November 16, 2023
Iditarod
50 degrees and unseasonably warm for the middle of November.
9 PAX: Boji, Busser, Nae Nae, Hungryman, Picasso, Larry the Legend, Cadburry, Tumbelweed,
QIC: Oscar
I woke up early Thursday morning with the joy and excitement of a child on Christmas morning. I had my car packed with everything needed for the beatdown. I pulled up to Iditarod around 4:45am and I got out of my car and instantly locked eyes with Nae Nae. I could see the look of fear and trepidation in his eyes. I gave him a subtle nod to ease his fears and let him know that I would take care of him.
After a brisk run through the mountainous hills of the surrounding neighborhood it was time to meet up with the rest of the HIM that showed up ready to conquer the day! Shortly before the party was set to embark on our journey together Busser informed me that he was having a rumbling in the down deep. This was not a good sign and he rushed post haste to his car to travel to a distant land of the nearest Hy-Vee to empty his bowels in a sloshy brown thunderous mess on the porcelain thrown that was upon him. He came back just in time to join us at the end of the stretching exercises.
At 5:30am, I greeted the other 8 PAX to F3 and the Iditarod. I recited the 5 core principles, mission statement, credo and let everyone know that I was not a professional. Based on my confidence and swagger I could tell that nobody believed that I wasn’t a pro.
After the opening statements we got a nice little stretch in.
Warm-O-Rama: We kept it nice and easy and did our warm up stretches right next to the flags in the soft pillowy grass. I kept it nice and short as I didn’t want to deprive anyone of the joy that was soon to come.
- 15 side straddle hops
- 15 Tappy Taps
- 15 michael phelps
- 10 Big Ones – Slow Count 5 on each side
Pre Thang:
- For the “Pre Thang” me and all the other herculean men grabbed our coupons and headed towards the track. We dumped our coupons at the base of the hill and headed towards the school to conquer the wall!
- 20 dips
- 20 donkey kickers
- 20 shoulder touches
- Wall sit (made annoyingly long by Nae Nae’s 4 count cadence)
Upon completion of the Pre-Thang I could tell that these monsters of men were ready to dominate the coupon workout on the track. We headed towards the track and grabbed our coupons which felt like a bag of feathers. Soon to feel like 10,000 lb bags of concrete! We headed towards the track where I had setup lighted cones on each side of the track.
The Thang:
Once we got back to the fields, I split the PAX up into pairs for “The Thang” which was a 2-man grinder. On one side of the track was a set of core exercises to be done in AMRAP while waiting for their partner to complete a set of reps on exercises with the coupon.
AMRAP
- Plank
- LBC’s
- Rosalitas
- Heels to heaven
- Heel touches
Coupon Station
- 40 merkins with both hands on the coupon
- 40 overhead presses
- 40 squats
- 40 swings
- 40 salt shakers
Once the reps were completed the HIM took their coupon and ran the length of the track all the way over to the other station where another HIM was eagerly awaiting the coupon to be passed to them. Then it was off to the races where they would then walk along the track to the other side in order to do their sets of reps. This was repeated until Omaha was called at 6:05am. Sadly we were unable to get to the salt shakers that everyone was desperately eager to do. So as a special treat to everyone we hammered out 16 of them at the flags.
Truly an amazing day and everyone left with a smile on their face and a deep sense of joy that they were able to lift their coupons high and spend a great Thursday morning with the best HIM’s of Omaha!
Announcements/Prayer Requests:
COT:
I kept my COT short and brief as everyone was having so much fun during the coupon workout that we were pretty stretched for time. I didn’t have it in me to tell them it was time to stop as everyone just kept begging me for just a few more minutes, just a few more reps!
COT was all about being thankful for what you have. Just coming back from a cruise it was eye opening to see at the ports a horrible view of poverty and how entire communities were dependent on the tourists that came to visit. It put things in perspective and made me realize that I should embrace and be thankful for everything I have and that is the message that was conveyed to the group.