, can’t fly, and ate rocks to digest berries. Pax stopped counting, so many dodo birds where done until we got to a 15 count. This mumble chatter approached Carpex status.

With tired arms, we moseyed to guard rail for 2 rounds of:
Dips
Derkins
Underdogs

Mosey back toward start, stopping at far end of lot. Pax grumbled when YHC told them to partner up based on leg weight. We
Wheelbarrowed back to start with burpees when switch, increasing each time.

Mary:
With Mary awaiting, we moseyed back to the flag where Dahmer led the following while I retrieved my phone:
LBC
LSF
Freddy Mercury
PicklePounder
Homer to Marge

Announcements:
See social networks.
1776 convergence on 7/4
Umstead trail run

T-Claps (Recognition):
Redenbacher with lots of good work lately. Keep it up and you’ll get that sub-2 half in November.

Particle board on his ability to avoid Qing a workout. Hope to see you leading one soon.

Prayer:
Crablegs on his journey to all MLB parks making memories and spreading awareness for ALS.
Follow him here: http://challengelarry.org
Unspoken and injured PAX.

Men of Steel

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EC: Cupid, H1N1

FNGs: None

Warm Up: 20 SSH IC, 10 Fozzy Arm Circles F+R IC,15 Imperial Walkers IC, 15 Hillbillies IC

The Workout: Indian run to train tracks, 2 hand release merkins

Plan was to do 11s while carrying a steel railroad tie back and forth. Turns out railroad ties are way more unwieldy then I thought and that was not a reasonable option. Modified to some sort of rubber railroad tie they had.

Merkins on one side, WW2s on the other. After we got to 8 we cut it short and did 11 WW2s

Ran back to The Nest and found Dovetail! Still not quite in the right time zone from Vegas. We did 3 sets of irkins, derkins, and dips before Mary.

Mary: 15 HtM, 5 HtM left leg up, 5 HtM right leg up, 10 dead cockroaches. Each PAX then picked an exercise. 5 Captain Thors, Low slow flutter followed by 6 inch hold, 5 burpees (didn’t see that coming R22…), and X-men situps.

Announcements: Slack, Facebook.

Prayer: Crablegs, Shredder, all other PAX on IR

Lucky 7’s – in Diamond Formation

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Shout out to Wiggly for providing the cones and helping put them out before the festivities began. YHC had never done a “7 of Diamonds” workout before today and the inexperience showed as improper instructions were given regarding the number of reps. Fortunately the mistake was caught before the first exercise so no harm done (except by the workout itself). Thanks to all for bearing with my shortcomings. We just might see the 7 of Diamonds again in the future.

FNGs: None

Warm Up:

Mosey around the parking lot
SSH x15 IC
Daisy Pickers x 10 IC
Monkey Humpers x 15 IC
Plank Jacks – x 15 IC
Nancy Kerrigans x 10 IC – bend over with one leg back and do arm circles – switch legs
The Workout:
Mosey to the bus parking lot for…
7 of Diamonds: Repeat same exercise and reps at each of the 4 “corners” (aka cones)…
Round 1: 7 reps – Turkish Get Ups (modify to do 1 arm/leg and alternate at each corner)
Round 2: 14 reps – Americans Hammers (IC)
Round 3: 21 reps – Merkins
Round 4: 28 reps – Squats
Round 5: 21 reps – Low Slow Flutter (IC)
Round 6: 14 reps – Carolina Dry Docks
Round 7: 7 reps – Bobby Hurley’s

Mary:

Player’s Choice all the way around the horn – did some LBC’s, reverse LBC’s, Pickle Pounders, Blue Devils?, Box Cutters, WW2’s, American Hammers, Hillbillies (without doing Imperial Walkers), Windmills,  Freddie Mercuries – and more – and ended with Have A Nice Day
Announcements:
See Slack/ Facebook
4th of July convergence @ Womble Park – 7am?
T-Claps (Recognition): Wiggly brought the cones and helped put them out. What a great guy.
Prayer:
Crab Legs – bringing awareness to ALS in search of a cure
Chips family – had a Carbon Monoxide scare at the house this morning.

Globulin’s Virgin Q at The Station (JOCO)

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Warm Up: Lap around the park followed by Side Straddle Hops, Hillbillies, Daisy Pickers, Michael Phelps, and Arm Circles
The Workout:5 stations consisted of 30 or 50 LB shoulder press, pull ups, burpees, ab roller, and walking lungs through the sand.  Pace was with walking lungs and running back to the first station.  Each station was completed 3 times.
Mary: Suicide sprints on the tennis courts followed by Rocky Balboa’s, American Hammers, Flutter Kicks, and Mission Impossible Tom Cruise planks.
Announcements: Poker Night, sasquatch, BRR (need two more runs), and Globulin’s nephew setting up a 5k in August for his Eagle Scout.
Prayer: Family/Friends with cancer treatments, and sick or injured family members.

Is “Mini EC” the new thing?

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It’s been a few good months since launching Downtown Train. To date, the biggest (and only) disappointment has been watching the construction of the parking deck.  I was really excited about the idea of a true multi-level parking ramp right in our very own downtown, having posted a few times in Hendersonville at a great parking ramp spot.  Sadly enough, it is now clear our deck will have no ramp, no multi-level with slope.  Oh well, at least it will provide some walls and some coverage if we need to seek shelter in the rain and cold.

I don’t think any of us know what to expect when we start a new AO (and there have been plenty in South Wake recently) but for me this has been a great experience.  Each week we have had a strong group always ready to put in the work, and also patient about exploring the opportunities in the downtown area.  Today was no different as we had a strong group of 9.  I have been taking requests lately and recognizing the interest in a workout that is not quite as run-centric as others.  We have had some guys coming back from nagging injuries, become a popular spot for breathtaker, and hosted many a #HIM who has pushed themselves on runs Fri/Sat/Sun.  Although the constant temptation of both Library Hill and Cemetary Hill constantly linger on the near outskirts of the starting lot, I am all about offering up an early week alternative that fits well with the PAX.

I will say, the EC streak is alive and well.  If you recall my tenure as Disney site Q, I was proud of the fact the EC streak extended in perpituity through my transition both on and off of that role.  There is a disclaimer for Downtown Train.  In the early days, Coal Ash and I were holding down the fort with dark, cold runs down to 55 and back.  There were several days I held down the streak on a lonely loop down to Womble and back.  Now, we have Brexit and sometimes Bernie getting the EC on the run from home.  This morning, and last week as well, due to some delays getting out of the joh…I mean, house, YHC was running late.  The good thing is, there were a few other late for EC but way early for the main event, so YHC, Redenbacher, 3rd Cousin, Abe and I headed out for a nice 1 mile jog.  A little EC is better than no EC at all, and full credit to Redenbacher for coining the phrase “mini EC”.

FNGs: Not on this Monday
Warm Up: Jog around the big block but stop short and circle up in the church lot for a basic run through of w/u exercise with some stretches as well.
The Workout: On the jog up to HS Road we found a spot on the wall of the shut down drug store and we dug in for 5 sets that went as followed:  all 10 count or ICx10, no breaks – BTTW, People’s Chair, Plank Hold, Merkins, Plank Hold, Shoulder Taps, Plank Hold, Mt. Climber, Plank Hold, Squats.  4th and 5th sets we dropped the plank holds but upped the count to 15.  Finished with a bonus BTTW 20 count..  On the jog back to start we did 3 full sets of a shoulder burn as follows and all to 10 count or ICx10 – hold arms out, fazio arms front and reverse, hold arms out, seal clap, hold arms out, overhead clap, hold arms out for a final 10 count.  After 2nd set I asked that everyone think of someone who they know is taking on a bigger challenge in their life – clearly more challenging than pushing through a burn out set.  With this focus in mind, everyone stepped up and pushed through the final set.
Mary: Round of plank-o-rama
Announcements: Need a Q for DT next week, 1776 convergence workout
T-Claps (Recognition): Great to see Deadbolt out there this morning as I had not posted with him in a couple weeks, Mookie for breathtaker (doing the workout but also supporting the cause), and I want to say Redenbacher has been killing it, he shows up, puts in the work and brings a great presence every time
Prayer: Friend of 3rd Cousin, I believe her name is Marilyn, diagnosed with and now battling cancer.  Deadbolt took us out.

That Was A Crazy Game Of Poker (Martini’s Virgin Q)

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PAX: Yosemite, Cricket, Norm, 16-Bit, Martini

FNGs:None

Warm Up:Lap around the parking lot, 15 SSH, 10 Cotten Pickers, 10 Windmills, 10 Good Mornings

The Workout:Each PAX was dealt 5 cards.  One at a time, a Pax would turn over a card.  The suite of the card would determine the exercise (hearts = cardio, spades = legs, club = abs, diamonds = upper body) and the face value of the card would determine the quantity of the exercise to be completed.  After all five cards were filled, the Pax with the best had would name an exercise.  Winning PAX would complete 5 of the exercise and the remainder of the PAX completed 10.  Yosemite won the first hand and chose Australian Mountain Climbers.  Norm won the second hand an chose Monkey Humpers.   To their credit, both winning PAX completed all the reps with the remainder of the PAX.  At Norm’s request, ee did a lap around the track between hands.
Mary: LBS, Reverse LBC, Homer to Marge, Have a Nice Day
Announcements: None
T-Claps (Recognition):None
Prayer: Circket’s Sister broke both of her arms, Norm’s buddy in the hospital with blood clots . . . it seems like there were one or two more that I cannot remember.

Butt holes and shoe holes but no squat holds

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FNGs: Cobbler

EC: 187, Axe, Chips, Dawgpound, Dumbo, Emeril, Lipsync, Liquid Force, Pablo. 3 other PAX did some form of EC – Sidmark was out when YHC arrived at 5:05. M4L and Pikachu both ran from home to Ting.

Warm Up: 10 x Good Mornings, 30 x SSH, 10 x IW/Hillbillies, Bat Wings (10 arm circles forwards and 10 reverse, 10 seal claps, 10 overhead claps, 10 seal claps).

The Workout: Scout run to the green way across the street (1 mile there). The PAX were unfamiliar with a Scout Run and apparently YHC isn’t good at explaining thing because this was a ball of nonsense running through the neighborhood. The idea is that we form a LINE and the person at the front sprints as far as they like and then returns to the back of the LINE. We will try this again!

Launching from the top of the cul de sac we did Triple Nickle. PAX perform 5 big boy sit ups at the top of the hill and then run to the bottom and do 5 burpees. Rinse and repeat 5 times. A small group of PAX finished early so in lieu of a squat hold they did a 6th round. (1.2ish miles on the hill).

Mosey back to the parking lot to see if the hot chick Mary was going to be there today. It wasn’t in the cards again but my suspicion is that the high humidity had her hair all frizzy and she didn’t want to come out. Perhaps something else came up. Either way, we have a few minutes to kill before we name the FNG.

Mary: 20 x merkins, 30 x homer to marge, 30 x American hammer, 10 x boat canoes, 20 x merkins

Announcements: Take it to the interwebs!

Prayer: Chips has a co-worker that recently had a heart attack. He was sort of in decent shape but not too good. The comparison to Emeril was made.

As we are closing out a couple of PAX revisited elementary health class to remind us that we all have a hole in our butts. #OnlyInTheGloom! The FNG had a rather used pair of shoes on today resulting in the name Cobbler and thereby saving Schnuckles for the next unsuspecting FNG.

It’s always an honor to lead you men. I’ll try to do better next time!

Timing Is Everything..

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This morning’s edition of Any Given Sunday was a bit different. YHC sent a pre-blast the night before indicating a Ruck was in play as well as running for those wanting to get some miles in. Have you ever had one of those mornings where things just fall into place even though you weren’t expecting them to go 100% right?

It was definitely one of those mornings. Started out with a 5am alarm. Gear at the side of the bed was picked up and carried to the bathroom.  Headed downstairs, but upon arrival to the kitchen, noticed that I was missing socks. Not to worry, there was a pile of clean whites in a laundry basket right at my feet. Problem solved. Exited the garage 20min until go time and got halfway out of Wescott past 187 and Dumbo’s house before realizing I forgot my shovel flag.. Turn around, grab flag and head to Womble.

8 PAX waiting on the curb, 6 with ruck sacks-2 without. Five minutes til 6am. Just enough time to plant the flag and exchange pleasantries before the warm up. With one minute to spare, our 9 count, including YHC, turned into a 10 count with Redenbacher rolling up on the scene for some running miles. Six o’clock hit and inquired with the PAX on who would be running and who would be rucking. Three for running and 7 for the ruck.

Advised PAX to drop their gear for the warm up that went a little like this.

Warm Up: Light mosey to the far end of the lot, lunge walks and Frankensteins back. Circled up for Imperial Walkers X10, Hillbillies X10, Fazio Arm Circles X10F\10B, Good Mornings X10, Mountain Climbers X20, Toe and Heel walks to the middle of the lot with a Squat hold as I explained this morning’s routes.

For The DawgPound, Cowboy, and Redenbacher, they would be running the standard Bass Lake route with a counterclockwise path around the lake and back. For those rucking, YHC would lead PAX up to Sugg with mixed exercises along the way before heading back for COT. The finish time was set for 7am, figuring with the 5mi and change run and 2.5 mi ruck\exercises, we should hit it just right and all regroup at the same time.

The Workout: 3 PAX went on their way to the Bass Lake running route, while remaining 7 grabbed their gear and made their way out of Womble. Along the baseball fields YHC called for PAX to stop at the railings on the running path and get an overhand grab of the bar from underneath to perform upright rows. Dauber, who’s pack was a bit full squeezed himself under the bar and gave me a look as if to say, “You d*@k”.  Upright rows X15 were performed in cadence and PAX continued to mosey onto Grigsby. Great mumble chatter along the way, particularly the topics of bacon, how ‘responsible’ Dauber was as a lad, prank phone calls, and how grain alcohol and gatorade is not such a good idea.

Arrived at the Sugg Farm gates and eventually into the event field at the far end. YHC noticed some picnic tables to the left of the field and called for some step ups X20 and Erkins X30. As the sun was just peeking through the tree line, YHC wanted a better view and ironically saw some more picnic tables perfectly placed in the middle of the field. Called for another set of Step Ups X20 and Diamond Erkins… “Are those really a thing?” To which I replied, “If they aren’t, they are now.” Diamond Erkins X30 with conviction were performed. PAX then circled up around the flag pole for a set of Prison Squats X20 and a set of Merkins X20. Rucked back to the first set of picnic tables for one more exercise…. Derkins X 30 on YHC’s down. The count dropped after 26, but I’m sure the remaining 4 were executed by all PAX physically or in spirit.

Mosey’d back to the road on our way back to Womble. As we passed the first set of porta potty’s, PAX witnessed irony at its best as a trotting Lipstick came toward us. This kid does not stop. On a bike yesterday for 30 miles, and now on his way fresh off a porta potty 100 yards in front of us. On his way by, he gave PAX the heads up that they may want to use these facilities next to us and not the one in front of us. Thanks, Lipstick..Way to be!

As we reached the baseball fields, YHC looked down at the Garmin and noticed 9min til 7 and 2.25 mi. Timing was perfect as we arrived to the parking lot right at 7am and 2.5 mi on the nose. Splits on Strava even later revealed an even 18:00 for miles 1 and 2. Turned around and found The DawgPound, Cowboy, and Redenbacher back from their run at the exact same time.

Timing is everything..

Mary: Stretches OYO

Prayer: Moment of silence for War Child. Prayers for those struggling with addiction. Additional prayers for marriages and those facing marital challenges. Prayers for healing those who are impacted by health issues. YHC took us out.