I love posting with Marlin, because he always knows the exact moment any of us needs encouragement. It comes about four-fifths the way through 11s, when for the 16th time you are picking up a rock that you now realize is way too big for you and you are trying to muster the ability to at least slow jog up Pontiff Peak. Or maybe it comes when you’re doing 25 shoulder presses right after a set of 25 bench presses on the t-ball bleachers in some weird masochist experiment Bubba is trying out. Or maybe it comes on your 8th of 10 sets of pull-ups, when you stopped being able to do a pull-up four sets ago. It comes at various times, but it is almost always in the same form: “Let’s get it baby.” When I hear those words, I get my second wind. I know I am almost there. I know I am not defeated. There is someone with me and he’s about to knock this thing out. We are going to win.
For that reason, YHC was not going to let some slight GoRuck hangover stop me from posting at Marlin’s Q. I was out of town for his VQ, so I was going to make sure I made this one. Marlin rolled in at 0530 – right on Q (see what I did there?). Marlin gave the disclaimer and we were off to the rocks.
The Thang
Warm-up COP: Marlin played it cool and pretended not to know the name of any of the exercises. The introduction to most of the exercises went like this:
Marlin: What do you call that exercise when you move your arms forward in circles?”
The Pax: Forward Arm Circles?
Marlin: That’s it. Let’s get it. 1…2…3…
So in that fashion, we did the following in cadence: Hammy Poppers x 25, Forward Arm Circles x 15, Backwards Arm Circles x 15, Side Straddle Hop x 25; Ski-Jumps from a Mountain Climber Position (Marlin Special) x 25
It was time to grab our rock and the man said to go big. Bubba listened. YHC, however, tried to be smarter than usual. From there we moseyed to Pontiff Peak for 10s. 10s you ask? Marlin’s daughter just played her last volleyball game at Sacred Heart. In honor of her and her volleyball number 72…psyche…18 (9+9) we did 1 bench presse ascending to 9 on one side of the peak and 9 squat presses on the other descending to 1.
Borrowing from Amnesty’s Q script, Marlin instructed us that it was time to take a break. We headed to the outhouse and went People’s Chair con roca. After 3 45-60 second sets of People’s chair and a serenade from Bogey, it was time to mosey to the track.
We set our rocks down in the north end zone. It was mentioned that John Doe wanted us to throw our rocks over the goal post and catch them on the other side. I’m not sure about the catching part, but I’m all for trying to throw them over the goal post. It would be like fence chunkers on steroids. Probably not good for the field – we were dangerously close to crossing the vandalism line with Tool’s meteor shower workout – we’ve been good stewards ever since. That goal post is tempting though. Maybe catching them is the answer.
I digress. The next exercise was named Diamond in the Rough (for not knowing any names of the exercises, Marlin is pretty good at making them up. Just wait until you see what he came up with for Plank’o’rama). Side Shuffle to the 50 yard sideline – 18 push-ups…er…Merkins. Side Shuffle (face the other direction to achieve balance in your life) to the center of the south end zone – 18 lunges (each leg counts). Run backwards to the other 50 yard sideline – 18 Freak Nasties. Run backwards back to the center of the north end zone, pick up the rock you left and do 18 squats. We repeated, this next time it was a race between the two halves of Pax. Losers had to remove their pants – a punishment dubbed the Mike Yenni. That didn’t really happen, but the threat was enough to push me across the finish line first. Jingle Vader, much more comfortable and confident in his skin, took his sweet time to finish.
Everyone kept their pants on as we returned our rocks to the pile. About half way back to the flag, we circled up for the Rotisserie Chicken – I told you it was good. $10 that if Yankee reads this Backblast he does this exercise in his next Q. Start out in boat. After 30 seconds, move to high plank on left side, after 30 seconds move to regular high plank, after 30 seconds move to high plank on right side. Repeat, but use elbow planks. After the last set, sprint to the flag.
COT
Tough Mudder preparation started today. Prayers for the sick and injured, including the High School DB that broke his back. Marlin led us out with an Our Father to cap off an excellent Q.
