Tag: Cowbell

  • Lo and behold-6 full-grown knaves, wll past the age of wisdom, were seen galloping through the ancient streets of Olde Mandeville – from Waterpik

    Hear ye, hear ye! A most noble and mildly ridiculous account of this morn’s Thursday gathering of the F3 fellowship:

    Upon the dawning of the day, ‘twas declared with great fervour that the F must needs be restored unto our Thursday toil — for lo, ‘tis not merely a letter, but a spirit, a flame, a fire! Sir Jose10k, in an act of alchemical wit, didst attempt to divine the sacred algorithm by which Sir Cowbell arrives exactly two minutes tardy to each summons. Two minutes? Verily, the crowd did wonder what other feats he performeth in such swift time…

    The gallant gazelles did leap forth along their usual path, their strides light and graceful. Meanwhile, the Clydesdales, noble of heart and heavy of hoof, did follow apace, conversing of many a deep matter: the fickle nature of diet, the perils of teenagers, the enchantments of prom, and the heartbreaks of love long lost.

    And lo! Upon the return to the realm of swings and monkey bars, there stood the mighty Waterpik, who smited the brethren with feats of strength and calisthenics most cruel. None could match his vigour, though many did try, and all did suffer with great camaraderie.

    Thus concludes the tale of six buffoons, bringing both glory and distress to the cobblestones of Olde Mandeville. They ended the morn, sweaty and sore, yet richer in tales and tighter of hamstring. Long live the fellowship of F3!

    Fin.

    Now, let me explain this. I am in the middle of administering the English portion of the state test. Upon finishing the test, all of my students are talking in English accents. I had to inquire why, and apparently one of the questions involved the Renaissance Perfect, now I get to do the thing that I absolutely love to do. I get to tap into my students’ creativity and give them a shared google document. The topic: early morning run with exercises at the playground at the end. The theme: old English. And bam, this is what they come up with. I did add a little flare to it: sorry Cowbell. I hope y’all enjoyed it.

  • Wall to Wall Disappointment – from Steve

    Man, this was the kinda crowd where you gotta have your coffee before you show up to Q. That or a shot of Jaegermeister.

    Not only did YHC have Bush texting the night before, making sure it would be an “impactful” beatdown before he committed to posting, but I had the Wacker progeny after me as well, with Duke apparently complaining that morning that, “Oh Mr. Steve’s workouts are never that hard.”

    Et tu, Duke?

    YHC had the last laugh, though, conjuring images of Mandeville’s long-dormant Machete Man just before Duke attempted to relieve his bladder in Granny’s bamboo forest. The little man noped right outta there!

    Now I can’t say that this beatdown was impactful, but hey, we did try a few new things. Started each round with a different wall exercise at the far end of the corridor, followed by another exercise x15 at each of three points around the trailhead, before circling back for some calf raises. Rinse and repeat.

    The wall (and subsequent) exercises were:
    BTTW crawl —> 15 jump squats (x3)
    Donkey Kicks x15 —> 15 merkins (x3)
    Hip Slappers x 15 IC —> 15x big boys (x3)
    People’s Chair w/ Air Presses x 100 —> 15x SMK’s IC (x3)
    Dirty hookup x15 (2:1) —> 15x T-merkins (x3)

    Everyone was bummed that we had to save the Chicken Peckers for a later date, but hey, we did get to hear many tales along the way.

    We learned that Jose on vacation in Grenada is the same Jose that we get every week: he nearly memorialized his 10k status on TripAdvisor, threatening the airline that he’d run from the hotel to the airport if they didn’t provide a taxi to get his lost luggage. Considering Jose’s recent mastery of the backblast, I think we can all agree that the world has been deprived of a very unique TripAdvisor review.

    What else… Three of the pax (Russo, Bush, Cowbell) had successfully run the Crescent City Classic over the weekend. Cowbell reminisced about the time the amphitheater bats chased him down the block. Duke counted cadence with the salty authority of the gunnery sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. (Duke also showed us the opposite of “intensify to modify,” with his Dead Superman modification of the t-merkins reminding me of the old days and the infamous “Nacho plank.”) Bushwacker lit fire to his reputation as a tight wad and made it rain this weekend, buying trips and vehicles that would’ve given the Bush of old an aneurism. And last, but certainly not least, we learned that you don’t cut in front of bear-killer Coachella at the lunch line at Piccadilly, even if you are a child. Bad things happen and this man has no problem stepping over your dead body for another scoop of carrot soufflé.

    COT, announcements of the Zoorich Classic this Saturday, Legal’s party on May 10th, and Coachella’s birthday party coming up in June. Stay tuned for details on the latter, which promises to be a Breakfast Club-type collision of stereotypes. And finally, Russo prayed us out.

    T-claps to Coach, who is making a concerted effort to post to multiple weekday beatdowns from here on out. (Be on the lookout for him at Thursday’s Scramble, minus the plate armor.)

    And thank you gentlemen for posting this morning and pushing me to get a little better. Appreciate you.

    Except for Bushwacker, who summarized my effort to make this an impactful beatdown as…

    “Eh.”

  • Now that is later than usual! – from Shooter

    4 HIMs converged on the Scramble this gloom for a little extra than the norm.. What was normal is Cowbell rolling in hot. Now what wasn’t is how late he arrived. For years he has always showed up precisely 1:10 past 0515. However, today was 1:10 before our departure at 0520..
    What is going on?
    Is this the new norm?
    Was it the absence of Jose10k?
    Maybe it was the lack of Ruckers since RCR ended?
    Whatever it may have been the future Scrambles should provide if it is the new norm.

    Appreciate the post and until the next gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • Hello to the muggies!! – from Shooter

    Almost forgot what it felt like to be sweating by the first stop sign. This gloom provided a reminder of what is soon to come. The Muggies are back and so is Cowbell..
    5 PAX posted for the Scramble
    10k Rucked, Steve and Cowbell paced and Waterpik and YHC moseyed.
    We made it back and wrapped up with some core.

    Appreciate the post and until the next Gloom
    👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!!

  • Return of the Deck – from Russo

    Congrats to everyone knocking out RCR this year. Steve definitely held up his end, and with it the end of the month, my thought was to keep the running to a minimum. So mid-to-upper 40s this morning for a krewe of 3 for the return of the deck of death.

    Warmups (IC 10x)
    – SSHs
    – Self love
    – High knees
    – Toe touches
    – Imperial walkers
    – Arm circles

    Thang
    Ye olde tried and true deck of death, using the benches and stage as changes of scenery:

    Spades – urkins
    Clubs – step ups
    Diamonds – freak nastys
    Hearts – BSSs

    Spades – Peter Parker’s
    Clubs – shoulder tap plank jacks (2 is 1)
    Diamonds – lunges (2 is 1)
    Hearts – leg raises

    Spades – Merkins
    Clubs – Monkey Humpers
    Diamonds- SMCs
    Hearts – American hammers

    Before the deck, we made a loop, and between the rounds, we slalomed the columns.

    Mary (10x IC)

    Crunchy frogs
    Hello Dollie’s
    LBCs
    Flutter Kicks

    We finished with COT, NOR, and quick prayer.
    Thanks to the two krewe men for joining.
    SYITG

  • Runners, Ruckers and a Tweener!! – from Shooter

    With excellent conditions of 55 degree weather 8 HIMs embarked on the Scramble. Some early some on time and of course there is Cowbell right after rolling in hot. One needs to recognize the consistency picking up right where he left off from his F3 break while he shifted to straight running. PAX completed a few warmups of Torso twists, grass grabbers, Butt kicks, Imperial walkers, Hillbillies and Good Mornings. Instructions 20 out and back for the Ruckers and the Shooter route down W Causeway approach zig zagging back to the AO. Upon return completed some stretches and wrapped up..

    Appreciate the post and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!

  • Time to put some RCR miles on the board – from Waterpik

    Steve, Cowbell, Shooter, and YHC took off down to the lake front and put 4 miles on the board for RCR. 3 Ruckers: Jose10k, Akbar, and Hogs Breath. They claimed to have solved the world’s problems, however, Hogsbreath forgot to write them down. Oh well, perhaps next week.

  • Well, Well, Well did someone ring Cowbell? – from Shooter

    Shifting to a little more weight lifting in the New year. YHC still plans to keep his AO commitments and his down payment of Qing..
    My what a surprise he would have on this Scramble with Cowbell rolling up in the man wagon (Suburban) in Cowbell fashion right on the dot as the PAX was already starting on the warmup.
    Today produced 3 groups of 3 different speeds of runners and 1 lonely Rucker in Akbar.

    Normal route with 2x loop for some, 1 loop for others and a 20 out and back for the other..

    Prayers for LA fire victims and for Roxanne battling liver issues.

    Appreciate the post and until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!

  • Because Jose said I have to – from Russo

    In my former life as an auditor, excluding the requisite beauty and brains, one of the attributes we were told we should have was “professional skepticism”: the ability to question what you see or hear and find the truth. With just a little more thought, I bet I could now see where I became such a fan of conspiracy theories, although I’m not sure how I’m not a fan of the X-files.

    In order to do that successfully, there were two separate but related directives that were pounded into our skulls: “Trust but verify” and “If it wasn’t documented, it wasn’t done.”

    Jose lives by the latter. He upholds the standard we all begrudgingly accept, and so yes, he’s correct we should backblast away. I’m 25.5 hours beyond the COT for this beatdown, so that means in his eyes it’s “late”. But we’re on Northshore homeschool soccer parent time, where the idea of time and deadlines and schedules are a novel concept and not really a thing.

    No weather report since that’s too generic, but it was “cold”. Not cold enough to keep Steve and Cowbell from joining, however, and I’m glad that they did.

    Warmup 10x IC
    SSHs
    Seal Jacks
    Self Love
    Torso twists
    Imperial walkers
    Arm circles

    Thang
    Mosey to the bridge, stopping at each block for 14 squats and 14 Merkins (not 15).

    At the bridge, back and forth back and forth, stopping on each side.

    Various traversements (it’s a word) included:
    Mosey 2x
    Side shuffle 2x
    Carioca 2x
    Back Pedal 2x
    Skip 1x

    Various exercises included, all core work,
    10 of one of the following on each side
    – Crunchy frogs and Leg raises 2x
    – American hammers and gas pumps 2x
    – Rosalitas and Hello Dolly’s 2x
    – Penguins and LBCs 2x
    – E2K and LMCs 1x

    COT, with count, NOR, announcements and prayer to close us out.

    Thanks to you for joining, reading, and keeping us all in order, Jose!

    SYITG

  • Let’s start this party with a bang – from Jose10k

    A bunch of gentlemen got together this morning to finally put forth an epic beatdown worthy of the first day of 2025. Bushwhacker was first up, it was Round Robin style, and of course Bushwhacker started off giving a wonderful description of his beatdown. The detailed, thought out approach was mesmerizing. His intensity is legendary, however, Ten minutes later, he just simply called out 100-100s and he was done. Next up was Bird. Bird gave us his infamous yoga workout, which was unbelievably increasingly difficult. Stretches, handstands, where he walked around with three people on both of his feet while he was handstanding on one arm. Epic. Akbar kept it simple: 3 rounds of Stone Mountains increasing by 5 up the street, then decreasing by 5 back down. Grundy was up next. That’s when he brought out 2 100 pound sandbags and a spear. We each took turns trying to hit the unlucky man carrying the sandbags with the spear. Luckily, no one could hit the broad side of a barn. But we did hear Grundy yell “ If you think you want to quit, don’t quit! JV was grumble grumble, but more pissed about the pace for next years turkey trot. Next up was Einstein with Star Jacks and the. Norwegian speed skater workout. we hate him for that. Next up was Fledge with hot sauce. We always enjoy the hot sauce, it’s good stuff. BBQ was up with some, uh, Al Gore Thorough Goods, and a cadence that was very, very questionable. And of course, there was Hammer, and Hammer simply said, let’s do burpees, while giving us random 80s and 90s pop culture trivia. Shooter had donkey kicks. Hate donkey kicks. And those damn dice and jump rope. Ken from Humana will beat you down, but get you a great deal on healthcare with his own personal birthday celebrations. Shooter than called out for Steve to go next. Steve with his Bulgarian Split Squats and his cracking burpees. I’m so sick of those, Steve. The next person up on the list, well, it was Moby. Oh, Moby and that damn chain. I’m so sick of that chain. But at 74, soon to be 75, I guess he can do whatever the hell he wants. Zoolander was next up, and he doesn’t have a signature exercise, but god dang, does he not just look dapper. He was wearing those iconic aviator sunglasses and the feathered hair just in a perfect form. It’s epic. Waterpik and his perfect squats. Perfect form, and then a nice, you know, three-mile jog to warm us all up. And then while we’re doing all that, my nephew Speedy comes around the corner after running 15 miles with a four-minute, three-thirty-second pace. And then there was somebody going, huh? And that was Frank from Rommel trying to wrestle Russo down to the ground to try to convince him that Forrest Gump was the greatest movie ever made. All Russo wanted to do was a round of “Never have I ever” , and I’m still not convinced of the rules. While that was going on, Cowbell ran by on mile six of his jog this morning. We all then did our best Christopher Walken impression. All in all, none of this actually happened because Moby and I were the only two stupid idiots to get up on New Year’s Day. But I included all the gentlemen I could possibly think of to summarize the 2024 F3 beatdowns that I’ve grown to love and hate. But just wanted to give shout outs to people that if you made the list, you had of great importance to me. And if you did not mention you, I’ll just honest with you, I’m delirious on about 3 hours of sleep. SYITG