F3 New Orleans

Tag: Steve

  • Scramble indeed!!

    0425 came and went with your QIC reaching over to his nightstand hitting what he thought was the  snooze. Soon the realization as he reached yet again to see the illumination of his phone showing 0507 and so the Scramble of sorts begins.. Having clothes laid out like he is on fire watch, QIC quickly hops into action throwing on his attire dressing as if a Fire alarm had just rung and there is no time to spare.. Upon arrival through the park I can see what appears like a vehicle of familiarity belonging to the Waterpic. Indeed it is he accompanied by the man himself Steve chattering it up. I proceed down the walk to plant the flag as Waterpic explains the machine Steve has already put in 5 miles on his prethang. Now Steve has mentioned my determination of sorts in running to the AOs in recent Blast, but as you can see this fellow Brother has taken it to yet another extreme in the challenge of this months ISI RRR.. Coming in hot Choppa jumps out the car to join the PAX and we are off and running. QIC took the PAX on the standard route incorporating 5 burst to build a respected pace of 8.24 over 3.3 miles. We return to the AO where I decide to give the PAX a modified version of stretch (yoga)  cool down. Appreciate Chewy’s introduction of this at past Scrambles. With 3 mins to spare we round it out with some Mary. 25IC LBCs, 25IC FKs and 15IC isolated right elbow to left knee crunch and vice versa on the other side.

    countoff, Announcements, COT

    Big thanks to Choppa for taking us out in prayer!!

    Always enjoy the fellowship and chatter with you men in the Gloom!!

    Thanks for the lead

  • A Grueling Murph for President’s Day

    YHC has only done one murph in my year plus stint with F3 and it was brutal.  Why I wanted to revisit that experience is beyond me, but I decided President’s Day was as good a day as any to give it another go.  (And if some loose association was needed, it was Washington himself who first awarded the Purple Heart some 223 years before Michael Murphy would get it for his heroism in Afghanistan in 2005.)

    So yeah, this seemed like a good idea last night.  Now, running to the AO at 0440 (who uses cars these days?), it suddenly seemed like a terrible idea.  My mind was scrambling to come up with other options.  Then I strolled up to the Marsh to find Sensei Shooter (also carless) waiting alone, and I knew the Murph was going to happen.  You see, Shooter has come to every beatdown for the past two weeks.  And for the past week, he’s been running to each AO (save the Gipper, of course) rather than driving.  AND, he’s putting up consistent mileage each day for the run challenge.  And the man has a job and a family.  He’s an animal and an inspiration.  So had it been anyone else, I might’ve altered course and given in to the weaker me.  But Shooter inspires the best in everyone and therefore deserves the best.  So we got down to it:

    1 Mile

    100 Pull-Ups

    200 Merkins

    300 Squats

    1 Mile

    We made pretty good time, coming in just under our allotted 45 minutes.  Thanks brother, for elevating all those around you.

  • Pre-Mardi Paws Beat Down!

    With port-o-potties, white tents, and police barricades surrounding the AO, the 5 Pacs that showed up knew that a post Mardi Gras parade was coming, so let’s get this beat down started.

    Warmarama

    21’s- Q starts off exercise in cadence up to 5. From there, everyone is quite as a church mouse. All pacs need to stop at 21. If all the pacs don’t finish at the same time, everyone does 5 penalty burpees.

    Exercises completed with 21 count were side straddle hops, knee highs, butt kicks, imperial walkers, and wind mills.

    This is harder than it sounds. We were only able to complete the side straddle hops without any penalty burpees.

     

    Mosey to the corner of Marigny and the Lakefront. Start off with one exercise, mosey north to the next block, rinse and repeat the last exercise plus another. We did this for 5 blocks, and here is how it went…

    Block 1 – Merkins, 10 – IC, Slow Count

    Block 2 – RR + Copper Head Squats, 10 – IC

    Block 3 – RR + ECBB’s, 10 – IC

    Block 4- RR + Overhead Claps, 10 –IC

    Block 5 – RR + 10 Burpees OYO

     

    Lunge Indian Run

     

    Pacs line up in a single file line. Pac in the front of the line leads group in squats IC. Last pac in line does lunges to the front of the line and takes over the count, just like an Indian Run.

     

    An overzealous Q wanted to do this a full Old Mandeville block. Half way through the block, he quickly realized how long this takes. Had to adjust on the fly and cut it to half a block. Mosey to the Marsh.

     

    Play a ten minute game of half-court basketball. It was a little challenging with 5, but we made it happen. Every time a point was scored, the team that got scored on had to do a penalty exercise. They ranged from 5 burpees, bear crawls to half court, suicides, and sprints the length of the court.

     

    Mosey/Indian Run back to the flag. We flip flopped one block of regular mosey for a block of a regular Indian Run until we got to the Lake Front. Mosey to the flag once we got to the lakefront.

     

    STEVE took over the Q for some Mary to wrap up the beat-down. I am not sure of the grueling details, but I heard hello dolly and some grunts.

  • Who Wants it. Earn it!!!

    Well after EIEI getting me all excited about him and a unknowing Shooter Running an extra 6.2 after our regularly scheduled 10K. Only 4 of our Seal Team 6 showed up for the 10K Friday with Captain Sparkles setting an example getting there a few min. Early to get in an extra mile thinking some pax’s Running that extra 6.2 just might edge by in our map my run challenge. But with our regular no show master at work in his fart sack the lead is safe for now! With two pax Shooter & Bushwacker staying to put in an extra mile or so made me proud to see them not settle for what was on the schedule and having an appetite for more puts a smile on my face. After our long time joking about the F3NORTHSHORE having a
    Seal Team 6 I figured let’s put some names to this face. So at the end of our Run Ranger Run month and it benefiting our Veterans there is no better time. So put the work in and do something above average to get named in our elite
    Seal Team 6 for the Northshore.

    Ok for the start of our day.
    Countoroma, Captain Sparkles leading us in prayer then heading out for the oh so well known journey to sunset point and back. 6.2 miles complete.

  • Valentine’s Day Massacre

    Madness has officially descended upon the Northshore PAX.  At first, it was easy to blame Captain Sparkles and Bushwacker, who, like tyrannical taskmasters, drove the PAX to run ever-increasing distances.  But eventually we must all shoulder the blame for the insanity, with Shooter, EiEi, and YHC taking things a step too far ourselves, going as far as to suggest (and then carry out) a 5 mile run ahead of today’s usual beatdown.  When the foreplay becomes a thang in and of itself (and it certainly felt like we went far beyond 2nd and 3rd base on this Valentine’s day), then perhaps the F3 lexicon needs to be expanded – ‘foreplay’ and ‘pre-thang’ just don’t seem to cover it anymore.

    So when Grundy rolled in to the Gipper this morning to find Shooter and YHC already sweating profusely, he wondered aloud what was going on but privately, I suspect he wondered when and where he could get in on the action.  And that’s what I’m taking about when I say we must all shoulder the blame: this is our group’s mentality and I can pretty much promise you, it will only get worse… (which in our F3 world is, of course, always better).  Don’t say I didn’t warn you PAX!

    Warm-Up:

    SSH x25, IW’s x25, Good Morning’s x15, Windmills x15, MC’s x25, all IC.

    The Thang:

    On to the Taj Mahal for a COP: Plank – 10 Merkins – 10 Peter Parker’s (left leg only) – 10 Mountain Climbers – 10 Parker Peter’s (left leg only) – Chillcut Plank… hold and recover.  Next up, hold Al Gore, while PAX rotates performing 10 Sister Mary K’s.  Then the same plank routine, but right leg for the Peters and the Parkers.  And finally, Al Gore routine with jump squats in place of the SMK’s.

    Short mosey to the Justice Center for a partner routine: P1 sprints to first set of benches, 10 merkins and jogs back, sprint to second set of benches, 10 merkins and jog back, and finally all the way up the stairs, 10 merkins and jog back.  P2 performs that lovely 8-count exercise that YHC has been driving into the ground lately: plank, groiner and back, chillcut, plank jack, and back up to regular plank.

    Second routine using the same path: P1 lunge walks and performs squats at each set of benches, while P2 does flutter kicks.

    Mosey back to the flag for the finale, an AMRAP of Turbo’s raccoon crawl up the wall along the small hill, forward rolls or crab walks back down, hop up to the stage for 10 merkins, and back around to rinse and repeat for 6 mins.

    Mary: Freddie Flutters x22, Leg Raises x20, Putins x20.

    Countdown (we missed you Einstein, sorry to see your streak come to an end!), nameorama, and Shooter prayed us out.  Even though, comparatively, this was a fairly tame beatdown, it felt like a massacre to YHC by the end.  Thanks guys for always pushing, I can’t say enough about all the motivation/inspiration this group provides.

  • No Batman, All Robin (with a little bit of Voltron)

    If ever any of you guys watched cartoons in the mid eighties (or 2010’s as it’s been remade), you may remember Voltron: Defender of the Universe! This precursor to the Power Rangers idea of separate robots fighting bad guys then combining to form a badass robot to take on the main villain was playing nostalgically in my mind as we  passed a Mardi Gras morning at Grandmother’s House. You see, each lion would come from a different environment: volcano, jungle ocean, dessert, and  cave. Similarly, each member of the PAX came rolling in on feet or wheels from their own point of origin, and three of the four brought their own flavor (it must have been THE Manny’s birthday because we all brought him  beatdown presents;)

    There was a warmup lead by Steve (the black lion)

    I recall some seal jacks, windmills, perhaps imperial walkers, and I think we started with good mornings (all too apropros)

    He then brought us to the end of the covered walk way leading to the stairs where we teamed up: p1 sprint to 4th column for 25 merkins, then run backwards to his starting point to tag his partner. Meanwhile, p2 is doing peter parkers. Next round to the 8th column for 50 plank jacks, with p2 doing squats. Final round, to the end, mountain climbers (was that each leg Steve?) and more peter parkers.

    With the blood really flowing, Shooter  (the yellow lion) led us on a mosey to the marsh where we each took a station and rotated until we had all completed each one. Station #1 was monkey bars A & B, pull up and laterally traverse each consecutive set of bars, while…..station #2 was dipping during monkey bars A and Australian pull upping during monkey bars B. Station #3was at the swing set doing the poor man’s TRX: feet on the swing , hands on the ground, knees in and out. Final station on the court was bear crawl to half court and crab walk the rest of the way. Next, we ran a set of suicides and a lil’ rinse and repeat. Back to Grandma’s…..

    I (the red lion) took the PAX to my favorite place – AB CLAAAAASS! Starting with a newly invented exercise, I conservatively put us a about mid column and, once again in teams, p2 held p1’s feet while p1 did a sit up. Immediately, p2 spins around and onto his 6, while p1 runs in front to hold p2’s feet for another sit up. This progression was continued until reaching the stairs. Sit up Caterpillar? Ab Crawl? Indian Sit up? Name, I suppose, to be determined. With precious few minutes remaining, I brought the pain: All 25 count IC, freddy flutters,  LBCs, and 100s.

    count, name, announce, pray.

    For the record, THE Manny was the blue lion, and we were green lion-less

    The Voltron Force
    • Keith – leader of the group and pilot of the Black Lion.
    • Lance – hot-headed ace who pilots the Red Lion.
    • Pidge – young genius who pilots the Green Lion.
    • Sven – stoic pilot who initially flies the Blue Lion.
    • Hunk – muscular yet soft-hearted mechanic who pilots the Yellow Lion.

     

  • The Mande Monkey-Humpers

    Our regularly scheduled Saturday foreplay became irregular this morning, with both Shooter and Bushwacker respecting the time a little too much, misremembering the start time as 0600 rather than 0610.  A bewildered Tanked Up watched from his car as PAX would randomly show up and take off in different directions.  This “respecting the time” would become a bit of a theme for Bushwacker, who kept an especially strict eye on his watch for the entirety of today’s beatdown.

    Warm-Up:  SSH, Seal Jacks, IC x 25 / 10 8-Count Bodybuilders / Windmills, IW’s, Hillbillies, IC x 15 / 10 8-Count Bodybuilders / Mountain Climbers, IC x50.

    The Thang:

    First stop this morning would be the gazebo for a COP.  Everybody grab your ankles and hold, while each PAX does 10 monkey humpers, rotating around the circle.  x2.  T-Claps to Chewy who, as usual, demonstrated perfect form.  (No one asked if this came from excessive practice.)  Around this time a drone began circling overhead, presumably sent by Captain Sparkles to get some aerial footage of the PAX for F3 Nation’s front page.  What could be better advertisement for F3 than a group of monkey-humping PAX?  Move over, Milkshakers!

    Next up, derkin wave.  Tank, being the indomitable beast that he is, suggested 10 derks per man while PAX holds declined plank, so we got to it.  After one round, YHC felt we still had a little left in the tank, pun intended, so we rotated once more with a single derkin per man.

    Final gazebo wave was an Al Gore hold while each man performed 10 squat jumps.  Quick 10 count and onward to the sloppy field for….

    BOMBS!  Partner up, P1 runs to the previously-coined “headless penis” and back to relieve P2, who began the work of accumulating the following totals: 50x Burpees, 100x Overhead Claps, 150x Merkins, 200x Big-boy Sit-ups, 250x Squats.  At this point, the Wacker, who was a thorn in my side throughout the beatdown, gave his own disclaimer: sit-ups are not good for you, military institutions have abandoned them, yada-yada-yada.  YHC briefly toyed with the idea of increasing the sit-up total, but our resident physical therapist stepped up, explaining how to use slower, more controlled movements to decrease the chances of injury, and so the attempted mutiny was quashed.  Modify if necessary, people.

    This one took a bit longer than expected, with all the running back and forth adding a decent chunk to our RRR totals, and so we didn’t have much time to do the planned third pearl of this morning’s beatdown.  However, despite Bushwacker’s increasingly desperate pleas to turn back, YHC figured we could at least complete part one of that pearl.

    So, keep your partners, and mosey onward to the far side of the bridge.  P1 performs 4×4’s (burpees with 4 merkins, and 4 mountain climbers per leg), while P2 bear crawls forward down and backwards back up the bridge.  Flapjack.

    Finally, pull Bushwacker off the ledge (literally, of the bridge), and mosey back to the flag to find Turtle, looking way too clean in a sparkling white t-shirt.  With Turtle jeering us on: Leg Raises, IC x20, Putins IC x 20, and… “Lob Lollies,” IC x 15.

    Countdown, nameorama, and Manny prayed us out.  Onward to the coffetería, where it should be noted that our faithful barista, who has put up with both the smell and disorderly conduct of the PAX for well over a year of Saturdays, is finally moving on to better things.  We wish him luck (and better tippers).

    Thanks PAX, I had a great time this morning – always appreciate the opportunity to lead you men!

  • Can there ever really be too much foreplay?

    We could get the M’s to weigh in on this one, but YHC believes we all know the answer: there can never be too much foreplay, so long as it doesn’t interfere with the thang.  The PAX clearly agrees, with Shooter now traveling on foot to AO’s, Carpool continuing his streak of foreplay before each beatdown, and the Pelican – nixing the cigarette and cuddling – and opting instead for a little extra mileage afterplay.  These guys don’t need tips from Cosmo to get things going…

    Started things off with:

    10x – 8 Count Bodybuilders / Windmills, IW’s / 10 bodybuilders / SSH, Seal Jacks / 10 bodybuilders / High knees, butt kicks / 10 bodybuilders

    T-claps to Turtle who has now made 2 consecutive beatdown after his lengthy hiatus of hunting deer, ducks, gators, turtles, coons, otters, nutrias, squirrels, mice… essentially, anything that moves (legal, of course -no outlaw activity here – anything legal that moves).  Of course, with his return comes growing pains, not just for him but for the entire PAX.  YHC’s goal is to put a hurt on and see if anything slows down his mouth, but again, this is a question I believe we all know the answer to. (Nope.)

    So… mosey to the grassy amphitheater for a COP.: Jack Webb’s, 1:4 ratio, up to 10:40

    Then onward to the tunnel on pain for a partner routine using the hill: P1 runs backwards up, forward down, to then flapjack with P2 who is doing jump squats.  Then monkey humpers.  Then burpees.

    Mosey back with just enough time for Mary: crunchy frogs, leg raises, Putin’s, LBC’s, Freddie Mercs, Hello Dolly’s, all 20x IC

    Countdown, nameorama, Choppa prayed us out.  Thanks for letting me lead!

  • “We call that Lagniappe”

    Some may boil crawfish and add a little extra salt, other’s may barbecue adding some extra sauce. Then there are some who after a long work week stop at the Barley oak for a refreshing cold brew on tap with some friends to chatter about the upcoming weekend and quickly realize they may have had a few too many and soon make the call to Uber for a safe journey home… Or it could be those who meet at an AO for 0445 on a Friday Gloom for the weekly 10k, but soon become overachievers raising the bar just so slightly higher.. For all of you out there reading this Blast, here in south Luzianna “We Call that Lagniappe!”

    Rolled in about 0440 with no one in sight thinking, hey if know one shows I will get out there and knock this thing out… NOT sorry Captain Sparkles if that would disrespect the Cove but the temp was in the low 50s with Gail force winds ripping somewhere near 15-20 and this 6% was struggling with the possibility of being a Lone Ranger… Wait a second Shooter, do you truly think your fellow F3 brothers are considering not posting to give you that opportunity? 🤔🤣 Not a chance as Steve turns in from Lakeshore Drive shortly followed by Carpool and then a sighting of Bushwacker rolling down Jackson street coming in Hot right on time…

    We count off,  say a quick prayer and off we go.. The Q took the PAX up Jackson to the Trailhead journeying a path he had taken the PAX on some weeks back.. Remembering the last time upon returning we had to journey past the AO down Lakeshore for a little extra to hit the 6.2 miles. However, on this Gloom the QIC threw in the loop from Thursday’s AO to get the extra required before returning and that’s where the confusion sets in. As Carpool and I turn back down Jackson off the Trailhead he brings to my attention that we have hit the 10k mark. So as we complete the run the distance comes in officially at 7.04 miles completed at  an hour and five minutes with a pace around 9 flat.. Great job gentleman, way to get in some lagniappe this morning.. Now Bushwacker head home and get some much needed lagniappe in other matters that I need not elaborate on 😬…

    Appreciate the lead👊!!

  • Challenge Accepted

    Having an entire month with no ISI challenge seemed to be a challenge in and of itself for the Northshore PAX.  These guys don’t want a month off.  So when Hawg finally issued the February ‘Run Ranger Run’ challenge, the PAX was tripping over itself to register and get started.  Chaos ensued.  ‘Who is Anonymous?’  ‘Can we run 1000 miles instead of 565?’ ‘And what the hell is the Pelican’s real name?’  Luckily, Bushwacker took his machete to all the red tape and logistics (sound effect please), clearing a path this morning to simply log some miles.

    So it was not all that surprising that seven PAX came ready to hit the pavement.  What was surprising, though, was to arrive a few minutes early and find Carpool loitering around City Hall with no car in sight and already sweating.   (It’s no wonder the police tailed the gang down to Sunset Point!)    Nah, nothing nefarious here, it was just Carpool – having said aloud that he’d shoot for 70 miles this month – living up to his word.  T-claps to him for logging an extra four miles by saving some gas and running to the AO.

    No warm-up today, just straight to the mosey.  This morning we’d do an extra lap around the loop, adding a few extra tenths so that those of us hitting the Cove tomorrow might log an even (cumulative) 10 miles.  PAX ran somewhere around an 8:55 pace, giving us a decent chunk of time for my new favorite Scramble AMRAP: 5 pull-ups, 10 merkins, 15 squats.  Over and over and over, ad nauseam.  Literally.

    Countdown, nameorama, and Burgundy prayed us out.  Thanks for the nice run gents!