Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
Fitness, Fellowship, Faith
You won’t believe it, but I was late—shocker, right? Actually, the crew might’ve been secretly relieved I showed up five minutes behind schedule, because honestly, I was this close to calling an audible and scrapping the plan altogether.
5:02 AM. My eyes shoot open. “Oh crap!” Wife’s already looking at me. “Are you late?” I sheepishly reply, “Yep, I’m late.”
No speeding today, folks. My truck’s packed to the brim with 300lbs of sandbags, and let me tell you, the rear end was feeling extra loose on the curves. Add in everything else you might need for a camping trip, because hey, I’m always prepared—you never know when you’ll need it, right?
In my mind, the workout I’d planned was gonna be tough and a bit out of the ordinary. But, as usual, I was probably wrong. While driving, I got the speaker in the back seat set up just in time, right before I pull into the parking lot. And then, the floodgates opened—track practice was starting, and a swarm of kids flooded the place. Oh boy.
I roll up right in front of the gate, kill the truck, and boom—there’s Dasher coming up the stairs. By the way, I called four people this morning, and let’s just say… you can probably guess who actually picked up. U-Haul, Chatter Box, Transporter, and Dasher. They knew I’d be late and were handling the warm-up.
Ruck on, speaker in one hand, sandbag in the other—I double-timed it through the gate. The guys jumped into action, grabbing bags from my truck. Meanwhile, I start shouting instructions… only to confuse myself and the pax. Then, Dasher jumps in, “We’ll just follow you.” Perfect. Let’s roll.
The Thang:
– Ruck on with Sandbag the entire time.
– Zig-zag up and down the bleachers: Go down one set, walk across, then hit the next. Never go up and down the same set. (U-Haul absolutely crushed this.)
– 3 HR-Merkins at the bottom, ruck on, across the entire stadium.
– Immediately turn around and switch to 2 squats at the bottom instead of HR-Merkins.
– Once back at the start, drop all the gear and take a lap around GJ. Rinse and repeat.
Halfway through, the stadium lights flick on. I can’t help but yell, “NOW you can’t cheat!” Haha. But honestly, I was watching anyway. I was just trying to push everyone to the next step, literally.
We made it across and back twice, plus two laps around GJ. With six minutes to go, I called for a “recover,” and we met at the top for a true Captain Therkin. 1 BB/4 AMW/4 Merkins after each set. Those merkins? Felt like a breeze.
With 30 seconds to go, we hit a nice, earned “Have. A. NICE. DAY.” and wrapped it up.
The Moleskine:
Here’s the truth: the stuff that looks good on paper often isn’t. Lesson learned—stick with a few solid exercises, then throw in a few extras. But add 90lbs to the mix? Things get real tough, real quick. Transporter and I had 90lbs on the entire time: 30lb ruck + 60lb sandbag. (Zin, it was actually closer to 91.5lbs, but who’s counting?)
No one was talking during this workout. The only sounds were the music, the track kids running around, and the collective willpower to not look weak in front of a bunch of young athletes. Because trust me, those kids were watching.
Personally? This workout kicked my butt. It felt like a break until I had to hit the steps. Head down, hat low—just focused on the next step, not even daring to look up.
It’s kind of like that feeling you get in a tough workout when you think you’re almost done, and then some jackass yells, “Only 20 more minutes!” Nope, looking upward during this workout was like knowing the time in a tough session—HARD PASS.
Major kudos to anyone who carried the sandbag the whole time. And a big shoutout to those who kept the ruck on—it was an absolute grind either way.
So who picked up when I called?
