We all need an epic quest every now and then—something that takes us out of our familiar surroundings and normal rhythms, demands that we exert ourselves to the fullest, and offers the opportunity for glory.  Twenty-two PAX went on a quest at the Vortex today.  While there were individual victories and many heroic performances (forgive YHC for not celebrating them as we went!), we came up short in our goal of getting everyone across the finish line.  It was like the prehistory to the Lord of the Rings movies, when the last great alliance of elves and men succeeded in vanquishing Sauron on the field of battle (we all made it back to the field, by the skin of our chinny-chin-chins)—but failed to achieve complete victory by destroying the one ring.  This suggests there will be a sequel…

One note about the components of the quest below: like most good adventures, this one started with a fair amount of travel.  Luke flew from Tatooine; Moses was called out of Egypt; Bilbo and Frodo left the Shire; Odysseus went away to war; Aeneas fled as a refugee from that same war; Tony Stark didn’t become Iron Man until trapped in a cave in Afghanistan; etc.  Going to the tennis courts is not quite the same as going across the country or galaxy, but it was a start.  I hope we are all able to flourish when in new circumstances.

The quest:

• Bear crawl 125 yards (corner to corner);
• Run to the picnic shelter and do 100 dips;
• Run to the tennis courts for three journeys all the way across (lunge walks; crab walk; bunny hops);
• Run to the playground for the “meat of the Murph” (100 pull-ups; 200 merkins; 300 air squats);
• Run to the field for 30 burpees and a round trip with a cinder block.
• After individuals completed the quest, they were to return to the playground to knock out as many reps on behalf of their fellow PAX as possible. In this way, all got to the field—but not all did the burpees or carried the cinder blocks.  Next time!

YHC dropped the ball in a number of ways this morning.  Sorry I forgot to check for FNGs, get a head count (any names missing?), or cheer on the group for what was—all things considered—an impressive finish.  Well done!