Rudy’s not allowed to Fartlek right now, so he needed a fill in for the 610 Stomp. YHC is an old Fartlekker so it was not a probably for me. I showed up at roughly 0529:40 and gave the disclaimer. It was a beautiful day for a run. Here’s how it went
- Normal Pace to the NOMA Fountain. I call it the fountain, but there is no fountain, just a lily pond with a huge statue of tri-colored bacon. Upon arrival I gave the instructions. I would call out an effort number from 1-100 (100 being a full out sprint) and a landmark to run to. After reaching said landmark, the pax was to circle back and pick up the 6.
- 75 to the end of Lelong Drive
- Easy jog to across Esplanade and down the sidewalk to Moss Street
- 100 to the first big tree on Moss
- 70 to the curve
- Easy jog to Dumain
- 50 to Orleans
- 65 to the Lafitte Greenway
- Easy jog to Bienville
- 58 to Canal
- Easy Jog back to Bienville
- 70 to Conti
- Avoid the car and truck at the Lafitte Greenway
- 55 to Orleans
- 70 to the curve (the real curve) near Cabrini
- Easy jog to the bridge
- 60 to Esplanade then an easy jog to City Park until the 6 arrives.
- Easy Jog to Roosevelt Mall
- 88 to the Flag
- Seal the Deal with 20 Burpees
The Skinny
If you question the accuracy of the above – you should……my nine year old and Rev Sox both have this in common: they giggled when I announced our exercise this morning. I’ll have everyone know that fartlek is a bonafide Swedish running term used with a straight face by Kinesiology majors around the world no matter how funny it sounds in English……we covered approximately 4.5 miles give or take, depending on how many times you swept the 6. I feel like we got our money’s worth……I was glad to see that so many guys survived Tool’s Big Rock Challenge on Monday. Cowbell reminded me of my own foolishness. Is it better to not be able to perform any of the exercises or admit defeat and take the walk of shame? I contend that the walk of shame is never acceptable…….we had a Recall sighting. He ran with us for a bit on the bayou then peeled off to run the Wisner bridge. Not sure why he is choosing to run alone instead of with the pack. Perhaps it is the shame associated with being a Razorback fan. It does make life difficult, but you have to be tough and overcome it…….sealing the deal is a Stomp Tradition and it brings joy to Fracsac’s heart. Our next site Q needs to make sure it regularly happens ……. speaking of which, thanks to Cowbell for his reign as Stomp Commander. Under his tutelage the Stomp has grown at least two-fold in average attendance. If U.S. Presidents can take credit for economic growth, then Cowbell should be given credit for this ……. next man up. Who will take the reigns at the Stomp and fill the teeny-tiny shoes of Cowbell? From what I can tell, it mostly involves having someone else type your name into the spreadsheet, occasionally telling people to sign up to Q, then ignoring messages on GroupMe from people that need to reschedule their Q until someone else answers them and says that they will take it. You can’t really mess it up, well actually you can, but that takes a very special person.
