A solid nine PAX gathered at the Peltch despite having six regulars out due to sickness or travel. An FNG showed early and was almost spooked by what at first seemed only to be a pile of kids wrestling around a flag. It was only YHC’s three 2.0’s, and it didn’t take long for the rest of the PAX to pull in and make it clear that there were plenty of out-of-shape adults to play with, too. The FNG (Jacob Broussard) was EH’d by Tighty Whitey, and is an awesome addition to the Thibodaux crew!
Warmup was led by Coyote, whose cadence count was adequate, and consisted of: SSH, Windmills, high knees, butt kicks, Arm Circles, IW, and Self-love
Moseyed to the Diamond for…
Thang 1: Duck Jousting
The infield was the ring, and with arms folded across the chest (most of the time), duck-walking PAX tried to knock each other down. Last man standing won while those who fell did exercises while they waited: squats for the first round, lunges for the second, and heel raises for the third. There may have been some elbows, arm hooks, and very tall ducks here and there, but even without performance enhancing tactics, rounds were short, and the FNG proved himself a sturdy duck.
Thang 2: All Around the Thunderdome
Moseyed to the Thunderdome and circled in the center while YHC explained that the PAX would do an exercise for the length of time it took for one of us to run the sidewalk around the dome and the adjacent community center building (approx. 400 meters). While each took a turn running, the rest completed one of the following exercises while yearning to catch a glimpse of the runner coming around the final corner from behind the building:
* Mission Impossible plank
* Heel raises
* J-Lo’s
* Donkey kicks
* Diamond Merkins
* Heels to Heaven
* Bonnie Blairs
* Chill cut plank
* Merkins
Thang 3: The Ground is Lava
Moseyed to the playground where YHC revealed the lesson of the day, particularly as it related to Thang 2 and 3:
There’s only so much we can do at any particular moment about the fact that we have weaknesses, and those weaknesses will affect other people in a negative way whether we like it or not. And, we will be affected in a negative way by the weaknesses of others, whether we like it or not. What reveals the true greatness in man (and the image of the Maker in man), however, is our ability to choose how we respond when affected by another’s weakness. Our true greatness is shown clearest when we choose to allow ourselves to be affected by the weakness of another so that he’s not left alone in it. “No man left behind” is most deeply and fruitfully fulfilled when we’re willing to suffer with another man even if we have the ability to avoid that suffering ourselves. “Catching the six” is the most obvious example of this in F3, but so is “The Ground is Lava”:
PAX lined up at the long-ish monkey bars to traverse, hand over hand, without touching the ground. If any appendage so much as brushed the ground, all PAX dropped for 10 burpees. Same rules applied for two other areas of the playground–mostly requiring upper body strength, balance, and perseverance. Most of the elements were chosen knowing that one or two guys might struggle, but the burpees were done with willing camaraderie, and there was no room for shame or isolation.
What seemed like it might have a childish feel on paper ended up feeling more like a joint challenge, and the shouting of encouraging words and guidance were a constant.
The only thing YHC might have changed was the use of the slides at the end. These suckers came down long and steep from the second story, and they were wet. There were three next to each other, the middle one straight and the other two bending sharply, one to the right and the other to the left at the very end. Percleator was the first down the middle, and he almost had his pretty grill knocked out as he was thrown dangerously close to the perimeter boundary at about 30 mph. Paradox chose the one to the right, and YHC wished he would have caught the violent, body-tossing action on camera as he was jarred sideways at the hip air after slipping a reportedly “six-times faster” than he expected through the bend at the bottom. He landed hard on his side after barrel rolling in the air once or twice, but he’s a medical professional, so he was able to reset all dislocated joints before we could even ask if he was ok. The rest used the shoe brake method, but the fire-pole may have been the better call.
Indian Run around the park before a final sprint to the flag for three long minutes of Mary: all IC–Alphabet (with feet in leg raise position), LBC’s, Wife Pleasers, Crunchy Frogs.
Welcome Pledge! Way to stick with it!
COT and Percleator prayed us out.
Awesome morning, and so grateful to you men for posting and pushing hard!
See You in the Gloom,
Goose
