YHC is curious by nature. He likes to know things, and at times his ADHD takes over and he likes to know *everything* about whatever happens to have caught his focus. While he hasn't had time to singularly devote to the history of F3 Churham, he has spent a bit of time over the last year or so, sifting through backblasts, and chatting with various PAX about different sites or periods of time. #thejag has always been unique to him due to it's largely isolated location (Briar Chapel, Southern Village and northern Pittsboro are nearish by, but not close the way others are – just a mile (or less!) from the next AO), as well as it's reputation. All sites and subregions within Churham have their own personality, and #thejag is no exception. For YHC, #thejag is where you go if you want to see how far the Q can push you, or if you have the Q, how hard you can push the PAX. And yet, there is no ego – everyone is supporting and lifting each other up. In YHC's humble opinion, this is driven by the site Qs and the environment and culture they created at the site as well as the PAX who became regulars. From various conversations with the PAX, it really was a slow growth to the beast it is today. There is no attendance data from 2018, the first year, but year 2 averaged 6 PAX, with just a handful of double digits PAX that year, and plenty of 3s and 4s. But the site Qs in those early years (Rebar, then Catskill, then Homegrown Berry), kept at it, cultivating a following, blazing the trail for us to follow, a sign of great leaders. Another sign of great leaders, they imparted pieces of their greatness into the site and the future site Qs, which has permeated throughout all of the PAX that regularly attend. YHC has personally experiences it, and appreciates how welcoming and supportive this group is anytime he parachutes in. Adding in the more recent site Qs – Huckleberry, Bada Bing, Sohcahtoa, Crispr – and their collective efforts saw the averages grow to 7.5 in 2020, 9.25 in 2021, 10.5 in 2022, 13.6 in 2023, 16.4 in 2024, and up to the current year average of 18.8. Heck, the EC average is almost 8.5 now, almost doubling the ME attendance from year 2! T-Claps are deserved for all of the site Qs as well as the PAX who show up week after week, rain (or lightning!) or shine giving #thejag it's tough yet welcoming and supportive personality.
Sohcahtoa led us through a typically brutal Manmaker EC, with 14 starting, growing to 16 by the time we were done! Solid showing, men!
To truly bury the lede, today's workout was meant to be an homage to Rebar, the original site Q and founder of #thejag. Last week we were chatting about the impetus for the site, and he bluntly, but humbly mentioned it was to have a site closer to his house, while also attempting to tap into this particular region within Churham's growing footprint. Back on 1/2/2018, he lead a workout called "Putting Away The Ornaments" ( https://f3churham.com/putting-away-the-ornaments/ ).
(Editor's Note: In his journey through old backblasts, YHC has noticed that there were a lot of "warm up moseys" before the stretching/warm up portion of warmarama started, with this workout being no exception).
Warmarama:
Fellowship lap, Side Shuffle Hop (25 IC), Willie Mays Hayes (10 tempo), Arm Circles (10 IC), Reverse Arm Circles (10 IC), Mountain Climbers (30 IC – oops, this was supposed to be Imperial Walkers…), Merkins (15).
The Thang – straight forward, but challenging, nonetheless. Sandbag (sugar), 25lbs weight plates (ornaments), and blocks (garland) (OG workout had a weighted firehose, which YHC doesn't possess or have access to, so he modified). Split up into 4 groups. Group 1 – 1 PAX has the sugar, 1 page on the ornaments, remaining pax on the garland, hauling to the end of the parking lot and back. Group 2 – 8 count manmakers. Group 3 – air squats w/ air OH press ). Group 4 burpees.
We got through 4 rounds, but it appears Rebar hid some of the ornaments, so they did a Bear Crawl School Bus Serpentine (?) to look for them, causing them to only get through 3 rounds.
Mary:
LBCs – 30 IC
Marching Homer to Marge – 20 IC
Stretch
COT – 3 FNGs! Welcome Mr. Belding, My Pleasure, and Splenda! No time for announcements due to lightning.
BOM – paraphrased attempt at quoting Booker T. Washington until the lightning hit again. Here is the fleshed out version, which I had read a backblast from a PAX from many years ago who observed the following:
"We are not given the same position at the starting line of life. Some are both with advantages, those relating to nature and to nurture, and that is just the way it is." He went on to quote Booker T. Washington, saying "I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles overcome while trying to succeed". My rushed attempt at paraphrasing was already going off the rails when we cut things short, but just a reminder that we all have different journeys and different advantages or disadvantages, for whatever reason. As such, we should celebrate and acknowledge the obstacles we've overcome rather than where we current find ourselves. Keep pushing yourselves, embrace the challenge and growth that each obstacle presents.