Editor

15 pax, including a great backstoried FNG, converged for some fun to let the bed bugs bite on a lovely Thursday morning at The Hub.

Meet our newest PAX (at this point), Norm. This guy showed up a little groggy and with good reason. First thing he did was get out of the car, and Atticus reached to shake his hand and said, “Atticus” and confused the guy. Feeling zesty with my bromance theme of an imminent Q, I offered, “He said he wants a kiss” and tons of confusion ensued. Turned out Norm had just spent a long evening at the Track Lounge and landed a pair of companions for the night who were safe back at home, and he probably was good on kisses for now. A brief nap and Norm posted, a little deus ex machina FNG to add to the nice day. This 63-year-old beast, hospital-named Joel, served 22 years in the Marines – never at a desk, he said – and was a gunner among other things. The shots from the night before kicked in, and his role approving posts on CP Neighbors Helping Neighbors’ Facebook page, like the F3 ones from 2005, led him to being incepted by the messages, so he showed up and crushed the workout. Oorah, Respect, Respect. 

PAX: Editor (QIC), Norm (FNG), Crash (running), Mufasa, PacRat, Atticus, Campbells, O.G., Heisenberg, 2005, Trader Joe, Al Gore, LaLoyd, HHH, Pheidippides

It took me 16 months to Q and five days to publish, so bear with me. This is basically what we did. 

WARM-A-RAMA

Motivator 4-to-1

Sun Gods (Arm Circle Complex) x10ic

Mammogram x10 ic

Abe Vigoda x10 ic

IST x10 ic

Hillbilly x10 ic

On Your Belly On Your Backs on Your Feet (OYBOYBOYF)

Motivator 4-to-1

Perfect Squat x10 ic

Daft Punk Lunge x5 ic

Prisoner Squats x5 OYO

THE THANG

Mosey To Bethel Curb

OYBOYBOYF

On Your Feet (on the curb)

Calf Raises x30 cc

OYBOYBOYF

On Your Belly

Merkins x10 ic

Peter Parker (plank plus Hillbilly) x10 ic

4-ct Mountain Climbers x10 ic

Rear Windshield x20 ic

On Your Back

4-ct Flutter x10 ic

Neck Work w/calves raised: Yes x20 cc, No x10 ic, Maybe x10 ic

Mosey to Pull-Up Bars

Wilson’s Wife x5 each partner

Motivator 4-to-1

4-ct Mountain Climbers x10 ic

Wilson’s Wife x5 each partner

Mosey to MO7S

Sort of Webicide: Down to light pole, 25 merkins, back to MO7, for 3 light poles (75 merkins total)

In the flat grass north of MO7S

OYBOYBOYF

Stay on your belly for Team A.E. Merkins

5 Team Merkins (2 teams) w/ankles on shoulders of guy behind you (got us acquainted with Team A.E. and brought us to 100 merkins for the day)

In teams, low crawl Indian Run, w/back guy bear crawling to front

2 rounds of the Low Crawl Indian Run

MARY

OYBOYBOYF

LBC x25ic

Adductor Lift, each side, x10 ic

COT: Prayers for continued improvement in physical, mental, and spiritual health for us and all of our people.

MOLESKIN

Time flies when you’re having fun, and I had plenty more planned. Like a lot of workouts in the summer, I didn’t feel like this was killer, but I did still get sore and tired later in the day. I made sure to keep us moving, used some new stuff as I like (HHH isn’t the only one with TikTok), dusted off some old stuff (Wilson’s wife was rattling in my head like Gummy Bear’s chat notice pings because we had a pax named Wilson post a few times this year, and I work with his wife, so “Wilson’s Wife” as an exercise had to go into the bag of tricks.), and re-introduced some experienced GRT stuff. I didn’t desire to get too out of breath, but I did sneak in burpees via the OYBOYBOYF exercise that I borrowed from a kilted cadre whose name I can’t quite find at the moment. It wasn’t a killer WOD, I know, but it was also my first in 16 months, so forgive me if it wasn’t stellar. You needed it, and I needed it, and we hit head to toe, including the easily predictable neck exercises. D-Day was in a few days, but honoring that wasn’t the idea. It would have been much more serious and somber out of respect. This was more about frolicking in the grass and the nostalgia of an event we did eight years ago.

Shout out to all the pax who showed or converged on this day. What a blessing Norm was. We have to get him back out there. Way to modify for those who are dealing with injury, especially Campbells and our recovering Crash, and for those who needed a reason to be there, I’m hoping my return to leading a WOD helped with that final push out of the bed. As usual, I’m not in great enough shape to evaluate who pushed and who crushed. Since the last time I Q’d I got to know the local health care system a little too well, but I’ll digress. 

It was added pressure to prop up potential Northern pax and an FNG, but I was up for whatever and would have liked to see more folks. I was listening to some shows about the loneliness, chosen and unchosen, that is so prevalent today, and I was yelling at the radio, “F3 circumvents that shit!” Therefore, with the GRT V-Card anniversary and some loneliness/togetherness on my mind. the theme was teamwork anyway because the day I wrote the preblast was the 8-year anniversary of the D-Day Light. That day was the birth of a GORUCK addiction for many of us and the Team A.E. concept held so near and dear by our Nant’an and others. You had to be there or at least ask. Some might not be interested. It’s OK. Sometimes it’s that kind of group. Sometimes now. 

You know, no matter where you fall on the Kinsey Scale, this is a big proud month for many of us. Of course, I’m talking about teachers and parents of school-aged children. We have pride in our accomplishments and raising our kids right.

It was great to take advantage of the end of the school year and find the open spot to Q. A few of the touchier teamwork exercises were reminiscent of that time we took two round things and found the slit between them and proceeded to widen it little by little. Of course, I’m talking about the Venn Diagram between F3 and GORUCK.

If you know me, you know I still have a strong affinity for writing, F3, GORUCK, etc., so being back on the Q and writing a (belated) backblast have me craving more, and that’s how it always should be. I can get serious, but this return Q was about keeping it fun and a little dirty, like the well-attended (11/15) coffeeteria at Kaffa. Leave no man, behind but leave no man where you found him. True as the day I first heard it at The Hub on July 18, 2017. Love you all. Thank you for reading. 

SYITG