Making the trip up north

Preamble:

YHC has been meaning to make the trip to the Firehouse for quite some time. Yesterday the discussion on Slack was that a planned takeover by Cherokee will be rescheduled and that looked like a promising opportunity.

The alarm was set for 4am, which is an hour that shouldn’t legally exist. Script Kiddie was asked last night to prepare a backup Q in case YHC wouldn’t wake up, but I was too excited to sleep and when the time came I was ready. 40 min drive allowed me to catch up a bit on the backlog of podcasts I have lined up. Small price to pay for not having to commute to office for 14 months now.

Found my way into the AO at 5am, in time for a Tour-de-park with my ruck on. Got a nice look at the park. Google map is your friend when you’re Qing at a new AO, but there’s nothing like a live recon. Made a few mental notes on adjusting the BD.

About 5:15 some cars rolled in. A few min later Script Kiddie and Ace Ventura provided me with some company on the pre-ruck.

Warm-O-Rama:

Short disclaimer. Mosey around the parking lot and into a dirt road behind the soccer fields. From the mumble chatter I was happy to hear this is a road not previously taken. One of the benefit of Qing in a place you’ve never been before is that you don’t have notions of “this is how we do things here” and so you can bring new things.

Finished the long mosey between 2 soccer fields. Did some Squats, Weed Pickers, Mountain Climbers and Freak Control Merkins. Got a feeling these would become a new favorite there.

The Thang:

Part 1

Moseyed into the soccer field for an escalating 4 corners on the Penalty Box.

1. 5 Burpees, mosey around the Penalty box.
2. 5 Burpees. Bear Crawl the short end. 10 Merkins. Mosey around the rest of the box
3. as above plus Lunge the long end. 20 single Bonnie Blairs (Note to self: painful. should have remembered that from the last time it was done). Mosey the rest.
4. as above plus Crab Walk the other short end. 40 alpha count American Hammers. Mosey the rest.
5. as above plus run backwards back to starting position for 80 SSH.

The last 2 rounds were a doozy. YHC couldn’t walk (or lunge) straight.

After a 10 count I mentioned to the PAX that Script Kiddie agreed we can extend today’s workout to 90 min to justify my 40 min drive there, so officially the warmup was over.

Part 2

Outside of the soccer field there are a few benches. YHC led IC 10 Step Ups on each leg, 15 IC Dips and 10 IC Dirty Handshakes on each leading hand. Rinse and Repeat twice more OYO.

Part 3

Indian Run around the parking lot. Big enough for 3 or 4 rounds

Part 4

While it’s not the really big hill YHC saw on the ruck (which Script Kiddie confirmed is being used in BDs – Respect), A small hill sufficed for the next part. Starting at the top of the hill 20 Jump Squats. Bear Crawl down. 15 Jump Squats. Crawl Bear up. 10 Jump Squats. Bear Crawl Down for 5 Jump Squats and Crawl Bear up.

At some point someone asked aloud “who’s stupid idea was that?” and YHC recognized his own voice. Based on the mumble chatter (mostly grunts and heaves) that just sucked for everyone.

Mary

Moseyed back to the flag. My watch showed we can go for 47 minutes of Mary if PAX would play along pulling a double shift. They were excited (in a tired kind of a way) but YHC had to go back home for an annoying thing called ‘work’. So 2 min would be enough. Flatter Kicks, LBCs and T-Bombs.

COT:

YHC reminded of the Blood Drive and mentioned the Fallen Five event.

A few prayers for health and (mentioned after the COT) Light Weight’s new hires.

Ace Ventura gave a truth nugget and was the 6 in the count-o-rama so shared a few words about himself. YHC should try and bring both (TNT and 6-sharing) to the Widowmaker.

Naked-Man Moleskin:

Very glad I took this opportunity. Great group of men at the Firehouse. Kept talking about different ways to accelerate. Thank you for the opportunity to lead!!