Celebrating 5 years of pure awesomeness

Celebrating 5 years of pure awesomeness

QIC: Whirly

Date: 02/27/19

PAX: Bevo, Drano, Razzie, Deep Dish, Little Piggy, Mutton, Drip, Root Canal, Dr. Seuess, Lamb Chop, Van Pelt, Snooki, Tonka, Whirly

14 pax gathered at Hanes Park this morning to hear YHC congratulate myself for doing things that I should do without needing to be congratulated, but hey, no one is perfect. OK, maybe some of our pax ARE perfect. Amidst all of the monologuing, we worked in some exercises…

Warmorama
Partner up and take a warmup lap around the track. Tell each other:
1. Who told you about F3/EH’d you
2. What you like most about F3
3. What you like most about Whirly

I blew off the guy (Scrappy, from Charlotte) who tried to EH me for quite a while. One week when my wife was at Disney with the kids, I couldn’t sleep so I decided to go check out that workout group at Hanes Park. Since we have a pax named after a Disney character (Goofy), we did SSHs, but for today we called them “Goofys without a clap” x 25 IC

IST x 20 IC

Whirly with a clap x 10 IC
(For those of you who don’t know the story about how “cotton pickers” came to be called Whirly with a clap…see wha ha happe…a group of us went to give a demonstration of F3 at Winston Salem State University. For those of you who don’t know, Winston Salem State is a HBCU [historically black college/university]. YHC was charged with leading the warmup of the demonstration and, being as cotton pickers was standard fare for my warmorama, YHC lead the F3 demonstration team and multiple HBCU students in doing cotton pickers. Like Joseph who didn’t want to put Mary to shame when Joseph found out Mary was with child, the pax didn’t necessarily think it was appropriate to call me out while we were at Winston Salem State…but man after we left Winston Salem State…you should have seen the group message. And that, my friends, is just one way to get an exercise named after you.) #bettertobeinfamousthannotfamousatall #infamy #infamous

Abe Vigoda x 5 IC

The thang
Mosey to the “half” tennis court with the rebound wall.

Partner up.

In honor of Scrappy from F3Charlotte, who EH’d me, we didn’t partner assisted curls/pullups/getups (or whatever they’re called).

In honor of Cobra, who led the first workout I attended, we did something Cobra made us do at the estate one day. I don’t really remember what it’s called, but you basically lie on your back and shimmy horizontally without using your hands or feet. It might, or might not, remind you of a snake or look like a snake when you do it. We’re going to call this a core exercise. #crowdpleaser

At the conclusion of my first workout, I was given the name “Whirly” because I flew helicopters when I was in the army. In honor of me and my name (SURPRISE!), we did an exercise that Bluto introduced us to- the Chinook squat x 20 IC. #lookitup #donottrythisathome #iAMaprofessional

The second workout I attended was led by Mutton. For 30 of the 45 minutes of that workout, we bear crawled. In honor of Mutton, we bear crawled to the far end of the court.

The third workout I attended was led by Airwolf. For 30 of the 45 minutes of that workout, we did overhead claps. In honor of Airwolf, we did overhead claps x 50 IC.

At some point I tore the meniscus in my right knee and hobbled on it for about 1 1/2 years because my primary care doctor told me to stop being a wimp and rub some dirt on it. After I got to the point that I couldn’t take it any more, I went to see BALCO, who told me 1) maybe I was a wimp 2) I had a badly torn meniscus. BALCO told me about the orthopedic surgeon who joined F3 just to drum up business (Prospector aka Dr. Brad Winter). Prospector did surgery and I haven’t had a whiff of pain since. To honor my torn meniscus, BALCO and Prospector, we did an exercise called the broken wheelbarrow. #lookitup

Mosey to the track
Having a new knee that allowed me to run without pain, I was determined to be a better runner. I remember having lunch with MIB one day and him telling me that he used to struggle with weight and lost a lot of weight running. Inspired by MIB’s story, I figured I could lose a lot of weight and become a decent runner. In honor of MIB, we ran 400 meters at a 10K pace.

At one of the Redline workouts, there was a guy who was over 50, but could run a sub 6:00 mile. That guys’s name was Pacemaker (not Peacemaker, but Pacemaker). Inspired by Pacemaker’s running ability, despite the fact that he was over 50, I figured I could run a sub 6:00 mile. (I actually, honestly, really thought I could get there- I had done it before so why not again?) In honor of Pacemaker, we ran 400 meters all out. To date, I haven’t been able to break 6:00, but I haven’t officially given up on that yet.

Mosey to education hill
A few years ago, I came down with a case of shingles ON CHRISTMAS DAY! Not knowing what to do, I called Bluto (aka Dr. Kevin Stein, dermatologist) who 1) told me it sucks to come down with shingles on Christmas day 2) called in a prescription for me. He did this for a fellow pax ON CHRISTMAS DAY! I mean, he was probably still in his PJs and trying to put together a doll house or bike or something, but he stopped what he was doing to take care of one of his fellow pax- that right there is some good stuff. I will not forget that. To honor Bluto, we did a ladder (because there are no exercises called the Bluto, or the shingles, or the roof…but you need a ladder to get to the roof, where you’ll find shingles- see what I did there?) on education hill- 5 burpees at the bottom and one prisoner getup or turkish get up (your choice- it was a kinder, gentler 5 year anniversary celebration beatdown) at the top, decreasing burpees and increasing getups until you get from 5 burpees/one getup to 1 burpee/five getups.

[It starts raining and Root Canal realizes he should not have made fun of me for laminating my wenke]

Mosey to the shelter at the end of the back straightaway on the track.

About a year ago, one of my daughters told me she wanted to go to the dentist because one of her teeth was hurting very badly. I try not to be an alarmist, so I thought she just wanted to get a free toothbrush and a sticker or something. I called Root Canal (aka Dr. Jeff Leal, dentist) and he told me that if any of Whirly’s kids were complaining about any kind of pain it must be some bad pain because he knew how tough Whirly was, and figured his kids were just as tough (not really). Root Canal volunteered to come in to the office ON HIS DAY OFF to see my daughter. Sure enough, she had a popcorn skin/husk thingy stuck between her gum and tooth. Root Canal fixed her up and sent us on our way. Did I mention he did this on his day off? I will never forget that. In honor of Root Canal, we did three man grinders (because I think one of your teeth is called a grinder). 100 merkins, 100 LBCs, 100 squats.

Mary
We didn’t “technically” have time for this, but I was planning on doing gas pumps in honor of my GAS group, and GAS groups in general. Much like the time when The Vig and I both thought we had the Q at UA, and we settled it by playing rock/paper/scissors, and The Vig threw rock and I threw paper, and I chalked it up to a metaphor about The Vig’s physical prowess compared to mine…there’s a metaphor here as well. #vss365 (ill-timed shoutout to DQ)

NMM
Some of the pax, but mainly Snooki, seemed to be disappointed that I didn’t have a Disney reference for some of the exercises, like ISTs. Upon further review, doesn’t Disney own the Star Wars franchise now? #bingo

One way to prevent Root Canal from shouting “ELEVEN!” during exercises done in cadence is to not do more than ten of the exercise. Root Canal was disappointed that we only did 5 Abe Vigodas.

I hardly ever bring a written plan when I Q a workout. I did today. It wasn’t raining when we started. It started raining by the end of the workout. #genuis

Drano treated me to coffee at Starbucks after the workout. I told them I celebrated 5 years of F3 by Q’ing the first workout I ever attended. They gave Drano his coffee in a paper cup. They gave me my latte in a ceramic mug. Just kidding- we didn’t mention F3, but they did give Drano his coffee in a paper cup and my latte in a ceramic mug. #karma

While at Starbucks, Drano and I ran into Chomper and Mr. Hand. Not really relevant, but true.

Announcements
There were no announcements, so I’ll mention that today was my 5 year anniversary of doing F3.

Prayer requests
One praise- one of the families at our church has a daughter who has had crushing migraines for over six months. After 3 spinal taps and/or surgeries, she is finally free of the headaches.

One request- Bevo knows a family who have had twins born prematurely. One is almost stable, the other’s condition is very bleak.

COT
YHC took us out giving thanks for the praise and asking for God’s grace for the prayer request.

P.S.
On a personal note, I want to express my sincere gratitude to each of you for making me stronger and more healthy over the past 5 years. I’m a better husband and much better father because of you. I’m a better football coach to boys (some who don’t have fathers) because of you. Simply put, I would not be in decent shape without your help. I’m dragging up the rear in a lot of workouts (like today), but you guys have drug me to much better fitness (and health) than when I started. I’m not ashamed to be the six in this group. The great philosopher Magic Johnson once said, “If you’re the smartest [or most fit] person in your group, you need a new group.” I’m glad I won’t ever be in that position with this group.