On a crisp, end-of-fall morning, 8 brave PAX plus YHC temporarily exited the gloom to embark on a journey. Yankee Joe arrived early to provide the wattage needed to blast some tunes several nautical miles. But first, warmarama.
Side straddle hops
Windmills
Willie Mays Hayes
Arm circles ahead
Arm circles astern
Cherry pickers
Toy soldiers
Imperial Walkers
First thang
Mosey to the first light post in Rich Man’s Loop. There was some confusion (mainly by YHC) as to which was the first light post, but we eventually found one. From here, a slight modification on the four running directions was explained. Run to the next post, nur back to the previous post, carioca left or right back to the next post, carioca the other way to the next post. So, the run+nur would get you back to where you started, but you would move forward two posts with the carioca pair. This was to be done only in the loop, and thereafter the rest of the mile would be a run. In the home stretch, YHC tried to catch Goose and Pope, but they were in top form this morning and easily smoked YHC on the way back to the stage.
Second thang
As the PAX carried coupons to the field outside of the track area, the sight of pre-placed cones may have been a bit disheartening. YHC explained that the first thang was reminiscent of a sailing technique when going into the wind was needed. Going straight ahead gets you nowhere, but tacking from side to side is effective.
America’s Best knew right away that Christopher Cross was involved in this beatdown. YHC fears that he has monitoring devices placed in YHC’s house to know this.
But yes, that is where YHC’s mind went also, to “Sailing” by Christopher Cross, which is arguably the origin of Yacht Rock. Another Christopher Cross classic, “Ride Like the Wind” would be the focus of the second thang. The PAX would join Christopher on the journey to the border of Mexico.
It was sort of the night
Our bodies were sort of weak due to the tacking mile
We were on the run, at least we were a few minutes before
We maybe had time to speak, but maybe our breath didn’t catch up yet
So, yes, the PAX had a lot in common with Christopher Cross. From the Stage, it would be a roughly 12 hour journey to the border of Mexico. So the exercise was to count down from 12 4×4’s (standing to plank, 4 merkins, 4 mountain climbers, back to standing), then murder bunny to the cones on the other side of the field, do 10 each of Goblet Squats, Curls, and Thrusters. Rifle carry back, then do 11 4×4’s. The 4×4’s would decrease, like the remaining time to the border of Mexico. But everything else stays the same.
YHC greatly underestimated the difficulty of this series of exercises, so after two rounds of 4×4’s, they were converted to burpees. Which helped, but honestly not a lot. The PAX truly had about 25 minutes of shared suffering, down to the wire. We did not really make it close to the border of Mexico, but YHC likes to think that Christopher did. And he seemed to need to get there much more urgently than we did.
YHC often thinks about Michael McDonald’s amazing backup vocals in this song (and several others, but this one in particular). The song would have been good if it was just Christopher Cross and no backups, but having Michael McDonald backing up just really puts it over the top as a classic. The PAX today experienced an analogous event, with BAPs being the Christopher Cross of speakers today, and AB’s Wu-King serving as Michael McDonald. The PAX did need the Yacht Rock to keep going so that we could keep going.
Announcements, Intentions, and Goldilox prayed us out.
YHC much appreciates the PAX today for pushing through these exercises with YHC. Safety Valve graciously suggested, well practical begged, YHC host a future beatdown devoted to getting to Mexico. So everyone can look forward to that day, and maybe start thinking ahead as to why they can’t attend.
SYITG,
Honeysuckle
