9 PAX came to Iron Horse on this 59 degree, foggy/cloudy morning to participate in a 1 year (well, 1 year and 2 days) celebration of the Chicago Cubs and their 2016 World Series win that ended a 108 year drought without a championship. There was still a little moisture on the field from some overnight rain, but the game must go on.
DISCLAIMER
PRAYER
COP
In 10s, for Retired #10 of Ron Santo. Plus, 10 is always a good starting number. I think I only missed a couple counts
SSH x 10 IC
TTT x 10 IC
LBAC forward x10 IC
LBAC reverse x10 IC
Imperial Walkers x10 IC
The Thang
The original plan for this VQ was going to be a thinly-veiled attempt at endearing YHC to the men of F3 by breaking open the Jim Beam Game 7 Batch I have at home and just sitting back, sipping it, and talking about life. Then, I figured nobody would want to do that when the other choice is work out and get stronger. So, the bottle stayed closed, and a new plan was laid out. A workout based on some of the numbers associated with that championship and this historic franchise.
A larger-than-regulation diamond (multiple PAX noted this right away) was laid out using 4 cones to represent home plate and each of the 3 bases. While I could say the size was because it was a HUGE win, actually, the extra size was just to add a little more to each run. PAX were separated into 2 groups to allow some spacing of the participants while still allowing people to stay grouped for encouragement as needed. One group would start at home and one would start at 2nd. Once they reached their starting base, they would sprint to the next base and begin the workout assigned to it. Then, they would follow the directions listed for traveling to the next base. The benches would also be used after reaching home, but not for resting. There was work to be done at them as well. In a game, even when you are on the bench, you need to stay involved. That would hold true here as well. The exercises at each base were as follows:
- 1st base 27 Block Curls 27 Overhead Press SPRINT TO 2ND
- 2nd Base 27 Jump squats 27 Lunges (Rx1,Lx1=1 rep) SPRINT TO 3RD
- 3rd base 27 LBC 27 Freddie Merc (Rx1,Lx1=1 rep) PAX choice- HOME RUN TROT TO HOME
- Home plate 7 Burpees BEAR CRAWL TO BENCHES (Cubs are baby bears–seemed fitting)
- Benches
- 1st Pass 23 Merkins (Ryne Sandberg #23) 31 Dips (Greg Maddux #31) Bear Crawl Back to Home, Then Sprint Back to 1st Base
- 2nd Pass 26 Merkins (Billy Williams #26) 31 Dips (Fergie Jenkins #31) Bear crawl back to home… if you started at a base, sprint to 1st and complete round 2; if you started at home, additional reps of any exercise OYO until 6 finishes ( extra reps not used since both groups finished almost together)
Because one round didn’t seem like enough, we looked to Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, for inspiration and a rough usage of his most famous quote: We got the setting…there’s sunshine (almost, but not yet), fresh air (mostly). We got the team (and the other PAX) behind us. Let’s play two” . A second round of each station was completed. Once two rounds were completed, that made a total of 108 reps at each base, plus a total of 14 Burpees at home for Ernie’s retired #14
When all PAX completed 2 rounds on the diamond, we moseyed over to Tombstone Hill. Down 3-1, the Cubs faced an Uphill climb to come back and win the series in 7 games. We will do a little uphill climbing of our own, with some other exercises mixed in just for fun (Done in style of 11s or Blackjack) Top of Hill-Burpee; Bottom of Hill- American Hammer (4ct = 1rep). There were several numbers I had in mind. I would select one based on time remaining. The winner was 8—Runs scored in game 7(start 1 top/7 bottom) would require a 4/4 mix at “crossover point”. When we finished on the hill, we moseyed back down the steps, across the pedestrian bridge, and back to the field for one final bit of fun.
Mary
A tip of the hat to the 17-minute rain delay in Game 7 that changed the tide and helped propel the Cubs to victory
- Plank—17 seconds
- Flutter kicks—(4ct) to 17 OYO
- Plank—17 seconds
- Dolly (4ct) to 17 OYO
- Plank—17 seconds
- Because I, unlike the Cubs, came up a little short (should have chosen a bigger number on the hill), there was some time left to fill. I handed this over to the PAX for a bit of “somebody add something to the Mary”: We were introduced to the appropriately named “Doc I Hate You” by Doc Ock, plus some boat/canoes (Ponzi), Sweat Angels, (Doc Ock), Elevator Merkins (Ponzi) and Shoulder Pretzels (Red Card)
CIRCLE OF TRUST
Announcement
The inaugural 3rd F Thursday will be 11/16 at 9pm at the Main Street Pizza Company. See Penn-Seagal for more details. The plan is that this will become a monthly gathering
PRAYER
Moleskin
1st, to the guys who took part in Donatello’s workout Friday night. We missed you this morning, but after reading his BackBlast, we know you guys earned that extra rest. Keep up the hard work as you come down the homestretch to your big event. Stay strong!!
2nd, a tip of the hat to Doc Ock for working out despite leaving half a lung on the field this morning. Feel better soon.
3rd, my thoughts for the day. It has been around 15 months since I first had someone parked near the Farmer’s Market ask me if I “knew where that F3 thing was.” I did not, but directed him to the group of guys standing around in the dark at the far end of the park. I saw that group on a lot of Saturdays when I was starting and/or finishing a morning run. I even went and Googled F3 a couple times to see what things were all about, but I still never came out. Finally, 12 weeks ago, I took Launchpad up on his suggestion to come out for his Q. In the time since then, I have often thought, “I wish I would have done this sooner.” I have enjoyed the workouts I have been a part of despite the fact that they have kicked my backside most days. They have been the addition I was looking for to my mostly-running workout regimen. I look forward to continuing them, while also looking to get more of the other 2 Fs as well. The one thing I have noticed so far is that this group of men is a good one. Guys are there to pick each other up at a workout or at life. That is definitely something I want to be a part of. Finally, one last thing about that Cubs win. For as much as I can remember of my nearly 46 years up to that point, I was a Cubs fan. The one thing that always held true in my experience with that fan base in those “wait til next year” days, was the hope and belief that good things would eventually come. Even though there was a lot of disappointment along the way, those ideas came back each year. While a sports team winning a championship may be fairly insignificant in the big scheme of life, having hope and belief in better things to come is pretty important. We are all faced with speed bumps in life, some big and some small. But, if we can try to stay positive and look ahead to the other side of those bumps, hopefully we can eventually get to those “better things”, whatever they may be.
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