Going for the distance

AO: Gladiator

When: 05/17/2022

QIC: Zohan

PAX (16): Bo Knows, Cheneral, DREAMER, Hitchcock, Ironhead, Scar, Scratch-Off, Snowbird, Spandex, Stroller, Tebow, vertigo, Zohan, Brownie, Doug, Achilles [FNG]

Preamble:

I’ve hardly been consistent at the Gladiator. Gave up Thursday workouts due to family schedule and a few times gave up on waking up Tuesday mornings too, and suddenly it feels like it’s been ages. I missed the guys and decided the best way to ensure I’ll be there is to sign up to Q.

On the way there passed by the 3 pre-runners. Kudos to anyone who comes 30 min early to a 5:15am workout!

Warm-O-Rama:

Stroller was missing in action. Dreamer and Scratch Off explaining the dropped him in school. One FNG and one relatively new guy.

Disclaimer started with “Shup up” cause some PAX weren’t listening and I didn’t want them to miss the part that says I’m not responsible. It came in handy (or leggy?) soon after. For the benefit of the FNG I even mentioned the core principles.

Mosey to the parking lot under the tennis courts. We did SSH, Weed Pickers, Hillbillies and Moroccan Night Clubs.

The Thang:

Line up on the nearest speed bump. YHC said we’re going to do suicides but we’ll keep it together. First round – run to the next speed bump for 10 burpees and come back. That was finished quickly and we’re already 20% done!

Our FNG slipped on the curb or something and sprained his ankle. And he forgot his car keys in the car. Cheneral and Scratch Off stepped aside to help him out. Kudos to Cheneral for coming back after dropping him at home to complete the workout with us.

YHC decided to tentatively name the FNG Achilles (or Ack-heel-less, based on Dreamer’s suggestion). He’ll need to come back and claim it, though.

Round 2 – 10 burpees on the nearest speed bump. 20 merkins on the next. 10 burpees again on the nearest. Hold 6″ for the 6. 40% done. The format was now understood.

Round 3 – Adding 30 Big Boys (so now it’s 10-20-30-20-10). Low Plank for the 6. A lot of mumble chatter. The speed bumps are farther from each other than YHC remembered and so the run segments are taking longer than expected.

Round 4 – Adding 40 Squats. Air chair for the 6.

Round 5 – YHC noticed we’re down to about 10 minutes, making it borderline and calling for the PAX to give it everything they got. This round added 50 SSH. On the way back from the SSH, once YHC completed the BBSU, called for recover and run to the flag. Some of the gazelles chose to ignore as they wanted to complete the assigned exercises even at the cost of running late. The rest of the group circled at the flag and did merkins for the 6 (=the gazelles).

No time for Mary. No time for a lot of other things I planned for today. I’ll have to sign up again.

COT:

Stroller rejoined us!

2.0 workout at Nirvana this Saturday.

Annual Murph across the Alpha. The johns creek region will host it at The Bridge.

CSAUP coming up. Register so we’ll know to plan logistics.

YHC has an interview and test for Naturalization. One more step toward becoming a citizen.

Naked-Man Moleskin:

After the COT I remembered to ask for honest feedback on the Q. Something I believe we should all do. Most beatdowns are done well, especially by seasoned Qs, but even then mishaps can occur. Bad planning, not noticing the 6, too easy, etc. Vertigo shared the runs segments were too long. YHC agreed for this case since it wasn’t supposed to be a running focused beatdown (though I did Q a few times a running focused beatdown on purpose).

We learn from failing, as long as the failure is not the last try. Rather it’s just a step. If we try and we learn from it and we try again then we get better incrementally. It’s a long process and we need some grace because too often we want to be the best on the first try or as quickly as possible but that’s not how life works.

I appreciate this group very much. The opportunity to build myself up, one small step every time.

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