Pairadice at the Morg
- THE SCENE:
- Dry & way better than we deserved. YHC (Granola) on Q for the 6 (figuratively and literally, if you don’t count YHC) with thoughts and prayers for the Grow family at the Lair Convergence. YHC likes F3 pretty ok, but deeply respects F3 PAX everywhere–especially F3Memphis PAX. High Impact Men (HIM) inspire others to be better. Every PAX challenges and inspires YHC in different ways. Some PAX’s faithful defiance of Cantore invite YHC post regardless of the feels. Some PAX like Big Al & Slots push YHC to run faster than any reasonable person would expect from short corgy legs. Some PAX encourage YHC to nut up in more direct, less PG-13-worded ways. Bruce is one of those PAX. Also Gus. But let’s talk about Bruce for a moment. Bruce gets things done. He and Shoestring pulled off an AMAZING event this past weekend. It was silky smooth and an all around awesome time. If you missed it, let this be your warning. YHC doesn’t even like beer (cobains…) and had a fantastic time. Bruce EH’d YHC into GrowRuck05 AND a back-to-back GoRuck Tough + Light in January, and probably also BrewRuck. T-Claps to Bruce all around. When YHC heard about today’s convergence memorial workout for Eli Grow, it was a no-brainer-HHC (not a typo, folks). The Lair is faaaaaar (the furthest AO for YHC), but no big deal. Then I saw this in the main GroupMe chat (posted here for those who didn’t see it and “don’t scroll up”):
Per @Slots (Torrey Clark) request, I’m going to summarize why Monday (4/30) is so important to me…so bare with me as it will be lengthy:
I am the oldest of 4 brothers. My youngest brother, Eli Brock Grow (11 year difference), was a chunky, overweight kid growing up (similar to myself). We all grew up playing backyard football [me and my younger brother Grayson (9 year difference)] vs. my brother Luke (4 year difference) and Eli. Eli was always picked last and always wanted to QB but couldn’t throw worth a damn. We gave him a hard time all time, but we also pushed him past his limits physically. I got to be the leader of these 3. Working hard, never quitting. As I left the house, Eli had just started his training for football. He hit it hard, day in and day out. Every time I came home he was skinnier, more muscular. He started throwing 60 yard passes and out running all of us. He became starting QB his Junior year.
He was told he would never play even D3 ball. He landed a D2 scholarship to Mississippi College his senior year as a QB. At that point he was running a 4.4 40, squatting 500, benching 315. On April 30, 2016, my parents came to Memphis for my daughter’s 4th birthday in Collierville. Eli didn’t come. He wanted to stay and train. We were at Hueys in Collierville about 430 when my mom got a weird feeling. She texted my brother and he didn’t respond. We went about the day and they left to go home. My phone died that night. I remember it finally cutting it on about 10pm to see a text that Eli had died. Eli had been driving home from training that afternoon and got into a head on collision about 430 pm. He died on impact and his truck caught fire and burned for 30 minutes. My parents had no clue until they passed his truck on a tow truck on the way home. I will never forget that moment I received that text. His last message was “Never Take Anything For Granted”.
Eli found the Lord at an FCA camp his junior year and was constantly volunteering his time to helping others. He helped his offensive linemen train. Got up at 5 in the morning to train. Helped special needs kids. Gave what money he had to underprivileged kids to help them pay for their lunch.
Since then, we have run across multiple journals my brother kept up to the day of his passing. All kinds of messages he left for us and thoughts he had.
We run Eli Grow Legacy Foundation. Eli was into architecture and CAD and drew a building (athletic complex) that he wanted to come back and build one day. One that would serve underprivileged kids and their training in athletics. The foundation is set to build that building along with multiple scholarships to give away to kids. Our company logo is a tree he drew in his journal. All these things he left circle back to us and our relationship with him.
So….Monday is a memorial workout in his name. At 0530…similar to the times he would train. Serving the 3 F’s of F3 that he unknowingly followed as well. The workout we will be doing comes from his workout journal and will take place on the turf field and bleachers at The Lair. I will also be sharing words he left in his journal regarding the Lord, life, and multi-tasking (he was texting at the time of his accident….he even reflects that one day it would take his life).
I hope as many of you can make it as possible. Not for me, but for your brothers in the gloom.
YHC then saw some Morgolians weren’t going to be able to make the 50+ minute (each way!) journey. So, YHC was torn: Go to the memorial workout or hang back for the 6? Pro-tip (from GrowRuck05): When you don’t know what to do, get under the log. There was no “log” here, so the next principle applied: There’s no man more important than the 6. Reading Bruce’s summary of Eli’s life enforced this. So, not to make this all about YHC (but aren’t all BB’s kinda autobiographical?), but this was all a part of this morning’s scene. The Morg was not open for KotB numbers, the Morg was open for the 6. We’ll close the Morg on rare occasion, but it seemed right to leave it open today to free up a delegation of Morgolian travelers and to cover the 6. It was an honor to Q this morning.
- F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
- PAIRADICE
- Two dice were rolled at the same time: The count die and an exercise die.
- After the number of prescribed exercises were completed, the dice were passed to the PAX on the left to be rolled again.
- Despite YHC’s ethnically ambiguous visage, YHC is not a math whiz and cannot provide statistical data like Rabbit did for his Deck of Death, but for simplicity’s sake, here’s a key to the workout:
Strikethrough= didn’t roll, or if rolled wasn’t memorable- Regular text = rolled once, probably
- Bold = rolled waaay too many times
| COUNT DIE |
| 6x IC |
| 10x IC |
| 18x IC |
| Move – Dealer determines Mode of Transport (MoT) and destination. Could mosey around the parking lot and back to STARTEX (like YHC chose) or bear crawl to the pavilion and back (like Carport chose). It’s whatever. The 6 would roll the dice next. |
| Dealer’s Choice (or re-roll) |
| WARM-A-RAMA DIE |
| Arm Circles (reverse halfway through) |
| Hillbillies |
| High Knees |
| Butt Kickers |
| Dealer’s Choice (or re-roll) |
| THANG 1 DIE | THANG 2 DIE | THANG 3 DIE |
| Bodybuillders | Groiners | |
| Imperial Squat Walkers | ||
| Plank jack w/Merkin | ||
| Mahktar N’Diaye | Plank | Mountain Climbers |
| SSH | Lunges | |
| Dealer’s Choice: Merkins | Dealer’s Choice: 6x IC picnic table shrugs |
| MARY DIE |
| Lil’ Baby Flutter Crunches |
- COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
- Ruck (4 PAX + 1 Cujo): BAM!, Mr. Wonderful, Orange Julius, & Granola.
- BC (7 PAX, 0 FNGs): Mr. Wonderful, Orange Julius, Sleep Number, Carport, Soulja Boy, Jasmine, & Granola.
- Ruck (4 PAX + 1 Cujo): BAM!, Mr. Wonderful, Orange Julius, & Granola.
- CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
- “We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall.”
~ Proverbs 16:33 (NLT)- SkyQ responsible for today’s workout.
- Rolled several of the same exercises; didn’t roll any of other exercises.
- Dice are impartial.
- Fair does not mean same/equal.
- God treats us better than we deserve.
- Only God in His wisdom and mercy knows why he takes some HIM home like Eli but leaves others.
- Please read today’s Convergence BB.
- “We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall.”
- MOLESKIN:
- 7 PAX got better today and farted around as dice were rolled and rotated in/out.
- T-Claps to
- Orange Julius’ dealer’s choice decision to have each PAX call a 30 count while holding plank.
- Mr. Wonderful’s ~12 = 1 Mountain Climber cadence on a 18x IC roll. #NOTWonderful
- This suggests the workout was too easy for the Morgolians. Next time, either the count dice reps will be increased or the exercise dice will be supersetted.
- Brief coffeeteria with the PAX afterwards at the usual Monday coffeeteria spot.
- ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Check out the Eli Grow Foundation website.
- Follow F3MemphisRuckClub on social media and be ready for the next monthly ruck challenge.
- Get your mind (and gear) right for GrowRuck12 in Memphis, September 21-23.
- Pancho’s Ruck May 19. If this link doesn’t work for you, it means you need to join the F3Memphis Ruck Club Facebook page and then HC for it.
