Merkins and Mary, what more do you need?


Empty spaces in the Q sheets hurt my soul…and aggravate my CDO (we’ll see how many of you get that one).  Must.  Sign.  Up.  Thanks, Hot Spot.  At least it makes Q shopping easier.  “Oh look, I’m the Q, I guess I should go there”.  Enough rambling, here’s what we did on a gorgeous May Day morning as the first of two full moons set (Werewolf plug).

The Warm-up (Beaker’s Beginnings)

Spring has sprung, so head to the baseball for SSH, Sir Fazio Little Baby Arm circles, and Franklins (swinging arms across your chest, in essence hugging yourself).  Mosey down to the rock pile to continue the warm-up.  Don’t worry guys, I saw Pigeon roll in late.  5 penalty burpees OYO then Imperial walkers and good mornings

The Thang (Beaker’s Beatdown)

Get in groups of three and find one traveling rock per group.  One man at the top baseball starting on 500 merkins (100 each of standard, diamond, wide, right- and left-offset), one man at the bottom baseball starting on 1000 Mary (200 each of LBC, Freddy Mercury, Box Cutters, Hello Dolly, and American hammers).  The third man carries the rock from one baseball to the next, passes it to his partner and takes over the exercises at that station.  The new rock-bearer then carries the rock back to the first baseball and passes it again, again taking over the exercises until all exercises were completed as a team.  Goose kindly informed me that cumulative counting between three partners sucks (two’s company, three’s a crowd; third wheel…if only there were some cultural clues that could have warned me ahead of time…).  Anyway, always appreciative of constructive criticism, here’s how I modified the next set: assemble the same groups at the playground, one man doing pull-ups, another man at the shelter doing box jumps, and the rock traveling between as before.  Forget counting, your target is now AMRAP.  See Goose, easier right?  Two rounds at each station brought us close enough to time to return the rocks and knock out 5 more merkins of each style.

The Mary (Beaker’s Bellies)

Wasn’t 1000 during the Thang enough?  Yes, yes it was.

The COT

Count-o-rama: 17

Name-o-rama: 1 hate, 3 respects, 13 mehs

Announcements: Fest in the West….maybe next year

Prayers: Keep lifting Hi-Liter up

We laid hands on Hi-Liter and Swag and asked for God’s Spirit to keep filling our lives and flowing out to others.  He doesn’t give us good things, pain, joy, loss, weakness, or strength solely to refine/bless/test/strengthen/humble us.  Every aspect of our lives is meant to be in submission to Him, and through that submission, shared in service to others.  The examples are numerous in this group of men who did not succumb to their situation, but humbly sought God in it and have enriched countless lives around them.  The proof of how powerful that is is standing right next to you every morning in the gloom.  See you in it.


See also