16 men arose and converged at The Wilderness gloom not knowing exactly what to expect. What they got from The Force's Q was certainly unexpected. And then the Sweet 16 began…
Run around the circle (.00001 miles) to begin Warm-o-rama. Toe touches, Cotton Pickers and Windmills – all in reps or cadence of 16. Toxic caught on quickly to the morning's theme.
The Tourney (the thang):
We would run to the stop sign and back (just under 2 miles before you add The Michigan at the mid-way point). At each intersection street off the parkway, we would stop and announce each of the 8 match-ups of the Sweet 16. Each school would have an exercise correlated with it. After two exercises at each street, we'd run to the next.
1st street: Baylor Bear Crawls, 'Cocks Pickle Pounders
2nd street: Gonzaga (State of WA) Tree Huggers, West VA Monkey Humpers (Cobains to Burner)
3rd street: Gator Crawl Merkins, Wisconsin Wakky-Jacks
4th street: Arizona Desert Dips (partner up), Xavier Muskateer Leg throws
5th street: Kansas Jumpin Jayhawk Jump-squats, Burly Boilermaker Helping Hand (work the guns)
6th street (the stop-sign, midway point): Oregon Duck Walk, The Michigan (abbreviated)
7th street: Bruin Bear Crawls around the island, Kentucky Partner Squats
8th street: Butler Down-dogs (much needed calf stretch as we near the end of the route), Carolina Dry Docks
9th street: This street was to take time to reflect on the fact that not everyone's team made it to the Sweet 16. First, let's honor Villanova, the 1st 1-seed to fall. Hate on them for winning LY – 8 burpees. Next, let's honor the 2-seed dook blue devils. Hate on them for being dook – 8 burpees.
Back to the home AO for a very quick Mary (no rope today, gents – this day is full of surprises). Toxic obviously felt left out and insisted on "Dot the i's". 16 IC. I asked if any other pax had a favorite school exercise. Jolly quickly jumped in… with the J-lo??? Ok, x 10 IC.
The Sweet Moleskine:
YHC led the warmorama with toe touches, cotton pickers and windmills as I knew The Michigan (in abbreviated form) at the end of our route. I'm sure the pax had to be wondering why all the hamstring stretches were the warm-o-rama from the non-runner Q.
Someone said it early on the road through the Sweet 16 as we discussed the exercises for each school. "Whatever we do for UNC, I assume we can cheat." Ouch, but well played (was that Die Hard?).
After the duck-walk, when YHC announced the Michigan, I don't think anyone believed me (I could hardly believe it myself, and I had my weinke in my hand). Especially Jolly Roger, whose first words to me today were, "We're not going to do legs or any kind of running, are we?" Then someone asked, "Are those cones." "Oh wow – those really are cones." "Crap."
At coffeteria, Burner (a WVA grad) would ask a very legit question: "Why didn't you call for Mountain Climbers for West Virgina Mountaniers?" Well, Burner… Darn good question. Cobains again.
I needed this today. I won't say why, but today I was emotionally and spiritually weak. I almost reached out last night to ask someone to step in to Q, but I knew this would be good for me, and help me through some demons I'm facing right now. I was right. This is F3. It's there for us all in so many ways (and it's free, btw). Others need it, whether they know it or not. Their families might need it. Share it. Find someone to EH. It's getting warmer (kinda) – offer them a ride to a workout. Hook them for a lifetime of Fitness, Fellowship and Faith. Aye.