Staying on the Move

After the May iteration of Th e Three Headed Hound, Bono messaged me asking two questions:  1)  Would it be possible to do a head of the hound in Washington and 2)  Would I be willing to Q it?  I had only one answer for both questions:  “Hell yes.”  Truth is, I had already been kicking around the idea in my head.  How great would it be to have the Greenville guys down to see what we’ve become in Washington and to serve them up an epic beatdown?  Being asked to Q it was just icing on the cake.  I’ve been kicking around different ideas for weeks, and I was up several nights this week stressing over making sure I put the PAX through a challenge worthy of the Three Headed Hound.

Bono gave the usual disclaimer, and then I added a disclaimer about my workout style.  I like to keep the PAX moving from one pearl to the next…no staying in one place too long with obscene rep counts.  I had to mention the running that I would incorporate into the workout, as I had heard Patch mention to some of the other ruckers yesterday, “If it’s going to be a lot of running, I’m not going.”  “It might be more running than you’re used to, but you won’t die.  If you try to die, we won’t let you.”  So it begins…

The Warm-Up

• 20 SSH IC
• 10 Good Mornings IC

I asked Largemouth how we do pig pickins in eastern NC…do we cook just shoulders or just hams?  “No, we cook the whole hog.”  “That’s right…we’re going to smoke the whole hog today…total body workout.”

The Thang

• Jack Webbs, 4 Hallelujahs for each Merkin, went to 10 Merkins
• Mosey around Moss Landing to the boardwalk, stopping at the Ledge of Gaylord for partner pull-ups (2 sets of 10 each)
• Head to the sidewalk for MPJs…5 Merkins at the first light pole, 5 Plank Jacks at the second light pole, 5 Jump Squats at the third light pole…repeat the pattern all the way to the end (32 light poles?).  During this section of the workout, the Ruckers were really starting to gripe, so I felt it was going well.  Hell, I’d rather run any day than get put through the PT beatdown that those guys do on the reg.  I guess what goes around comes around?  When finished, the PAX came back for the six, finishing the MPJs alongside them.
• Mosey down to the floating dock and find some real estate on the edge for your six.  Double D was overheating at this point and decided to take a plunge in the Pamlico.  That loosened things up a bit for us.  25 Flutter Kicks over the water…modification is to get your feet wet.  I saw a show about Air Force PJ training years ago, where they were making the trainees do poolside flutter kicks in flippers.  Doing this dockside flutter kicks always reminds me of that.

• Time was getting tight at this point, so we moseyed on to the construction site of the new brewery to pick up some coupons in the form of cinder blocks.  I lined the PAX up along the street and had them do somewhat of a deconstructed Block Burpee…10 Blerkins, 10 shoulder presses, 10 donkey kicks.  I had planned to have the PAX run to the end of the street and come back for multiple sets of the deconstructed block burpees, but it was time to get back to the flag for dessert.
• Dessert consisted of a series of wind sprints borrowed from Abu’s RunStrong Q a few weeks ago.  2 each of the following:  burpee then sprint, kneel then sprint, lie on your back then sprint, lie on your stomach then sprint, and a straight up sprint to finish.

Announcements

• Grammar urged the PAX to sign up for the Sasquatch in some respect…running, rucking, or support team.
• No Three Headed Hound for July, will resume again in August

COT

• prayers for Dr. Parker, prayers to be better men, husbands, fathers, sons, team members, etc.

Moleskin

It was truly an honor to be asked to Q a head of the hound.  I’ve been put through some real beatdowns by the Greenville Hound Qs, so I felt that I owed it to my Washington brothers to show that we could serve up a challenge for them.  I was honestly a little nervous about my plans this week, then last night it hit me that this would just be a normal Q with my brothers, with a few special guests.  I mentioned my midget league football coach, Ray Lilley. today in the circle.  No one in my life has ever challenged me the way that he did in the two years that he was my coach.  His practices were epic beatdowns, always ending in wind sprints.  I never wanted to do the wind sprints, but there wasn’t a single practice after which I didn’t feel better about myself for having completed them.  Those sprints showed me that no matter how much I had exerted myself, there was always something else left in the tank.  That feeling has carried over in life, whether it be in school, work, or just being a husband and father.  There is always something left inside of us to give.  We just have to learn to trust that it’s there.  It’s been 26 or 27 years since he was my coach, but I still look for that satisfaction of tapping that reserve and giving everything I have physically.  F3 has been the only thing for me since then that has come close.  We have to use our Qs as opportunities to challenge each other to tap into that reserve, and I hope that I was able to provide that challenge to my brothers today.  Again, what an honor.