It seems that our quest for pre-ME EC continues to push beyond the limits of what most normal people would consider, well…normal.  0430 ruck? Sure, guys will HC.  0515 Spartan training? Sounds good.  And as if posting for an 0545 beating that lasts 45 minutes isn’t still crazy enough… our EC will soon consist of an all-night ruck through the pitch blackness somewhere in Durham/CH/Chatham Co… Oh, wait – yep.  We’re doing that too.  Crazy Pathfinders.

YHC was honored to take the reins this morning at The Thicket… the original BC F3 AO led by Marky Mark & Yanni.  Here’s what we did.

The Warm Up
SSH (x101 IC).  (I still love this…and typically can’t stop smiling from 50 onwards…!)
BWS (x50 IC)
WMH (x10 IC)
Arm Circles (x10 Fwd; x10 Rev)
Merkin Pyramid (1…10…1)

The Thang
Let’s go on a tour of Briar Chapel and attempt to wake up the least number of people.  I think we sorta accomplished that… unless any subsequent chatter on Next Door today proved me wrong (?!).
Our mosey started with a disclaimer that every 30 seconds we’d be doing 3 burpees.  It’s surprising how quickly 30 seconds blows by – and you feel like you’ve moved about 10 feet.   So we ran.  And did burpees.

(Location A) Margaret B Pollard Middle School (front side)
With such a long wall staring us down, we had to show that wall who was boss.  Balls to the Wall Bear Crawl, Tunnel of Balls…doesn’t matter what you call it – we did it.  All 25 PAX into BTTW position with the 1^st man on the end bear crawling the entire length.   Then the 2^nd man goes…and 3^rd…until all PAX have bear-crawled the length of the tunnel.  With 5-10 guys… this goes pretty quickly.  With 25 PAX taking up the entire length of the wall… uh, it’s not so quick.  Rinse & repeato.

(Location B) The PAX quickly divided into 2 groups for a few quick cycles of merkins and box jumps.  Marky Mark reminded me that we already checked off a few merkins during the warmup… but I must’ve blacked out somewhere during our SSH-a-thon.  I have no idea what he was talking about (?!).
1^st group: 10 box jumps on the benches.
2^nd group: 10 merkins  (IC) along the curb.
Rinse & repeato (x4… or was it 5?)

(Location C) The cool grassy hill along the side of Pollard Middle was calling our name as the clock kept ticking.
We moseyed over the bottom for a Jacob’s Ladder totalling 7.  Squat jumps on the bottom and hill-incline burpees at the top. YHC managed to secretly discover a quiet little nest of fire ants… only they turned out to be not so nice.
I just assumed the itching on my hands and neck was the gentle tickle of the cool morning dew on the delicate blades of grass getting pummeled under each subsequent burpee… but, nope.  Those were fire ants trying to tell ME to get off THEIR lawn.  Point taken.  Oh well…I guess I’m not allergic since I can still breathe.  And see.  And type.
Yanni reminded me that this was perhaps repayment for our work from 30 minutes prior in warmup. #karma

(Location D) Our time had come to move back to the start.  Good news (it’s always good news, no?!) – there were to be no more burpees along our mosey back to the start. However, YHC quickly changed his mind on that to prevent the PAX from getting strung out.  The PAX in front stopped at the corners along our return route to let the 6 catch back up.  T-claps to MM, Grunge (& others) for circling back and keep the PAX together!!

We returned to Woods Charter to more good news (we had a LOT of good news this morning!).  5 final burpees then plank.  With all 25 PAX successfully returned – we called it and circled up for COT.

COT
Welcome to FNGs ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) and his visiting FNG buddy Marshall (the Paw Patrol kind).  Thanks for serving Cambridge, Mass as a vital firefighter and first responder in your community!
The Wall converges at Bastille this Friday (8/25/17)
TheThicket converges at Pleasantville (8/28/17)
**Breaking News!  Churham-wide convergence at The Big House this Wednesday: 8/23/17.  OBT present.

Thanks again for the opportunity to lead deep in the heart of Briar Chapel.
My challenge to you is choose another AO outside of Briar Chapel in the near future. You won’t be disappointed.