Borne out of an idea hatched by Boucher and OPEC a few weeks back, this Q was a challenge not only of the body, but of timing and logistics as well. With a few days of planning on a day that OPEC and YHC both had the Q at the Moose and Tobacco Road respectively, the plan was laid, and the pre-blast written. Starting on Wednesday, we secured the steel that would be a key element of our workout. Wednesday afternoon was fraught with timelines, scheduling, and contingencies. At last, in the early hours of the gloom, YHC headed south to the startex for Tobacco Road.

Shortly after my arrival, on a cold, cold morning, four other PAX arrived, choosing the harder thing, the colder thing, the better thing. After brief discussion, and YHC doing a hard stop time check, we started to get warmed up.

Warm Up

SSH x 24

WMH x 12

Portajohn Chinooks x 12

Reverse Portajohn Chinooks x 12

Squat Walkers x 12

The Thang

After some joking, and tricking Floyd to get into the back of my vintage 2006 Saturn Vue, YHC was able to open the hatch to reveal the finest steel in all of Churham, the good stuff from HoP. Each PAX chose their favorite from the pile, and we headed to the ATT. With minimal explanation of the task ahead, we marched north. We cycled through a few Ricky Bobbys, the Bataan Death March, and the best game ever, Beep Beep I’m a Jeep, all with steel locked out over head, or at least held above the shoulders. As we neared the bridge over Fayetteville St., what do we see ahead?

As if we were in Suess’, Prairie of Prax, we saw mirrorly imaged south going PAX. Our north going PAX stopped in our tracks, and unloaded our steely tax. After a quick introduction, the main event within the Thang went down. Each PAX parterned with another PAX from the other AO (with one group of three) for a quick, dirty Dora. Partner one did 25 reps with steel while the other partner did a core exercise, switch, repeato. The exercise combos were:

Overhead Press/LBC

Bent Over Rows/Plank Jack

Curls/Box Cutter

Upright Row/Hello Dolly

Goblet Squat/Outlaw

Air Dramas/Flutter Kicks

At 0602, the cycles complete, we parted ways, turned around and headed back to endex. On the way back, the TR crew rotated between tricep extensions, curls, overhead lockouts, and a variety of other arm/shoulder exercises. Mumblechatter was rampant on the way back, but it was a welcomed fellowship among our F3 brothers.

Mary

Knowing we had a hard stop, and we were already pushing our limit, we had no Mary.

COT

A final reminder of the region wide 2nd F at HiWire Brewing.

No prayer requests.

YHC took us out.

NMS

This workout was a far cry from a merkin fest, or four corners, but at the end my shoulders and arms were spent, and my fingers were numb. The mumblechatter on the way back confirmed that it wasn’t just me. Our crew was excited, and welcoming of the tight timetable since we had a chance to meet up with our Moose brothers. The unexpected fellowship was invigorating, and a welcomed change. The work to get there was tough, but well worth it.

The benefit of being late in putting together a BB is that you have a chance to hear about the workout the next day. I appreciated Boucher’s comment at The Falcon, that the trek north was exhausting, but meeting up with the Moose gave him a second wind that kept him going through the end of the workout. I completely agree with his statement and its applicability F3 in general. One of my favorite things about F3 is the second wind provided by the guys around me when it’s cold, when I’m spent, or when life gets tough. Today was a great example of that. Cheers to the other 10 PAX that came together to build each other up in South Durham.

Thank you gents for the opportunity not only to lead, but to be part of something bigger.