Circle of Respect

19 pax and one wandering lost boy gathered in the shadow of the Carillon to see how cold it actually was.  Cold weather gear was dusted off this morning, except for Helix…who sported the same tshirt and shorts that most pax would wear if it were 75 and humid.  Lets get warmed up!

COP- SSH, IW, DQ, Arm Circles, 10 Richard Kimbles for HoneyDo

Sunrise over the James- run the bridge, 3 burpees at each light pole to Riverside Dr.  Do 20 merkins and turn around, 5 ww2 situps at each light pole on the way back.  Pax stops for the 20 merkins and turnaround once passed by the leaders coming back.

Run up Love Hill- Switch off between running and running backwards up Love Hill to the gate.  Karaokes around the circle for the pax.

Circle of Respect-  At the foot of the Carillon, circle up.  Pax does 5 merkins for each pax member that served (HoneyDo, Hitchhiker, and Lab Rat).  Then, pax goes around the circle and tells the pax about a friend or family member that served, and the pax gave 5 merkins in honor of that person.

Time Killer Sprints- Sprint 25 percent of lawn, recover run 75 percent.  Sprint back 50, recover 50.  Sprint 75, recover 25.  Last lap was choice of sprint 100 or backwards run.

Mary- GI Jane situps, Korean Hammers (nod to Korean Army veteran Hitchhiker), Freddie Mercuries, plankorama.

NMS

-Lab Rat doesnt do good at themed Q’s, so he generally leaves them up to the experts (Splinter, Lockjaw, and HoneyDo….although Lockjaw might get some counterpoints there), but he does look forward to this Q every year for the circle of respect.  It’s a powerful thing, being able to tell the pax a family member or friend that stepped across that line and offered everything up to and including his/her life to a greater cause.  His hope is that even though we have a workout to get in, we can take a small portion of that workout and be able to say we appreciate  those that toed the line without coming off as too gimmicky.  (for reference, vets can also get a free small wings and side of fries at BW3 today, and probably a free plate of flapjacks at your local iHop)  Hopefully, that goal was accomplished.

Respect to Pele for coming out one the coldest days of the year so far.  He crushed it!  Bleeder should be proud.

Hardywood was a little late today and did his best Flipper impression, wandering around the AO looking for the pax.  If the Q got the story straight, he joined in at the tail end of the Sunrise over the James.  Glad you finally found us!  Hopefully you got the chance to take in the sunrise, it was stunning this morning!

The Q was slightly taken aback when Hitchhiker spoke up as a veteran….blame that on shortsightedness of Lab Rat.  Respect for your service to your home country, brother!

Hopefully, everybody appreciated the GI Jane situps!  If nothing else, YHC bets you werent cold then!  #bodyheat

ET’s was awesome as usual.  Hutton provided ample entertainment by throwing a six pack on the table.  Not sure how many he made it home with, but it was no more than 5.  Hardywood took his shirt off, no surprise there.

Apology of the week goes out to everybody in the merkins challenge that doesnt get to count the burpees from the bridge, which we did a few.  At least you dont have to count light poles now, though!

Lab Rat apologizes…