CONDITIONS
Temps in the lower 60’s, with clear skies and a half-moon illuminating the newly paved asphalt at the bottom of the drive where many a pothole used to be. New friends and old gathered in the #gloom to celebrate another trip around the sun for YHC. In other words….
WARM UP
Quick disclaimer and then we jumped right into the action as YHC searched his memory banks for the cadence and our first exercise after a long time away from Depot. We did the following:
- Low, Slow Squats x 10 IC
- Windmills x 10 IC
- Imperial Walkers x 10 IC
- Hillbillies x 10 IC
- Little Baby Arm Circles x ~10 IC forward/reverse
- SSH’s x 10 IC
THE THANG
We did a nice slow mosey (or at least Laettner, Lumbergh, and YHC did…everyone else seemed to be in a MF’n hurry)…
….grab a block, circle up at the top of the driveway for further instruction.
We kept it simple today…no dry-erase boards or 11 by 17 posters, no music, no flashing lights, no cards or games. Just you and 11 other sweaty dudes (Is #BlueChips still a thing???) and a hill…
Maybe the word “hill” is a stretch, more of an inclined drive, but there are speed bumps….so there’s that.
We did two rounds of eleven’s, from the top to the bottom of the hill, consisting of:
- Round 1 Merkins/Big Boys (start with 10 or 1, your choice) + Mosey
- Round 2 Curls/Plank Jacks + Mosey with urgency
- For those tracking, total Mosey was ~2 miles according to official distance-keeper Soccer Mom
Blocks up, for a Dealer’s Choice Mary
- FG – Freddy Mercurys x 10 IC
- Laettner – Iron Crosses x 10 IC (or x ~8 OYO if you were Moose)
- Darla – Flutter Kicks x 10 IC
- Flashdance – Yoga stretch x 20 seconds….just enough to put Lumbergh in full #PiratesBooty Mode
- Lumbergh – LBCs (grab your ankles then your knees) x 10 IC
COT/BOM/End Workout
MOLESKIN
This year has been a rocky (see what I did there? #geology) one for me re: getting my ass out to F3.
I started out strong with 19 posts in January and 14 in February (on pace for 150 posts for the year!) before the demands of a new course I was teaching caught up with me (14 posts combined for March/April).
It’s a lot of work prepping for a new course and it took many early mornings/weekends to stay afloat and keep to students engaged, entertained, and moving forward. It reminded me of when I had a “real job” in consulting/industry back in the day, but more fun and no billable hours. I even got a visit from m’boy Alter Boy who sat in on a class when we chatted about groundwater over-extraction and subsidence (Some famous pics from the San Joaquin Valley in California – over 30 feet of sinking in some places).
May and June was helping teach the annual field course out west to UT/CO and then away with family most of July to recuperate from said field course. Few pics from those adventures…
Sun setting on the Henry Mountains near Ticaboo, UT
Snow-capped Canyon Range near Delta, UT
View from Old Rag Mountain – Shenandoah NP. Charcoal-Infused Testosterone Boosters (you gotta fuel properly if you are gonna climb mountains)
Paddling the North Fork of the Shenandoah River, near Edinburg, VA
While on our VA highlands excursion I got back in the groove with running and my M (who was already in the groove) decided we should do a marathon…
….yeah, I know, wtf?
So the last few months have been spent “training” for that, including a brief excursion to the woods to eat some fire-roasted fingerling potatoes and do a Ragnar with a bunch of knuckleheads you may recognize…
Back Row: FG, Pol Worker, Moose, Buddy Love; Front Row: Box Wine, Magoo, Lunchlady, No Help
Despite the mostly confused looks and varied emotional range in the pic above (FG – “verge of tears” to BL “verge of psychopathy” to Magoo “verge of ankle and then knee grabbing”) , the Ragnar was a lot of fun. We didn’t expect to win the whole thing, but we did (at least we medaled) thanks to one of our crew being 1% Nigerian. I’ll leave it up to you to guess which of us it was and where that 1% resides anatomically.
In other news, I will say that I now fully understand the slippery slope that leads guys out of the gloom. Maybe the reasons are different (work, travel, injury, seduced by a hot spin coach on your Peloton app, boredom, etc.), but a missed day here or there can lead to a week, then two, and before long its been a month or more. Next thing you know you are sleeping in and fueling with midnight Oreos and Doritos, that extra pound or two turns into ten or twenty, and the metabolic mental fog you find yourself in makes it easy to forget what kept you getting up at the butt-crack of dawn multiple times a week in the first place.
I was reminded of that reason today. For me, it’s lots of laughs and non-sense mostly to start the day off right.
Things like….
- Hearing Hostel’s stories about finding his people in Brooklyn. #BeYourAuthenticSelf
- Moose being agreeable and following directions to a “T” without complaint, or whatever the exact opposite of that would be.
- Lumbergh going full pirate on us (Yar!) after only his left eye glass lens was fogging up during Mary.
- Soccer Mom and Joanna leading the pack as usual.
- Meeting a new F3 brother from another mother, Chowdah, who hit his 3rd post today (somebody get that man a sticker already).
- A sincere, but slightly pitchy, rendition of Happy Birthday for a guy who’s been MiI (Missing in Inaction) for the last several months, followed by cupcakes and a lesson about picking up the six from AOQ Speedo.
#GoodTimes
Theoretically, I’ll be back in the gloom again regularly once this marathon is over in October. If I’m not, you have my permission to help me remember these #GoodTimes by busting my balls until I come back out (or change my phone number).
TClaps to those who have been checking in on me from time to time over the summer and the 11 other sweaty dudes who came out to celebrate with me today.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Tentative (?) Thirsty Thursday tonight at Social Grille – keep your eye on the twitters for an official announcement. If not tonight, it needs to happen soon.
- Joanna has your Q on Saturday – 0630
- Q sheet is wide open on Tuesday, who will step up?
- Anniversary Q’s coming up on 10/12 (Moose….Knuckle, 6 years) and 10/17 (Speedo, 4 years). Where does the time go?
PRAYER REQUESTS
- Neck Brace’s parents
- Laettner’s Father-in-law
- Those others around us (or us) dealing with illness/injury
- For a rekindling of what it was that kept us coming back to the gloom in those early days
TL:DR
Booty Calls>Pirate’s Booty>Black Beards>Blue Balls
#SYITG