QSOURCE 2022.03 – GROUP (F3)

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QSource 2022.03 – Group (F3) 

**Note I realized I needed to add before posting… When I refer to “Dredd” in the following missive I am referring to one of F3’s founding members and prolific publishers, Dave Redding.  The many references contained herein are from his book Q Source.

When asked by Tesh to write an article for his QSource disruption I was quick to say yes, when he told me my topic was Group, I chuckled a bit.  The reason?  Will knows that I grew up in a special sort of Group and I have very strong opinions on the value of said groups…  Dredd tells us there are three types of groups in the world: the community, the organization and the team.  Well, I have a fourth group that jumps to mind, the cult… It often takes shape in all three of the other group distinctions and I worry that more of us than would like to admit are members of one.  SIDEBAR: if you are using Miriam Webster’s “Essential Meaning” of any words, you are a moron.  A definition is a definition.  I don’t need Webster to boil it down for me, but I digress…  

Webster eventually defines “Cult” as the following: 

1: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious

2: a: great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (such as a film or book) especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad

b: the object of such devotion

c: a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion

3: a system of religious beliefs and ritual

4: formal religious veneration 

5: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator

Let’s skip #1 in that list, leaving that to the Branch Dravidian’s and focus on #2.  Great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work.  Dredd tells us that Man is by nature a group forming being, so we are pre-wired for coming together with others.  Most of mankind is also pre-wired to desire a bunch of people around them to make them feel more comfortable delegating their decision making to someone else in said group.  Take a moment and reflect on the groups you are a member of today… the neighborhood you live in, your workplace, your church, your college, your vaxx status, your fraternity, military branch, F3, political party, Facebook group, Shield Lock, etc.  Some of those are standard groups we all notice, some others, not so much.  Seems that lately we are pretty good at creating new groups, sub groups, groups for others and on and on.  

Dredd defines group as a voluntary combination of two or more people, and clarifies that group membership is never coercive.  Well, we have certainly seen that change in the last couple years!  I have watched and listened to many people join groups they didn’t want to join out of obligation, out of fear, under duress and every degree in between.  My question is, why are we so dang desirous to be in a group, and more importantly, why are we so scared to be kicked out of a group?  

Now, to be fair, having grown up in a cult, I am allergic to groups.  I have spent most of my adult life like Groucho Marx, never wanting to join a group that would have me as a member.  I remember being surprised by the “correct answer” to Dredd’s first Socratic, “Is man’s natural desire solitude or combination?”  I was quick to say “solitude!”  Only to find out the correct answer was quite the opposite.  After years of reflections I am not sure why I tilt toward solitude.  Was it my family of origin?  Was it the cult?  Was it a toxic combination of both?  Whatever the answer, my family now is the only group I fight to stay a part of every day.  It has been a struggle over the years because when things got challenging my answer was usually, “we would both be better off on our own instead of forcing things here as a couple.”  

My allergy to group was not healthy, but I postulate our desire to be a part of groups is similarly  unhealthy.  Do we take the time to consider whether we are joining with another to the improvement of ourselves and those impacted by our group?  Are we surreptitiously  joining with others on social media and serving as a mob to attack the others?

Some of the groups we associate with will be necessary evils, like our HOA or employer, but most others we are absolutely free to choose.  When the group you hang out with on Sundays tells you who is and who isn’t worthy of or receiving Grace, maybe you question.  When you find yourself confident that the opposing group you are yelling at is definitely evil thus proving your righteousness, maybe you question.  When you find yourself blending into the group so someone else makes the decisions and you just go along, maybe you question.  When you cling tightly to your membership of the group you thought was right, but now realize it was wrong and you don’t want to admit it to yourself, maybe you question.  When you want to leave the group you promised to love and cherish till death, maybe you question.

Remember when your parents asked you whether you would jump off a bridge because your friends did?  Maybe they even quoted Proverbs 13 to you and you probably rolled your eyes.  We are older now, but often no smarter.  Be judicious about who you join with and who you are ready to cast out of the group.  Once you figure out which groups are healthy to join, figure out how you will lead because we all lead whether we want to or not.  Rarely is there no one behind us following us following the leader.  Cults are built on irrational devotion to fuel their power and impact on the world around them.  Regardless of what Creed told us in The Office, cults are destructive and more prevalent than we may want to admit as we certainly have no shortage of irrational devotion these days.

He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

– Proverbs 13:20

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12

Footloose: Band Camp Edition

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Leading moderate workouts create a lot of planning challenges for me. I try to be mindful of the PAX present and push without overdoing. After all, guys are posting to a “moderate” AO. When the Q-drenaline starts flowing it’s harder to hold back the speed/intensity. This issue is something I try to be mindful of every Q. DT felt we ran too much and Slash felt the yoga wasn’t moderate, but nevertheless: we persisted.

Among the activities today:
– bear crawling with called steps
– lunge walking with called steps
– snaking through the stairs at the Church of God
– knees over toes squats on the stairs
– 7s at the Baptist church steps with bomb jacks and burpees
– deconstructed burpee motivators (thanks Airwolf for the idea here….this will return)
– run around downtown with stops of (15 merkins, 15 squats, 15 flutters)
– lifting up the spent grain tubs at Amor
– a little yoga at almost every stop along the way

NMM

One thing I think about every time I Q or post at a moderate AO is: what am I moderating? If I’m moderating the intensity of a workout, am I moderating my alcohol intake? What about my eating habits? How about my media consumption? What about my word choices?

Thanks Small World for the opportunity to lead:

—
Band Camp dismissed

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2

The Swamp: reps, laps, and a forgotten message

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7 PAX – 1 FNG
Full disclaimer was read (at least the high points)

Little Mosey
Some dynamic warmups
Some in-cadence warmups
-IW
-HW
Little Mosey
Some more dynamic warmups

Thang w/ Laps around Target
25 burpees – in cadence
lap
50 merkins – stopped at 25 to let the PAX gather their resolve
lap
75 lunges
lap
100 monkey humpers – in cadence
lap
75 lunges
“lap” – modified with a mosey back towards COT
50 merkins – no stopping
mosey back towards COT
– Airwolf wanted to sprint it back in. YHC obliged
25 burpees – 10 EMOM for 2.5 minutes
40 seconds of flutters in cadence to hit 0600

NMM:

Workout stolen from a Hello Kitty tweet. As the Russian master, Igor Stravinsky said: “good composers borrow, great composers steal.”

I blame Badlands and Tesla for pushing the pace. So much push that I forgot the message I’d planned on how Jesus called Peter to be a “fisher of men,” but told another follower to “go home.” (Luke 8) It’s alright we don’t all get the same callings.

Guess I’ll save it for another Q!

Welcome FNG: Spector

—
Band Camp dismissed

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1

Dog (Dawg) Years

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A band of 7 met at  Runde for the second Alcatraz workout of 2022.  After a fine disclaimer from Copay,  and a late, ‘comin’ in hot’ arrival by Divac, the workout commenced.  Here is what we did:

The Thang:

Copay on Q:

Form a quick circle for COP:

Do a standing stretch starting from the toes and reaching up to the sky with a calf raise (18 reps in cadence – cool!)  From there we went to side straddle hops at various speeds in cadence up to 80 (160 total)- crowd pleaser.

Mosey to the back of the parking lot near the basketball hoops.  Split into pairs and do the following:

Round 1:

Parter 1 does 42 squats while partner  2 lunge walks the length of the lot.  When the count is reached, partner 1 runs to catch partner 2 and flapjack.   Return to the start with more squats and lunge walks.

Round 2 – same as round 1?

Round 3

Partner 1 does 42 jump squats while partner 2 broad jumps along the parking lot.  When the count is reached, partner 1 runs to catch partner 2 and flapjack.

Circle back up and do 33  Superman back exercises (lie flat on stomach, raise legs and arms)

To finish his half of the workout, Copay gathered us for a Switzer (or maybe a Smart).   He talked more about this season’s Bulldogs and how they improved their fitness through ‘gassing’.  See reference below.  The Pax let out a collective sigh of relief.

Handoff to Senator Tressel

Form a line for an extended indian run along Windward drive.  Run about  2 laps between Tega Cay Drive and the circle at the end of Windward,  and then head back to the baseball fields of Runde.

Circle up for Tabata.  5 rounds:  20 sec work, 10 sec rest, rinse and repeat for 4 minutes per exercise, 20 minutes total.   Do the following exercises:

  1.  Merkins
  2. Freddie Mercury
  3. Carolina dry dock
  4. V-ups
  5. Burpees

End with the body destroyer for 60 sec

COT

NMM:

What a pleasure to share a Q with Copay!  I don’t see him very often, but he’s a good guy to be around – always smiling and positive.  Copay is a HUGE Georgia Bulldogs fan and he was still riding the high from Monday night’s championship win.   His portion of today’s workout was centered around Bulldog stats – years since last championship (42), the score (33-18), others I can’t recall.  Toward the end of his portion, he talked about how the Bulldogs improved their fitness through ‘gassing’.  I could sense the tension mounting with the Pax (YHC included), about what was going to happen next.  He never did tell us exactly what it was, but it didn’t sound pleasant.  Thankfully (or mercifully), Copy said that we were not going to do any gassing today and he handed the lead over to me (whew!)

My half of the workout included one of my favorites – the Tabata.  I learned this from F3 brother Chicken Wing several years ago at a workout.  It’s simple and requires very little planning, but it’s intense and always a tough one – the soreness in my upper body and abs are reminding me of that as I write this.

I was very pleased to see Photobomb and Smuggler out yesterday.  I saw Smuggler at Golden Corral on Tuesday and hope he and Photobomb continue to come back regularly.  We miss you, brothers!  It was a privilege to Q with Copay and lead the group today as always.  Copay’s tribute to the GA Bulldogs provided the perfect opportunity for me to use another Rush song title in my backblast ( huge fan – RIP Neil Peart).

Announcements,/prayers/praises

  1.  Dam to Dam Bar on Jan 29, Yeti coming soon, check your newsletter as always.
  2. Prayers for the Duffy family, Divac friend Sharon recovering from cancer and brain surgery, ST friend Joe with Cancer and co-worker on a ventilator (Covid).

 

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2

Multitasking is not a thing……

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As we all know we live in an overstimulated world…We are constantly bombarded with demands, tasks, responsibilities, fake news :), and distractions. There is more information and access available at our fingertips than ever before yet we are more drained and burned out as a society. We struggle to live in the present moment and to stay focused on things that matter. We get sucked into playing whack a mole on a daily basis. Work, chores, errands, kids, wife, family, etc. etc. Our phones beep and buzz about every 30 seconds and the email inbox is constantly filling up.  There is no more margin…

We discussed at COT how multitasking is somewhat glorified in our culture today.  I heard someone speak the other day about a term called “monotasking” and it captured my attention.  Actually learning to focus on doing one thing at a time.  Why the hell is that so hard?  What would actually happen if we were to focus on one task at a time, one conversation at a time, one project at a time.  Like actually eating your lunch at work without reading email or working, actually paying attention to the person speaking on your zoom call, shutting down your inbox and silencing your phone to work on a project.  I think that is where we can learn to actually find life in the present.  Reading the Gospels this is exactly what Jesus did.  He was never in a hurry, took time for prayer when the world was screaming for his attention (including his posse), was extremely present in the moment, and focused on doing one thing at a time.  Food for thought.   

Oh yeah…we did a workout.  Here it is.

Warm up – Side straddle hops, quad stretches, imperial walkers, overhead claps

The Thang – 

Suicides on the football field 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and then run 100 yards.  Nurr back to goal line.

Ring of Fire (or Rectangle of Fire). Start center field with 5 burpees.  Run diagonal to each 20 yard line and do 20 reps of an exercise.  Run back to center and do 5 burpees at each transition.  Exercises include Merkins, Bobby Hurleys, V ups, CDDs.  Round 2 included wide arm merkins, squats, flutters, and overhead claps.

We then went back to the goal line and repeated suicides.

There was time remaining so we ran to the pull up bars for some fun.  20 dips, 20 curls with cindy, 5 pull ups, some wall sits, 25 dips, 25 curls with cindy, wall sits, finish with 5 more pull ups

Closed at COT

Prayers for Aquaman and his family, Prayers for Sawdust and his support of his fellow soldiers, Prayers for my wife Elizabeth’s Deviated Septum surgery and recovery.

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3

Bushwood Leg Hangover

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So….  The science says Badlands Q doesn’t bring the best weather.  Dry but cold morning – didn’t catch exact temp but mid 20s at best.  The cold appears to have kept the turnout fairly low across The Fort this morning, but we had 6 strong HIM come to get better at Bushwood.

 

Joint disclaimer with Snake Pit and we moseyed (@7:30 pace – Oops, I was amped I guess) down the backside of the school to a field across from the tennis courts.

 

CoP:

20x SSH (IC)

20x MNC (IC)

20x IW (IC)

10x Merkin (IC)

20x Goofballs (IC)

 

Main Workout:

4 Round OYO circuit utilizing the parking lot and the 4 tiers of stadium seating at the Tennis Courts

Round 1: Run lap around parking lot (0.3mi), 5x Box Jumps at 1st Tier, 5x Bulgarian Split Squats (each leg) at 2nd Tier, 5x Derkins at 3rd Tier, and 5x Step Ups (each leg) at 4th Tier

Round 2: Run lap – 10x reps

Round 3: Run lap – 15x reps

Round 4: Run lap – 20x reps

 

Solid mumblechatter along the way – Work, Covid, Life, etc

 

Calves were feeling neglected so we finished off the Main Workout with about 20x calf raises

 

The Encore:

During the mosey back toward CoT, 10x Diamond Merkins were completed at every light pole we passed to the right of the road and 10x Wide Arm Merkins for each light pole we passed to the left of the road, around 5 light poles each side.  Arrived back to CoT with about 3 minutes left for Mary which included Flutters, Speed Flutters, LBCs, and American Hammers.

Totals for the day include: 2.5 miles, 50 Box Jumps, 50 Bulgarian Split Squats, 50 Derkins, 50 Step Ups, 20 Calf Raises, 20 Merkins, 50 Diamond Merkins, 50 Wide Arm Merkins, 4 Minutes of Ab work @ Mary

Joint Name-o-rama, Announcement, Praises, Prayers with SnakePit…

 

Thanks to L-Train for giving me the opportunity to Q!  Never skip Leg Day fellas!

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2

2112

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Eleven of Ft. Mill’s finest met at the corner of route 160 and Gold Hill Road for another edition of the Golden Corral.    Here is what they did:

The Thang:

Before the workout began, there was some discussion about the exact time of day and apparently, my watch was about 2 mins slow.  So the Pax were disclaimed at 5:17 rather than the designated start time of 5:15. Today, though, that worked out for the best as we found one straggler rolling into the parking lot as I was finishing the disclaimer,  and that guy turned out to be an FNG!  After some minor ribbing for being tardy, we moseyed over to the ‘alley’ between Harris Teeter an O’Reilly Auto Parts for COP.

COP (all in cadence):

SSH x 40, windmill x 15, IW x 40, merkin x 10, LBC x 20, Mountain climber x 35, low, slow squat x 20, Morrocan night club x 40 while walking to the front of Harris Teeter.

Split into two groups for suicides using the 3 light posts as the stopping points.  We did 4 rounds and it was a crowd pleaser:

Round 1:  Group 1 run, while group 2 does merkins

Round 2:  Group 2 run, while group 2 does LBC’s

Round 3:  Group 3 run, while group 2 does monkey humpers

Round 4:  Group 4 run, while group does dips

Mosey back to the alley between Harris Teeter and O’Reilly.  All Pax in people’s chair and one by one bear crawl from one end to the other until we cycle through all the pax.  Shake ‘em out.  Now all pax in balls to the wall and then one by one, jog from one end to the other.

Mosey back to the main lot for a true 6 minutes of Mary:

Freddie Mercury x 20, Pretzel crunch x 10L/10R, Hello Dolly x 20, Superman hold x 3

COT

I was a last-minute sub for Decibel last night so just pulled an old Q from the archives.  This one was from September 29, 2014 and we had 20 guys back then.  Here is a little bit of F3 The Fort history:  Golden Corral was THE Tuesday workout in Fort Mill and we used to get 15 plus pax week after week so it wasn’t long before we needed to add the other Tuesday workouts (Colosseum, Ballroom).  Funhouses was the original site Q.

Big fun from the group today and plenty of mumble chatter.  Leading the charge (no surprise) was Jekyll and Twister.  At one point during COP, I could hear my own cadence count, but could not make out the count from the Pax because only 1/3 of the group was counting the other 2/3 were discussing how the beverage industry is changing (among other topics).    Everyone seemed to have a comment about something.  My favorite came from Airwolf who recognized that with our latest FNG Tailwind, F3 The Fort has met our EEOC requirement for 2022 – hahahaha.  All in jest of, course!

This morning exemplified what we all know and love about F3.  And that is, despite all that is going wrong in our communities (the death of a son, a local teacher robbed and shot, a worsening pandemic, and the huge political divide in our country), getting together to break a good sweat and have some laughs can keep all the bad stuff from getting to us.  Our bodies are stronger, we feel better physically and emotionally, and we know we have guys to lean on when we need them.

It was truly a pleasure to lead the group today and I look forward to next time. And BTW, the title of the backblast is a continuation of my effort to work Rush song titles into this website (RIP Neil Peart).

Announcements/Prayers/Praises

  1. Dam to Dam 10K bar (check your newsletter)
  2. Prayers for Aquaman’s family, Covid victims, cancer victims, local teacher in hospital.
  3. I neglected to get Tailwind’s contact info this morning. If anyone reads this (which will be a very small number I think), please reach out to him if you happen to see him or hear that name at a workout.

 

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5

QSource 2022.02 – F2 Language

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Q Source
F2: Language

Preparatory work (warm-up):
The F3 Lexicon contains the particularized language of F3 leadership. It is available online https://f3nation.com/lexicon/ My goal below is to show how this foundational concept of F3 leadership is both circuitous and useful. Every F3 word I use in direct reference to its lexicon definition is both capitalized and italicized for distinction.

The Thang:
When we discuss language, remember this is the area where from the outside F3 feels like a cult. I (YHC) felt like this when I first started Posting.
“Why does everyone need a special name?” *
“Why can’t we just have normal names for exercises?” **
G3L…uh? 3S2T….huh?
And what the heck is a Q?

Here’s why language is a foundational concept according to Q Source: “Every Effective group has its own Language.” For this sentence to be comprehensible, two words need the lexicon:

  • Effective: The degree to which a person or Group is Purposeful.
  • Language: The Lexicon of Virtuous Leadership

PAX still need to dive further still into the lexicon:

  • PAX: A Member of F3 Nation (can be singular or plural).
  • Group: A voluntary combination of two or more people.
  • Purposefulness: Commitment to Purpose
  • Purpose: An Advantage sought.

But wait, we’ve still got to dig deeper.

  • Advantage: A superior circumstance achieved by Movement.
  • Movement: Actions taken in furtherance of Purpose.

So, here’s the circuitous route I want us to discuss. Warning circular writing ahead:

Purpose is an Advantage sought. An Advantage is a superior circumstance achieved by Movement. And Movement is action taken in furtherance of Purpose. Remember, Purpose is an Advantage sought. So…we can gain an Advantage to a superior circumstance by Movement, which are actions taken in furtherance of our Purpose. And our Purpose is an Advantage sought. Etcetera. Because the definition for these three terms is intertwined, they must coexist. You cannot have Movement without having Purpose or Advantage. Either you have all three or we have none. Purpose without both Advantage and Movement is meaningless.

Once we can clarify a term in the lexicon or see multiple Qs use it in the same way, we understand its meaning in an F3 context. Because so many of the lexicon definitions are pared down* to one specific meaning, communication is simple using a shared language where key terms lack confusion. Communicating like this gives the PAX quick understanding. The shared language gives us the means to accomplish together as a Group what would be impossible for the individual.

The mission of F3 is the invigoration of male community leadership. With the advent of specific and particular language, PAX develop a tool to facilitate their leadership.

This circular language models our own path of Acceleration in any endeavor. (Acceleration: To increase the pace of Movement.) Because we understand that Movement is in service Purpose, we seek betterment for any Purpose we may have. Our Purpose could be leading a workout (1st F), our Purpose could be to be a sacrificial father (2nd F), or our Purpose could be deeper spiritual connection (3rd F). Regardless of what area of life we examine, our desire for Acceleration towards our Purpose remains.

Perhaps, for the veteran PAX, you’ve noticed that Qing an F3 workout is so much easier than leading at your workplace. (Maybe YHC is alone on this…?) I argue that a majority of the difficulty at work is you, your peers, your subordinates, and your superiors do not share the same language. You can use the same words and each population interprets them to mean different things. Without that shared language, we quickly relive the lessons of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). At the university, we relive those lessons vividly every faculty meeting.

While my main income (Mammon) is from teaching music at a university, I am frequently asked to sub in with professional orchestras. This requires me to jump into a functioning Group with little to no on-boarding. One reason this works is musicians have a shared language of notation, and a flexibility to match stylistically the ensemble sound. The leader of an orchestra is the conductor (maestro or maestra). One of the main criticism musicians have of any (every?) conductor is their failure in Articulation (Q3.5): describing Vision to others. When a conductor is unable or unwilling through gesture to communicate their musical vision, they move towards verbal communication.

Musical notation developed over a long period of time. There are meanings for each meticulous marking. However even within the language of musical notation, there is an immense amount of room for interpretation. Ask a Czech musician how to interpret Dvořák, and they will say if you see a staccato note, it must be staccato. And an accented note, must be accented. Ask a Russian violinist how to interpret Tchaikovsky; they will say when you see a staccato, it must be staccato. If you see and accent, it must be accented! As an American, when I hear European orchestras play Bernstein with a European conductor, they often miss the nuances and inflection of his music. Even though they’re playing the staccato notes their version of staccato. Clearly musical language has an accent that must be accounted for.

A good conductor can effectively use language to convey much of their musical vision. But a great conductor will create language to elicit exactly what they’re seeking from the orchestra. This is especially true the longer a maestro leads an ensemble. The musicians understand the maestro’s language. The best example from my experience was when maestro said, “let’s do it again, but think Johann Strauss with Debussy’s chordal aesthetic.” That comment completely altered the orchestra’s interpretation for the better, and we were not playing a piece by Strauss or Debussy. Obviously, we understood maestro’s language. That comment probably means nothing to you without an understanding of J. Strauss waltzes and Debussy’s harmonic language.

A musical interpretation example you may be able to experience is the opening of Star Wars: Main Title. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D0ZQPqeJkk) Listen to the first chord and think of it as a downward gesture in energy. Imagine the conductor coming down with their arms to start the ensemble. Then start the recording again and consider the opening to begin with up energy. Imagine the conductor’s hands raising with the baton extending out and up to open the piece. Does the same recording feel differently depending on how you interpret it in your mind?

There is no one common language of leadership. But Effective Groups will utilize a unique language in the furtherance of their mission. Groups without a unique language still work and often achieve their missions. However, there are more unproductive or ineffective steps along the way. As leaders, let’s work towards utilizing language as a tool that will make our efforts Effective. With refinement, language is not an obstacle between our shared understanding, but a tool at our disposal.

Prayer:
Lord,
I ask, as did the writer of Hebrews (12:1-2), for perseverance to run the race you have marked out for us. But our human diligence only carries us so far with mortal strength and finite lifespans. Bless us through the Holy Spirit with the language to be effective as we run your race. That our faithful efforts emboldened by your presence would bring glory to you.
Amen.

*When you have a specific and particular name in a given context you build an identify around that. Justin wouldn’t be willing to run miles on a raining morning and do 100 pull-ups while swinging a kettlebell, but Band Camp will joyfully do that in support of a fellow PAX’s Q. (I can mumble chatter joyfully during the workout too, right?) There’s also an element to the name that signifies you’re a part of the group. Your ability to cope with a silly nickname indicates to all the PAX that you can handle hard truths with grace.

**I don’t like doing push-ups, but when they’re called “Merkins” they seem to have a different Purpose.

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10

Badlands Wet and Wild VQ

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After my first post in late October 2021, I managed a solid 2 months of free-loading.  Then, this morning came time for my VQ…

 

Text Exchange (as sideways rain whipped through the EarthFare parking lot, getting worse by the minute):

05:05 – Badlands – This should be fun.

05:06 – Kermit – This is a little much.

05:07 – Badlands – No lightning at least.

05:07 – Kermit – I don’t know if I’m this hardcore.  But I’ve never had to make this decision.

05:08 – Badlands – This is the worst.  I’ve never been to one that’s got canceled

05:08 – Kermit – This is insane. It’s because of your name.

05:09 – Badlands – It’s gonna break right in time to start.

05:12 – Badlands – Told you.  Skies clearing right in time.

05:12 – Kermit – It’s still raining, just not coming down in sheets now.

 

And with the calming of the rain – 7 PAX exited their vehicles and entered the gloom.

 

Disclaimer and a brief overview of the workout then we were off…

 

Moseyed onto 160 towards Baxter until we found an extra soggy spot ¼ mile in.  We circled up (kind of) and I stumbled through COP as the rain ceased:

20x Goofballs (IC)  *w/BandCamp doing his best to make my life difficult*

15x MNC (IC)

20x IW (IC)

 

Moseyed further down 160 with R/T onto Front St, down to the Berkshire Heights loop.

 

Main Workout:

OYO CCW running of Berkshire Heights loop (~.9 miles) x2 with pain stations at each stop sign (5/loop = 10 total)

10x Merkins

10x Big Boy Situps

10x Squats

 

After second loop, returned to EarthFare parking lot to earn extra credit as temperatures noticeably dipped and winds picked up.

Main Workout Totals:  3 miles, 100 merkins, 100 big boys, and 100 squats.

 

Extra credit back at the parking lot consisted of 4 corners style workout with running in between:

Corner #1 – 10x Left Leg Lunge

Corner #2 – 10x Right Leg Lunge

Corner #3 – 10x Shoulder Taps

Corner #4 – 10x Mountain Climbers

All PAX earned some extra credit on the day – some getting another .5 miles and 30 more reps of each exercise.

 

Name-o-rama, Announcement, Praises, Prayers..

 

As we scattered toward the vehicles, the rain started again…  If you didn’t know, it rarely rains in the Badlands.

 

Thanks to Vuvuzela for the opportunity to lead, and for the conversation while driving to get his spare keys after getting locked out of his vehicle 😉

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5

FORE!

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Balmy 32 degrees, clear skies.

Great to start the year off with a proper #runningwithpushups beatdown.  Was a little nervous on the who would show as the emoji bucket for my preblast was near empty.  I need my dopamine hit of likes, hearts, and high fives.  14 (corrected to 13 via video) posted for a jaunt to Fort Mill Golf Club.

5:13: “one minute to pledge” and also “hurry up birdcage, lets go”

5:14: Pledge of Allegiance.  There was no Bandcamp to throw me off my 40  year vocal cadence.  We are all #proudtobeanamerican

5:15: concise layout of the plan and  half assed disclaimer.

The Thang:

AYG to parking lot of Fort Mill Golf Club,(1 mile) plank wait for #six and confirm plan.  Run Front 9 cart path.  At every Tee and every Green: 5 Merkins and 5 squats. Head back to COT 0550. Fishsticks and Badlands were super strong this morning, lead the way and got all 9 in.  Middle and back groups got 7-8 holes.  Full round gets 4 miles and 90 each of the #painmakers.

Naked Man Moleskin

Maximus and Shady tried to talk to me while I was running.  Hope they could hear my muttering over my heavy breathing.  Not sure what was going on in the other running packs but if anybody ran with Pusher- can you let me know what questions he asked today?   Always great to see men push themselves at this workout.

Want to give a praise to Olaf for including me a bible plan this week.  Havent done one of those in a while and realized how impactful they are to setting up my day and my heart for the day.  My challenge to you- If you are a “habitual first thing I do when I wake up is grab my phone and scroll Instagram, twitter, slack, Linked In, News Feed, texts, emails” guy- take a break from that for a day, 3 days, 5 days.  Grab your coffee or water and for 5 minutes: sit “in it”.  Silence.  be still.  Meditate, bible verse, Q source, thought for the day, reflection, journal.  Start the day without the noise that leads to anxiety, worry, comparison.  Would love for you to find me next week, let me know how it went.

Aye!

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