The Pre-Blast promised “10 strenuous miles” and “finishing around 11am.” Nearly 100 strong toed the line to find out what The Bear 2015 had in store for them. 86 got what they paid for (#itsfree), PLUS an extra 2-4 miles, some sand for the 2.0’s playground, 3 minutes of their life back (finished at 10:57a according to the official timekeeper – bang!), lesson in both chipping and #CSAUP, a couple mugs of ACRT and a stronger bond with their brothers. Some people may call that a lot… F3 PAX call that a Saturday. @Alcatraz rocketed us into the stratosphere with an opening shout out; @YHC crashed us back to the #bigball with a #Chowderized #disclaimer.
Here’s the Thang that went down next (fer realz.)
Highland Creek Elementary – MeCa Qs/Highlands: Colonel Mustard, Chowder
– Mosey to bus lot with Chowder at the helm
– Circle up and count off by 4s
– SSH x 19 IC
– Mountain Climbers x 19 IC
– Mosey to upper dirt patch
Colonel takes the Q:
– YHC had a plan in mind for the football field beatdown but of course like all other workouts, I just do what comes to mind at that time. I guess it keeps everyone on their toes and keeps me from #Chowderizing an overly simple set of exercises.
– Hop the fence and line up on the side line, then do whatever I tell you to do for the next 15 minutes:
- Bear Crawl across the field and sprint Back
- Plank until the six arrives
- Partner Carry across the field and then switch coming back
- Plank until the six arrives
- Partner Bear Crawl switching halfway and then sprint back (lots of #refuseniks during this exercise, just saying)
- Plank until the six arrives
- Lunges across the field and then sprint back
- Plank until the six arrives
Hop the fence, get your yitzak and get your six in line to move out to your next destination.
Mosey.
Mallard Creek Park – Isotope Qs: Uncle Rico, Tweetsie, EtCh-A-sKeTcH, other Isotope PAX (TBD; more to come)
While waiting for the six to arrive, we bear crawled the small hill and did 5 burpees at the top, but repeated the burpees for guys who weren’t actually doing real burpees.
– Low Flutter x 15 (Uncle Rico)
– Carolina Dry Docks repeat x 15 (Uncle Rico)
– 10-Man Single-File Partner Mercans x 10 (Uncle Rico)
– 10-Man Tunnel of Love x the length of the soccer field (Uncle Rico)
Moleskins (Uncle Rico):
1. With a little encouragement, Dredd showed that he actually can do a burpee with a squat thrust at the end (hands in the air and all), who knew?
2. The speed traps idea was brilliant, but not always so brilliant to take them.
3. The is certainly a division in F3 – some guys apparently don’t mind running a mile with a pound of creek sand and crap in their shoes and the other half are willing to do some old fashioned socks and shoes laundry first.
4. It was interesting to see the creativity the 10-man tunnel of love, all in the name of trying to win. Calypso’s team wasn’t cheating at all – apparently we forgot to set no plank walking as a rule.
Mosey
Speed Trap #1: Non-Descript Parking Lot – Isotope Qs: Mortimer, Prime Time, others
– More to come.
Tradition AO/Stonebridge Church – MeCa Qs/Rolling Stone: LawDawg, Sugar, Kato, Pavarotti
Split the Pax in half. Switch areas at the 10 minute mark.
– Group 1: 10 Minutes In “The Outback” – Fun with loading racks. Pax on their Backs and passing 20+ loading racks around.
– Various Chest Presses
– Homer to Marge
– Low Flutter
– Re-stack the loading racks.
– Group 2: 10 Minutes in the Parking Lot:
– Plow to Mason Twist- 15
– Crunchy Frog – 15
– Downward Dog Crunches (renamed the Caitlyn by the PAX)- 10
– Superman/Banana – 5
– Superman jacks – 10
– Low dolly – 15
– Box cutters – 10
– Metronome- 10
– J-los – 10
– Jump Squats – 10
– Tempo Merkins – 10
– Plank to 1 Arm Plank
Mosey.
Speed Trap #2: Non-Descript Suburban Pool Park (and coupon disposal grounds) – Isotope Qs: Mortimer, Prime Time, others
– More to come.
Mallard Creek Elementary – Isotope Qs: Contra, Calypso, Jolly Roger, Mini Me
– Station 1: Mosey to the back of the school for some ‘Contra Webb’ Broad Jump Burpees (Burpees with progressive merkins along with air presses) PAX should have completed 12 – 13.
– Station 2: Partner Up – Balls to the Wall while partner 2 crawl bears up the hill – Flapjack and Repeato. After one round, People’s Chair with Air Press – Flap Jack and Repeato.
– Station 3: Burpee Cack-a-lackie Choo Choo (this was terrible).
– Station 4: Divide up into 4’s for the infamous ‘Calypso’ Merkins. After the merkins, each PAX does 20 Pull Ups. Repeato until time is called.
Mosey
Countryside Montessori School – Race City Qs: Mailman, Big Mean, others
– More to come
Mosey
Speed Trap #3: Non-Descript Trail through the woods – Isotope Qs: Mortimer, Prime Time, others
– More to come.
Corvian Charter School Field – Crossroads Q: Project Mayhem, Wolfpup & Ray Ray
YHC’s (Ray Ray) calves were fried so I handed it over to the young guns. Recruit and mentor them young and you will reap the rewards. 1’s & 2’s with Wolfpup; 3’s & 4’s with Mayhem
– 1st exercise: Eleven’s – A descending and ascending ladder consisting of two exercises who’s rep count sum equals 11. Burpees & Crossfit sit ups. (Excellent combination. On your belly, on your back. Simple and effective)
– 2nd exercise: Bear Hunt – Partner up and line up abreast with partners back to back facing opposite directions. Partner 1 sprints 50 yards out and back catching partner 2 who has been bear crawling out in the opposite direction. Once the “bear” (partner 2) has been caught partner 1 fireman’s carrys partner 2 back to the starting point. Partner 1 and partner 2 switch roles. Repeato.
Air horn was sounded.
Mosey
The Route 29 Par 3 Construction Zone – MeCa Qs/Concord: Cupid, Exit 54, others
-Pax pair up in twos; Each pair transports a pallet (approx 50 lb) 3/4 mile to entry into creek bed (7′ descent?) as follows:
– pairs are all lined up. pallets are passed in bucket brigade style to the front
– front pairs place pallets into stream in stepping stone fashion for some 50 yards to exit point in creek
– Pax use pallets to cross creek bed
– bucket brigade formed up 7′ ascent out of creek bed
– pallets are then extracted and passed along brigade out of creek bed for some 50 yards into dumpster.
Pax then climb back down into creek bed and proceed through the stream for over 500 yards (under Hwy29 bridge) and back onto greenway footpath to UNCC campus.
Moleskin (from Cupid):
– This was probably the most CSAUP effort for the PAX, but required a good deal of teamwork and coordination to pull it off & getting into the creek took some in the group to the next level of dread.
– All was not smooth as silk, as there was a little bit of wait for the guys up front to put 2 & 2 together in pallet brigade math (let’s call it a cacka-pallet-choochoo), and sometimes orders take a little while to get communicated down the line. Several had to take the precarious position of staging themselves halfway down the bank (much of it soft dirt that gives way and offers little traction) to complete a pallet-passing chain.
– Another distinction with being one of the last AO’s in The Bear (and a note to future bear experiences) is that if the group gets behind in time, then the later AOs will need to improvise.
– Was not there to watch the majority pop out onto the golf course where I’m sure it was a busy day for the par-3 golfers. Hopefully they enjoyed the show of flags, pallets, endless chatter and yelling (Next Bear will be in Augusta, GA in early April real close to the favorite golf course, I hear)
– What is awesome was the fact that no-one got hurt (that I know of)!!! That in its own right is worthy of a round of beers at Indy’s expense) Slogging through the Creek is like running in sand, the men really spread themselves out, walking was common since everyone were pretty shredded by then.
– It was an honor for F3 Concord to host an AO and gave us a chance to F2 and grow above and beyond the norm as a team
Mosey.
El Dorado – MeCa Qs/Harrisburg and Highlands: The Nanny, Gamma, Bull, Escalade, Chowder
@TheNanny Had a whole plan prepared to give the PAX a flavor of some El Dorado favorites, but due to time constraints and potential PAX revolt, we 86ed the plan in favor of getting to the bev.
– Start with 7 on the truck and 7 on deck. Start pushing.
– Rotate out as needed; turned out more than 7 at a time were needed.
– Loved the way the team work started to emerge and grow organically with each successive ramp.
– Would venture that most have not played rugby, but it looked like a well executed scrum to YHC’s layman eyes.
– Shields locked, heads down, forge ahead, no quit.
– Push truck up ramp and around flats – 5 ramps total to cap out on 6th floor of El Dorado.
– Fist bumps and tap the kegs.
Conclude The Bear with COT and BOM led by a strong shout out from Tweetsie to take us home.
Nakedman Bearskin
– T-claps to the entire PAX for gutting it out. Not easy, even for the most prepared PAX. To paraphrase several PAX at the top of El D, “This was awesome; Six months ago, I never would have thought I could have done this!”
– BIG T-claps to our logistics and support crew throughout the day (sorry if I miss anyone): Gump, Sapling, Starsky, Smokey, El Guapo and Triple Threat, as well as Man Down who served as our mobile EMT while participating.
– Lots more MeCa PAX who also served in the planning, preparation and execution. Many hands make for light work – greatly appreciated, MeCa bothers!
– Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/LaFoHioJ9ZMuSf4A6
– There may also be a video floating around out there, or so I hear.
– Lost: theTradition Shovel Flag – did someone inadvertently take it home with them? If so, please let us know in the comments below.
– Also lost: TAC Hat with red GRH patch – again, comment below if found.
– Found: a one year anniversary Shovel Flag
– If your name is NOT spelled correctly on the PAX list or is MISSING (and you finished!), please let us know in the comments ASAP as this list will be used for the t-shirt design.
– Get your Commemorative Bear 2015 shirt here (complete with names of all finishers listed; design on website is a mock up): http://f3.mudgear.com/collections/f3-shirts/products/f3-i-survived-the-bear-pre-order
Add Jenny
Sorry Jenny. You’ve been added to the finishers list. Thanks for catching that!
Love that I made an AO Q but not the pax list 😉
You’re there… albeit misspelled. but you’re there. I will correct the spelling.
Ah, with a list that long had to use search. Thanks Chowder.
And a great time it was – so great I was in bed at 930…
Ha! I was out by 0800 myself… Spelling fixed. Thanks for catching it! Nothing like having a misspelled name on a commemorative shirt!
Solid Q and logistics. #Tclaps, all!
T-claps brothers for making it through the 2015 Bear. It was fun and entertaining for sure.
Truly was an honor to host our F3 brothers at the Bear. While it was rewarding to be a part of the execution team, it will be GREAT to just participate next year! So who is running this thing next year? Whoever you are, when you read this in 2016, feel free to reach out and I can send you the SWEET spreadsheet which we used to run this event.
Every CSAUP event has it’s signature moments/elements. My favorites were:
– As tweeted by Gnarly Goat; counting off into 4’s and then breaking up into teams of 10…..
– A LOT of whining while passing the ladders around while on our backs only to get to Kato’s Mary Circle of Pain and guys to be yelling to bring the ladders back.
– Of course the pallet bridge…namely all the cursing when guys found out all their hard work to keep shoes dry was for naught.
– Hanging out with my brothers in the concrete shade of a 5th story parking deck while enjoying draught beer out of the back of a pickup truck. Only in F3.
Moses and I LIFO’d at Corvian AO. Great event! Missed the pallet bridge and #NPR in El Dorado.
This is gonna be a long post so either scroll down or get comfortable…
As recent as this past January I was a #SadClown. I didn’t go out. I found comfort in being solitary. I ate dinner late (often twice in the same day). The various Cheez-It flavors had become my food groups. Staying in my #Fartsack was just the norm. And the idea that I’d get up at 5 AM to workout was laughable. But there was a hole in my life. I was not happy. I knew it but I didn’t know what to do about it.
Then, after some introductions and time, @Google and @Smokey started talking. It wasn’t a hard push. It wasn’t shaming. It wasn’t negative in any way shape or form. It was obvious to me how proud they were of #F3 and meeting other #HIMs in the #Gloom. It wasn’t bragging. It was redemption. A path out of my funk. I knew I wanted to do it but for the longest time I was still not willing to take a leap to become one of the #Faithful.
Then, one Friday night, @Smokey just said it – he’d apparently had enough of my #SadClown and said he was gonna pick me up the next morning. It wasn’t presented as a choice and it wasn’t levied as a threat either. It was just there – boom – that was how it was gonna be.
I woke up at 4 AM that morning. Not because I was nervous. Rather, my heart was ready. My soul was yearning for it. I couldn’t wait. I had more energy that morning that I’d had in a decade prior. I remember texting @Smokey to not pick me up though. I don’t know why I did that do this day. The #SadClown in me was fighting to remain relevant. Some how, the other me, the #HIM inside me got dressed. Got in the car and drove toward Highlands. Did I pass it? Yes I did. Did I turn around all the way in the parking lot of Academy Sports? Yes I did. Somewhere, that morning, my #SadClown was violently murdered by #HIM.
Since then I picked up my #RedPill and have turned the corner to be an #AcceleratingMan – on my journey to being the #HIM that I never knew I could be or that I had at least forgotten that I was.
Did I had a pinched C5-C6 nerve early on? Yes. Did that lead to a round of steroids that led to Shingles? Hell yes. Did I work out in single digits at @Tradition? Absolutely.
Did I complete The Bear? Indeed I did. I may not have been first but I finished it. I thought about the #SadClown for a moment while I was in the creek – water up to my knees – sand in my shoes – American flag in my hand. I felt bad for that #SadClown. All that time – it didn’t need to be that way. All that time there was an answer.
I want to take a moment to say thank you to the #PAX. Not for making me this or that. You didn’t do it. I did. And I think that’s the point isn’t it?
We do this and we talk about it and we give others the #EH so they can do it for themselves too. @Sandman – dang dude. You were next in our short list of #EH. Mad respect to you and your old self.
So, again. Thank you, guys. You don’t, won’t and can’t know how much this means to me.
You da man, Murdoch. Guys like you and stories like that motivate everyone. Thanks for putting that out there.
Didn’t see mine there. My name that is. Sugar
nevermind
Some guys will do anything to get their name on there twice 😉
I may or may not have been at the Saucer during my first review.
Hey, that 7th plate isn’t going to earn itself…
Very well organized and a monster breakdown!
Handle is spelled without an e…Gray Ghost
Thanks, @TheOtherGG. Spelling corrected – thanks for catching that. Great to have you out there with us brother.
Well done Chowder and the many PAX that put this together. What an awesome event. That was the first but not the last Bear for me. Anyone that wants to watch a video with terrible editing… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OHWEXF3ocg enjoy. Really bummed the battery died before the epic creek crossing.
There’s nothing like homegrown #csaup for an awesome day of 3F’s and epic mumblechatter. In the F3 Superbowl everyone is moving way too fast to chatter. Chipping in the ranks wasn’t officially allowed in GORUCK, so it stays on the quiet side. In the BRR you can mumblechatter, but… well, you’re alone in the mountains so it’s kind of weird. But THE BEAR… heaping helpings of #mumblechatter are the raison d’etre, non?
Where to start? Well, how about the start. the @chowderized disclaimer nearly left me writing a check to the Good Fellows Club. It wasn’t long after the chowder horn blasted that Dredd turned the conversation to trailers… educational, residential, and perhaps even horse. Dredd’s topics covered- at a minimum – trailers, degrees of swarthiness, and grass.
Other topics I engaged in -or listened from afar – included vegetable canning and beer.
At some point along the route we lifted what appeared to missile launch rails obtained by @PrimeTime, now scrapped as Isotope stood down from defcon V. #swordsintoplowshare peace dividend.
We also toted some tug boat bumpers that seemed to have come from the SS Ethel B. Demille. Again, I wonder if @PrimeTime had a hand in obtaining these?
Soon after we crossed Mallard Creek Rd at Mallard Creek Rd (sort of like Queens and Queens except no statue of a little gold man) we came across #BufordTPusser in a golf cart who drawled “Geeentlemannnn, muh ah ask just whut y’all are doin’ with them thar tug boat bumpuhs?” Seriously, if he’d had his son holding down his hat I could’ve died right there a happy man.
Speaking of golf carts, wonder what the golf dudes were thinking as 80-some guys emerged from the rough around the green carrying 500,000 pallets? I gotta say, the pressure was on and he stepped up and knocked that thing close. #muchRejoicing by all.
Later I came across a solo tomato who queried me about what exactly was happening around her. It seemed too obvious to tell her that she’d wandered into a thundering herd of studly awesomeness, so I just sort of explained F3 to her and gave her the website. @AmericanPie was within earshot, and the mere mention of his baby energized him and warmed his soul enough to stave off impending hypothermia.
Perhaps the best part was getting to ride in the back of Snoop’s truck back to the launch. It reminded of all the days I rode around MECA in the back of pick-up heading to little league games at Mallard Creek field, which had THE BEST concession stand, which stood at Ridge Rd right about where the Subway is today. And I did learn that Snoop has a cool and somewhat frightening sound-affect to go with his name. #foley
I rolled into the house about noon. MGoat looked me up and down with a gaze that walked the line between lust and disgust. “Did you have fun at your little event? says she.
Says me, “Yes. Yes I did.”
And I meant it.
T-claps to @Chowder and his band of merry pranksters for pulling this thing off. Couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Sat AM. #NotTrue Special thanks to @Col Mustard for kicking things off with his diabolical partner bear crawls. Lost a mole. #NoCopay Let’s do it again soon. Just make sure it’s community yard sale day when we do.
Nothing but true #IMPACT going down North of 10th Street. Best sign of a great #CSAUP: four beers and asleep by 1900. Thanks Brothers. #PressOn
T-claps @Chowder and everyone else that worked to pull this together. We spend most of our F3 experience in the darkness with a small group of guys (not sure if that sounds right). For me, the highlight for this (and every F3 CSAUP) is experiencing a great big group of guys doing stupid stuff. Some known, some just met, but all brothers.
Other highlights of the day:
– Honks, waves, and cheers from passer-byes….especially for the flags up front. It was great to get out and celebrate this nation.
– Getting to meet other guys you’ve read about in back blasts or on twitter. BTW: T-claps for the ghost flag and those who venture to other regions to retrieve it. Great idea.
– Dredd shredding his shorts during the man hug bear crawl.
– “Stand up and respect…..” during the burpee/situp ladder.
– Not having to do an actual El Dorado workout at the end. Those are bad enough on their own.