19 of the finest HIM in all of Apex descended upon the Apex Nature Park probably thinking of a nice easy transition into the weekend by the old man Q. Let me tell you boys, us RESPECTs still got some whup-ass in us. 0545 - let’s go
Warm-Up
Line up in 4 lines for a cadence run sung to the F3 principles jody written by a Hampton Roads PAX. I understand some of you weren’t able to hear me; sorry about that. It was fantastic though. We jogged in cadence down the circle and back past the flag. At the bottom of the hill, AYG to the top and down to the basketball court for:
- ~25 Merkins OMD (boys when I say on MY down, I mean on MY down)
- 10 penalty Burpees for trying to anticipate MY “down” on the aforementioned Merkins
- 7ish slooooow Good Mornings IC
- 15 Prisoner Squats
The Thang 1
Organize into teams of 4 for a catch-me-if-you-can run to the upper entrance and down to the end of the parking lot. The rear PAX does 10 Merkins, then sprints to the front of his group, at which point the new rear PAX does the same, and so on.
The Thang 2
YHC spotted a set of step I had never seen before. Audible: run down the steps and up the path to a bare spot - do 10 burpees. Run up the stairs and back down 10 x. After the 10th trip up, move to the open grassy area and do 10 more burpees. Squat it out when done.
The Thang 3
Follow me to the paved path leading down the pond for a set of 7s - Star Jumps at the top; Merkins at the bottom. Finish at the bottom and jog the rest of the way over to the pond loop for
The Thang 4
The Best - 6 stops around the pond doing 6 reps of the called exercise - 6 x. After each circumnavigation of the pond, assemble for a couple of quick Mary exercises. I don’t even remember the exercises we did, but one of them was most certainly Diamond Merkins. Due to the audible at the steps, we only completed 3 loops. A baby beast, if you will. But it was a nasty baby.
The Thang 5
Double applesauce Indian Run to the other side of the pond and along the path to the wooden bridge. Drop and crab walk across it and hold in crab position for 10 x Crab Cakes on the other side. Jog OYO to the base of the hill and AYG back to the flag. Earhart called a Mary exercise while YHC retrieved the trusty iPhone used to record the PAX’ names.
COT
Count-a-rama: 19 Name-a-rama: 3 RESPECTS, 16 mehs Announcements: Crazy Train; June 20th convergence at Bond Park - breaking of bread afterward where Chinese Downhill will share his testimony; 1776 on July 4th - location TBD Prayers: Burt’s family for the passing of his BIL Jon; praise for the unremarkable ultrasound of Ascot’s 2.9; other voiced and unvoiced prayers BOM: Swag took us out
NMS
- “What,” you may have asked yourself, “does the title of this backblast have to do with the actual post?” Nothing other than I read an article on the twitters about exercising for those over 50. And, well, since YHC is over 50, I immediately adopted the title for my own. That is all.
- Friday marked the return - likely permanant return of the central North Carolina summer humidity. Gross. Give me 45 degrees any morning.
- Blueprint crushed the Baby Beast - and pretty much everything else. If you haven’ been challenged by Blueprint, do yourself a favor and give it a shot. You will lose, but you will be stronger for the effort.
- Did you say “Ascot’s 2.9?” Yes, 2.9!
- YHC was hoping to break in the new pull-up bars; alas, they were not installed until Friday afternoon. Next week perhaps!
- It was an honor to lead you men. You continue to push me to do my best, and for that I thank you