Some days are diamonds

Preamble:

When the alarm went off just before 4:30 YHC awoke from tremulous dreams of monsters in the gloom chasing him through the inky blackness of pre-dawn Dawsonville. It was time to get up and bring my VQ to the PAX at Starting Line. As YHC laced up his shoes I was ruminating on whether or not I could bring it in a manner that would be tough enough to challenge them but also to not die leading it. Regardless of my trepidation I ambled out the door and turned the key on the grocery getter and smiled as she sputtered to life. I made my way over the rally point and listened to the soothing sounds of Chevelle’s “Send the Pain Below” at a slightly uncomfortable volume. Arriving at around 4:50 to await the pre-ruck PAX. Script Kiddie rolled in just before 5 and we did a quick set up, grabbed our rucks and lumbered off into the gloom. We made our way down a backstreet and as we circled back around toward the rally point Beeline saw us in the distance and hollered “You guys have backpacks?” We acknowledged him and trudged onward as he gradually caught up to us near the rally point and it was nearly time for the BD to begin.

Warm-O-Rama:

With everyone ready to roll we took a quick lap around the center field and moseyed back to the rally point for some:

SSH, Sun Gods, Windmills, and Michael Phelps.

YHC had an ambitious Q ahead and a three card winky with a keen awareness that we might not have time for it all.

The Thang:

Just like Cat Stevens sang long before Sheryl Crow did “The First Cut is the Deepest” – The first portion of the workout was definitely the most challenging by design.

7 of Diamonds – 4 cones were arranged around the smaller loop of paved track in a baseball diamond fashion. The PAX were instructed to stop at each cone for each of the below exercises increasing each lap by a multiple of 7:

Burpees 7 x 4

Flutter Kicks 14 x 4

Merkins 21 x 4

Squats 28 x 4

Then we worked our way back down

SSH 21 x 4

LBC 14 x 4

YHC had originally planned a repeat of burpees for the last lap of 7s but called an audible and assigned 7 x 4 Ranger merkins as he was feeling the burn (as opposed to feeling the Bern)

Then it was on to Round 2 – Looking at the time we called another audible and switched up the original plan of 3 A.L.A.R.M s

Instead we did:

Sandbag – shoulder press x 10, Curls for the girls x 15, and Chest press x 20

Air Chair for a 15 count

Rosalitas x 15

Russian Dips x 20

and Step ups x 20

Finishing move was:

4×4 burpees

Down to plank -4 merkins +4 mountain climbers and back up = 1 burpee we did that x 4 and that was the ballgame.

The PAX seemed to agree that we were all satisfactorily smoked.

COT:

Count-a-rama and name-a-rama was pretty short and sweet with three of us. Script Kiddie offered a few thoughts regarding how we sometimes cheat ourselves and cut ourselves short when we don’t push as hard as we know that we can – this happens to us in F3 but also with our 2.0s and our Ms, even at work and other endeavors. It was a good reminder that we are always about getting a little bit better a little bit at a time.

Announcements and prayers:

Script Kiddie is doing a Burpee challenge for charity with the F3Aplha team on Sunday. Beeline asked for prayers with regard to doing a better job living third with his M.

Finished Ball of man then – grabbed a quick pic before Beeline had to Beeline (like he do) The grimace on YHCs face in the pic isn’t so much discomfort as it is trying to make selfie without his glasses…

Naked-Man Moleskin:

Script Kiddie and I hung around and had coffee. We chatted about 2.0s and how we manage teen attitudes appropriately – with a balance of firmness and gentleness. Then we talked about used car prices. Wide ranging topics. YHC enjoyed hosting his first Q and is looking forward to doing it again very soon. SYITG!