Leading From The 6

So I’ll write my normal Frisco style HIDA BB below but after seeing Half do something at the office today I decided to put some HIM stuff first.

As Half was walking down the hall he noticed a hair on the ground behind him and quickly ran back to check to see if it was one of his (it wasn’t). Still he picked it up and dropped it in a small golden case he carries. It reminded me of why I took Pickles’ offer to be a site Q when he planted Claymore’s flag at Annie Jones Park.

We have Tortoises but I wanted another permanent AO for the Bruisers outside of the traveling, pop-up AO and also a place for PAX to be able to bring FNGs who may not be ready for the heavy-run AOs yet or who are on permanent IR.

We are the sum of our experiences–but more importantly the sum of our choices. It is all too easy for an FNG to beat themselves up mentally with “How did I let myself get this far gone?” On a run, especially from the 6, it’s easy to get lost inside your own head, beat yourself down and out of F3. At our limited run AOs you’re rarely ever more than 2-3 feet from a bunch of guys that you can see pushing themselves, failing, taking a second to regroup and then pushing again.

Also I knew Claymore would challenge our veteran Qs. In some ways it is easier to lead by example from the front and a lot harder to push from the back. In the front your own fitness and mental toughness allow you set the tone/pace. But from the back you have to figure out how to challenge the front and middle PAX while pushing the 6 but NOT pushing the 6 past their limits–and still keep everyone together.

Squatter’s Claymore Q really was (no sarcasm here) poetry in motion and IMHO and a great example of how to Q from the 6.

I want to extend the challenge again to all of our veteran Qs to come and try to “lead from the 6”. I got Red Ryder and Beaker (though after attending my epic Q this week I saw Beaker looking up Camp Gladiator’s website on his phone). Come challenge youself and “Lead from the 6” at Claymore.

And Now for Something Completely Different…

QIC: Frisco
AO: Claymore
PAX: Beaker, Cataracts, Deuce, EarharT, Ezekiel, Freebird, Hotty Toddy, Leprechaun, Payback, Pickles, Press On, Ratchet, Red Ryder, Repeato, Sooey, Smokey, Sputnik, Term Paper, The Joker

Sometimes you have an idea. An idea so good that you know it is on par with the time Pierogi convinced everyone he was going to Ghana the country and not Ghana, South Carolina or when Yoga Mat convinced everyone he wasn’t Red Ryder. And that is what YHC had the weekend before his 12th VQ at Claymore.

Here is what went down at Claymo–

3 is the Loneliest Number

When Pickles approached me about becoming a founding (foundering?) member of AO Claymore I was hesistant. Pickles’ last two attempts to plant a flag did not go well. AO Pull My Finger (located at the South Wake Landfill) survived 10 minutes and AO Baywatch Girls Here ended when Pickles’ mandatory community service ended (this was where Pickles convinced PAX to show up at various roadside locations and Tom Sawyer-ed them into picking up trash as part of the workout).

Yes at Pull My Finger no one could distinguish the aptly named Smokey from any other PAX. Yes at Baywatch the streets of Cary and Apex were cleaner. But was this what I wanted to do? Lend my extensive abilities to an untested AO? My decision was made easy though when Pickles passed me a manila envelope that contained my high school year book photo (apparently a standard Carpex site-Q recruiting method). Anyways, here is what went down at Claymo–

One For The Record Books

I am a man of few words. So let’s keep this short. Here is what went down at Claymo–

In Pursuit of the Carpex Triple Crown: HIDA of the Year, HIM of the Year & Most Improved Q of the Year

Not since that fateful year when Franklin posted under the nick name “Seabiscuit” has someone had the gall to try to get the Carpex Triple Crown. You have to combine Dumbassery with HIM-ery while hosing your Qs in the beginning so that you can come back strong in the end because you have lowered the bar so significantly (as I told Ezekiel “Short of setting someone on fire you can Q Claymore now and it be called a success” And now he’s on as a VQ for Claymore in two weeks–so stuff it, haters!!).

Now for those of you who have managed to read this far (i.e., Ma Bell looking for where I finally decided to zing him and Burt who got accidentally locked in his bathroom yesterday) congratulations! Callahan is probably reading to see if I out HIDA-ed his Christmas speech from two years back. I think I’m a contender with the combined BB today and Q yesterday.

Dear Reader, the minor amount of confusion you are feeling is probably in line with what the PAX felt Tuesday at Claymore. Also you would probably be line with Cataracts’ comments of “This 45 minute workout feels like an hour”.

But what a Frisco Q lacks in direction it makes up for in fun, 2nd F mumble chatter and a decent beatdown.

Speaking of memory this is what I recall from that fateful morning (i.e., yesterday)

The Morning:

The Joker had a few choice words about my Q being a “rest day” for him. So the Frisco breathtaker of course had to make an appearance. My entire morning was made by his expression when I handed it to him and his face, like his arm, drooped. 20lbs isn’t a lot to lug around–which is why I modified the vest to be 30 lbs for him. And this vest would become one of the highlights of the day.

Warm Up:

Mosey to the 100 ft (ish?) to the second parking lot

Good Mornings x 5 (I usually miss the Good Mornings in my Q-drenaline so I did those first)

SSH x 26

Sir Faz Arm Circles Back and Forward (with make them bigger)

Cherry Pickers (that’s right Cherry Pickers!)

At this point, the MC was loud and furious so I sent The Joker with the Frisco B-taker and Red Ryder (who had brought his 3 lb weight vest) off on a run to the flag. As Beaker noted I did say “please, run to the flag”.

While they were gone we did Merkins x 10 and squat holds

Sputnik rolled in and I sent our breath-taking runners off to the shovel flag while the we did burpees in honor his late arrival.

The Thang 1: Plank Time

This was how it was supposed to go:

Break the PAX into groups of 3 (pro-tip: counting off by 3s did not have the desired effect here. pro-tip: why did I choose 3 and not 2?)

Line up on the fence:
P1: Plank Hold while
P2 & P3: bear crawl to the other side of the other side of the parking lot and do 10 merkins (was World’s Worst until Beaker led a rebellion and got them downgraded to standard)

When P2/P3 are back use P1’s back to do Dirkins x 10

Do this 3x with everyone keeping the same role (planker or bear crawler).

Planking–really planking, not that butt in the air stuff–gets hard pretty quickly when you have good form.

Thang 2: Squat Time (this is where teams of 3 came from)

Line up on the fence:
P1: Squat Hold while
P2 & P3: lunge walk to the other side of the other side of the parking lot and 20 Squats

When P2/P3 are back plank but use P1’s forearms to hang your feet over so you are elevated. P1 does 10 squats still using his forearms to hold up P2’s and P3’s feet

Do this 3x with everyone keeping the same role (planker or lunger).

I took a break here and put the PAX into Squat Hold and sent the Joker and whoever had the tiny vest off for another run to the flag.

Thang C: (Yeah I know: 1, 2, 3…you count your way)

Time was dragging by and a few PAX were actually looking toward the real claymores we keep onsite in case the PAX from FMJ come over and want to rumble.

We grabbed some ego rocks (Claymore has everything!!) and mosey-ed around the circle to the other side of the parking lot which conveniently also had a fence and parking spaces.

Line up along the fence.

P1: Squat Hold with the Ego Rock Out in front of you

P2 & P3: Chill Cut Zombie Crawl to the across the parking lot. Should have been LBCs and then lunge walk back.

Holding something out in front of you for a long time is hard.

Thang 5: Wait how much time is left??

Oddly in spite of all of this (and this was long after Cataracts question of the Laws of Time) we had about 6 hours left until Mary.

We exchanged our ego rocks for two small hand sized rocks (Crimson ego rocks). We circled up and sent guys running to the shovel flag with breath takers on while Smokey called air presses. A lot of presses. TYFYL, Smokey!

Mary:

We went around the circle with PAX choice. Deuce called a Mary which made me proud since he is still relatively new. Same with Payback who is like two weeks new. Strong work HIMs.

COT

Count-a-rama: 7 respects, 2 hates, 10 mehs, 1 HIDA

Announcements:

Feb 2nd at CC Jones Sosa and Baconator are leading a session on proper stretching and other things to keep you posting long into your Term Paper years.

Krispy Kreme Challenge on Feb 2nd. Info on Slack. Do the pre-run, eat the blue berry donuts, run the race, eat the dozen donuts, do the murph and then after you throw up come to CC Jones and we’ll put you back together.

Prayers/Praises

Ausfahrt is home and feeling better. Go see him! True HIM there. Praises for Swag with his M’s situation and also prayers for the road ahead.

NMS:

See above.

And Now for Something Completely Different…

3 is the Loneliest Number

One For The Record Books

In Pursuit of the Carpex Triple Crown: HIDA of the Year, HIM of the Year & Most Improved Q of the Year

See also