A little over a year ago, YHC was talking with our awesome 1st F Qs about a new Wednesday workout. Numbers were problematic across all the AOs, and I had some ideas about where might be a good place to launch. We talked about a number of options, and through those conversations I learned another PAX was interested in the same thing.
To this point, I didn’t know Sour Mash very well – 99% sure that this was my fault. But Rob Pruitt, aka Sour Mash, was really interested in launching an AO at St. Mary Magdalene’s church in Apex. He is a parishioner there AND his M works at St. Mary’s. Sour Mash knew there were a lot of Sad Clowns who might benefit from F3 – a noble cause indeed. Now, it doesn’t hurt that St. Mary’s is exactly 0.5 miles from YHC’s homestead.
So we joined forces – me with the goal of launching a workout on Wednesday’s to alleviate problematic numbers elsewhere, and Sour Mash to provide more opportunities for guys at a site where he had some connections. And after scouting, we realized what an AWESOME and VERSATILE site this was. We bought supplies, consulted with resident shovel flag expert Goose and went about launching this new site we dubbed The Lion’s Den. Hello Kitty made a cool logo, and we were off. Today, we regularly draw big numbers, not due to anything we are doing, but the growth of Carpex in the past year has been phenomenal. And while I can’t always predict where the FNGs will come from, we have seen quite a few guys make their first post at LD. The surrounding communities are FULL of Sad Clowns who need F3 in their life, whether they know it or not. Mission accomplished!
But something more happened – I got to know Rob Pruitt a whole lot better. I can say it has been well worth the journey to make this new friend, who I’m now proud to say is part of my Shield Lock. I share this as an encouragement for the newer guys who may not have had a chance to do something like be a site Q. There are other benefits, like getting to know a brother a lot better. Jump in there, great things can happen and you might make a new friend.
Yes, we did a workout. There was the Pledge of Allegiance, a warmup, and then Sour Mash and I took turns calling different exercises as we did 7s up and down the parking lot near the school. When time got close, we formed 2 lines for an Indigenous People’s run back to the flag. Where we did Mary, with 100s called by Sour Mash and finished up with the newly christened Massage Parlor Merkins.
During COT with the 23 PAX who posted that day, we handed the site flag over to The Real Slim Shady and Ramsay. These are true HIMs who are going to be great site Qs for the Lion’s Den. I hope and pray they get the same blessing out of this that I did.