F3 New Orleans

Tag: Bongo

  • #41 (not the Dave Matthews song) at Okwata – from Thumb War

    Disclaimer and Bday announcement.

    Mosey to the grass area in front of Mardi Gras fountain for Warmup in Cadence :

    Abe bagotas
    Grass grabbers
    Low slow squats
    Hill Billies
    Arm circles F & B
    Seal claps
    Moroccan night clubs
    Peter Parkers
    Mountain climbers
    SSH – 41 in Cadence

    Thang:

    2 rounds of Route 66 towards bridge near Marconi

    Round 1
    Jogging between the light poles, did escalating burpees at each stop starting with 1 rep

    Round 2
    Jogging between the poles, did ascending air squats starting with 11 reps

    We jogged across the street towards levee but stopped along the way and held People chair at the wall.

    Indian Ran the levee top to the house of pain for 4 sets of 5 pull ups.

    Jogged back to lake by Okwata sign for around the horn of Mary.

    Back to the Flag for COT and thanks for the Bday Q and F3 in my life.

    PS. #41 is one of my favorite Dave Matthews Band songs.

  • It Was Only A Mile – from Paradox

    Journal entry
    Feb 17, 2024
    An eventful morning on the Farm

    My family has lived on this property out along Hwy 1 since around WW2 and most mornings I follow a strict but enjoyable routine. Up just before the sun rises over the cane fields , I brew a pot of coffee and check the weather. Then I enjoy a quiet morning with my thoughts, some prayer and maybe even a good book.

    But this morning …this morning my routine was , well, I’ll put it politely and say it was disturbed. You see, shortly after the weatherman informed me that today’s forecast was not fit for man nor beast , well I heard just that. A man , my nephew, in the yard hollering at some sort of animal. On closer inspection out my kitchen window it was no beast making these noises but a hybrid redneck dialect being emitted from another human he insisted on calling a paradox. He was in a truck loaded nose to tail with tents and tables like Jed Clampett. “Shoot fire Yankee this is a mighty fine residence, hope tha skeeters ain’t neer bad as the peltch last beatdown” he said while looking around the farm. I expected him to have no teeth at all but he only seemed to be lacking inseam in his shorts. A paradox indeed.

    To my amazement, my nephew, the one he kept calling Yankee, seemed to know and welcome him and they began putting out cones and yard signs in a cold rain storm just happier than two pigs in the sunshine. Things were getting quite strange here , and little did I know it was just the beginning.

    By 7:15 the rain had let up but the floodgates of middle aged men with knee braces and headbands were now wide open. Short , tall, thick , thin, they all piled in helping setup a flooded tent and passing around gold baun sticks and theraguns. Some dressed for the weather while others invested in Himalayan technology to keep there mammary glands chafe free. There seemed to be no distinction in vehicle either as they stepped from punisher Tundras or eco friendly wagons. They greeted old friends with butt slaps and elbow taps yelling obscenities like FracSac and Goosey. Quite frankly , I don’t even care to know why a Hawg would even need a cycle. This ceremony continued until there were dang near 30 of them loitering around our property! I had the authorities dialed up when I was informed they had gathered on purpose AND for a charity cause AND my nephew had actually planned on them being here! Tomfoolery! The very definition!

    I settled back into my armchair to take a breather. That’s when the foghorn went off …and they started running.

    The first one I saw break away from the pack looked like he had been taken right off the cover of one of those running magazines. A stride so Smooth you would swear he was standing still but hard to reconcile that with the 1/2 mile lead he had most of the day.

    Behind him were 3-4 others seemingly using this gazelle as a pace car and weighing options that he couldn’t keep that pace all day..right..right?! (He would)

    They had one young enough to be 15 with spring loaded rubber for legs and others flexing the scars of midlife ,held together with bioflex and gorilla glue.

    Behind this second group were the real rabble rousers. A pack of 10-15 wild dogs complete with mobile tunes, homemade JV shirts and promises every turn that “I think this is it for me boys..wink, wink”

    A few ringleaders in this pack but the real Don Corleone was a highlighter vested gentleman they all called Popeye. He was not blazing land speed records but something about the way he set his jaw let any observer know he wouldn’t be denied his mileage goal.

    They all hit the first corner in site of the quarter mile cone and stared down a cold and wet 15mph headwind, lovely. Gosh I wonder if any of them had cozy pickleball scheduled today.

    In between miles I saw various strategies of recharge. Some gorged calories , others walked it out , and some stood still contemplating the next lap. Many of these hooligans searched for a man who I guessed to be their local shaman but lap after lap he wore many more hats (and one whistle) . One part coach , one part field general, his intimate knowledge of the men was palpable . Some he pushed harder, others he let down easy, both equally effective in getting his men’s best effort. He delivered speeches to ward off ego and checked joints for oil leakage like a seasoned mechanic. With a firm nod or a head turned grin he communicated his trust. This was a leader of high impact men from any viewpoint. He whistled and they ran. They ran and he whistled.

    The wind blew. The socks got wet, got swapped out and got wet again. Many met their goal mileage, passed it and kept on churning. By about 11am most having exceeded a half marathon at this point, most took a bowl of delicious pastalaya and continued to cheer on the rest.

    By around 2pm there were 4 still running . And when I thought I had heard it all one yelled “back the cones up” and they took off for one last trip, this time for 1.2 miles. The gazelle in front still as fresh as mile 1 but that ole hawg wasn’t far behind. They all knew he had a little sand left in those bags. The third man was a true bewilderment. His physique suggesting he could walk on as an NFL tight-end but his running demeanor at mile 26 was simply unbothered. The redneck brought up the rear and surely he thought there was a bud light promotion for finishers. (there wasn’t, but a Coors from a friend was even better)

    The gazelle found the finish line first only a second in front of the hawg and the artist they called Tana only a furlong after that.

    And as the miles piled up I pondered to myself “why would they do something so utterly stupid “. With time on my hands, as the trucks loaded with tents and boxes dispersed , I came to three potential conclusions.

    Was it fitness driving them ?

    Surely this looked plausible as some had clear physical gifts and several maintained peak cardio strain. Were these average Yankee Jeaux’s striving to be Americas Best athletes? Unlikely. But I can only say it seemed the fitness got them here, but it was not the reason they stayed for more. An appetizer of sorts, maybe stellar quads is just the byproduct ….so I kept searching.

    Were they just here to fellowship? Some signs pointed in this direction. As soon as I saw the Solo Stove fire pit I knew a high fluting party was in full swing. This crew obviously knew how to have a good time and the verbal assaults flying along with answered grins of disdain indicated enjoyment of each others company. I’m Closer to the mark here but…but no. Not quite the primary driving factor I could sense.

    So if they weren’t fitness professionals and most would think a better party is available at any other watering hole then what’s left ?!

    Hidden amongst the laps, intertwined between these fun loving family men, was the intrinsic need to put ones own pain aside. To combine that suffering with the brother next to him and have it all be for something much larger than themselves. That’s why they ran. Every step counted , every lap mattered. It was “only a mile” they said to each other .

    But it seemed like so much more.

    This was a fine day.

    Postscript

    Congrats to NOLA’s Smooth for winning the first annual IOAM! See ya next to year to defend .

    Second place – The OG sandbagger himself Mr. Hawgcycle

    Third place – Wilford Montana – forged in the fires of deep Bourg pickleball this was truly impressive brother!

    To all that ran today (and one that whistled), thank you for your time , effort and commitment to raise money for several great causes today and during RCR.

    Thanks to Rudy for the ground support and motivation. You really stepped RCR up this year!

    Special Thanks to Enron and Bourgeois Meat Market for the awesome lunch!

    As usual artistic liberties were taken in portrayal of backblast characters but Reluctant Yankee and his family were overwhelmingly gracious hosts . Huge thanks to his family for having us invade their Saturday!

    It’s a privilege to lead.

    SYITG

    Paradox

  • Who’s the Q….You! – from Triple Shift

    It’s Run Cajun Run! I committed to get some steady miles on paved roads (littered with cracked and pitted asphalt) as opposed to slogging through a sloppy mess at a Metairie track. I visited an old stomping ground called the 6-10 Stomp! The last time I visited that AO was probably a year or two ago. So, in honor of showing up, the regular pax voluntold me that I was the Q so I would write the backblast.

    The Thang – 20 minutes out and 20 minutes back. Closed with a COT where we lifted up the pax members who are suffering from illness, loss, and sickness. We also celebrated the wonderful gift of revelry, joy, and happiness that permeates our area during Mardi Gras.

  • 8 years and more to come – from Bongo

    Don’t know where to start from this morning, but overall a fun beatdown. Too much mumble chatter, mostly instigated through Bogey and Frac almost to point of harassment. But the Q moves on and stays focused on the job at hand as a leader. My exact (8) year anniversary is 1/30/2016, but was volunteered last week by Catfish for this week’s mothership so we’ll celebrate a week (or two early).

    The main theme, unknown until final COT was to go back to my first beatdown as an FNG and recreate that, or as close as I could get. Here is the former Workout, https://www.f3nola.com/2016/01/30/no-hawg-no-flag-but-time-for-tyson/. Another point, temperature was < 32 F which I think is one of the coldest mornings in the gloom I can recall. Despite this, (12) pax showed up ready and willing which any Q, as I am, would be thankful for today. Here we go: Boys got together – and we took off for the Peristyle. Circled up for our WARMUP COP. SSH x 25, Slow Squats x 10, Mountain Climbers x 25, and Imperial Walkers x 25 Arm circles X 10 each way. Circle Back up to visit our boy – Jack Webb. Push Ups/Air Press starting at 1, then 2, then 3, then 4 to 10 over at the great. Still way too cold and time to start moseying to NOMA pond. IC Dips x 20, Left leg step up x 2, Incline Mercans X 15, Right leg step up x 20, Dips x 20, Decline Mercans X 15 Box Jumps x 1… OYO with former story from my past I ain’t telling again…., no one is getting hurt under my watch! Long Mosey over the Football Field of Practice Track Eleven across the football field with running in middle, Burpees on one end, big boy sit ups on other. You know the math as I don’t need to explain. 5 rounds with Tyson. Sprint to the 50 yrd line do an exercise, then the goal line do an exercise, then back to the 50 and finish at the Goal line with a 4 set of the exercise. Rd 1 Burpees x 5, Rd 2 Jump Squats x 10, Rd 3 Peter Parkers x 15 each leg, Rd 4 Dying Roaches -x 20 total to keep it easy and finished Rd 5 Burpees X 5. Long mosey back to great lawn with quick stop at calf raise stand of stadium, Heisenburg counted us in. Great Lawn minimal Mary: Flutter Kicks X 20 and Hello Dolly X 20, arriving back to flag at 07:29:58. What a way for Q to keep us on time. COT went back through a reflection of my appreciation of what F3 has done form me in the last (8) years and how the (3) Fs (in whatever order) continue to bring me back. Many thanks for the opportunity to lead as always as I need to do it more. Here is to many years to come! See you on the radio.

  • Folsom Prison Blues – from Rudy

    21 PAX gathered in the gloom – 1 DR visitor from Katy TX (Happy Meals) and 2 more of the Chips brood – welcome Chip and Dale, his 9 year old identical twins! (also joining were the other 2 Chips boys – Frito Lay and Knucklehead. What a name — “Knucklehead”!!!)

    6:30 strikes and after a disclaimer we were off to the rocks. Limber up with some stretches and low impact activities (Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies), then some SSH. We had to restart that after explaining to Maytag how a “cadence” works. Oh, thanks for joining late Mahatma and DAX.

    Non-stop chatter from Heisenberg and Vagabond earned a quick 5 burpee penalty. Then go grab a rock.

    YHC grabbed a rock that proved to be way too big. But we’ll get to that.

    Deck-o-Death: start plowing through the deck with Overhead Press, Curl, Row and Squat. One variant – doing 2, 3 or 4 of any suit barely seems worth the trouble. So when those cards were flipped, we’d do 10 burpees, 20 Peter Parkers or 30 LBS instead. FracSac accused YHC of planting the deck with multiple King of Spades. WRONG. Half way through, Hawgcycle noticed that YHC was struggling – so he snuck in to replace my rock with a mere pebble that he’d been using. Shamed, but thankful…

    7:00am – time to call the deck off (half way through give or take) and mosey to the Mini to gather up some bricks. Didn’t quite have enough for everyone – figure it out.

    Partner up on the Great Lawn for a Dora-Ish thing. 3 rounds. PAX 1 (timer) runs back and forth with the rock while PAX 2 exercises. Flip. Rinse and Repeat. First round: PAX 2 does Brick-pees. Second round: PAX 2 does FLoyd Mayweathers (with brick). Third round: PAX 2 does Sit Ups. Rounds change on a timer, not on a count – so everyone just keeps going.

    7:20 – time for the last item. 56 Years ago today, Johnny Cash recorded Folsom Prison Blues live at the Folsom Prison. So to honor the man in black, we’ll do Ring of Fire while listening to Cocaine Blues, Dirty Old Egg-Suckin’ Dog and other hits. First round with Merkins, Second round with Squats, Third round with Leg lifts.

    And that got us to 7:30. Back to the flag for a COT. Naming of Chip and Dale might have been the FASTEST FNG naming I’ve ever been associated with. “I like Disney Land” said one of ’em. And that was that.

    Intentions for sick and suffering F3 PAX and friends – Bongo’s wife, Mayhem’s friends the Schaff family in particular (but not alone).

    YHC took us home with a reflection about Romans 7. Then off to coffee!

  • Winter is Here – from Bongo

    A little bit cold for NOLA on this first day of winter ( I think) where (5) other PAX showed. I was looking forward to this Q as my work vacation was really starting to take full flight as I drift away from work, and get into living mode. Here is what went down:

    Warm up

    run around the fountain and the following on the fountain lawn:

    – SSH X 20
    – IW X 20
    – Arm Circles X 20
    – Mountain Climbers X 20
    – Self love

    Off to running on the levee to get us warmed up, with random calls for (5) burpees when Q decides, we mad the run all the way to the shelter, turned and headed to circle benches for one clock rotation of dips X 5 at each with Lunge walks between benches in cadence. Change to Bear crawl for last 2 or 3.

    Dora 100 — Merkins, 200 — LBCs, 300 — struts

    Then back to the invisible flag for some round Robin Mary, one full circle.

    Back to COT and then…… we see 6 or 7 souls coming towards us and looking a bit hard at us….. We are at the Lakefront, and i went to Rummel, so I started having flashbacks if this was a fight?? No, it was a bunch of uptowners intiating a new run tradition from river to the Lake to happened every Thursday before Christmas, this was the first again. They joined the COT.

    Thanks for allowing me to lead, yes i need to do it more.

    See y’all on the radio or beatdowns.

    Dave D.

  • Frisbee and Burpees – from Fracsac

    The Mothership happened today with a visit by Goose from Thibodaux. Ballast, Heisenberg, Revit, Catfish, Bongo, Dax, Tool, Kennah Brah, Squints, and YHC brought us to 11.

    Disclaimer made, then mosey.

    Warmup at the peristyle with some regular stuff and included TIE Fighters. #IYKYK
    Ended warmup with a mental challenge. Count to 16 SSH in cadence than to 22 in silence. Penalty for non compliance was 10 burpees. Spoiler alert: we did 10 burpees.

    Move to great lawn for variation of BLIMPS to recognize NDSU in FCS playoffs. 5 more burpees ‘cause the pax called their mascot a buffalo.
    1 cone in the middle with 5 cones on the outside. Start with 5 burpees in the middle and then bear crawl to an outside cone to do next exercise. Always return to middle cone for 5 burpees.
    10 Lunges, 15 IW, 20 ‘mericans, 25 PJ, 30 squats.

    Mosey for a while with a Bison run. Last man sprints to front of column and tosses frisbee to last man, continue until all get a shot.

    Ring of fire in front of sculpture garden entrance. ‘Mericans, squats and then monkey humpers (just as a nun was walking by – not my best day).

    Mosey and pass the frisbee across at least 4 pax. 5 burpees for the one drop.

    11s at the bridge behind Cafe du Monde. Jump squats on one side and V-ups on the other side.

    Some frisbee practice at Pops band stand with SSH.

    Finish with some Mary then back to the flag.

    55 burpees total. #ironsharpensiron

    CoT

    SYITG

  • Casino Royale and The Gettysburg Address – from Triple Shift

    If you don’t write a backblast quickly, you will forget the details. I’m doing this for the Pax Miner so everyone gets credit.

    I brought all my toys (dumbbells, kettlebells, and sandbags) and borrowed a couple from Frac and Heisenberg’s 80lb sand ball. I provided a disclaimer and the pax picked up all the coupons and headed to the front steps of NOMA to play a few rounds of blackjack.
    Diamonds – Thrusters/Squats
    Hearts – No Cheat Merkins/Bench
    Clubs – Patti Cake Big Boi Sit-ups
    Spades – Body Row/Upright Row
    Joker – Farmer Carry/Run around NOMA
    A’s – 10 of suit and then Bear Crawl to one side where the slate ends.
    K’s – 10 of suit and then Lunge Walk to one side where the slate ends.
    Q-s – 10 of suit and then Monkey Walk to one side where the slate ends.
    J’s – 10 of suit and then Duck Walk to one side where the slate ends.

    For the game of Blackjack, the loser or if a draw happens, performs 10 burpees. The winner does one (1) burpee, and a bust (going over 21) must do the number of burpees of the bust. My kids came up with that diabolical choice as in the Prisoner’s dilemma scenario.

    We finish up by carrying all the weight back to the virtual flag. For the COT, I shared with Pax that the next day (November 19, 1863), Abraham Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address where some 51,000 men were either killed, wounded or went missing / captured in the three day battle. With that, I closed out with reading President Lincoln’s speech.

    Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
    Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

    But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
    Abraham Lincoln
    November 19, 1863

  • PYDHY – from Vagabond

    Warmup

    Circle up – challenge to see how far we can push ourselves beyond mental limits

    PYDHY – “Push yourself don’t hurt yourself”
    do as many as you can side straddle hops facing outward so you can see other pax – stop when you get tired (not speed but total number)
    do as many as you can shoulder taps – stop when you can’t do any more

    When done turn around LBCs in your own
    Was the number surprising to you?
    We’ll do again another time – remember your number

    Partner up

    throw frisbee, kick ball to each other back and forth 10x each
    frisbee touches or ball bounced ground, 5 burpees/3 8 cts

    Peristyle benches 15 reps
    Squats while waiting

    Dips
    Derkins
    Irkins
    R leg step ups
    L leg step ups
    R Hungarian split squat
    L Hungarian split squat
    Incline wife pleaser
    Plank walk up/downs

    Ring of fire
    Bonnie Blairs
    Al Gore

    Mary

    Great lawn – soccer

  • Cool front with a high of 91 – from Bongo

    Just a general feel of excitement from PAX for it felt…… Cool??, maybe it was just strong Lakefront wind or a bit drop in humidity? It won’t be here for long though, but nice. I consider this the last day of summer even though not formally per season divisions, “the summer is out of reach, empty lake, empty street, Sun now goes down alone”.

    Regardless none that has anything to do with the work out below, I have just needed to Q for sometime and took day off from Norco to do this, so here it is:

    Had a nice (8) folks show, and hopefully I gave everyone their money’s worth:

    Warm up

    SSH X 24
    IW X 15
    GG X 15
    AV X 15
    Arm Circles X 20
    Mountain Climbers X 20
    PP X 20
    Burpees X 5

    Off to circle of benches for some dip rotations, X 5 at each bench with lunge walk or bear crawl in between. We should use this set up more at Okwata.

    Dora 1,2,3 = 100 Merkins, 200 Sit Ups, 300

    Indian run back to flag and round robin of Mary at waterline by all as sun rises.

    As always I appreciate the opportunity to lead with F3.

    See you on the radio as I am now.

    Bongo