Today was a good day……..and it’s got nothing to do with an AK

8 middle aged dudes who like to think of themselves as warriors shook off the pull of the fartsack to post for a celebration of several things.  The air was full of mist and the air was cool…..perfect conditions for a Fudd beatdown.  Here’s how it went down, more or less:

COP

SSH x 41

Helicopters x 10

Don Quixote x 10

Merican x 15

Crunchy Frogs x 10

LBC x 20

Arm Circles x 30 (15 forward, 15 backward)

31 burpees OYO

 

10 count from Splinter and then mosey to the visitor’s parking lot for curb crawls, south curb to north and back again, increasing from one derkin up to five, repeat five and back down to one.  Due to the significant distance between curbs, YHC audibled after the first five and led the PAX to the front bus loop which has a much shorter distance between curbs.  Finished the last five evolutions there.

Mosey south on Forest to a left on Lakewood, then a left on Hillsdale and stop in front of Lockjaw’s house.

APD’s x 31 in Lockjaw’s driveway.

Mosey south on Hillsdale and take a left on Lakewood and then a left on West Drive Circle.  Stop in front of #305 and do 17 “good” mericans in cadence.

Mosey north on West Drive, cross Hillsdale, run around the circle that gives the street its name, then stop halfway down the hill for Dora 123.  Teams of 2 did 100 mericans, 200 WWII situps, and 300 squats.  One man does the exercises while the other runs up the hill, around the circle, and back to his teammate.  Plank when done.

Mosey back to the flag for 3 minutes of Mary:

Crunchy Frogs x 15

Freddie Mercury x 20

Flutter kicks x 31

YHC took us out

 

NMS

YHC had a lot to celebrate today, a 41^st birthday, a contract on our house that was signed this past weekend, and a Redskins victory yesterday.  We’ll give an honorable mention to Tiger Woods who won his first victory since August 2013….1,876 day drought to be exact.  He may not have been the best husband, but you can’t help but admire someone who fought through all the demons, bad press, and scandal that he did along with the health issues and surgeries.  Hell, he couldn’t walk at one point a year or two ago and he embraced the suck through all of that and fought back to win the TOUR championship.  That’s baller if you ask me.  We should try to get him to an F3 workout sometime.

The 31 burpees OYO during COP was a continuation on a theme that was started by Slurpee (I think) and continued by Honeydo where we do the # of burpees equating to the final score of the Redskins in the preceding day’s game.  There was some Mumblechatter about switching to match the final score of the Jets going forward but the mumblechatter quickly died as the # of burpees increased.

YHC admits he did not realize the distance between curbs in the visitor’s lot.  The degree of difficulty increases exponentially with every foot over 10’ for curb crawls.  Kind of like the Richter scale for earthquakes.  So the 30 feet in that lot led to some seriously smoked guns, leading to the audible to the front of the school.

Lockjaw was not present this morning and, knowing how much he loves the Redskins (right?), YHC thought it would be a travesty to mosey past his house without some type of respectful gesture to include him in the celebration.  APD’s seemed apropos.  Glad none of the neighbors went out to get their paper at that time.

The 17 “good” mericans in front of 305 West Drive were in honor of the 17 years YHC spent in that house from age 4 to 21.  They were good years for the most part so we did “good” mericans with backs straight, chest hitting the ground, and plenty of groans per rep toward the end.

Dora’s were fun and the run up the hill and around the circle was just enough to get the heart pumping and blood flowing between sets of mericans, WW2 situps and squats.  Honeydo burned through the reps to help the time fly for YHC.  Other notable mentions were Splinter and BT who I think may have done an extra lap around the circle due to fast running…..well done gents!  Slurpee, Handshake, Garbage Plate, and Fireman Ed all pushed themselves hard, to their credit, and we were done with time to spare.

It was an honor to lead today gentlemen.  I signed up knowing it would be my birthday today and having no idea that my house would have a contract on it after we took it off the market several weeks ago.  It’s amazing what God will do if you go to him in humility and prayer and give him control of your future.  Many PAX have been kind enough to ask YHC over the past several months about the house, when are we moving, etc.  A wise man once said…..man plans and God laughs. It’s certainly felt that way for YHC this past summer, but thankfully we serve a loving God that cares for us more than we could possibly imagine…..at least, that’s what the Bible says.   And it also says that He has plans for us that are good….meant to help us and not to harm us…..plans to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).  It’s only after you grind through the valleys and rise up the mountain on the other side that you can look back and see the purpose that He had for you during those rough days.  Commuting to and from Baltimore for the past 2 years and being apart from my family each week has sucked, but the experience has prepared me for the next step, and it’s changed me in good ways.  It’s given me more humility, through suffering, but I’m thankful for that.  Suffering is necessary in this life, I’ve come to realize.  It’s how God changes us into the person that He wants us to be.

This is all a long way of saying that I know some of you are going through rough times right now.  Just keep putting one foot in front of the other, lean on your fellow PAX, and keep your eyes on God, not on your problems.  Thank Him for the future he has in store for you….even if you can’t see it yet.  It’s there, and all it takes is faith the size of a mustard seed to make it your reality.

As I celebrate my birthday today, I give thanks for many blessings, including F3……for men that have become like brothers to me, that have been there for me during the good times and the bad.  I don’t think I’ll be in RVA a whole lot longer, but no matter where my family and I end up, it will always be my home, and the men of F3RVA will always be my brothers.

 

Fudd out