YHC rolled up to The Goat this AM and stumbled upon 7 shady-looking dudes loitering in the parking lot under the dim glow of a streetlamp overhead. Turns out they were there for a run, so we ran.
Warm Up
Nope.
The Thang
YHC planned a course through the heart of campus, down MLK Jr. Blvd, across Bolin Creek Trail, up the Franklin Street hill and across Hillsborough Rd. back to South Rd. leading back to Hooker Fields. Estimated distance: 5 miles.
With only one headlamp amongst the PAX, YHC attempted to (a) search for snakes (thanks to 2Ply & Riggs’ recent reptile encounters and associated Slack pics) and (b) guide the group of 8 safely along the route in the pre-dawn darkness. (Note to self: bring extra flashlights, headlamps, glow sticks, candles…whatever to the next Goat. Ain’t no sunshine at 0530 boys!)
We supplemented our miles with sets of merkins – mixing in sets of 5, 10, 20 along the way, stopping at every ¼ mile to ensure our upper body didn’t get to jealous of the lower. Total estimated merkin count; somewhere in the 200 range.
Mumblechatter along Bolin Creek trail include YHC’s recent recognition that the ratio of pull to push exercises should be approx. 2:1. At nearly every Churham AO we do the inverse of that (2 pushes for every 1 pull). So for those following along at home, our 200 merkins should have been accompanied by approx. 400 pullups. Consider that your homework. Go.
Upon successfully avoiding any unexpected encounters with slippery snakes, we snaked (ha – get it?!) our way back up the Franklin St. hill until arriving back on the edge of campus. With our entire crew in tow, we ventured down Hillsborough Rd. to intersection with Country Club where YHC channeled his inner Adolphus for a RYAO (run your ass off) back to South Road.
We hooked a hard left back to Hooker (ha, another one – get it?!) and RYAO’d again back to the parking deck right at the 5.5 mile mark; and 0529.
COT
We were lucky to be joined by a group of silent ruckers who mysteriously emerged from the gloom and joined us for COT (evidently, their 2nd COT of the day?). A quick COT exchange of favorite stretches reminded us of Beano’s flexibility and Funny’s freakiness (I still do/don’t want to see a picture Funny) and additional stretching homework was assigned to the PAX.
9/11 Stair Climb at 0600 on Monday (9/11). Meet at the Kenan North Gate (same site as Kenan AO)
10/14 #RucktheATT – 0530 launch from the southern ATT trailhead in Apex
Good luck & safe travels to all PAX competing in this weekend’s BRR. Run strong!!
Continued prayers for Houston as they recover from Hurricane Harvey.