September 19th, 2020 By Christopher Smith

10 men joined Q to realize that just because football has started and the weather has cooled, doesn’t mean it’s not time to join in 9 innings of workout mania and be ready to play ball!

Warm-Up:

Mosey to Carolina Courts far lot

SSH x 15

Loose Change x 10

Slow Mercs x 10

Arm Circles

Play Ball!

The Thang: 

All Pax would join in for 9 innings of hills and exercises in multiples of 9!

All Pax started with 18 Mercs b/c there is nothing more American than Mercs and baseball!

Pax ran up the hill by Carolina Courts and back down 3 x (for 3 outs) and added exercises at the bottom in order of arms, legs, and core for each inning.

Exercises were Mercs, Jump Squats, Freddy Mercs, Carolina Dry Docks, Lunges, LBCs, DownDog Mercs, Star Jumps, Core Choice

7th Inning Stretch was thrown in as all Pax gathered in a circle to do more exercises (each Pax was called upon to give an exercise in order of arms, legs, core and everyone completed 7 reps of each – we did Burpees, Mountain Climbers, Lt. Dans, JLo’s and a few others I can’t remember) and stretched a little before finishing our 9 innings strong!

Mary:

Alphabet Core

Superman/IronMan

Broga

Moleskin:

This workout was pretty great and even tougher and cooler and super bad than I would have guessed.  So maybe, since it’s been a long while since I’ve run the hill at Carolina Courts, I underestimated the hill.  The original plan was to run the hill up to 9 times (for each inning) and add an exercise each time.  As I thought about spilling merlot on my 3rd consecutive time up the hill, I decided to look over to 3rd base and back to the dugout, and call a squeeze play.  We changed the hills to “outs” and just kept running 3 times in a row and adding exercises at the bottom.  The 7th inning stretch was a welcome break from running hills and got all PAX involved in the game! Overall, we ran a buttload of hills and got a good burn, especially in the chest area.  It reminded me of playing football on the beach – your legs were burning, your chest was burning (from the sun), and you never looked quite as cool as you thought you did, but still had fun.  As usual, Java led the running, with Catfish, Tombstone, and Homeland, right behind in full pursuit.  I let most of the guys go ahead, but stayed within striking distance, in case I needed to call my shot.

There was some good chatter, but it did get quiet at times from all those hills.  Spirits were great as the cool weather provided a much less miserable workout and the ability to suck in that cool fall air and push a little harder.

It’s been great getting Photon back in the fold on Saturdays, especially now that Tombstone knows who he is! I love the circuit workouts as everyone stays connected and supports each other and shares the pain together.  Prayers were offered for our country and our struggles (hurricanes, fires, Covid), and our leaders, local and national.  Prayers were also offered for Homeland’s friend who has been battling cancer.

Coffeeteria was well attended and always entertaining.  A word of advice: Always tell your beautiful bride she is smoking hot and an amazing wife.  It just works out better for everyone.  And in those times you forget, tell her you’re sorry, you love her, and she really is gorgeous!

One of my all-time favorite quotes is from John Wesley:

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

When you start your day with F3 and connect around common goals and common hearts, this becomes a little more possible.  Take time to make an impact each day.  If you don’t know what to do, ask God.  He will give you a ton of opportunities; I’m sure of it.  Keep doing good and keep fighting the good fight!

Always a pleasure to lead and serve,

Mighty Mouse

---