I have a serious confession. I didn’t want to Q this workout. In fact, I had taken my name off the Q Sheet. The Committee in the wild, wild of Jugz’s brain had weighed in, each member had cast his vote. Then what I am affectionately calling the “I Miss You Campaign,” began in earnest when I got a text from Polly telling me he was excited for my return to the Epicenter. Either he hadn’t noticed my name was no longer on the Q sheet or, more likely, he didn’t care. He was determined to apply a heavy EH.

And it worked. Sorta.

I let the other rucking weirdos (a term of endearment among the rucking community) know I had the Q at Epicenter and got HCs from Hulk and Lego, with both HCing to some preruck miles.

Hulk failed to fully vet his attendance request and had to acquiesce to the M. This happens from time to time. But that meant that Lego wouldn’t have a ruck so I could conceivably skip the preruck and come up with an excuse not to Q. The Committee began immediate deliberations about which excuse would be the most valid and accepted. “They don’t even like you,” one Committee member quipped.

Somewhere in the midst of a fiery debate among the Committee, Time stopped for just a moment and there was clarity.

True, some of them don’t like me and I don’t particularly care for some of them. By the fact remained that we ALL totally depraved and just one moment removed from committing the very acts we most aggressively condemn. All of us. The human condition is one of total depraviry. We are granted relief from that by the unwavering grace of God and through accountability to each other.

We’re all in the same boat and, like it or not, we are in that boat together.

Oh yea. We worked out.

Count off 1s and 2s. Money to closest playground.

– P1 does max effort LBCs while P2 does max effort pull-up progression. If you can do pull-ups, then work on chest to bar. If you are not quite there yet, do jumping pull-ups or ring rows or dead hangs. Work on the skill of the pull-up.

Three rounds on the bars for everyone then mosey over near K Field. 25 squats.

Mosey over to the playground by the gazebo. P1 does max effort swerkins while P2 runs over to the bars, 5 pull-ups. Flapjack for a while until everyone had enough of the swerkins.

CrawlBear up the hill to the path. #CrowdPleaser

Mosey over to the gazebo for the Chipper.

50-40-30-20-10 reps of box jumps, merkins, dips. In rounds of 50 and 40, do decline merkins. In rounds of 30, 20, and 10, do incline merkins.

Skill work on the box jump. It’s about comfort and confidence.

Mosey to the center of the complex. 25 squats followed by a nice stretch down in the bottom of the squat.

Mosey back to the flag for some pigeon stretch.

Count, name, pray

As always, an honor and a privilege to lead and be sharpened.