The F3 Nation knew about YHC before YHC knew about the F3 Nation. You see, YHC’s brother-in-law, Lynchpin, lives in Charlotte. In the early days, before the F3 Nation planted its flag in NOLA, Lynchpin routinely and enthusiastically regaled YHC with stories of legendary beatdowns and CSAUPs, tongue in cheek nicknames, funny exercise names and other F3 lore. Then, when F3 decided to expand to NOLA, Lynchpin tried to EH YHC, but YHC begged off. It all sounded, well to be honest, like a cult and how could YHC trust Lynchpin anyway? After all, he married YHC’s sister. Ugh. But resistance was futile. The NOLA PAX crossed Lake Pontchartrain in its Durham boat, Reluctant Yankee at the helm like George Washington crossing the Delaware. Nacho and Chewy fell in upon the PAX’s arrival and, together, they planted the shovel flag in the Gloom on April 9, 2016. F3 Northshore was born. How could YHC resist a free workout in his own backyard?
A few weeks later, the NOLA PAX boarded their Durham boat and retreated back across the Lake, leaving the Northshore PAX to make the most of their gift of F3. We stumbled about, we made mistakes, we created a new AO only to abandon it a few weeks later, and we had more than a few beatdowns with one or two PAX. Somehow, however, we made it and two years later look forward to seeing one another regularly to suffer and have fun together.
As this morning’s two year anniversary convergence approached and YHC learned that the weather more likely than not would be awful, there was no concern. Two years of meeting rain or shine, hot or cold, left no doubt in YHC’s mind that the PAX would post. And post they did. And you know what? The weather held off just long enough for us to celebrate our birthday with a 3 hour beatdown, visiting 5 of 6 Northshore AOs by the mechanical device known as the bicycle.
Mandeville Lakefront: 4 burpees OYO, 19 SSHs IC, 20 IWs IC, and 16 Seal Jacks IC.
Captain’s Cove: 4 vertical jumps OYO, 19 Copperhead Squats IC, 20 Sumo Squats IC, and 16 Regular Squats IC.
Milestone Marsh: 4 plyo Merkins OYO, 19 Merkins IC, 20 Shoulder Taps IC, 16 slow seconds Mission Impossible.
At this point, Chewy politely pointed out that he had figured out what YHC was up to with the count but that our birthday is April 9, 2016, not April 19, 2016. Point well taken.
Grandmother’s House: 4 Sister Mary Katherine’s OYO, 9 front to back lunges IC, 20 45 degree lunges IC, and 16 later lunges IC.
And then, after a 10 mile mosey on the Tammany Trace to Covington:
The Gipper: 4 Freddy Mercury’s IC, 9 Freddy Flutters IC, 20 Hello Dolly’s IC, and 16 Flutter Kicks IC.
Then we mounted our bikes for the 10 mile ride back to the shovel flag for the countorama, nameorama, Shooter’s prayer and a coffeeteria, arriving about an hour later than anticipated. No one will confuse YHC for a Swiss train conductor after this morning’s logistics, that’s for sure.
Thanks for letting me lead, guys, and thanks for your willingness to try something different and new and for posting despite the threatening weather and actually being disappointed it didn’t pour on us.
Some parting thoughts:
We’ve come a long way on the Northshore. Things have become almost comfortable and, while there’s a lot of positive to that sentiment, there are dangers too. We could stop growing.
So here’s a call to action. Commit to EH’ing more FNGs and supporting them through their virgin post so that they return. Commit to Q’ing more workouts, putting time into planning your Qs, and posting timely BackBlasts. Commit to a CSAUP. Commit to making yourself better and leading by example, always keeping your eyes open for growth and leadership in all three of the Fs. If we want F3 Northshore to grow, then we are the ones that need to make it happen.
Carpe Diem.
