D-Day and Carterico

The big concern was lighting. We all knew the forecast. Rain is ok. Thunder, not so much. In the PreBlast, YHC challenged the PAX to post this morning, two days after the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. YHC asked the Pax to not let a little rain or a few two many beers get in the way of posting. Driving to the AO, the rain was steady but the clouds over the ocean were lit up with lighting. Not a good sign.

Arriving at the AO about 10 minutes early, YHC checked out a couple of areas that offered some relief from the rain…..technically still outside thus not violating one of the F3 core principals. And to YHC’s surprise 6 or so PAX had already gathered. The PAX kept rolling in until we had 15 men ready to get to work. YHC offered the PAX an area near the front of the school where we would at least be partially covered. Not a one uttered a word about leaving the parking lot for drier conditions. By the 1 minute warning, Rooney spotted some blue in the sky and suggested we mosey that direction. That would have required a trip to probably Newport, so YHC declined the request. No thunder or lighting, a steady rain and an eager PAX. A great combination.

Before the Hard Start, YHC asked the PAX to form the COT. Obviously this was an unusual request. The instructions were simple: for just a few moments, focus on thanking the men that stormed those beaches 75 years ago. And lift up prayers for our friend and F3 mentor, Gilligan. Focus on just those two subjects. After the Amen……

In the PreBlast, YHC promised few if any Burpees. Keeping the promise, YHC called for 10 Burpees S/C, nice and slow. Some light grumbling ensued but we got ’em out of the way early.

Next were the usual stretches as we ran a slow warm up mosey. We stopped at some light poles and did various warm up exercises while moseying back and forth between the light poles. Back to the vehicles for 40 nonstop merkins, in good form.

YHC had also promised coupons, nothing heavy. We walked to YHC’s truck, opened the tail gate and found over thirty bricks. Just enough to go around. YHC instructed the PAX to hold on to the bricks until told otherwise. We then moseyed toward the front of the school stopping along the way maybe 5 times for various 10 count I/C exercises which included arm curls, overhead press, shoulder taps and renegade rows. We continued our mosey, stopping a few more times for LBC, LSF and WWII’s. We made our way to the pullup bars. The extra 8 pounds or so was starting to make difference at this point.

At the pull-up bars (sans bricks) we partnered up for a pull-up countdown. Partner A does 10 pull-ups while Partner B runs the typical route, under the shelter and through the grass back to the bars. If Partner A finished before Partner B gets back, A holds plank until his partner returns. Partner B does his pull-ups as A ran, etc. The idea was to count down from 10 to one which meant each man would have done 55 pull-ups, a decent number to be sure. After each partner had gotten to 5 pull ups, YHC Omaha’d and we went to the nearby bench for step ups, 15 each leg I/C. We had a crowd so half the PAX did stepups while the other half did BTTW with a ten count given by each man. After the one set of stepups and 2 sets of BTTW we went back to the pull-up bars and finished our countdown. With a little time to spare we had some fun on the bars with some hanging competition. First, simply hang as long as possible by the bar. Then see how long you can hold with your arms at 90 degree angles. That’s a tough one. Squid was in beast mode!

Twitty led us back through the slop to the parking lot where we had time for 40 more merkins, 20 standard, 10 wide grip and 10 diamond. Three Mary cool downs exercises and we were finished.

Announcements, Jang on the Q for the Dread Tuesday.

Prayer concerns: Aflac’s mother, John Jenkins, Gilligan and one or two more that I just can’t recall. The Lord knows who they are.

YHC took us out.

What fun to lead these diehard men this morning. I never thought we would get the entire workout in. I’ve left some stuff out I know. The index cards were soaked and the ink had run so this is all by memory. Thanks to all who posted. Strong work and no complaints by anyone. Yes, we were soaked. But so what? So were those men in Normandy 75 years ago. And I’m surely not the only one that heard the clap of thunder as we headed to our vehicles, an obvious notice from above that the workout was done!

SYITG

Puddles