R.I.P. General

Preamble:

You guys ever go away for the weekend and come back to find out your best buddy slept with your girlfriend? It happened to me, seriously. It was college. I wasn’t going to marry her. He was my best friend. In the grand scheme of life, it wasn’t really that big of a deal. But he could have at least asked first.

Fast forward 30 years and here we go again. The General and I have been together for a long time, nearly 5 years. We’ve grown pretty close. Traveled around a bit, shared some blood, sweat and tears; hell – even managed to outpace Aflac on a few instances for which I give all credit to The General. He’s taken a bit of a beating but no worse for wear. And whenever we’re not together he’s always been safe and sound under the watchful eye of Virginia Slim, who in fact originally gifted him to me. Thanks Slim. Of course, until now.

So, there I am out earning a living on the left coast when it appears. A picture of The General – used, abused, left for dead. Broken pieces scattered about on the concrete like a crime scene. No detail, no apologies, no regret. Just a picture. Don’t get me wrong – others have had their hands on The General, or should I say mishandled The General @Squeegee. But nothing like this. A paint job isn’t fixing this. What’s a guy to do? Turn the page. Pick up the pieces and move on. (thanks Mr. Seger and Ms. Nicks).

Pickup full of anonymous cinders. Headed to Badapple.

Warm-O-Rama:

Not mindful of any armchair QB’ing taking place on Slack we threw caution to the wind and braved the elements. At 0530 we moseyed a short distance for a quick warmup.

• SSH
• Weed Pickers
• Imperial Walkers
• Windmills

The Thang:

Moseyed back to pick up some cinders and amidst the downpour it was time to do this thang. An exercise designed for teams of three and we had four total.

Two stations set about 30 yards apart. Partner A begins working these exercises with cinder until relived:

• 5 Thrusters
• 10 Squats
• 15 Curls
• 20 Rows

Meanwhile Partner B begins working these until relieved:

• 5 Burpees
• 10 Big Boys
• 15 Merkins
• 20 Stone Mountains

Partner Cs travel from station 1 to 2 via Bears and Blocks to relieve Partner B and begin working on those exercises. Partner B grabs cinder and lunge walks back to relieve Partner A and begin working those exercises. Keep cycling through until everyone gets in about 3 rounds.

Ten count then off to the pull up station.

No need detailing what was planned here (it was really good, trust me) because as soon as we started a big ol clap of thunder sent us moseying for cover. Audible to Captain Thor under the awning.

With 5 minutes left we did a couple rounds of:

• 20 SSh
• 10 hand release merkins
• 15 LBCs
• 20 Romanian dead lifts

Time.

COT:

Prayers for Sprocket’s friend Dave dealing with some health issues and Blue’s upcoming medical consultation. Also prayers for all of us to keep striving to be better husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, friends.

Naked-Man Moleskin:

The General will return.