Spooky Trail on Halloween

It was dark and humid this Halloween morn,
Only 9 PAX came, where were the others? In bed, shaking, torn?
Those missing — they knew, who it was that came to lead,
They wanted to see, they wanted to work, but couldn’t commit to the deed.
Born at Graveyard, sent round the region, now back home to call.
They helped shape him, mold him — the Q was Short Haul.
When at his Q’s, work is done, and it never fails,
The work this time was drawn from several scary candy pails.
Squats, merkins, and burpees to boot,
The PAX had not expected these treats, they wanted the loot!
No candy was found, on River Bluff’s spooky trail,
But body’s were made better, and that is no tale.
The men who showed, circled up at the end,
Glad they came, so now their day can begin.

Conditions: 73 with spooky amounts of humidity

Disclaimer
BOM

The Thang —

Things got off to a frightening start… Cartwheel took a tree branch to the eye  as we moseyed to the bottom of reaper hill. He was OK… that was the easy part of the workout.

At bottom of Reaper hill, SSH x10 IC, mosey a bit further.

At 3/4 of the way up, stop for TTT x10 IC, mosey a bit more.

At the beginning of Spooky Trail, Windmill x10 IC.

From here, it was time to start our route through the Spooky Trail to go Trick’or’Treating. The PAX lunged to the first glow stick, then mosey past the next couple. We alternated mosey / lunge until about halfway through the trail, stopping at the first ghostly candy pail lit with a strobing red light. Inside there were 9 “tricks” and 3 “treats”, each with an accompanying exercise. Each PAX took a turn trick’or’treating and called out the prescribed exercise for all PAX to then complete. Some favorites were the various styles of merkins (x20 ea), the burpees (x10), and the BBSU (x20), amongst others. Those were all the “tricks”, the “treats” were simply one rep of a burpee… see not all that bad!

After the pail was emptied, we continued down the trail, stopping to look for the deer that nearly caused YHC a heart-attack during set up. ( They were long gone ). Near the top of the trail, where it splits, there was another strobing candy pail. This one, like the last, contained 9 “tricks” and 3 “treats.” The “tricks” in this pail included Bonne Blairs (x15), Jump Squats (x20), Flutter Kicks (x50), plus many others. Again the “treats” were burpees (x1).

It was getting a bit lighter out, and much less spooky as we traveled to our third and final candy pail over by the Crypt block pile. The “tricks” here ( not including all of the massive ant mounds scattered around — sorry Joe Pa ) were 6 in total an included man-makers (x10), block shoulder press (x40), curls (x50), plus a few more. The “treats”, still at 3, were once again single rep burpees.

It was getting late, and the PAX were nearly full on tricks and treats. YHC decided to lead them back down the hill, past Crypt, towards the top of Reaper Hill. Having 7 minutes left, and wanting to ensure they all got their money’s worth, we stopped for a bit of “ab torture,” or Flutter-Crosses. The PAX got on their 6, and performed 10 FK’s in a 2-count cadence led by YHC. Immediately after, we performed 10 single-count Iron Crosses, with out letting any feet hit the ground. That was one round, and we were able to perform 3 rounds without stopping. It wasn’t easy… solid work by all PAX here!

After the torture, it was well and truly time to head back to the flag.

Prayer Requests –
Lego’s 2.0 – unexplained seizures
Cartwheel’s co-worker
Marriages in F3Lex

Devo — Phillipians 4:8-9
    Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Halloween doesn’t have to be about demons and the undead. For my family, it’s a time to dress in silly outfits, or pretend to be a super hero for an evening, and enjoy some family time walking the streets of our neighborhood. Sure, the kids want free candy, but they’re also spending time with mom and dad, as well as interacting with and meeting their neighbors. With that said, if there are those in your life or church family who choose not to participate in Halloween activities because they feel it celebrates the wrong things, don’t think less of them. Paul says in Romans 14: 13 and 14:

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.