The transition week into summer is always a bittersweet time for me. I crave summer break as the school-year winds down: the kids at school develop this complex blend of insanity and all-encompassing apathy, the adults are grumpy and ready to be done, and the freedom to do as I choose beckons just on the other side of the school year… But as I get closer to summer’s outset, I tend to get a touch of nerves as well – What am I going to do all day?, Who am I going to talk to?, What benefit will I be to anyone over these 2 months?… Relaxation is not my strength… So while I should be dialing back the stress, in reality my anxiety levels kick up in preparation for the end of the school year and the birth of summer just as they do on the flip-side of the year.

And so it is that I’ve spent most of the last week in a tizzy of excitement and anxiety, a bundle of nervousness and positive anticipation for the long haul of summer break. In short, the emotional space I was in today was all over the place – I was looking for some closure on the school year – a transition point that can tie the two periods together. What better than a morning of F3?

With that in mind, I planned this out to give the PAX a little taste of CHHS before I stepped off campus for a while… (and before construction does its damage)

Warmup:

• SSH x 20
• Imperial Walker x 15
• WMH x 10
• Grassgrabbers x 10
• Spider lunges x 10

The Thang:

Ricky Bobby run to CHHS down Seawell School Rd and High School Rd – a quick wave at YHC’s classroom as we passed by the front of the school, then into the courtyard to the gazebo.

• Gazebo dips IC x 30

Island hopping escalator – across CHHS courtyard.

If you’ve never been in CHHS courtyard – it’s a pretty perfect summary of the rest of the school – disorganized, a mix of new/shiny benches, old/possibly rotting benches, dirt/concrete paths, greenery/sidewalks all over the place. In short – it’s a smorgasbord of randomness pieced together over 50 years of time. Every time I walk through it I’ve thought about the possibilities there, so watching the groundbreaking yesterday inspired me to finally utilize it to its full potential.

From the gazebo – PAX were instructed to bearcrawl to a landmark, but go no further, and find a ledge (they had options… wooden planters/brick planters/concrete benches/metal benches/wooden tables/metal tables… the list goes on – see above) at the first ledge, the escalator began its ascent.

6 total spots across the courtyard (approximately 100 yards total) – at each spot the PAX found a ledge and planked until all were in position. The exercises went as follows:

• Island 1:
  • Derkins x 5
• Island 2:
  • Derkins x 5
  • Step up x 10
• Island 3:
  • Derkins x 5
  • Step up x 10
  • Legs up Peter Parker’s x 15
• Island 4:
  • Derkins x 5
  • Step up x 10
  • Legs up Peter Parker’s x 15
  • Romanian squats x 20
• Island 5:
  • Derkins x 5
  • Step up x 10
  • Legs up Peter Parker’s x 15
  • Romanian squats x 20
  • Urkins x 25
• Island 6 was special – at the end of the courtyard a decent sized grass hill stood with a lone picnic table at the top calling our name – PAX crawled up the hill to reach our final island. YHC though I was going to pass Slug for a moment, but the bear-crawl sensei cut me off on a rail and it was all over from there…
  • Derkins x 5
  • Step up x 10
  • Legs up Peter Parker’s x 15
  • Romanian squats x 20
  • Urkins x 25
  • Dips IC x 30

From here – fellowship pace jog back through the 3 campuses (including jumping over an orange construction fence/off-limits sign behind CHHS… whoops) to Seawell parking lot for about 2 minutes of Mary

• Flutter Kicks x 30
• Ring of Fire x 5 pushups

COT:

Malware, an FNG just 3 weeks ago, has posted 2 STRAIGHT DOUBLE TRIPLES… That’s a post M-Sat, 6 days in a row… for two weeks now… I’m 28 years old and my body hurts just thinking of that – T-Claps to him.

Nightshift brought up a friend’s daughter who recently was hospitalized at UNC psych struggling with Bulimia. Keep her in your prayers as she finds the strength to deal with the struggles of being a teenager…

With that in mind – keep an eye out on the young people in your lives. I tell my students all the time that in some ways I pity them. They will never know the joy of growing up without social media. I’m really of the final age group that didn’t have the added stress of cell phones, instagram, facebook, and snapchat until well into my college years. Middle school and high school were brutal enough on anxiety and insecurity levels enough without the quagmire of social media that these kids slog through on a daily basis. I don’t know what the answer is to any of this – but I know it’s an issue – so do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

I’m grateful as always for the men of F3.