Last winter YHC agreed to join the Mud Run team of Dark Helmet, Cerrano and Spider-Man and we began to train. By train I mean we just posted to our daily workouts (we actually began to post more). But in an effort to be coordinated and learn how to partner and work as a team, we started posting to the same AOs during the week. We began a text-chain where we would check in with each other on where to post the next morning. As well as regale ourselves with the most recent #painfest of that day. This went on for months.

Spring came and with it the Mud Run. After the Mud Run a funny thing happened, we kept the text-chain going. This “Virtual 2nd F” as we have come to know it became more than just checking where we were going to post. It became a source of encouragement, support, prayer, accountability, smack talk, comedy and everything else you might find with a fellowship. The PAX mentioned above have hit on these points on more than one occasion.

The Virtual 2nd F has grown and added some members over the course of the past year. You start posting with other guys regularly, they get added. It just happens naturally. If the 2nd F is the glue for F3 Nation, I might just add that the Virtual 2nd F makes it Super Glue. I went from posting 3 days a week to posting almost every day because I couldn’t wait to see my brothers. I went from a consumer of pain to a deliverer (Q) of it. I became more involved, and like anything you put more into, I got more out of it. Essentially, it helped me become Third. I could cut and paste a year’s worth of messages so you get the idea, but I thought each PAX could give you a brief insight to their perspective.

Spider-Man
Most of us were fairly new to F3 when we committed to the Mud Run and started our Virtual 2nd F. My big draw to post, at the time, came from the desire to get better physically and was helped by an advantage of starting this F3 journey at the same time as my long term friend Cerrano. However, what drives me to work even harder in the gloom is my Virtual 2F. I can thank this group for driving me to sign up for CSAUP after CSAUP, pushing me to the point that I can now run a half marathon or more, and for pushing me to run 3 miles before each post. The push from this group is tremendous and I can be sure that a fartsack will provide the material for the days conversation. Even more importantly are the friendships and confidants I have gained from this. These are the guys that know or sniff out any troubles that go unspoken in COT, that bring humor to every single day, and are responsible for 50+ daily texts. For me, F3 is what it is in a large part due to our Virtual 2F!

Crash
I am the six! Last man to join. Being carried by the group of pax. I post a LOT more due to the accountability of the direct text. I post to see my fellow pax and friends who HC to certain posts/plans and are EH’ing me to not #fartsack. You naysayers can tell me Twitter does the same thing. I cannot view Twitter for days. I can become another lowly pax who looks at Twitter and thinks about posting, but once again #fartsacks. I cannot ignore the 60-80 pings my phone gets daily. Nor do I want to. The mumble-chatter is phenomenal and more private, thus encouraging “extra-special” EH’ing and just friendly chatter throughout the day. We all have jobs and life to get to once the sun actually comes up. I joined F3 for the 1stF, but this 2ndF is as needed in my life as much or more than the 1stF. Why the heck else would I now pre-run before posting but for the 2ndF. #onlypostingisforwimps

Cerrano
My daily Virtual F through the eyes of Cerrano AKA Bill Randol the Insurance Broker, I bring this up as it is how I received my name and no it’s not because I like Serrano Peppers. When Zima asked me to describe our Virtual F the first thing I thought of was accountability. Yeah, we are held accountable everyday in workouts in sorts but this has taken it to the next level through texting/calling with our virtual group consisting of 6 Pax today. It was dreamed up initially by team Ludicrous Speed during the great Mud Run of Gaston, South Carolina in April of last year. I believe this is when we first exchanged numbers and became Virtual buds. Some day’s it’s tough to concentrate with the amount of text threads coming through most of which consists of Q ideas, where we are posting for the week, or challenging each other to do stupid things like Marathons, pre runs, or the Palmetto 200. It has also been a way to talk to my brothers when having a bad day or to be there for a brother going through a rough time. Yes, it can be frustrating to be awaken by the Virtual threads the morning you are trying to “smart sack” but I wouldn’t want it any other way. #thankfulforunlimitedtexting. Thanks boys! Aye!!

Maximus
It’s 0510 on a Wednesday morning, a morning I don’t post and my phone lights up repeatedly with messages of varying levels of humor and accountability. Why you ask? Because about 4mos ago I was brought into this text group that has an effective way pushing, pulling, and surrounding each other.
If I’m feeling tired one morning or it’s raining so hard that I’m waiting to see the Ark and I try to bail on a pre-run, I immediately have at least 3 guys virtually pulling me out into the rain. Crazy, you think…yes. Slightly adolescent…yes. But totally meaningful as we trek toward this thing called male accountability and leadership through virtual fellowship when the in-person version can’t always happen.

Dark Helmet
Wake up… 6 (messages).
Take a shower… 8.
Drive to work… 14.
Come out of a work meeting… 38.
Eat dinner with the family… 19.
And it goes on like this all day most days. Good news, bad news, prayer requests, funny stories, jokes, simple questions, tough questions, struggles, wins, heck – even poop habits are par for the course… You have to be diligent with this or you’ll get behind and have to catch up. What started as a group text with just 4 of us that ran the USMC Mud Run together a year ago, has grown to include more and more of our close friends we have in F3. Zima calls it our V2F (Virtual 2nd F). And that’s just what it is… For me, it’s a way to stay connected to my brothers outside of the gloom, and we don’t have to be face-to-face. Some days, somebody posts something hilarious and it’s the pick-me-up I needed. Sometimes someone has a real concern that they bring to the group, and we all offer encouragement or advice or actual, real, in-person help when needed. Many times, the group text peels off into a one-on-one text to dive a little deeper with a Pax that needs a little extra support. I know about that last one, because it’s been me plenty… It’s my family outside my family, my church outside my church, my brotherhood outside my physical brotherhood. And I’m grateful to have it.

Axl
I am truly blessed to have the opportunity each day to share a common love for God with the Men of F3. The friendships that have been forged over these past several months have been absolutely amazing. This fellowship has given me empowerment, self-worth and purpose. With this, I have finally come to learn that God has a design for my life. My hopes/wishes are that others feel the same and that I could repay them one day.

Why are we telling you this? Why is this a Back Blast? I don’t think it’s particularly a singular event. I think Virtual 2nd Fs are happening all over F3 Nation. It’s just another way we’re locking shields. Iron Sharpens Iron. Its helping us do the things mentioned above (see encourage, support, etc.). The Virtual 2nd F is Super Glue! If you’re currently involved in one, TClaps! Consider bringing others into the fold. If you’re not, find those guys you are locking shields with on a consistent basis and consider the Virtual 2nd F. If it doesn’t work for you, you gave it a shot. But if it does work for you? If it makes you better? What then might happen?

Aye!
Zima