When I checked the weather at 5 a.m., my phone said there was a 100% chance of light rain. I decided to forgo a jacket, just put on baseball cap instead. But when I got to City Park, the rain had stopped. The ground was shiny wet and the park surprisingly empty for such a balmy and pleasant morning. Luckily, it wasn’t totally empty. There were six other PAX waiting at the spot, including an FNG.
It was my VQ (not counting the half-Q I shared with Rudy one Saturday a few months back). I had written down some exercises and the outline of a route on a little blue notecard, but in the gloom it was unreadable. No matter. I had re-read before I left the house. I tucked it into the waistband of my shorts just in case, assured everyone that I had no idea what I was doing, and then we were off.
We moseyed a short ways to the athletic track—the one with the markings and measurements—and we found a patch of concrete to do our warm-ups.
• 20 Windmills
• 20 press ups
• 20 SSHs
Got on the ground and revolved around with plank jacks, left-hand Nolan Ryans, crab toe touches, right-hand Nolan Ryans and 20-count mountain climbers.
Moseyed over to the museum and circled up on a soft patch of grass there. My F3 name is a reference to aikido, and I wanted to try an aikido warm-up exercise. It probably has a Japanese name, but for F3 I called them “crunchy rolls” (sushi reference at least). Basically, you begin seated, rock backwards onto your upper back/shoulders and then rock forward again, crossing your legs in the air each time. 10 count. Next exercise was the same thing, but as you rocked forward, you come up onto your foot with knee bent at 90 degrees before rocking backwards again. 10 times. Finally, it became a “crunchy roll step-up” (again, my own term) where you take the previous exercise but totally stand up on one foot, then lower back to your butt, rock backwards, cross legs in the air, and rock forward and stand up on the other foot. Try not to use your hands at all. 10 count.
In the same spot, did some bear crawling and wheelbarrowing to the kiddie train tracks, and went over to the fountain:
• 10 box jumps
• 10 incline merkins
• 10 box jumps
• 10 decline merkins
Hit the track to mosey around the lake and went most of the way around until we got to the boat rental cottage. On a patch of grass there we did some Mary:
• Putins
• Crunchy frogs
• Flutter kicks
• Pretzel crunches (left and right sides)
When we were leaving, we noticed a tent nearby. Hope we didn’t disturb the poor guy sleeping inside. Moseyed back to the museum fountain for a few more derkins and incline merkins interspersed with left- and right-leg step ups. With five minutes left, we all moseyed over to the spot.
We dubbed our FNG “Spaniel” for his love of his dog. Gave our intentions in recognition of disturbing world events (Syrian chemicals, Russian subway attack) and events closer to home, including the passing of Walleye’s uncle. A prayer, and we were off into the world, feeling energized and ready to take on the day.
