It was a cold one, so YHC had fleeting fantasies of being able to drive back home and crawl into a warm bed, but Enron pulled in, faithful as ever, so YHC pulled up his layers of big boy pants and planted the flag. We wondered if anyone else was gonna show, but thankfully Yankee Joe allowed the challenge of the cold to actually get him out of bed and change his schedule so as not to join the fartsacking crew who would inevitably avoid it this morning. Nicely done.
YHC combined a few old ideas with some “hair of the dog” to clear out some leftover PTSD from this past weekend and a few Tuesday Tuffs ago. And, we let the holiday, St. Joseph’s Day, give us a reason to push through it.
After some warmups of the usuals we started a Bonnie Blair mile–10 Bonnie Blairs (2:1) every quarter mile. It’s always nice having quality time with these two, and the cold air made us feel alive as we moved around the loop. The feeling of gratitude made the Bonnie Blairs very doable, though I knew the real test was yet to come.
The mile represented the trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem, but now we had to flee to Egypt, then back to Nazareth, then back and forth to Jerusalem every year, including the time he and Mary left to go home but had to go back after a days journey to pick up the child they accidentally left behind in His Father’s house. So, we moseyed over to the stop sign nearest the bumper, and Enron and YJ started to sweat. (I think I heard, “Don’t do it, Dawson. Don’t do it.”–hospital named and everything; the pleading was real.) With only these two with me, I knew it was time to deal with the trauma the only way I know how–get back in it. With a set of 11’s between the two stop signs, we would get a taste of the “hair of the dog” with a few minor changes. Tempo merkins would replace regular merkins, and after squats on the other end, we sprinted back instead of carioca.
The grass was cut, which helped a little, though nurring after this past weekend was a challenge. Sprinting made things move more quickly, which also helped, but oxygen was in high demand. It definitely provided another opportunity to grow in mental toughness and, as YJ articulated, to just surrender to what the beatdown demands.
Both YJ and Enron kept the pace, never giving into the body’s demands for a break, and the suffering eventually came to an end with us grateful to be able to put it behind us again (for now).
Thankfully, the schedule was going as planned, so YHC had time for a couple of songs. The first was reflective of St. Joseph’s devotion to Mary, his wife–“Lady” by Styx, one of YHC’s favorite to belt out in the car (or around a campfire). 6 inch hold and heels to heaven for every “Lady”. Three minutes never felt so long.
The second was one that came up a few times at the retreat over the weekend, and YHC couldn’t believe I’d never seen the clear connection to F3: “…hit the east side of the LBC.” So, we hit those LBC’s hard to the tune of “Regulate” by Warren G. LBC’s while Warren G is singing/rapping, and gas pumps while Nate Dog is singing. We’ll definitely be using this one again–it’s the first time YHC has completely burned out on LBC’s, probably because of the LBC/gas pump combo and the previous song. It’ll be painful to sneeze tomorrow.
Monday Murders had come to an end, and after some schedule shuffling and some greatly appreciated vulnerability with prayer intentions, Enron prayed us out. It was such a solid morning with these two HIMs, though I hope the fartsackers who can’t handle sub-40 temperatures will join us tomorrow!
SYITG,
Goose
