It was a day like any other day, except is was International Hobbit Day! Started in 1978 to commemorate the shared birthdays on Sept 22 of Bilbo and Frodo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobbit_Day), it is celebrated with festivities in and way beyond the Shire.
At TBL, we threw our own fellowship of the ring party, with a legion of great men in attendance. And, it went something like this:
WARM-UP
1 lap around the field
20 = The number of rings of power that are the leitmotif of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth legendarium: 3 for the Elves, 7 for the Dwarfs, 9 for men, and 1 to rule them all.
20 SSH
20 Imperial Walkers
20 LBAC – keep arms up
20 Sea Clap – keep arms up
20 Overhead Clap
THE MOUNTAIN
Mountains figure centrally in the legends (Lonely Mountain in ‘The Hobbit’, the three ranges of Mordor in the other books). We climbed our own mountain, and importantly, returned home again:
Plagiarizing a bit from Night Shift’s Vortex work-out, we used half the soccer field. We started at the bottom right corner and sprinted counter-clockwise to each corner, stopping at each to perform the exercise, the number of which increased before decreasing (e.g., 5 burpees at each corner, then 10 Merkins at each corner, etc).
5 Burpees
10 Merkins
15 Squats
20 Flutter (IC)
25 Mountain Climbers (IC)
20 Flutter (IC)
15 Squats
10 Merkins
5 Burpees
That is 9 ‘rings’ around the half-field (“nine rings to mortal men…”)
To rule them all, we circled up and did a perfect fellowship ring of 8-Count-Body-Builders 9 times together.
Then a journey up our own mountain (hill) where we were rewarded with the golden joy of 20 Dips, 20 Earkins, 20 Dips, 20 Eakins, before heading back down hill while staring at the glaring eye of the sun during the descent.
MARY
20 LBC
10 Peach Picker (IC)
20 Hammers
20 Box Cutters
COT
Thoughts to all who are affected by Hurricane Flo and the noble and generous PAX who have responded near to help our brothers in need, and far for those along the coast. We bow in acknowledgment and gratitude for the company of men strong in body and spirit, who remain steady even when dark clouds form overhead and the waters come rushing. Amen.