THE SCENE: 76* and muggy again
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
THA-THANG:
Warm up lap: take off through the park and head towards West Hills Elementary, stop in the lot for 11 reps each of merkins, squats, curls. Continue ruck, make a left on Vanosdale, left onto Bennington, left onto Corteland, and left onto N Winston. At every road intersection, stop for another round of 11 reps each of merkins, squats, and curls. Total of 9 rounds by the time we make it back to parking lot.
Meaning: The breakdown of the first responders killed on September 11th as follows: 37 Port Authority officers, 23 NYPD, 8 EMTs, and 343 firefighters.
The Work: Farmer carry ruck in one hand and sandbag in the other hand the length of the parking lot and back to simulate first responders carrying gear into the fray. Once back to start, pay homage to the first responders with the following exercises (carry down and back, do one exercise; down and back, move to next exercise):
- 37 brickyard manmakers
- 23 eight-count bodybuilders
- 8 bear complex with sandbag
- 343 flutter kicks
Flutters were done as a group ring of fire style until we reached 343. Back to your feet, ruck and sandbags over to the base of the N Winston hill.
Meaning: We don’t have stairs, but we have a huge hill. Also, going over the bridge mirrors FDNY ladder 118 crossing the Brooklyn bridge heading for the towers. The six giants on that firetruck all perished on the day.
The Work: Carry the sandbags up the hill. Once everyone makes it to the top and safely into the parking lot, we honor ladder 118 with 11 eight-count bodybuilders. Sandbags back up and mosey back down the hill. Quick set of 10 counts for everyone (me) to get their breaths, turn around and do it again for the second tower. Again, at the top we honor ladder 118 with a set of 19 reps each of merkins, squats, and curls (brings our total of each on the day to 118 reps). Mosey back down for Mary.
MARY:
20 flutters
20 hammers
15 flutters
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
In NYC last year I visited the 9/11 memorial, and just taking it all in I leaned against the memorial. After a minute I looked down and noticed the name my hand was on, Abraham Zelmanowitz. I remembered the name just because of how odd it was at the time. Later while walking through the museum, I came across this man’s story. Abraham worked on the 27th floor of tower one of the WTC. He very easily could have gotten out of the building after the planes hit, but his friend and coworker Ed Beyea was a quadriplegic. With the elevators out of service, Abraham chose to stay with his friend until help arrived to get Ed down the stairs and out of the building. Unfortunately that help never came, and they were both killed in the collapse of the tower. The selflessness and heroism of that day can never be overstated, both in first responders and in stories such as these. 19 years ago we vowed to never forget, and I hope that promise is one that we keep.