January 28th, 2021 By Dutch Boy

Two years ago, YHC wandered into the parking lot at Highland Creek Elementary not really knowing what to expect. What I knew: F3 was a workout group of some sort. @barrister had told me via a Nextdoor message to wear gloves. That’s it.

I’ve told the story before, but the first person to introduce himself to me as I walked into the group was @powerball. That’s how he said it: “Hey, I’m @powerball.” Jarring to be sure. @glock was on the Q and that can be looked at one of two ways: 1) that is quite the introduction to the group B) It isn’t going to get much harder than that.

By the end I was completely gassed. I had thought this would be a bunch of dads hanging out and doing some pushups or something. Just physically, it was so much more than I expected.

To celebrate my 2 year anniversary, I took the Q for the 5:30 a.m. beatdown at Highlands, and put out a preblast for men to join me for “pain and miles.” Seven other HIM joined me in the Gloom, some having seen that and choosing to show anyway, others having not paid enough attention.

A disclaimer was given and we moseyed to the middle school parking lot for…

Warmarama (IC)

• SSH x19
• Weed Picker x10
• IST x15
• Windmill x10

The Thang

Mosey out the main school entrance and across HC Parkway to the wall, 10 muscle-ups OYO.

Mosey down the parkway to the rabbit hole by @pavarotti’s old house. 20 merkins IC.

Mosey down the road to the other end, 20 squats OYO.

Down the gravel path to the 18th tee box and around to the pump house, 20 LBCs IC.

Over to the pond playground, partner up. Partner 1 runs the loop while Partner 2 does the exercise. Go until as a team you’ve completed:

• 50 merkins
• 100 squats
• 150 LBCs

Mosey to the burpee bridge for, well, burpees. 5 OYO.

Up the hill past the 5 Points to the cart area. 10 Dry Docks IC.

Out the golf course lot and across the parkway to the portico at the bus lot. Partner up again. Partner 1 runs across to the playground for 5 pull-ups. Partner 2 does WWII sit-ups. Switch until the team has done 100 situps.

Same partners nearer the playground. Partner 1 runs to the rail for 10 dips (modified to 5 after round 1). Partner 2 does merkins. Do 150 as a team.

Mosey back to the front of the elementary for…

Mary (IC)

• Low Flutter x20
• The Squirm x15
• Recover, recover

COT

COM

Moleskin

• When I Q’d my one year anniversary beatdown this time last year, I had no idea what 2020 was going to bring — to me personally, or to the world. It was a hell of a year. We had a global pandemic. I found out I had cancer. Got said cancer removed, complete with a couple months of complications. We still had a global pandemic. The presidential election happened and managed to be worse than anyone probably expected. Global pandemic: still a thing. Through it all, I had a few constants I could count on: my family at home, and my family in The Gloom. No matter how disconnected I got physically during my IR stint, the men of F3 always kept me close in other ways. I’m forever thankful that I found this group, and that I get to call all of you my friends. Special shoutout as usual to both @barrister and @murdock who both get some EH credit, albeit mostly indirectly seeing as I didn’t actually know either of them.
• Props to the men who showed this morning. We covered more than 2.5 miles together. Glad men like @moopdog and @number1 pushed through despite not paying attention to slack. @number1 knew he was in trouble when he pulled up and some of us had headlamps.
• The Gremlin is Saturday. Come for it all or come for some of it. Our own @murdock and @gordo are Qing in Quad 3 with @greek and @buckwheat.
• Start thinking of community outreach for February.

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