F3 New Orleans

Tag: The Stage

  • Brain Games – from Goose

    Last Monday, it was the same thing. Crickets on GroupMe after a tough Saturday and a last minute Goose fill-in on a blank Q slot. Thankfully, Safety Valve had already HC’d on the Jurptown group, and Paradiddle started chirping early enough to prove he was already on the road navigating the killer cane trucks appearing suddenly out of the fog. So, YHC knew that he and Pope wouldn’t be attacking the points monster alone.

    And, this proved to be the attendance list–four men, unafraid of posting two days in a row; unafraid of the nonsense that comes into YHC’s head at 10pm the night before a Q. This time it was math, psychology. and diamonds.

    YHC knew we had to try to get as many points as possble in a 45 minute window while not destroying the morale of a small crew and keeping it somewhat interesting. So, a brainless grind was off the table, as was any strong theme that might suck up time. YHC settled on the 7 of Diamonds. Any ladder exercise gives you an insane amount of reps while not feeling like an insane amount of reps because you’re doing a limited number at a time and you’re very focused on counting.

    After some solid warmups and a trip to the coupon stash, we stowed our coupons on the far side of the stage patio and then gathered on the lot side for instructions.

    Round 1:
    -First corner of the track = 7 burpees, run to next corner
    -Corner 2 = 7 burpees, 14 merkins
    -Corner 3 = 7 burpees, 14 merkins, 21 V-ups
    -Corner 4 = 7 burpees, 14 merkins, 21 V-ups, 28 Curls

    The mind trick here is that you think you’re just adding a few more of something at each corner. But, you’re actually cranking out the reps, which is pretty exhausting, and we needed a ten-count before Round 2.

    Round 2: (carried coupons with us this time)
    -Corner 1 = 7 burpees
    -Corner 2 = 7 burpees, 14 Bonnie Blairs
    -Corner 3 = 7 burpees, 14 Bonnie Blairs, 21 Curls
    -Corner 4 = 7 burpees, 14 Bonnie Blairs, 21 Curls, 28 Big Boys

    At this point, YHC explained that we had just done 56 burpees in about 10 minutes, in the midst of other not-so-easy exercises. And those were the easy part. It’s amazing what the body can endure when the brain is focused elsewhere. So, YHC then explained that we’d be doing 11’s with manmakers and merkins, which was similar to last Monday. This initially made SV and Pope doubt the wisdom of posting this morning; but, just like last Monday, we’d start with 10 of the hard one, and work our way down. The brain can then focus on the relief it’s getting with every round instead of on the fact that we’d be completing 55 manmakers in 15 minutes in the midst of running and nurring over a half mile and doing 55 merkins.

    These guys are beasts, and they flew through these despite YHC’s interesting new playlist rolling along behind them (and maybe the strange combination of songs provided a bit of a distraction from the pain as well). And, so, four men, in just making the decision to get out of bed, show up, and not say no, completed the following number of exercises one set, one rep at a time:
    55 Manmakers
    56 Burpees
    100 Merkins
    42 Bonnie Blairs
    82 V-ups
    70 Curls
    28 Big Boy Situps
    1 Mile
    Total: 600 points

    On this second-to-last day of Jurptober, YHC is proud to be joined by these men and driven by them and for them to choose to keep pushing the limits of what’s possible in 45 minutes. These are things that I would never do for myself, but just as in every other aspect of life, I always benefit more from the decisions to let go of my comfort for the sake of others than I do when I’m chasing my own fulfillment. This is what life is all about, and it makes me extremely grateful for these experiences with you guys.

    SYITG,
    Goose

  • Jurptown Rides at Dawn – from Goose

    After absolutely zero interactions or responses to YHC’s hype on GroupMe last night, low numbers were expected this morning, especially after Yankee Jeaux’s thrasher on Saturday. YHC is starting to see a pattern of slim Mondays after tough Saturdays (IPC last month really nailed this home). So, Pope and I weren’t surprised to see a lone, very brightly lit truck waiting for us in the parking lot at 5:12 am. Thankfully, per usual, the PAX did not disappoint, and two more fancy trucks made their way in before the warmup was over; and thankfully, they were both inhabitants of Jurptown, USA. The ever-stalwart Safety Valve and the ever-jurping Lil’ Cuz made it a five man crew with Wet Tap and Pope repping “We Ride at Dawn” with their newly minted headbands.

    The usual warmups with lots of reps and with added high knees and butt kicks still weren’t enough to break through the soreness and stiffness from Saturday, but YHC had hopes that the first Thang could handle it.

    Thang 1: Merkin Mile
    The Merkin Mile feels like that one girl that every guy talked about for a while in 7th grade. But, after a few months, when they realized that she had already gone through “changes” and was merely annoyed by them, they just found other things to talk about, like Zelda or murder bunnies. But, with the opportunity to both loosen up and rack up a quick 150 points, it was time to resurrect an old faithful. Mile loop with 25 merkins at each quarter-mile. We stayed together as a group, just like at the 7th grade dance.

    Thang 2: 11’s. Twice.
    The first set of 11’s were in response to the mathematical reality that YHC learned on Saturday: manmakers rack up a ton of points. And, knowing that Valve and YHC share a deep love for manmakers, why not stack up 55 of them in 15 minutes? Thankfully, YHC had the wherewithal to put the manmakers first, starting with 10 and working down, otherwise we may have lost our morale for good. So, it was manmakers at the flag and v-ups at the opposite sidewalk, running there and nurring back.
    The second set brought sweet relief from the manmakers, but that relief died a quick, violent death after just one round: Bonnie Blairs at the flag and curls (2:1) at the sidewalk, carioca both ways. Bonnies to carioca and then back to carioca after not enough time curling to catch your breath was a deadly combination. 10 minutes was not enough to finish this one, though we got close.

    COT and Cuz prayed us out, but we had some jurping to do. All 5 stayed through the first round (a little slower on the back end of a beatdown than on the front end), and Tap had to roll, but the rest of us pushed through three more so we could be done for the day. And, no one wants to jurp alone.

    Incredible work by these manly men this morning. Thanks for being willing to get out of bed and post! It was a point feast, and these fellas earned every one of them.

    SYITG,
    Goose

  • Jurp ‘til you Vurp – from Wet Tap

    10/16/23

    Jurp til you Vurp.

    A cool Monday morning had these select few men ready to conquer any obstacle. Most off of the HC’s showed their unwavering dedication to F3 and with the right-on-time showing of Goose, Pope, and SV, YHC and Enron were primed for the show.

    Warma-Rama

    SSH
    HK/BK
    Willie Mayes Hayes
    Arm circles (F/B)
    Cherry Pickers

    Thang1
    Another week has begun and the buy in for a good time is 3 rounds of Jurptaculars.
    For those in a hole and have not read the chatter it goes something like this.
    Each round consists of:
    20 tempo squats
    10 groiners
    20 merkins
    10 groiners
    20 jump squats
    20 LBC
    20 leg raises

    Thang2
    Our typical mile route. An EMOM timer was set to a 5 minute interval. When the clock hits zero a jurp is performed. The jurp is included in the time, and you cannot advance on the mile until the jurp is complete. If the PAX would get a 2 light pole advantage, we’d run back and pick up the 6. The clock started, we Jurped, and the pace was quick. The PAX made rich man’s loop and the 1st jurp hit hard. All in all we had 6 jurps with a 400 yard sprint to beat the clock.
    I had all intentions of leaving this beatdown hurt and unfinished. The likelihood of completing was minimal in my mind. The PAX manned up and pushed.
    We completed the mile with time left over. Enough for a bonus mile. With 6am closing in we managed to finish.
    All in attendance were expecting coupons and random heavy thing. I kind of wished that myself, but points or not, challenging the mind is just as important as the muscle.

    Thanks PAX for the continued motivation!

  • Glory Hogs – from Goose

    It was Day 2 of finding creative ways to rack up a ton of points in the Jurptober By-You Spreadsheet Challenge, so before it gets old, YHC decided to fill this beatdown with valuable exercises.

    As YHC and Pope parked in a relatively empty parking lot, we wondered if it’d be slim pickins for what YHC hoped would be an exciting challenge. But, AB quickly pulled up, and then Hypotenuse emerged from a truck that has not yet imprinted itself on YHC’s PAX radar. Then, thankfully, six more dudes flowed in, Honeysuckle wearing a new shirt that embodies the spirit of F3–it says “Honeysuckle” below a graphic from what looks to be an album cover from the early 70’s. Upon questioning, he revealed that Honeysuckle was/is in fact a band, but that no further details are known. By anyone.

    YHC was struck by the fact that, besides Smooth and Pope, this group was a totally different group than the one that posted yesterday morning. It’s awesome to see that we’re up to enough guys to have solid numbers despite the fact that people don’t typically post every day. But, it also meant that only the three of us would benefit from multiple days this week of jacked up beatdown points. So be it.

    After a warmup of the usuals, up to the full 20 reps since YHC is getting old, we moseyed to get coupons. Upon returning, the coupons were placed in the middle of the field so as to outline a square, about 10 yards across. After the needed two rounds of Jurps OYO, the square became a professional wrestling ring and the PAX partnered up for a Tag Team Royal Rumble. Here’s the rules:
    While Partner 1 cranked out a given exercise in the ring until he needed a break, Partner 2 ran around the track waiting to be tagged in. Exercises changed every five minutes. Men in the ring weren’t allowed to take breaks or rest–if you needed to stop/take a break, you had to run to your partner and tag him in. The Partner 2 got the chance to earn points while the timer ticked and famous “tag team” musical duos rocked the field via the power of Oontz (he did pretty well sitting up on top of a coupons).

    The exercises were: burpees, V-ups, merkins, Bonnie Blairs, Big Boi Situps, and curls. And, just like in professional wrestling, the glory only goes to the one in the ring, and though the Q clearly stated that there was to be no resting in the ring, there were still some glory hogs who seemed to be bent on intentionally robbing their partners of the opportunity to shine. This may have been because partners weren’t on the same Jurpee teams, or because of Oontz’s ability to drive men’s hearts with clarity and bass. it may have also been the quality of YHC’s Tag Team playlist, which expertly combined songs like “Whoomp, There it Is” by Tag Team, “Mrs. Robinson” by Simon and Garfunkel, and “Think About It” by Flight of the Conchords specifically to invoke the greatest possible interior response and enhance the brain’s capacity to log multiple numbers while continuing to count new reps and laps around the track (8 times = a mile). Nothing syncs the neurons like Kriss Kross followed immediately by the Dooby Brothers.

    When the sugar plant whistle blew at 6:00 (that’ll be a nice way to keep time for a few months), every man did his best to repeat his numbers in his foggy mind so they didn’t float away with the cool breeze. Circled up, counted off, Animal went to Cardinal (where it will likely hibernate for the winter), and Honeysuckle prayed us out.
    After prayer, a number of the PAX ran a few more laps to get finish out the second mile, and then we trickled out of the parking lot. Awesome work this morning, fellas! Y’all make it worth the effort!

    SYITG,
    Goose

  • The Great British Beatdown – from Paradox

    “Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face by the iron fist of a 3 week old” YHC thought as he sent the mayday text to Goose at 5:10a “start the warm up then Jurp them boys and jurp them good!”
    Apparently newborn vomitus waits for no man and after some mischief was managed I put the Dox mobile into a hi 5th, ya hate to be late to a bake-off !!

    When the great creator of the Jurp (some circles only whisper his name as “the architect”) unveiled the Jurpee extra curriculars YHC thought they looked like a recipe’s ingredient list. I knew that could be used, but it sat in the “save for beatdown file” waiting for a spark. Stephen King says the creation of any good story starts with a cup (the content) and you just need to add a handle (the conflict/action) to carry it. When YHCs M reminded me of a fresh season of the Great British Baking Show I had just the Handle I needed. Ya see unlike more productive pandemic hobbies (Cardinal’s coffee roasting and Jeaux’s Peleton) YHC picked up this ultra addictive baking show. It had all the fine qualities YHC loves in a tV show. No plot, no characters to remember. Comedians hired to stir the pot. PLUS you can fall asleep in season 2 , wake up in season 7 and they are baking the same bread with the same quippy satire. No spoilers, no recap. Just pastry’s and focaccia and zero stress.
    Bliss

    In review : Cup plus handle plus prime time gloom= a bake off themed beatdown

    Duke! Get the bean footage!
    On your mark , get set , bake!

    Warmup –
    Completed by Goose as YHC performed burp cloth windmills and imperial wet diapers.

    The Signature Bake

    Dish : 2 pots of oven baked JurpeeLaya- Just add pax
    Serve fresh with a late Q.

    YHC rolled in hot after an agonizingly long ride behind a cane truck and picked up about 1.25 jurps in. This segwayed nicely into the explanation of the Jurpee as a classic signature bake. It’s familiar, repeatable, and you can present it with confidence even if Paul Hollywood says your jump sqats look stodgy and your leg raises are still raw in the center.

    The Technical Bake:

    Dish : The Paul HollyWebb

    Usually difficult with very little instructions involving complex ingredient ratios.
    Our bakers had to attempt a Paul Holliwebb bake that included a 1 mile run and some mixed Jack Webbs
    First at the port a jon for Bonnie Blair’s and Merkins.
    Increases by 1 and 2 till we finished with 6 Bonnie’s and 12 merkins
    (Total : 16 Bonnie’s , 30 merkins)

    There were zero complaints about the OctoberBest Merkin fest on Saturday
    German engineering at its best.

    Round 2
    V/ups / BBSU
    1 BBSU/2 BBSU till we got till 6 BBSU and 12
    (Total : 24 v ups ish
    (Memory is hazy here so please modify your numbers if that’s the truth in your heart)

    **at the time of this writing leg raises outside of a jurp will be put on trial by the Rienzi Inquisition.
    Goodness gracious , this ISI has more asterisks than the McGuire/Sosa homerun race ***

    Took it to Coupon Alley with a 3 burpee Indian Run on the way

    The ShowStopper

    The last bake of the show
    This one is everything you got
    All out , hammer down, no brakes.
    Which logically lead us to …

    The Diddle Death March ManMaker Mile brought to you by Betty Crocker

    Inspired by Diddles personal touch to close out a bd with nothing left but a puddle of pax.

    10 Manmakers
    Run to stage
    1 Burpees
    In Elevens format we decreases the manmakers and increased the burpees till time or death do us part.
    The plan was to make enough rounds to generate a mile but the pax were saved by the bell.
    In the great white tent of the British bake contestants are always up against the clock and todays bake was no different.
    Goose and Pope went pretty deep into the man makers and got Dox Hollywood handshakes.

    Smooth gets Star Baker for gutting out a heavy run Q and I think we hit 2.5 “Okays”

    Announcements
    Invigor8 Grant FB live event tomm 7pm

    Link will be on groupme

    COT and Popeye prayed us out

    Bulletin Board Material:
    Jurptown USA has formally changed its name to SmugVille City led by Mayor Goose.
    They sit on a mountain of points and dare a challenger to come and take the trophy.
    Do not let them go gently into the night !

    Here’s a Dox of Chocolates :

    Have you ever seen someone and just for a split second it wasnt how you usually see them. I know you are thinking “dox put the shrooms down “ but hear me out. Like in a crowded airport when you unexpectedly see a family member or as you pass a loved one in traffic. Sometimes just for a microsecond your brain sees them as any other stranger would. Then almost instantaneously your brain catches up and the recognition kicks in. And in that microsecond window of time you go from “complete unknown variable” to filling in all the experiences you have had with the subject in question. Then you have special moment of grace realizing the connection.
    Well this morning while rocketing down 308 behind the aforementioned cane truck I was too absorbed to realize I was already parallel with the stage. The opposite lane was full of another 2 cane trucks (Tis the season) and then suddenly cleared. There in the gloom were 7 men suspended in perfect jurp squat unison. Pushing past their own pain to help sharpen the one next to them. I’d never seen it like that , from the outside. It was glorious. For just that blink of time I didn’t know what it was. Then I smiled, pulled in and jumped into the fray, filled with gratitude for these high impact fellows.

    A privilege to lead men

    SYITG
    Dox

  • Boot Scootin’ Goosies – from Paradox

    Theres one singular event that universally strikes fear in the hearts of men. A rite of passage complete with every potential fear being confronted. A desolate wasteland where fortune favors the bold and one misstep can leave you cemented into a hall of shame . You’ve all passed through it and been forged by the fires of ..the middle school dance.

    But there IS one tool at your disposal . One shining sword for the gangly awkward youth entangled in this hormonal warfare. You’ve all seen this familiar setup. It’s the 7th grade dance and opposite genders have receded to their corners in the dance floor. The air is heavy with axe body spray. If you were like YHC , you hoped the Hollister shirt and puca shell necklace were enough distraction to overcome a genetic lack of rhythm. The dj eyes the empty dance floor ,madly spinning tracks to light the fire and then he finds it …

    …The participation song!

    Cupid shuffle ..
    The locomotion ..
    Electric slide ..
    They all accomplish the same goal.

    Like a flame thrower to dry kindling one kid joins, then another and as long as you are following the instructions loosely there’s a certain freedom from severe judgement that allows the dancing to begin.

    These songs have saved countless male youths from the embarrassment of freestyle dancing and during my recent midnight baby burping sessions I uncovered this lucrative treasure trove of F3 enterpainment.

    So with the fresh Jurpee routine in mind and a few songs in my heart YHC made a stage comeback with 10 other high impact men. A crisp bayou fall met them in the gloom and the stage was set.
    Today we salute the participation song.

    Duke ! Dukeeee!!!!
    Hold these diapers and Roll the bean footage !

    Warmup
    Standard issue with Tana literally side straddle hopping across the circle. His verbal insubordination overflowing into interpretive dance as if he could preemptively feel todays theme. You can only hope to contain him at this point.

    Warmup Thang

    Jurpee Mile-ish

    Saddled up for the well warn path of the rich man loop mile with stops for a segmented jurpee. We helped some pax in the senior divisions remember where all the stops were and YHC dialed up all the classics with JBL cranked to the level of “HoA concerns”. The air was cool and mannnn I’ve missed you guys.

    (Tana keeping a Kenyan marathon pace, ya love to see it. The legendary transformation continues )

    We did :
    1- tempo sqats/20 groiners
    2- 20 merkins/20 groiners
    3- 20 jump sqats
    4- 20 LBC/leg raise

    Then grabbed come coupons for the :

    Main Thang a Lang

    4 songs to represent the transcendent nature of the participation songs across genres, live events, generations and continents.

    1. ) Boot scootin boogie
    2 Apollo ono plus 2 goosie on “ Boot scoot”
    Coupon “2 step” on duration of song.
    From now until eternity we will call them Boot Scootin Goosies and I can’t decide if that sounds more like a firework from Joe Dirt or a station for next years SV500.

    Trivia : what are the first names of brooks and Dunn?
    The pax had this one down cold even with YHCs brain glitches trying to find the word artist. Also from Shreveport just like Ronnie Lillich !

    Track refresh mosey

    2. Time for da hip hop- Tootsie Roll
    (Was really hoping for a Popeye post here. Have a feeling he’s done 9000 tootsie rolls )

    We did :
    Donkey kick on T roll
    Right Peter Parker
    Left Parker
    Slide – side reach
    Whoop plank Jack
    Trivia – Artist? : 69 boys (great jurpee team name )
    I had a feeling this would be right in America’s Bests wheelhouse. with some prompting he took a minute off the pain. Goose showed signs of the move itself and YHC fought the temptation to let him tootsie roll for 5 minutes while we did kraken burpees.

    3. Da community -YMCA

    Y styled windmills on song
    4 merkins on YMCA
    Jump squat on “young man”

    Fun fact: The original YMCA arm motions appeared on this popular musical show in 1979. (American bandstand)

    4. International- Gangnam style
    Coupon side shuffle
    Thruster on Gangnam style

    YHC introduced this one and had the desired response of crickets, wind, and Goose asking Enron if it was 6am yet. I’ve sorely missed that unique smell of fear and adrenaline.

    YJ correctly named psy as the artist then insisted someone be appointed as the oogler so we would be music video accurate. Unfortunately by this point all the pax had gone to the dark place that thrusters create after a month of IPC and his request faded into old man grumbles about deleted cells.

    So now you have the dance party fully rolling the only thing you have left to focus on is learning your partners rhythm and footwork.

    So we partnered up (1 thruple)
    For a Double Indian run with 3 partner hi 5 burpees to corner on Richmans loop till everyone had one round.
    Honeysuckle did honeysuckle things and set a sub7 pace while we watched in awe. I can’t tell if it’s sleep deprivation but I swear his legs blur like road runner in the ole Wiley Coyote bits.

    We finished with a thrilling rendition of Rah Rah JaBurpee. Tennis ball can only be advanced with feet. One burpee after kicking. Beautiful chaos ensued and we lost two good soldier tennis balls in the field. No clear winner from YHCs point of view but I saw Ronnie diving under a truck after a ball near the finish line so I’ll give an A for effort.
    Jeaux continued to run headlong into the distance. Said he just needed to think about a grown man not being able to work Google sheets.
    Folks in the Oaks say he’s still running…

    Count them up
    Name them off

    Announcements:

    T- claps to Hypotenuse for multiple posts and suffering through my lack of hand eye coordination.

    Honeysuckle VQ!!!
    Thursday at the Den
    Get your running shoes ladies!

    Invigor8 Grant next Tues 10/10 at 7pm (link below)
    Possible $10k is up for grabs to the St Vincent pharmacy.

    https://facebook.com/events/s/invigor8-live/1909647176102809/

    COT and YJ prayed us out

    Men I’ve been overwhelmed by the support y’all have shown my family during our new baby days. The baby/work/school/home routines are in a tornado of a transitions right now and we are just hanging in. Great to have y’all linking shields in support and prayer.

    Epilogue

    One jurpee
    Two jurpee
    Red jurpee
    Blue jurpee

    You can do it on a rope
    You can do it with a Pope
    You can try it with a Goose
    Or measure your hypotenuse
    Tana jurps on his strain quest
    Honeysuckles uses it as rest
    AB is jurping till hes fifty
    Ronnie’s jurping till his knees are shifty
    Bud light jurping, call it Dilly Dilly
    Poor jurp form, that’s really silly
    Jurptober is all about the basics
    Valvelines jurping till he needs lasix
    At a jurp party you’re never late
    Jeauxs been jurpin since 78!

    Jurp low jurp high
    Jurp loud jurp shy

    Jurp your best jurp along with another
    As iron sharpens iron, one sharpens his brother

    SYITG
    ParaDr Seuss

  • Coupon heavy – from Wet Tap

    F3 Q. 9/25/23

    6 strong at the stage this Monday am on a post IPC body hurt.

    Warmarama consisted of SSH, High Knees, Butt kicks, Willie Mays (Ohhh yea), Arm circles F/B, Cherry Pickers, Self Loves

    What’s a Stage gloomy beat down without a mile run? It was a nice pace while the PAX reflected on the intensity and trauma from Saturday. A welcome back from Smooth was just what the PAX needed as we rounded rich man’s loop. But wait! The call of a dinosaur caught the PAX ear. What could it be? The dreaded- “bug in the lungs”! Smooth yacked it out and didn’t miss a step. It was almost as if he enjoyed the taste. T-claps!
    Back at the stage- the coupons awaited our arrival. With the fun they imposed on Saturday they were eager to dish out more pain.

    THANG 1

    The partner beat down was set as a circuit. Partners switch before moving to next

    1a. Murder bunny 25 yd. Farmer carry home
    1b. Manmakers

    2a. Bear crawl with roped CMU. Anchor pull CMU to you. Farmer carry home (It was a looonnnggg rope)
    2b. Thrusters

    3a. Double Tap murders* 25 yd. Farmer carry home
    3b. Speed jump rope

    4a. Burpee broadjumps 25 yd & back
    4b. WW3 sit-ups

    5a. Coupon lunge walk 25 yd & back
    5b. Curls for girls

    THANG 2 —Song fest-

    PAX planked up, when we hear “Let’s Go” it’s Groiner time!
    Luckily the 55 groiners only took 2 minutes and I sincerely thank my 2.0’s for the song recommendation!

    THANG 3.

    In cadence with the PAX partnered, a 4 count perfect merkin with high fives replacing the shoulder taps. 10 ct

    Mary-
    Dealers choice
    Crunchy frogs- Freddy Mercury- penguins.

    COT.
    Announcements and intentions. Continued prayers for those ill, hurting, and in need.
    Prayers by Popeye

    As in true F3 Thibodaux fashion, we are bonded together under Christ as an unstoppable brotherhood. There are no weak links in our armor if we rely on each other and the Lord during troubling times. I know that when my time of need does arise, There will be no question on who will be surrounding me and lifting me back up. Thanks PAX!

  • “Okay” – from Goose

    YHC had already hinted to the PAX that there might be some running today, but they showed up anyway. It clearly goes to show that these fellas value the brotherhood and the shared experience of pain more than they want to avoid the grind. It was great to see a packed parking lot when we pulled up!
    After a much needed warmup that was quieter than normal without Poox, YHC intro’d the BDE Burpee mile, a solid prep for Saturday. Most had not yet watched the pre-blast video, so the burpee combined with a Goosie was a bit jarring. Smooth’s consistent “Okay” was joined by a few other “Yeah, alright”s. The plan was to run the mile loop stopping at every quarter for three BDE Burpees. (What does BDE stand for? Suburban dictionary says: “Busy Day Everyday” with a coffee cup emoji. Not sure how that applies here.) At every stop, the PAX would wait for the six by doing core exercises until they arrived: 1st was flutter kicks, 2nd was LBC’s, 3rd was Freddy’s, and 4th was Big Boys. Impressively, there wasn’t much waiting, even though one or two of the guys had been out for a while, and though BDE burpees are complicated, they got done smoothly enough.
    Paradiddle and Tana busted it for the last quarter mile, but YHC hung back a little with Enron–the Q knew what was to come. And, what was to come after the last set of BDE Burpees was another BDE mile, this time with merkins. And, again, we got a solid “Okay” from Smooth and similar responses from the rest. YHC knew that many of these dudes were more gassed than they wanted to be and were just grateful that the running was over, but there was no grunts of exasperation or moans of self-pity to be heard. And, though it took a few more flutters and Freddys for Seal Team 6 to pull into each stop, it was clear that they and the rest of this crew were here for it this morning, come what may. Even Dumbledore, who quietly sprained his ankle at the start of the second mile, stayed back and did BDE merkins until we returned instead of just rolling out like many others might.
    The 3 BDE Merkins (merkin + Peter-Parker leg left + merkin + Peter Parke leg right + merkin = 1) at each stop had the pecs a little warm, but not burnt, so with the last 7 minutes, burn them we did.
    The song was “Running on Empty” by Jackson Brown (Honeysuckle = consistency), and we were in plank formation (or something like that) for the duration with merkins for every “running”. The concrete was well moistened by the end, and YHC asked if anyone could guess how long the song was. Enron quickly shouted “4:47!” The song was 4:50 long. Did he time it on his watch? No, that would be ridiculous and pointless. So, YHC can only conclude that he has assistants at home with computers and headsets listening to the mics he’s got planted around the AO and ready to research any question that might be offered by a Q and whisper an answer into his earpiece (along with funny name suggestions for FNG’s). French Horn and Honeysuckle clearly use the same method during trivia beatdowns. Cardinal is looking into it.
    The two minutes remaining were filled with Crunchy Frogs and Wife Pleasers. COT, hype for Honeysuckle’s VQ Thursday, prayer intentions, and Popeye prayed us out. Proud to be a part of this crew.
    SYITG,
    Goose
    P.S. It was only after YHC got home that I remembered that BDE merkins are all Hand-release. Oh, well. We’ll just have to wait till Saturday to get shredded again.

  • Curling/special teams beatdown – from Smooth Operator

    Cardinal
    Goose
    Pope
    Dilly
    Tana
    Diddle
    Smooth Operator

    Last night seeing all the anti commits had me a little nervous about turnout. The fact that they were coupled with all the where were you stories for 9/11 where really cool and shows the diversity and different life experiences of this wonderful group. F3 is as much a support group and writing club as much as it is a fitness group and I am very happy to be a part of it.

    YHC was showed up to the Stage at 0455 after working a night shift. I was not expecting much of a turn out but knew I could count on Goose and Pope to show up to put in some work. Goose and Pope showed up around 0510 along with Cardinal and Tana. Dilly and Diddle showed up right before and during Warmarama. YHC was thrilled to see 7 PAX members ready to partake in some group suffering.

    Struggle bus for warmarama
    Due to sleep shortage, YHC struggled with cadence and a couple times just forgot I was supposed to be counting. Goose tried to help but to no avail. But I guess it’s the effort that counts.

    SSH
    Windmills
    Imperial walkers
    Arm circles
    Cherry pickers
    Mountain climbers
    Coupon curb mosey

    Today we will be doing a little shared suffering to honor the 2996 lives lost on September 11 2001. Just to help y’all feel young I was in the 3rd grade and had no idea what was going on. Today for our 10 counts you will be asked your where were you short story for 9/11.

    Thang 1
    Using a basketball we will throw or roll the ball down the street and we will be downing it similar to a punt coverage team in football or the wonderful winter Olympic sport of curling. If the ball goes off the concrete and into the grass we will be doing 10 burpees. Our mode of transport will be sprinting. Whenever we recover the ball we will be doing 5 Chuck Norris merkins. We will be going to the rich man loop dead end. This went surprisingly good. We managed to make it to the dead end only doing burpees once or twice. We probably did 40 to 50 Chuck Norris merkins.

    Thang 2
    We did a round of 7’s
    gossees on one side and American hammers 2 is 1 on the other and bear crawls were mode of transport. This one worked well and we got through it pretty easily. After Pope gave us a riveting story on how he was never thought of yet for 9/11.

    Back to Thang 1 with a twist

    Basketball game with grass penalty of 10 WW2 merkins, mode of transport is karaoke switching after every downing. 5 Bobby Hurley were the recovery exercise. We did this to the dead end near 3/4 mile mark on rich man loop. We went ahead and did one or two sets of world war sit ups due to a couple unforgiving curves in the road.The question was brought up which sit ups were we supposed to do. YHC honestly forgot there was a difference and was not overly concerned which exercise was performed.

    Thang 3
    Once we made it to the dead end we went ahead and set up to do some concrete crack suicides with a merkin performed each time you hit your starting point. The PAX ended up making it to the stop sign and probably did 10 sprints. After Goose gave us his story on where he was on 9/11. He was at LSU and watched the first tower fall realizing he had just watched thousands of people die. Went to class and got a text saying the second tower fell.

    Back to thang 1
    We played basketball game with American hammers 2 is 1 10 count as grass penalty. We sprinted as mode of transport. Recovery exercises was 5 Apollo unos. End point was supposed to be coupon curb dead end but due to 0600 approaching quickly we headed to the flag.

    Thang 4
    After we got back to the flag at 0555, YHC and Diddle set up the burrito and sent us out with Alan Jackson’s Where we’re you when the world stopped turning. The Pax would be changing levels on Al gore from low middle to high squat position. We would be changing levels on the breaks in the lyrics. This was tough and it carried us into 0600.

    Announcement revealed Goose has tomorrows Q. Honeysuckle VQ will be Thursday at the lions den. Saturday will be IPC. If you have been away for a while and still read back blast, this is as good a week as any to get back in the mix.

    Intentions were for all the babies and mommas in our community and Tana prayed us out.

    Thanks to all who came out and made this beatdown memorable.
    SYITG Smooth Operator

  • The Greatest…Most Incredible…Most… – from Goose

    It was indescribable. It was more than perfect. YHC didn’t know what to expect on this Labor Day morning after a destructive IPC Saturday, and at 5:14 sitting with Pope in an empty parking lot, we thought maybe we’d be going back to bed to keep nursing our wounded muscles and pride. But, we could never have expected the overwhelming gift, the perfect storm of perfectness that lay ahead. Diddle pulled in as the clock struck 5:15, and it…it…began.
    To try put into human words, even in these sacred annals, the blessed events that occurred, that washed over and through us this morning, would be an unforgiveable blasphemy and would leave you, dear reader, in the same awe-struck paralysis of wonder that YHC has been lost in these past three hours. (I just regained use of my hand, and what a tragedy, what a heartbreak to have to come back to what is now a world of mediocrity).
    It is clear that what we experienced was the greatest beatdown that has ever occurred, that will every occur, that could ever possibly occur. And, to even keep speaking about it would…would……