2016: Good Riddance

Weather: Light sprinkles greeted the PAX in the early City Park gloom; an omen of the storms awaiting us for the rest of the day, perhaps – but nothing that keeps the loyal PAX from their morning workout.  Cars rolling in hot turns a PAX of 5 at 5:27 to a PAX of 14 at 5:30.  After the disclaimer, off to the main lawn.  YHC had a workout ready to look back on 2016, remembering those who were called to greater glory during the year.  And what a list it is.

Warm Up: Mosey to the Great Lawn.  Quick warm up of SSH x25, Peter Parker x25, Mountain Climber x24 (oops…).

COP 1: Actors left and right.  Debbie Reynolds; Abe Vigoda AND Ron Glass from Barney Miller.  But for the workout, we went with Florence Henderson: TV’s ultimate Mom.  And what says Mom better than a round of every “Minute On the Minute”.

• 10x Burpees OYO (modify to 12x for the brave, 8x for the faint-of-heart).
• Repeat at the top of every minute.
• 7 minutes: Greg, Peter, Bobby, Marcia, Jan, Cindy and Alice.

COP 2: Mosey back to the Jungle where we remember the Animals we lost.

• Harambe: What better way to remember the most famous Gorilla of 2016?
  • Monkey Humpers x25
  • Gorilla Humpers x20 (Monkey Humpers but with feet spread wide and grab inside of ankles)
  • Howling Monkeys: Circle up and all PAX hold the Monkey Humper position.  1 PAX does 10 Monkey Humpers, repeat with the PAX on the right.  All hold until the wave makes it all the way back to the start.  Having so much fun, start a second wave while the first is still going around.
• Jia Jia: Worlds oldest Panda Bear passes on in October.  Dan Haggerty, he of Grizzly Adams fame too.
  • Bear Crawl Ring of Fire.  Crawl in circle for a while, then PAX hold plank while we pass around a wave of 10 Merkins.
• Pepe the Frog: Feels Bad Man.  Feels Good Man.
  • Frog Jump to the big oak tree over yonder.

COP 3: Off to the Tad Gormley fence.  People feared the Calf Raises, but not today.  Instead, YHC calls out from the long list of notable musicians: Maurice White, Leon Russel, Pete Fountain for starters. According to Wikipedia (the source of all truth): Glenn Frey, David Bowie, Prince, George Michael, Merle Haggard combined for a total of 66 Billboard #1 hits.  So – Route 66 it is.  11 Brick Pillars on the Tad Gormley Fence.  Squat Jumps is the exercise.  1 at the 1st, 2 at the 2nd, etc…  YHC legs were burning by the end.

COP 4: To the mini-foundry, today referred to as “Space”.  Here we run a set YHC chooses to call “The Right Stuff”

• 5 Pull Ups for John Glenn, America’s first Astronaut
• 10 Dips for Edgar Mitchell, survived Apollo 13 and then landed on the moon with Apollo 14
• 15 Death-Star Merkins for Carrie Fisher.  Combine Plank Jack and Merkin: “Out, Down, Up, In”.  (People mocked YHC “That’s it?  That’s the best she gets?”  YHC heard much less mocking after PAX had been at it for a while…)

OYO, repeat repeat repeat until YHC says stop.  YHC said stop after 4:55, commemorating John Glenns 4 hour 55 minute first trip to space.

In memory of Kenny Baker, the actor who literally played R2-D2, PAX repeated the same cycle for 2 more minutes.

COP 5: Literary figures: Edward Albee, Umberto Eco.  But for this round, we commemorate Harper Lee with a re-enactment of the great chase scene.  Partner up.

• PAX 1: Scout.  We don’t have our pageant costumes on.  Instead, High Knee run.  Hands in front, keep knees hitting hands.
• PAX 2: Bob Ewell.  Drop for 10 Merkins, then chase Scout.
• Flapjack and repeat until back to the Great Lawn

YHC noticed that PAX knees (especially his own) were not nearly as high at the end as they were at the start.

COP 6: Athletes.  Muhammad Ali, 4 separate heavyweight title belts.  Gordie Howe, 4 Stanley Cups.  Arnold Palmer, 4 Masters.  Nate Thurmond, first ever NBA quadruple double.  Athletes and the number 4.

• Tabata: 4 minutes of Mountain Climbers.

PAX grumbled about DJ-Rudy’s music selection (1999 from Prince and Heroes from Bowie).

COP 7: Running short of time, but one last round: Politics.  Intentionally kept to a short list.  Antonin Scalia and Fidel Castro.  Opposite ends of the spectrum (YHC forgot to reference Scalia.  My apologies….).

• Tabata, take your pick: Scalia’s American Hammer or Castro’s Russian Twist.

DJ-Rudy queued up Freedom by George Michael.  Bogey especially appreciated DJ-Rudy’s enthusiastic rendition.

Back to the VSF (where are the flags?).  Count-off, Name-o-Rama, Announcements:

• Join the F3 NOLA 2017 NYR: how many F3 workouts will you shoot for?  Join the GroupMe chat, make a commitment public.  Let us all hold each other accountable.
• Check the Q schedule, you may be on it with or without your knowledge

Finish with a prayer.  As we look back on 2016 and those lost, let us all remember that none of knows the day nor the hour when we will be called back home.  Let us live our life every day as good and faithful servants, doing our best with the talents and abilities we have been blessed with, to be leaders and followers, helpers and servants, inspirers and inspired.  When our time comes, let us each be ready to look back on our time here with pride for what we have done for our brothers and sisters around us.

Thank you for letting me lead.  I pray for blessings for all of my F3 brothers and their families for a joyful 2017.