When I was asked by Witch Hunt to VQ a workout at the Abyss, man was I excited…..and anxious. I have tremendous respect for him and the rest of the PAX, and I did not want to disappoint any of them. I knew I’d have to think outside the box to make things different, yet challenging and fun. Thanks Witch for the opportunity my friend!

I showed up about 30 minutes early for I couldn’t really sleep, I was so ready to roll. It was a chilly morning…..the first real chill of the new fall season. Wind was blowing, so it was going to be a cool one. As time closed near 5:00, I was pretty much still the only one there. I was wondering if I missed the “fall back” on the clocks…..or if the PAX was messing with me. Around 5 a few cars showed up, but folks stayed in and out of the cold. I don’t blame them. Then, the light at the school turn-in FINALLY changed (the light I usually run) and a flood of vehicles poured in. HIMs abound! I was stoked!

As things drew close to start time we gathered around, there was quite alot of mumblechatter and laughs from the PAX as usual. It is a rather close, mostly chatty group of characters who are witty, smart, funny, and strong in every way yet caring, supporting, and open. This is the fellowship you will not get at a gym. This is what got me here and what keeps me here. This is what really gets you invigorated and inspired. What a way to start a day.

The disclaimer was given, no FNGs unfortunately, and off we went…..

Started off with a light-pace jog all around the front parking lot, with some high knees, butt-kickers, left / right shuffles in for good measure. Bones almost got a nut-kicker from my butt-kicker.

Continued to the back lot in the back of the school for the buses. Nicely elevated the heart rate a little. Time to get it rolling.

Circle up for COP (be honest, I forgot the counts of each):

• Side-straddle Hops
• Windmills
• Mountain Climbers
• A dash of Honey-mooner and Downward-Facing Dog
• On hands and knees, opposite arm and leg raise – 20 sec per side x 2
• Morrocan NIght Clubs
• Imperial Walkers

Preamble to the Message – as we recovered from the COP before The Thang:

I once worked as an engineer on the US Space Shuttle program at Kennedy Space Center for almost 15 years. Wernher von Braun, a brilliant engineer and one of the founding fathers of the US space program, once said “Success in space demands perfection.” That is something everyone in the program lived by. Perfection in everything we did, and also in that we sought to fully and completely understand everything about the mission at hand – the environment you’re operating in, the goals of the mission, how you plan on achieving them, the design/fabricatiion/operation of the machinery needed, who is to do what and when, what you will be doing when you get there, how you will do it, backup plans, and so forth. When you have that level of full, complete understanding then team execution is made much easier to a degree. As a result, the US space program has made some incredible achievements. But flawed or incomplete understanding, as well as complacency leading to not correct root cause issues, also led to tragedy.  We were painfully reminded that we, as humans, are far from perfect.

Life here on the pale blue dot we call Earth is alot more unforgiving than space in my opinion. There are far too many unknowns as well as too many things out of your control, that pull you all over, trying to hinder you from whatever “mission” you may have at the time, and also contribute to our lack of complete understanding. One cannot simply assume they understand everything come any given situation. That will surely set you, and others, up for failure. We must ALWAYS strive for perfection in everything we do, most importantly in seeking to understand. Understand the complete situation, as well as understand yourself – strengths, limitations, and weaknesses, and that you are NOT perfect.

I didn’t want to cool the PAX down too much, so off we went…..

Now for The Thang – the Solar System of Gloom:

There were two main cones set at opposite curves of the track, Two more cones were set inside the track at each of the curves’ center of radius, a distance of about 10-12 or so yards. Total distance around the track I heard was approx 1/8 mile. One cone had odd numbered exercises, the other even numbered. Completing an odd-even set will complete the track “orbit”. So we did a tour of our solar system, with a little extra:

Exercise # / Planet / Pain:

1. Mercury – 25 Merkins
2. Venus – 25 LBCs
3. Earth – Long jump to the moon (the cone) and back
4. Mars – 25 CDDs
5. Jupiter – 25 American hammers
6. Saturn – Bear crawl to its outer rings (the cone) and back
7. Uranus – 20 Monkey humpers (that got laughs from the PAX)
8. Neptune – 25 plank jacks
9. Pluto (yes I still consider it a planet!) – 20 LSS
10. Pick your poison x 20

Rinse and repeat as much as possible. Even with all the running…..and running is resting….between the pain everyone got one complete round in, most got 1.5, and some even completed two full rounds. GREAT job by all!! There was alot of mumblechatter and laughter from the group as usual, and everyone pushed and encouraged each other, while never leaving the 6 behind all alone. This is the way to work out! People solely in the gyms do not know what they are missing.

Mosey off to find a wall…..

• Wall sits for 20 LONG seconds, squatting lower midway
• BTTW for 20 LONG seconds

Quick motivating message, then off to…..??? A VQ dilemma of not managing time properly. What to do???!! Sugar Honey Iced Tea!! Well, a week or so ago Bones Q’d a heck of a workout at the Abyss, including some painful hill sprints. As we were jogging, I mentioned to him about the hill sprints and how they helped strengthen my beanpoles of legs for the trail running I have become hooked on. His response “We have time, let’s do some”. So…..

Mosey to the Hills of Gloom….

• Sprint up to the top of the nice steep, long hill
• 5 SSHs at top, then quickly back down – hopefully on your feet
• RnR for about 5 minutes nonstop OYO
• There will be more next time….
• Feel the burn baby!

1.75 minutes left…..mosey to……hey, are those picnic tables?

• 25 dips or more OYO

Then back to COT right at 6.

EXCELLENT job by the PAX! It was inspirational to say the least, and an honor to lead leaders.

Announcements, Prayers and Praises:

• Ragnar this weekend
• P200 spring 2017 registration still open, but don’t wait. Limited to 140 teams, and they have room for around 50 more now. Find a team if interested ….and train if needed.
• Read The Fort weekly newsletter!
• Prayers for The Mandarin’s Mom who is having surgery in VA Beach
• Prayers for Puddles in all that he is going through and may he get well
• Prayers for the people of the coastal towns and anyone in the path of hurricane Matthew
• Praises to those hosting hurricane-displaced guests
• Praises to Qwerty for the strength, courage, and integrity that he displayed in his recent ordeal, and prayers that God will help him in his time of need
• Praises to the PAX for giving others the EH to keep us all going
• Praises to God for giving all PAX the strength, courage, discipline, and understanding to be HIMs whenever the opportunity presents

The Message:

During the orbits, I reminded everyone about the Jester. Royale had a quite powerful message on a recent Abyss workout he Q’d. Read it here: http://f3nation.com/2016/09/08/thejester0907/ The Jester is ALWAYS hanging around you, telling you are not worthy, you cannot achieve, to stop and just simply play with him. During the pain of The Thang I reminded the PAX to NEVER lie with the Jester, despite your imperfections and weaknesses. Understand them, acknowledge them, and use those as your motivators to improve. Never be complacent in your seeking to understand, of yourself or any situation, for that is when the Jester has you. Seek understanding always.

Last month’s theme was about grace – giving love when it is clearly not deserved. This month it is mercy – withholding punishment or retribution when it is clearly deserved. Two things that greatly affect how and when we as humans show mercy – if at all – is pride and judgement. Judgement can be more sound through greater understanding. God made us as a perfect image of Him, yet we are anything but perfect. Through His power He shows infinite understanding and forgiveness through His grace and mercy towards our sin.

This is where we fail miserably sometimes. In the era of social everything, instant whatever, and constant yet impersonal connectivity it is so easy to spew the three C’s – condemn, criticize, and complain – and render judgement based on what little understanding we have. In doing so we can also tip our hands of our prejudices. The protests and riots in Charlotte recently are a good example. The general label they are given can be one of thuggery and what not. I do not believe this is so. I will never be able to fully understand their pains and what drove the riots, but I owe them the respect all humans deserve in showing empathy and seeking to understand before passing judgement towards my use of grace and/or mercy.

When we are thrust into any situation, whether voluntarily or not, we must always first seek to understand completely and fully, and challenge our prejudices. Be open to where this may come from as well. When we do this, it will give amazing clarity as to how and when show grace or mercy.

T-Claps from the VQ:

368 days ago to this day I had some (to me) major surgery on my spine, a C5-6 ACDF. It messed me up, even though it fixed me up. I was out of action for months, and that got me soft physically and weak mentally. I never before felt like this and did not know how to take it. My close friends Mr T and Qwerty kept me going, encouraging me, inspiring me, motivating me to get better in every way. They kept telling me about F3, trying to get me out. 5:15am??!!! WTF??!! Big bag of nope yo. But they never gave up on me. Finally on June 29 at the Pantheon on June 29 under a great (i.e., harsh) Q by Jekyll, I be the FNG! I admit the first 2-3 weeks were damn rough, But despite the pain from the first F, it was the 2nd and 3rd F’s that got me hooked and kept me coming back.

That is what F3 is about to me. There are so many HIMs in the PAX I have met since then. To single out some will be a disrespect to the others. Each and every one of them through any of their 3Fs have invigorated and inspired me. I owe gratitude towards everyone who helped Q me to where I am now, whichever of the F’s they Q’d. We all may not Q a post, but we can all Q each other in many ways.

AYE!!

NASA