PAX: Goose, Pope, Duke, Bam Bam, America’s Best, Lil’ Cuz, Pikachu, Unobtanium, Maneater, Jackknife, Safety Valve, Honeysuckle, Paradox, Caesar, Ralphie, Wet Tap

AO: The Peltch

By: Goose

Two days after Christmas, a Saturday, great weather, lots of leftovers in the fridge, relatives to still see, and new stuff to enjoy–the day held much promise. But YHC knew that this promise was to be short-lived. What seemed the night before like a breakthrough in beatdown science was, as the warmups wore on, feeling more like an inevitable cliff’s ledge or like an army marching into a battle they know will end in a violent death. But, whatev. Survival was never really part of the overall plan.

After warmups the clan moseyed down to the lower fields, coupons in tow, and YHC set up the speaker and reminded the PAX of the gift of the Christmas Season, an extended time to enter into the awesome mystery of the Incarnation. Today we would do that by really feeling our own physicality, particular through our pain receptors.

YHC had listed 12 exercises to go with the traditional 12 Days of Christmas song, and we’d do them in the same way the song is sung, in ladder-like fashion. Do the first day, then the second and first, then the third and second and first, and so on with the number of the day indicating the number of reps. The list looked like this, and each “day” was revealed one at a time via a singing Q and crowd participation:

1. A Rifle carry there and back (15-20 yards to the fence and back)

2. 3P merkins (Peter-Parker-Peter)

3. x-wings (2:1, feet stay down)

4. Staggered merkins (2:1, on the block)

5. Man-mak-ers!

6. Thrusters Thrusting

7. World Wars 1-ing

8. Merkins climbing (mountaineer)

9. Knees a-kneeling (genuflections)

10. Coupons curling

11. Blocks a-pulling (pull throughs)

12. Bears a-blocking (block and bear there and back)

Plenty of chatter during days 1 through 6 or so, mostly commentary about the music, but even this was tinted by a dark sense of the inevitable. The unknown future makes it that much harder, but this PAX was impressive this morning, both in their tenacity with the exercises and in their mental toughness as they received each worsening “day”. It was bad, and it kept getting worse, but they knew it was gonna be this way, and not only did they choose to own it, but for the most part, the large group stayed relatively together in completing it. It was clear they were feeding off of each other’s tenacity and determination to not let off the gas despite the body’s increasing rebellion.

By the time the block and bears were revealed, the PAX had been pushing off exhaustion for more than a couple of rounds, so why not finish with something that feels impossible? Sometimes there’s freedom in being able to only focus on finishing the next step or the next rep–no idea if ten steps/reps from now will actually be doable, but I do know I can do this one right now, so here goes!

Everyone did finish, and right on time to haul the coupons back to the flag for COT and a nice pic. Lil’ Cuz’s 4-year-old joined us for the first time today, and his love of Black Panther led to a suggestion of the name “Unobtanium”, which was followed by some debate as to whether that or Vibranium was actually in Black Panther, but YHC was tickled by the idea that the name “Unobtanium” might be used in a serious way in any movie, so that’s what stuck. Name-off will be fun the next time he posts.

Discussion lingered for a while due to a lack of desire or ability to move from the spot we stood, but we eventually left the park to try to tackle the day’s responsibilities. There were more than an average amount of times today that YHC was tempted to let the M know that bodily exhaustion levels were at an all time high, which was making regular tasks very difficult. But, even in the low state of brain activity, YHC could see the inevitable reaction, the face that would say something like, “Oh, really? You gave everything you’ve got to your F3 buddies at the park this morning and now you’ve got nothing left now? Is that right?” So, I kept my mouth shut and thought, “I may not be able to survive till the end of the day, but I do know that I can wipe this one butt right now, so here goes.”

I was doing well and feeling proud of myself as the day waned–I still had some left in the tank and was catching a second wind. That is, until the time came to put a fitted sheet on a bottom bunk (with a security rail). It was like wrestling an extremely stiff alligator through the rear window of a truck. And, that was when my body went into full, whiny teenager mode (“I don’t want to! The world sucks and nobody understands me.”). But, if it weren’t for the recent memory of choosing to do Day 12 despite everything in me telling me I was done, I may have made the horrible blunder of complaining to my wife about how hard it is to do stuff cuz I’m just so tired.

So, thanks, fellas, for pushing with me this morning. It’s already paying dividends! I may be extremely sore tomorrow, but you won’t hear me complaining about it…well, at least my wife won’t.

SYITG,

Goose