EC Ruck 0420 start: Vanilla, Patch (RESPECT), Pied Piper, Ma Bell, Marlboro Man, Jock Itch. A 4 mile jaunt highlighted by the acquisition of Poison Oak via a somewhat rudderless, zig zag through the woods behind the intramural fields. We did find the Blair Witch, though. Details to come.
The Thang: A standard warmup on the wettest winter rye grass in Greenville, followed by a Native American run down to Berkley, to 14th, to the Gateway dorm. Trying to be as loud as possible, we completed 11’s (merkins and box jumps) on the preformed concrete. 11’s were the choice as every workout this month has featured a variation – I had to keep that theme going. Then a short mosey to the big fern at the top of college hill where one of the PAX ( sorry – I honestly can’t remember who) reached into the mystery sack to pull out an exercise. It was “merkins.” I explained to the PAX that it’s not the chancellor or athletics that runs the show at ECU. No…it’s the parking folks. And they had just installed new “B1” signs up and down college hill. What that meant for us was that as we ran down the right side of the hill, we were to do 5 merkins at the first B1 sign, then add 5 every time we got to one of those new gleaming signs. Turns out there was 7 on the right side. So, that one hurt a little. After a quick plank for the 6, we moseyed over to the other side of the street, where I believe Boston Lager reached into the sack to reveal “Burpees.” Well, that meant 5 burpees at each sign on the way up. There’s only five signs on that side, however. A quick check of the watch revealed that there was plenty of time for round 2, so Harry Potter reached into the mystery sack and revealed to the PAX “WW1s.” Well, that was well received by all in attendance, especially by Pied Piper who stated to YHC, “this workout is some Wyoming b.s.” I truly believe that my self satisfaction has never been any higher than at that point right there. Of course, we all finished our WW1s, and headed back to the other side of the road, where Dex reached into the sack, hoping for something benign like weightless “hallelujahs” or something, but revealed “Burpees!” Somewhat shocked, he asked, “what in the??! Did you put that one back in the bag? How does this keep happening?” At that point, I showed the PAX that YHC was carrying 2 mystery sacks…one with various exercises, and one that had nothing but burpees! It was a great moment in F3 history I’m sure, and I know right then and there YHC was THE most popular Q ever by pulling that stunt! All sarcasm aside, we finished the trek back up the hill, most finished the burpees. Another group run to Pied Piper’s tailgate spot for another quick round of 5 burpees and then a haphazard run back to the flag for a semi-hard 6:14-15ish stop.
BOM: Prayers for Patch’s wife, Shrimp’s family, and several other wives as well as those traveling this weekend.
Moleskin: Thanks to all for letting my sarcasm come out today. I yelled out several times for everyone to look at my sack while running on college hill, which I’m pretty sure is an arrestable offense. Everyone took it in stride, even the folks parking their cars starting their day working up there. I’ve only done a few, but this was my favorite Q so far – I’m not sure everyone else liked it, but I feel like I may get the hang of this thing yet! I appreciate everyone coming out!