I like puzzles and had an idea about working one into a Q. In addition to providing a theme for the workout, the puzzle could provide some mental distraction from PAX who might otherwise focus on the beatdown they are receiving. The solution to the puzzle is at the bottom of this BB. The PAX solved it (except for some details) by #5.

Warm up

Imperial walkers, Willie Mays Hays, Mountain Climbers

The Thang

Clue 0: Hot

Ring of Fire: PAX hold plank while 3 x slow merkins goes around the ring

Bear crawl around two inner parking islands

Clue 1: Fast

1 set of 7 burpees OYO

Mosey around three parking islands

Clue 2: Love

5 squats with a 2 second hold at the bottom

75% pace around outside of parking lot

Clue 3: Home

3 X 5: 5 triple merkin burpees (there may have been a mistake on this one as I believe we did quadruple merkin burpees)

Run around parking lot plus stage on green

Clue 4: War

4 x 4 = 16 squats with overhead clap

Run around parking lot plus part of green

Clue 5: Thunderbolt

5 sets of 7 burpees (10 sec rest between)

Run around parking lot plus larger part of green

Clue 6: Rings

6 x 6 = 36 Two sets of 18 WW2s

Run around parking lot and green

Clue 7: (By this time, PAX figured out the theme and just volunteered the answer. I was prepared to fully embrace my juvenile sense of humor with this one.)

7 sets of 6 (we actually did 2 x 21 Plank jacks)

Run Full Market Street loop

Clue 8: Water

No time for 8 sets of 7; straight to Mary.

Mary

Flutter kick x 40

LBCs x 15

Announcements

Consider going to Basecamp on Saturday June 16th. I’ve signed up to Q and will be holding it at Jordan Lake. At this point, I can only guarantee a five things: we will put in miles. We will get wet. We will get sandy. We will do PT. We will have an awesome time. This will be 3 weeks ahead of the Chapel Hill GORUCK Tough, so it will be a nice opportunity to get PAX together for an early start on building the team! As it stands, Basecamp is scheduled for 6-8 am, but we may extend it for a couple of hours for interested PAX. Also, let me know if you either want to co-Q or to provide input on planning.

COT

Grateful for fellow PAX and spending time doing stupid stuff together so early in the morning. Of course, the stupid stuff actually turns out to be quite meaningful and helps to inform of larger purpose and meaning in life. The gloom helps form a healthy perspective, and being with fellow PAX is great reinforcement to being the HIM we aspire to be.

The puzzle

PAX figured out the theme during the workout—planets in the solar system. We started off with a ring of fire. Hot, like the sun! PAX did 3 slow merkins around the ring. Three as in S-U-N.  After the ROF, we did a small loop (orbit) around the parking lot. Each subsequent exercise involved some combination of planetary position and number of letters in the planet name (e.g., 5 sets of 7 burpees for Jupiter, the 5th planet). Between each exercise the run would grow larger, reflecting the increasing orbit size of planets.

The bonus video

“Pale Blue Dot” by Carl Sagan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO5FwsblpT8