The morning got off to a great start when YHC realized that the temperature was still above freezing; working with steel is always better when one can feel one’s fingers.  The good vibrations continued on the drive to the AO when he noticed that ShakeIt and Avalanche were both sporting appropriate reflective gear as they logged an extra 5K before the workout.  It’s not worth it to run in the dark without safety gear.  Twenty-one PAX were ready to go at 5:30, though Justice came in hot a few minutes later to bring our numbers up to 22.

After a warm up, PAX sorted into pairs and grabbed one piece of steel per pair.  One PAX began bear crawling around the traffic islands in the upper lot, while the other set off “running” with the steel above his head.  When PAX # 2 lapped PAX # 1, they switched.  We did this for just under ten minutes, and it was easily the hardest of three “movements” of the workout.  I love it when an exercise is challenging enough that it gives opportunities to push to/through muscle failure.  There weren’t a lot of PAX who could make it around without resting the steel by the third or fourth lap.

In search of variety, we rolled out the tire, retrieved some extra steel, set up two cinderblock merkin stations, and began the second movement.  PAX took turns flipping the tire 12 (then ten) times before doing max merkins, while the rest of the PAX cycled through one minute of burpees, one minute of overhead presses, and one minute of squats (repeating ad infinitum).  There were some big pieces of steel in the mix, and only the titans could keep the mammoths going for the full minute of overhead press (seriously—did anyone keep it going?  Tuco?  OPEC?).  YHC burned out rather quickly on the biggest one, and Coco had to come to his rescue.

Once everyone had a turn with the tire and cinderblocks, we ran with steel to the steps for alternating cycles of derkins, rows (with our steel), irkins, rows (x2).  One of the beautiful things about HoP is the chance to complement some of the isometric “push” motions with “pulls” on the weights.  YHC was next to Buffay, who made it all seem easy.  I’m not even sure that guy broke a sweat.

We had time for five minutes of Mary, including a classic, Bushwood-led 50-cadence-count flutter kick.  We were glad to welcome FNG Blistex (who works for Burt’s Bees!) and to get a visit from Puffs, one of F3Roanoke’s founding fathers and brother of our very own Coco.

YHC will miss F3 over the next five months!  Thanks to all the PAX for a better sendoff than I had any right to expect (a TSA-safe mini-shovel flag!!!) and for being such an outstanding group of men.  I love everything we do, especially how we encourage one another to do and be our best.  I love that we don’t pay for anything, that there are no medals or prizes, that we don’t apologize when new guys vomit, and that we welcome all comers.  I love that I still get nervous before posting and the confidence I gain from doing so.  I’ll try to stay in shape so that I can keep up come late May/early June!  I’ll think of you all both when doing solo workouts in the shadow of Kensington Palace (that’s my plan) and when visiting Assisi again for the first time in years.