Fifteen PAX gathered in the gloom at the Vortex under a light drizzle. It always rains on Tuesdays.
After the customary warm-up, we moseyed to the playground. PAX paired up (one group of three) and rotated continuously through alternating lazy Dora sets of merkins (10 sets of 10) and squats (10 sets of 10). One pair at a time stepped out of line for ten perfect pull-ups, with a three count with one’s chin above the bar and a three count in a dead hang at the bottom. After the pull-ups, PAX “recovered” by doing as many dips as possible while the next pair did their pull-ups. After dips, PAX returned to the line and the continuous lazy Doras. After a few sets of merkins/squats, we switched to Carolina drydocks/squats. QIC was disheartened to see the time was already 5:52 when we finally completed one round. He should have had courage and soldiered through another, but he wanted time for some field work and so moseyed back.
Back on the field, we organized into groups of three and sent one man from each group across the field. One man then sprinted to the “merkin side,” where he did ten merkins while a teammate sprinted across to the “burpee side.” Upon arrival at the burpee side, the PAX did five burpees while his teammate sprinted back to the merkin side… Resting position if one finished the merkins or burpees quickly was a high plank. We did this for ten minutes or so, when QIC tried to call out some encouragement to keep it going for another 90 seconds. “NICE!” he yelled. At that point it did not what came out of his mouth, for there was open rebellion. “Nice”/”Uncle”/”Recover”/etc.; all would have had the same result. The PAX stopped moving instantly—except for Draper, who thundered on for a few more steps.
We then did a bear crawl from the end line to the center for a drydock pyramid, all the way up and down the ladder to ten. Mary was crowned by a somewhat murderous circle of fire (courtesy of Bushwood, of course) involving 5*15 (75!) cadence-count flutter kicks. Oy.
I love the PAX despite the lame “Nice” move and wouldn’t trade our early mornings of shared suffering. I am so much the better for them.
