DATE: 08/07/2018

WHERE: The Paragon

THE PAX: Swisher, Molson, Tebow, FNG Mike (Happy Little Tree), Dosido, Law Dawg, Prem-O, Banana Boat, FNG Jackson (Bob Junk), Spock, Manning, Ma Bell, Cricket, FNG Scott (Hillary, RESPECT), A.C., Fleetwood, FNG John (Goldberg), Preacher (RESPECT), Hasbro, Wigham, Dandy (RESPECT), Bobsled, FNG Brian (Backseat Boy), Good Hands, Cousteau (RESPECT), Garfield (new daddy), FNG Brandon (Daisy Duke), Fuzzy, Ice Man, Match Stick, Smurfette, Hooch

Total # of PAX: 32

QIC: Hooch

INTRO:

YHC read How to Lead when You’re not in Charge, by Clay Scroggins, for the Spearhead Challenge this summer.  I highly recommend this book for all men who are married or employed. :)  As the Paragon #’s are always large, and expecting a shortened amount of time to expound in the Circle of Trust, I decided to boil it down to one flavorful, digestible bite: “STEP UP.”  Something we’d focus on throughout the main task at hand in the gloom AND be able to carry with us throughout our day…

WARM-O-RAMA:

Here’s how we got stronger this morning:

– Mosey around the elbow-macaroni-shaped student lot (appx. 0.2 miles) to get the blood pumping

– Circle up at the base of the Hill of Pain; Disclaimer for our FNG’s

– A tantalizing word of enticement about the fact that we’d be counting to 100 reps a few times, and then we got right to it…

THE THANG:

– 50 SSH IC (that’s 100 side straddle hops, you see)

– Quick Mosey to the top of the hill, and on your six for…

– 100 LBC OYO (then plank for the six)

– Continue to quick mosey the circuitous route, around the tennis courts and down the stairs, where we hung a left and employed some new ground (to my knowledge)…

– 100 Dips OYO in the student courtyard, each PAX picking thier own bench

– Quick mosey 200 yards to the north end of the high school to find the fruits of YHC’s early-gloom set-up – two end zones and one offical NFL football.  As there were 32 men, and 16 on 16 does not sound like much fun, we divided into two teams first (SHIRTS and SKINS), and then proceeded to divide ourselves again into two squads per team.  As the theme of the morning was STEP UP, very little instructions were given, other than “someone has to step up and lead”.  And they did.

– Squad 1 shirts and skins football for 5 minutes, while Squad 2 stepped up and led themselves in some AMRAP exercises.  Then flipsy flopsy; Squad 2 in for 5 minutes (or seven, since I inadvertantly shut my watch down) of shirts and skins football while Squad 1 lead ourselves in some exercises, including 15 hand-release merkins (Cricket), and so many flutter kicks (Dandy) I felt like someone had kicked me square in the flutters.

– Quick mosey around to the front of the high school (more new ground, as I’m aware) to circle up around the flag pole.  Some mumble chatter about standing around while we awaited the six, and not wanting to let anyone recover, Manning STEPPED UP a few times before we left this circle (good work).  We held some curb toes to burn the calves a bit, then got right to it again as the six moseyed in…

– 100 Incline Alternating Shoulder Taps OYO on the curb around the flag pole

– Quick mosey around the circle once, and back to your spot (Manning’s STEPPING UP move)

– Quick mosey all the way back around the high school to the courtyard

– 50 Dips OYO on bench of your choice

– Quick mosey up the stairs (Smurfette’s tailwind rushing by me reminding me that I, too, could be pushing myself and two-stepping it… so I did)

– 50 LBC OYO at the top

– Quick mosey to the bottom of the Hill of Pain for the remainder of our SSH (we picked up the count at 51 for…)

– 50 more SSH IC, because they were so well received at the start, and YHC did not want to leave anyone wanting more (or suffering through Mary, to be truthful).

CIRCLE OF TRUST:

It took 1 minute, 43 seconds just to get around the Name-O-Rama this morning at the Paragon.  And the post-beat-down delirium clearly had our creative juices stymied, as naming our 6 FNG’s took about 8 minutes.  But we finally circled up to pray, and the PAX were encouraged to look for an opportunity today to STEP UP and lead where they might otherwise be tempted to hide under the cozy excuses of “that’s not my responsibility”, or “I can’t do anything about that.”  You don’t have to be in charge to lead.  You just have to be willing to STEP UP.

Naked-Man Moleskin:

– Law Dawg was our 6th man this morning.  He’s blessed to be married to his M for 13ish years and have a 10-yr-old son and almost-7-yr-old daughter.  He works for the district attorney’s office (this got plenty of mumble chatter fired back up), and he serves as our region’s Nant’an, making sure we stay true to the mission and principles of F3.  We are very glad to have you in our midst, brother.

– YHC’s shiny new fitness watch has been awesome.  Except when it has not been.  Like at the Clinic last week, AND again this morning when I NEEDED it to perform the most simple duty of keeping time.  At least I figured out the problem – my form during flutter kicks hits the power off button and resets the watch where it will not sync, will not track steps before or after, and will not tell you the correct time.  Therefore, Chief Wigham was called upon to STEP UP and be our timekeeper for the remainder of the workout.  Thanks, bro.

• Because of this minor malfunction, I have no clue how many thousands of steps we got in or how much distance was covered.

– Your Q’s previous Paragon post was June 5, with 26 other posts in between.  It was really good to be back at the foot of the Hill of Pain, where it all began for me back on January 2.

– There were two squads for each team during the football frenzy, but unless the SHIRTS squads just weren’t loud enough as I tried to detect any goals from Squad 2’s second half fun, I tallied a final score of SKINS 1, SHIRTS 0, despite Smurfette’s first-half cross route that left YHC in the dust, before he stepped out of bounds 3 yards short of the goal line.  Reppin’ for the Blue Hose – you still got it, my friend.

– 50 IC SSH X 2 = No Joke. Good work men.

– It is always a joy to bring the fun of sports into the beatdowns I get to Q.  Thank you to every man who posted this morning.  Well done beating the fart sack and pushing yourselves and your brothers to get stronger in body, mind, and spirit.  Now go out, STEP UP, and lead.