QIC: Steerage
9 PAX: Wham! (YHC); Face; Glen Ross; Viking; Chestnut; Nugget; Mud Bug; Zima; Steerage (Q).
We were a good looking crew (pic missing Glen Ross (photographer) and Nugget):
Time: 0530
Weather: Sneaky humid; soft ground from the prior day’s monsoon
Q’s ZooZooLemon Gear Check: Shoes and clothes of some sort (I wasn’t present when Steerage dressed himself)
Pre-WO
Full disclosure, I did not know I was writing this Backblast until after the WO, but Steerage bribed me by promising that he would write my next Backblast and buy me a few beers because he was going to Chicago for the weekend to celebrate his 11 year wedding anniversary with his lovely M, Julie, and wasn’t sure if he would have time to write the BB. Steerage and Julie are some of my favorite people and so I was happy to help him out and also take the opportunity to talk about my longtime friend.
Steerage is the cousin of one of my oldest friends (who I am still trying to headlock, hi Mike Eichberger), which is how I came to know him back when we were still young and fun in our early 20’s. For those who don’t know the origin of his F3 name, Steerage enjoys the finer things in life, so Steerage (google it, I had to) was a perfect name for him. I won’t go on and on, but here’s one example of why Steerage is such a good dude. Back in the day (read: prior to M’s and 2.0’s), James and I (and others) would get after it pretty hard on the weekends, but even on the Saturday nights when we closed down the bars at 4 am and Steerage would sleep on my couch, he would more often than not wake up and go to church straight from my house while everyone else continued to sleep. I’m certain he smelled like a brewery at church on those mornings, but he went anyway. I was always impressed by that and still am. A future HIM in the making.
Although I’ve been friends with him for probably close to 20 years, as we’ve aged and life has become busier (read: we now have real jobs, M’s and 2.0’s), I don’t see Steerage as often as I’d like and so I was thrilled when he finally agreed to try out F3 because I knew I’d start seeing him more often. I had been gently trying to headlock him for awhile but then Captain Insane-O swooped in and put the full court press on (shocking, I know) and that was the final push he needed. Since then, Steerage has really taken to it and F3 Louisville is better off for it.
COP
At 0530, Steerage gave the disclaimer and sent us on a short mosey that ended at his coupon filled SUV. Coupons were grabbed, placed in the grass, and then we circled up on the soccer field for COP:
- SSHs IC*
- Imperial Walkers IC
- 2 Count Merkins
- Yoga Stretching and Maneuvers
* YHC thinks we did 11 reps of the SSHs, IWs and Merkins in keeping with Steerage’s theme for the day, but don’t quote me on that.
Thang 1: Elevens
Eleven was the name of the game today and Steerage spiced it up a bit by incorporating coupons into the routine. Here’s what we did:
- 1 Man Maker (with coupon), run 50ish yards, do 10 squats, run back
- 2 Man Makers (with coupon), run 50ish yards, do 9 squats, run back
- 3 Man Makers (with coupon), run 50ish yards do 8 squats, run back
- 4 Man Makers (with coupon), run 50ish yards, do 7 squats, run back
- 5 Man Makers (with coupon), run 50ish yards, do 6 squats, run back
- 6 Man Makers (with coupon), run 50ish yards, do 5 squats, run back
- 7 Man Makers (with coupon), run 50ish yards, do 4 squats, run back
- 8 Man Makers (with coupon), run 50ish yards, do 3 squats, run back
- 9 Man Makers (with coupon), run 50ish yards, do 2 squats, run back
- 10 Man Makers (with coupon), run 50ish yards, do 1 squat, run back
A total of 55 man makers. Woof. Mumble chatter was pretty low during this. I was sandwiched between Steerage with his Q juice flowing and Face with his everyday stud juice flowing and it was all I could do to keep up with them. Thanks for pushing me gents.
Between Thang 1 and Thang 2, Steerage called for a quick set of 20 coupon curls for the girls and then extended the number to 30 about halfway through. Thank you Q.
Thang 2: Jack Webb +1
The Q called big boy sit ups and merkins for the 4:1 ratio exercise otherwise known as Jack Webb. The big boy sit ups part of this was really tough for YHC and it was nearly impossible to keep pace with Steerage’s Q juice pace. At some point, Steerage recognized this and changed big boy sit ups to LBCs. I was pleased with this modification. He also threw in a curve ball by flip flopping merkins and big boy sit ups for the 7/28 set which meant that we had to do 28 merkins instead of 7. This nearly killed me because my shoulders were still on fire from Thang 1’s 55 man makers, but we all got through it and finished strong because that’s what we do. Steerage also gave us the opportunity for a little EC by not stopping at 10/40 per usual and instead going to 11/44 with the merkins and LBCs. Good stuff.
Before moving on to Thang 3, we cranked out 20 more coupon curls for the girls, strolled back to Steerage’s SUV to return the coupons, and then moseyed back to the amphitheater.
Thang 3: Choose Your Own Mary
We had a few minutes remaining so we circled up under the amphitheater and each Pax called his favorite Mary exercise, which we did for 11 reps in cadence. We did American Hammers (Zima, I think?), Little Baby Flutter Kicks (Face), Gas Pumps (Glen Ross), Rosalitas (YHC), Plank (Nugget), and crowd favorite…pickle pounders (Chestnut).
The clock struck 0615 and we were done.
COT
We counted off, called out our hospital and F3 names, made announcements, and then shared intentions both out loud and in our heart. Steerage then led us out in prayer, challenging the Pax to be the man that our M’s and 2.0’s expect and deserve. Amen brother.
Props to my man Steerage for a tough but fair Q. It wasn’t easy, but we don’t get up for easy.
-Wham!
F3 Louisville 