I’ve circled the Sun for 53 years and now I am entering my 54th year. With the passage of time, I can’t help but contemplate my life and how blessed I am to have a wonderful wife of 25 years and five (5) fantastic children! How did I get here? Well, I could answer that in so many ways but for today, I want to honor and recognize my dad who would have been 100 this year if he were still alive. With that in mind, I gave the disclaimer and did a very untraditional run for The Uptowner.
WARMUP
I gave the instruction to the PAX that we are running the one (1) mile Pontiff loop and that when we would encounter another person, we would greet them with a hearty “Merry Christmas.” If that person responded back with a “Merry Christmas” we would then perform five (5) burpees and four (4) big boy sit ups. If, however, they responded with anything else, we would perform ten (10) burpees and eight (8) big boy sit ups. Groans and protests ensued from Rev Sox….which validated my decision. During our run, we only encountered one guy walking a dog and he had his ear buds on and never responded at all when we all said, “Merry Christmas.”
THE THANG
When we arrived back where we started, we headed out to the football field, and I had the pax line up on the goal line for a tribute to my dad (who would have been 100) and to my birthday (54). For the exercise, we would bear crawl 100 yards and for every five (5) hand touches, we would get up and then perform four (4) forward lunges and then repeat until we reached the other goal line. After we reached the far goal line, I modified the exercise heading back. We would bear crawl 100 yards again but for every five (5) touches with the right hand, we would then perform four (4) burpees. Repeat that sequence until we reached the original goal line. That was a real crowd pleaser!
With time running out, we partnered up and did B.L.I.M.P.S. around the track. Pax 1 and Pax 2 would run in a opposite direction around the track and when they met up, they would perform 5 burpees. After they performed their exercise, they would take off in the opposite direction and then perform the next exercise of 10 lunges (2 is 1) and so on until we finished with the thirty (30) squats.
COUNTOFF, NAMERAMA, AND COT
So very thankful for E Major (my 2.2) and the seven (7) other PAX members coming out to celebrate my birthday! Getting older is a natural condition but getting better takes intentionality, endurance, consistency and accountability. With that, may you experience a peace filled Christmas season and a blessed New Year as we continue to accelerate together throughout 2022!
