An Appreciation Workout in honor of
Amanda Gorman, The United States Youth Poet Laureate
24 degrees at 0630 hrs, 6 pax on site, 1 on ZOOM: Brisket, Scar, Dick Clark, Red Card, Wall E, Dos Equis, Q, and on ZOOM: Black Hole.
Warm-Up: (20 count or XX count of each) Arm Circle, Circle Arms, Imperial Walker, Shoulder Stretch, Shoulder Taps. Transition to Six: V-Reach, Lounge Act (aka Dos Chill).
Mosey to the hill at the edge of the soccer pitch.
The Thang:
The Hill, Do it again, and again, and again….
Sequence: Base of hill exercise, The exercise in the ascent up the hill, The exercise atop the hill. This sequence, four times. The four times done twice – gentler slope hill, and steeper slope hill, Return to gentler slope hill for two more rounds. Bottom of hill and top of hill exercises done in 20 count (or XX count.)
- Fluttahs, Teddy Bear Crawl, LBCs
- Copperhead Squats, Lunge Walk, Merkins
- Freddie Mercury, Straddle movement up hill – left leg lead, American Hammer
- Alphabet (A-M first round, N-Z second round), Straddle movement up hill – right leg lead – Plank Jacks.
End mosey back to shovel flag.
Ending the workout with the F3 Princeton signature exercise : Boat/Canoe/Kayak, with emphasis this time on holding the stretch of the boat position and the canoe position. “Boat/Canoe. If I can do it, so can you.”
Throughout the workout between rounds, from warm ups though Boat/Canoe, YHC read aloud parts of the Inaugural Poem 2021, “The Hill We Climb.”
Reflection:
Look to the east and see the sun rise over the horizon. Note today how the brightness of the pink sky at this dawn fades away into the gray and darker clouds further away.
Look to the west and see how the low sun makes the treetops at the tree line light up in a soft amber glow. Take these images with you.
We have had the special privilege of sharing many new days at dawn as we gather to workout. And you are not facing the new day alone, but each time you are here you face it with your brothers with you. Consider how much the fellowship and brotherhood means to you, and how it helps in keeping on at the workouts, and staying accountable in other areas of life. I know for myself that I could not do all these workouts on my own. It just would not happen. I need the brothers to be with me and encourage me in this. Lowe’s in his recent “Smoke Signals” newsletter to the brothers of F3 Indian Valley (PA) realized that during a half-marathon training run with Trigger, that the miles that they were not running together – they were running at a slower pace. They were “better together.” They set a better running pace together. So, we should continue to strive for this “better together”, and be light, maintain light, illumine the dark places wherever we are, to be a new dawn in a world that is fog, haze, and remains in darkness. As Amanda Gorman has written:
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
F3Princeton: Keep Showing Up.
Count-a-rama, Name-a-rama, announcements.
Each pax in the COT each shared how he was doing and how their families were doing.
Remain durable.
Remain resilient.
Maintain hope.
Stay strong.
Stay safe.
Stay sane.
Honored to lead,
Dos Equis
= = =
End Notes:
Alphabet: On your six, trace out letters of the alphabet with both legs. (It is not necessary to be a wise guy like Hot Wheels once was and ask what point size are the letters. Case of letters, font style, and point size are at the discretion of the Q)
Copperhead Squat: Regular squat but lowering body slowly on first three counts, then lifting up on 4 count. Good form is keeping hands on back of head, with elbows held back, weight on heels, and back kept straight.
Lounge Act (Dos Chill): Lying on your side, with top leg bent, knee-high, and foot on ground, lift lower leg. Switch sides to lift other leg, too.
= = =
The Hill We Climb
By Amanda Gorman
The Inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris
20 January 2021
Mr. President, Madame Vice President, Americans and the World:
When day comes we ask ourselves,
Where can we find light
in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry, a sea we must wade
We’ve braved the belly of the beast
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace
And the norms and notions of what “just is”
Isn’t always justice
And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it
Somehow, we do it.
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished
We the successors of a country and a time,
Where a skinny black girl,
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother,
can dream of becoming president,
only to find herself reciting for one.
And yes we are far from polished, far from pristine.
but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect.
We are striving to forge a union with purpose.
To compose a country committed
to all cultures, colors, characters,
and conditions of man.
And so we lift our gazes not
to what stands between us,
but what stands before us.
We close the divide,
because we know to put
our future first, we must first
put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms,
so we can reach out our arms to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all,
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew,
That even as we hurt, we hoped,
That even as we tired, we tried
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious,
Not because we will never again know defeat,
but because we will never again sow division.
Scripture tells us to envision that
“everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree,
And no one shall make them afraid.”
If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory
won’t lie in the blade, But in all the bridges we’ve made
That is the promised glade,
The hill we climb, if only we dare it.
Because being American is more than a pride we inherit –
it’s the past we step into, and how we repair it.
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it.
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.
And this effort very nearly succeeded.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed,
it can never be permanently defeated.
In this truth, in this faith we trust.
For while we have our eyes on the future,
history has its eyes on us.
This is the era of just redemption.
We feared it, at its inception.
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour.
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter,
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So while once we asked: how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert: How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be:
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free.
We will not be turned around,
or interrupted by intimidation,
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation.
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright.
So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left
With Every breath from my bronze-pounded chests,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
We will rise from the gold-limned hills of the west!
we will rise from the windswept northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution!
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states!
we will rise from the sun-baked south!
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover,
In every known nook of our nation.
In every corner called our country,
our people diverse and dutiful.
We’ll emerge, battered and beautiful.
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it.