Conditions: Humid and Partly Cloudy. 73 degrees, 100% humidity. Wind 4 mph from the NW
The Thang
We divided up into nine teams to play some Rarájipari. Teams of 4 or 5 kick a baseball as they run. No real rules other than you have to kick it everywhere you go. Today each team had to visit four landmarks to collect a playing card. They could collect the cards in any order. First team to make it back with all four cards and the ball was the winner. The landmarks were the Peristyle, The Dueling Oak, The Singing Oak, and the Rugby Pitch. Overall mileage was roughly 3 miles for the efficient teams, over 3.5 for some of the more directionally challenged teams.
Cool Down
As teams arrived back to the start High-Rise led as he took stretch requests and YHC closed us out with a little Mary before we sealed the deal.
NMM
- Chaos ensued at the start. A couple of Pax went down with turned ankles and balls were lost.
- We started with nine balls. We ended with five. Not sure of the specifics, but one team was rumored to have lost two balls somehow.
- One team lost a ball off the Wisner Bridge. That leads to a number of questions.
- The teams that went to the Peristyle first had to weave their way through a Zumba class to get to the flag.
- This workout was much more compliant with Corona restrictions than what Papa Smurf did on Monday. Although our pods were sharing the same ball, YHC was the only one without shoes. CDC guidelines limit shoeless Rarájipari players to one per team. In an abundance of caution, other teams shod all of their players.
- Some teams were looking for Dueling Oaks. Just to clarify, the Oaks themselves have no beef with one another. The Dueling Oak, singular, was the location of many a human duel back in the day.
- T-claps to Rudy, Boo-Boo, and Kuch for helping YHC put the flags out this morning.
- T-claps to Bushwhacker and Cowbell for making the trek from the frigid North. Cowbell was showing off a strong sock game today.
- Every Rarájipari team has a 6. And depending on what group we are in, that could, for the most part, be any one of us. The fast guys are usually controlling the ball up front and the 6 is keeping a consistent pace trying to keep up. You may be falling farther and farther behind, but you keep running. You keep plugging away. Inevitably someone kicks the ball into the shrubs, or into a giant mud hole, or off the Wisner Bridge and you catch up. It’s hard to overstate the importance of consistency in every aspect of our lives. Keep plugging away – you’ll get there.
