The Iron PAX Challenge is great, in that it happens annually. I appreciate the me vs. me competition it brings, showing each of us how far we’ve come in the past year. I also appreciate that it only comes once a year, that’s enough of these crazy ass workouts. Today’s week three was no exception, I don’t think anyone that showed up to the track at Alston Ridge Middle School was hyped for what was about to unfold, but they showed up anyway. Game faces were on, mumble chatter was low, and every man there was ready to sharpen his iron, and ultimately the iron of those around him.
Warm Up/The Thang
With an early start, we hit the track for Warm Up, consisting of:
SSH x 20 cc
WMH x 9 cc
Harvester x 10 cc
LBAC x 10 cc
RLBAC x 10 cc
Michael Phelps x 10 cc
After a brief explanation, Floyd started the time, I pushed play on an exquisite mix of Hard, Hair and Industrial Rock, and the PAX started their first 400 m run. You all know the drill for today’s IPC Wk 3 Challenge:
400m run
100 merkins
400m run
90 squats
400m run
80 merkins
400m run
70 squats
400m run
60 merkins
400m run
50 squats
400m run
40 merkins
400m run
30 squats
400m run
20 merkins
400 m run
10 squats
800m run
Some guys finished in 28 minutes, others just north of an hour.
No Mary
COT
If you have questions about anything related to voting in the upcoming elections, talk to Kia.
Prayers for Floyd’s father for a clean PET Scan today.
Happy 40th Birthday to Wreck It Ralph
NMS
Recently I’ve learned that I easily understand my emotions and those of others, but don’t express it well. This translates to others that I don’t care about how they feel. Today’s workout has compelled me to put together a backblast (which I haven’t done in a long time) because what we did in the gloom today has stirred my emotions. Here goes my attempt to express them.
What we did above isn’t really what happened, what happened today is that during shitty weather, the Tobacco Road regulars showed up to push themselves, and each other, to be better. There were guys that killed this workout, pushing themselves beyond their believed capabilities. They were the usual guys, but putting in work that wasn’t usual, even for them. We had the “middle of the packers” that created a cacophony of hurled comments, word of encouragement, grunts and growls that gave today’s workout a different feel. One that warranted the game faces that we showed up with. Best of all, we had the six. They were our six, they were the guys that soon will no longer be the six, because as discouraging as the Iron Pax can be, they were still there, and they’ll be there next week. With time gap between the ones and twos and the fives and sixes, no one left the track. No one left the six. Men were on the track, they were picked up where they were, and they were not left behind. They were counted, they were encouraged, they were not OYO’d.
This Iron Pax challenge is me versus me, but today at Alston Ridge, the Tobacco Road crew were not about me, they were about getting theirs done, and then bringing in the rest of the crew, the rest of the PAX, the rest of their team. I am grateful to the Greenwood boys for putting together the IPC for mornings like this one. For the times that our workouts become more than a workout, where we feel like a team, where we feel like a brotherhood that are there for each other no matter what. When I got home today, I loved my wife and my kids a bit more; I’ll probably be a better man today (or at least I’ll try to be), all because of the work and emotion that we all put in today with and for each other. Thank you brothers for the push, thank you for showing up in the gloom each day, and thank you for allowing me to have a part in it.
SYITG