Good Ole’ Howitzer. I remember way back in the day (pre-rogue) when Howitzer first started. Bing was the AO-Q and had a pretty sweet shovel flag made for the spot. Back then, the City of Hickory gave us ample spots for step-ups, tricep dips, and all that good stuff because of the ample “flower beds” that once lined the square.
Nowadays, Downtown Hickory is pretty hip and modern, complete with a brand new rusty-looking bridge, and a lot of new sidewalk space.
Though times may have changed, Howitzer remains – albeit just a slightly different variation of the original AO. With a large number of Hickory PAX being runners, and Howitzer numbers being down, Ferdinand had the brilliant idea to merge the two – hence the new beast – Howitzer Run & Gun.
Today’s workout was sponsored by Hickory Hills and Strava Segments. Thanks to these sponsors YHC had the ideas below:
0455-0505 – Various pre-runs started in different spots around. Still counts in my book.
0531 – Publix and Retread show up
0531 – ATT & Humpies warm-up
0532 – Start running.
- Head towards hospital hill. It was here CE already started questioning YHC. Admittedly, I forgot my planned route ever so slightly. At least someone pre-read for the assignment!
- Run up hospital hill, make a loop back
- Run up cemetery hill, turn right at Oakwood
- Turn left on 7th
- Turn left on 6th, run up 6th till it dead-ends
- Run 6th however long you wanted to to get back to the flag. Some PAX made it count and got 3 miles in, others were cool with slacking and not stretching it out just a bit.
0600 – CE was still giving YHC grief thinking I was calling the thang short by 15 minutes. Fake news.
0601 – Pair up the PAX – Anybody who finished the 3 miles under an 8-minute pace partnered up with the slow folk who finished above an 8-minute pace.
- The goal for the next 14ish minutes = Beat Cousin Eddie’s unrealistic Strava Segment for the fastest Bathroom Sprint – .10 miles in .08 seconds. Seems legit, right?
- The slow guys started this one out and the next 14ish minutes went as follows:
- P1 – Sprint to Bathroom AFAP (as fast as possible) – 5 burpees – Sprint back AFAP (but slightly slower – bc we were already gassed)
- P2 – Leg exercise as selected by a PAX – AMRAP until slow partner returned
- Flip Flop
In total, I think we all completed 4 Bathroom Sprints, but unfortunately, even the fastest of Fasthole’s couldn’t touch Cuz’s world record-shattering speed. Sadly, Strava even reminded me I still need to shave 27s off my time to beat Usain Bolt… I mean Cousin Eddie.
WOD (Here are my notes, in order, for brief context):
Running
Runners talk about endurance. Find ways to boost endurance
Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
“Cloud of Witnesses”
- Contextually – The likes of Abraham, Jacob, Isaac (the many great Hebrews before)
- Today – One step further – those around us
Endurance & Willpower
“You will is the most accurate way to predict the future” – Elon Musk
Hebrews 12:2
… looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Moleskin
- According to Publix, his team was the winner because he technically finished first out of the slow dudes. I mean I guess if you opt-out of a slow dude footrace, that counts as winning, right?
- Squints is faster than the slow dudes. Sorry, you got grouped into that mix!
- There’s no way CE ran .10 miles in .08 seconds. Maybe if we all submit a bug to Strava they’ll remove him from the Local Legend and give the rest of us a fair shot.
- In reality, if we wouldn’t have raced at the end, Retread and YHC would have won – FPB!!!
I shared this in my WOD and mean every bit of it. I am and will be forever grateful for my cloud of witnesses – YOU – and for the impact you have made on me. Even in the midst of going rogue, you all stuck with me. I may have had zero willpower and zero endurance, but you stayed by my side.
In just 3 weeks, I’ll be leaving Hickory a better husband, father, man, human being because of YOU.
Thank you for that!
-Peaches