March Madness boot camp run

3 PAX hit the EC ruck trail and returned in time to join those arriving for the MASH beatdown at 0530.  We circled up and Disclaimer was given.  The beatdown’s theme was also shared:

Saw a cool post on #mumblechatter regarding a renewed challenge.  Instead of 25 days of Christmas, it’s being renewed as MarchMadnessChallenge.  With all the new channels popping up on Slack this seemed like a good one (#marchmadnesschallenge) to hang out in at least for the month of March anyways…

“Here is an opportunity for those desiring to better themselves and who want to get better 1% everyday.”  Here’s where the studs sharing this opportunity got me: “You will not get a patch or medal, nor will you get to sign any boards or swords.  But you will be a better man if you do this! And you will bet 1% better every day.”  So YHC is in, H to the C!

“Rules?  on Day 1 do 1 burpee and 10 reps of any exercise of your choice.  Then, one additional burpee every day to match the date and 10 additional reps of the exercise of your choice.  It’s that easy.  Join the channel (#marchmadnesschallenge) to report daily and encourage others.”

So with all that in mind, we did 1 Burpee and 10 High Knees (4 count in cadence), then a follow me down the length of the stadium and a left turn to the railroad tracks.  We circled up in the tailgate patch of grass there on the corner and did another burpee and 10 merkins.  We broke out into two groups (great turnout today at the MASH, Showboat is doing a tremendous job as the AO’s MondaySiteQ) and did an Indian Run to the residence hall at top of college hill.  Here we paused to do 1 burpee and 10 dips.  From there we did a mosey down college hill to parking lot with pull up bars.  There we did 1 burpee and 10 pull ups…or irken pull ups…or an exercise of choice at 10 reps in parking lot as group was large and pull up bar area was rather muddy from all the rain of late.  After that, we carried onto the Science and Tech building for the Stairway Towers at each end.  There, Pax did 1 Burpee and divided into two groups, each taking a tower and running 10 flights of stairs (each tower is 6 flights, so run them twice or 6 + 4 flights, or simply run the tower to the top and then we regrouped at bottom and called an Omaha/audible in the interest of time and carried on to next stop, the parking deck there on campus.  There we went to bottom of meat locker ramp and did 1 burpee and sprint back up the ramp (or in YHC case, mosey back up as fast as you could (legs were still toast after the stairs)).   At this juncture it turned into a jail break for the shovel flag by way of Charles blvd.  With 18 PAX present many shared a strong pace and all were also mindful of the Six.  Whereas we got spread out on occasions, we managed to also stay together while still covering roughly a 5K route (at a Boot Camp AO, oops)…those faster PAX pulled a sizeable lead at times, so in returning  for the Six on frequent occasion, YHC is sure they pulled in well over 3.1 miles.  The group of PAX who reached the shovel flag with time to spare chose between a round of mary or going back for the Six – a win-win option for the beatdown’s finish.

COT: Countarama/Namearama – 18 in all listed above.  Prayers and Praises: T-Bones father’s passing, Wall-E’s job search, Grout’s family, ShowBoat’s 2.0

Moleskin: YHC has heard other PAX suggesting you need a challenge to motivate you or push you or simply to invigorate you…for runners it may be a longer distance race such as a 1/2 marathon or a full one (running events usually give out tshirts and medals)…for ruckers, it may be a GoRuck or GrowRuck event (where a patch is earned)…within F3ENC it may be ways in which we encourage pushing each other/ourselves (where a plank or cutlass gets signed)…all these things typically call for preparation.  Beatingthefartsack though is that daily/consistent effort to get/stay/push to be, better – that’s the beauty March Madness too.  Do it for the fun of it, but be better because of it.  And who knows…at the end, it very well may become the tipping point that whispers in your ear ‘you can do “that” next’ and already be that much more prepared to take on whatever the “next” challenge ends up being.  SYITG!

-Slalom out!