average age 50.9 yrs, Kevin Bacon would be proud

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The elder statesman ran around today at Footloose
The old guys were on hand for a Manilow mall walk

10 seasoned veterans took to the streets and parking lots at Footloose for a Barry Manilow beatdown!

No last minute modifications needed, all attendees perfectly capable of taking anything I could dish out.

The thang:
mosey to the back of the church and circle up, 10-15 reps of each, in this order:
imperial walker, LBC, LS squat, shoulder tap, hill billy walker, freddie mercury, windmill, dying cockroach, jump squat, travolta
walk over to the wall for the unveiling of “on the rail”, 10 reps in cadence

mosey the long way around the block to the lower church lot, partner up. one snake the stairs, one donkey kicks, switch, 2nd round, one snake the stairs, one plank jacks
line-up on on end of the lot, Jonah Hill going the other way

mosey toward the “big” hill, but since that is what everyone was expecting, took a left and circled the church once before stopping at the bottom of the hill. partner up, one run the hill, the others choose between LBCs and BB sit-ups, switch, 2nd round, one run the hill, at the bottom of the hill alternate between 5 LBCs and 5 hand release merkins.

walk across the street to the other lot, line up across the church side. karaoke L to the other side, 10 LBCs, back, 10 LBCs, karaoke R, 10 LBCs, the same back, 10 LBCs, powerskip across, 10 LBCs, and back, 10 LBCs, 50% across, 10 LBCs, 75% back, 10 LBCs, all you got across, 10 LBCs, all you got back, 10 LBCs.

5 minutes left, so we mosey in the exact opposite direction of COT, around a bigish block and back to the church sign by COT. On the grass for 11 makhtar n’ diayes, in cadence.

announcements, prayers around the horn, and Assassin took us out.

Thanks for the opportunity Boss Hogg.

Looks like we made it,
Barry Manilow

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Uncomfortable

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7 PAX for the Gears Edition of Tune Up Tuesdays at Block Party.  We kept it nice and simple, but simple doesn’t mean easy.

The Thang:

No warm up, STL style.

Launched down White, around Kanawah, and down Massey at a sub-8 pace.  3 Pain Stations on the route:

  • Little Ceasers
  • Wolfe Funeral Home
  • Sisk Memorial

10-20-30 Merkins-Dry Docks-Mountain Climbers

Headed up Springs Street and took a right on Confederate (5 Burpees OYO for the 6) to the intersection with Monroe White.  Next routine was a variation on Burp-Back Mountain.

  • Ran up to Fort Mill Town Hall Parking Lot, 5 Burpees, then back down the hill and
  • Ran up to the other Hilltop at Williamson and Watson, 5 Burpees

Repeat 6 times total (3 per side).

Meet at the FMCOG lot for some COP while waiting for the 6.  Proceeded to Nur back lot, then some lateral shuffles across the lot.  Ran back up Academy to the Shovel Flag for some Mary before closing out in COT.

NMM

Band Camp especially enjoyed Burp Back mountain… enough said.

3.8 Miles covered, proof here

 

Read your newsletter.

Honor to Serve.

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Painting the Parking Lot of Quagmire with Pain

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Well, a Worship Planning error on my part caused the scheduled Q to learn of his volentold appointment from the PreWorkout Hype blast on twitter. He quickly informed me that he was unable to Q the following morning which is very understandable being this all took place during the Superbowl halftime. So YHC knew that it would be very difficult to get anyone to post the morning after the Superbowl so finding a replacement Q was going to be impossible. No problem for this snowman. If I have breath in my lungs I can suggest terrible exercises and we can perform them together. Whats that they say, “misery loves company”.

I think that flounder thought I was going to take it easy on him since he was the only one to join me this morning.
He thought wrong. I figured he woke up before the sunrise to strengthen his mind and body so I wasn’t going to be the one to disappoint. Grabbed some cones from the truck and off we started towards HomeDepot.

First exercise is the side straddle hop. 30 in cadence.

next exercise is the windmill. 20 in cadence.

Then we moseyed towards the fountain before YHC challenged Flounder to a footrace to the front of Kohls. Don’t think I am a complete punk for challenging a man that is more than twice my age to a footrace. I gave him free rain on his choice of route where I had to go back around the entire HomeDepot and Target before crossing over into the Kohls parking lot. Ready, Set, GO.

I was a bit surprised when I managed to cross over into the bright side of the AO and Founder was nowhere to be seen. Que up the Travolta GIF from Pulp Fiction.
Lesson number one for the young grasshopper.
Always make sure to ask if there are any questions after giving directions.
Backtracked around target heading towards the fountain where I was able to locate the war daddy and called off the Silver Alert. So not everyone knows where Kohls is located. My bad, should have asked.

Once the dream team was reunited the cones were then divided between us and YHC attempted to explain how to paint the parking lot with pain works.

We will start to jog in a circle staying inside of the parking lot boundaries with plenty of fresh air space located between us to keep my MVP, most valuable PAX, healthy from whatever crazy sickness I could be potentially carrying. At random parking spots we start placing the cones down as we continue to jog around the cirlce until all of the cones have ben placed. Then we take turns joging around the parking lot alternating who says stop. Once someone yells stop you find the nearest cone and perform 10 of the exercises listed. Kind of like musical chairs but with burpees and mountain climbers. This went on for quite some time until we each had performed all of the exercises more than we would have liked.
For the grand finally we would race back to COT. This time making sure that Flounder knows the route, the shortest route, to get back to COT while I was going to take the longer path as the first time.
This time we were much closer to finishing the race together which was my intention. A few big boy situps before Count-A-Rama, Name-A-Rama, Announcements, Prayers and Praises. Grateful for the skyQ giving me the nudge to let Flounder close out the COT because man does he have a way with words. Very inspiring for a young man like myself to be able to share time with a man of such strong faith. Put it this way if I am on Q and he is in the COT you better bet I am going to ask him to close us out and I would suggest you do the same.

NMM:
I was not feeling great after the punishment I had put my body through this weekend but once I saw Flounder roll up to the AO ready to go I knew there was no excuse for me to be slacking. He always brings a positive attitude to the workouts that he frequents on MWF and is accelerating in his fitness for sure. You might not catch him in the gloom if it’s cold and rainy but I believe he has earned the right to make that call with little heckling from me, and you know I am an equal opportunity heckler. I didn’t say he got a pass on the heckling; I said he gets less heckling than he deserves. Open to all men applies to keeping all PAX in check.
Very grateful for the discussion with him and to the PAX out there. Remember that you don’t post for yourself. You post for your fellow PAX.

Grateful for the opportunity to post with such a great dude.
Stay frosty my friends!
Olaf

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Intervals at the Swamp

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I have been on a motivated 1stF acceleration tear recently and this continued with some relentless pain. Some might even say it was terrible. Introduced multiple uncomfortable exercises that targeted those obliques and hips. Penguins were a crowd-pleaser. Cookout Squats were also a fan favorite. Nut crushers took the cake. See the Workout summary if you are like me and get geeked out on the data. Stay Frosty my Friends! OLAF
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WWII Murph

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Audie L Murphy

First Lieutenant, US Army

Major, Texas Army National Guard

Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was an American soldier, actor, songwriter, and rancher. He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. He received every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. Murphy received the Medal of Honor for valor that he demonstrated at the age of 19 for single-handedly holding off a company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition. 

He fought in Africa, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, and Austria, receiving the Purple Heart three times, the Bronze Star twice, the Silver Star twice, and of course the Medal of Honor. When asked why he jumped onto a flaming anti tank gun to fight off a company of Germans (while killing 50+), Audie responded with “They were killing my friends.”

Later in his life. To draw attention to the problems of returning Korean War and Vietnam War veterans, Murphy spoke out candidly about his own problems with posttraumatic stress disorder.[99] It was known during Murphy’s lifetime as “battle fatigue” and “shell shock“, terminology that dated back to World War I. He called on the government to give increased consideration and study to the emotional impact of combat experiences, and to extend health care benefits to war veterans.[100][101] As a result of legislation introduced by U.S. Congressman Olin Teague five months after Murphy’s death in 1971, the Audie L. Murphy Memorial VA Hospital[102] in San Antonio, now a part of the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, was dedicated in 1973.

WOD

200 Yard Bear Crawl

100 Burpees

200 Merkins

300 Squats

200 Yard Bear Crawl

We honored Audie Murphy through the pain that is above. Strong work Shield and Trucker.

Punch List out.

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NO OYO at Quagmire

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YHC took the last min Q with the normally scheduled programming interrupted by a last min Mannmon trip out of state. I had a shorty out of bed scenario at the home base so I was coming in hot to StartEx and was very surprised to see no one. Absolutely not a single car was in the parking lot. I had to check the “Steve” to make sure it was Monday. Yep just as I thought it was Monday morning and lots of regulars couldn’t find it in themselves to unfartsack and show up to get better. After planting the shovel flag I was surprised by a car I hadn’t seen in a while and was stoked to see the wearer of short shorts and the best damn goatee in the Fort. I was excited to see the former site Q of my VQ and true HIM Geronimo who must have gotten lost on his way to Honey Badger but like they say “any port in a storm” so I will take it.
The disclaimer was disclaimed as we started a nice jog around Rivergate.
For those who haven’t posted to one of my Q’s in a while, I am fine with it being the same general concept so of course, we were going to play a little game of CHARGE.

Lots of exercises were performed and I was reminded of how great Geronimo’s form is while my body was still trying to recover from the stupidness that was the fastest ruck shuffle I have ever done during the Dam2DamBar over the weekend. Lots of money was raised for a great cause and TCLAPS to all the HIM involved in the planning and execution.

It was great to spend some quality time with a true HIM pushing to get better. It’s actually fulfilling after all of these years of him pushing me to finally have made it to a point in my 1stF that I feel like I actually pushed him. Or he is getting soft. but I will leave it up to you to tell him to his face. Let me know how that went will ya?

Stay Frosty my Friends!
Olaf

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Breaking the Tie

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YHC was invited by the Site Q, Sugar Daddy, to Q the Bubble today and was honored for the opportunity. For those who don’t know or have forgotten, the Bubble is a result of the COVID lockdown coupled with the need for acceleration and fellowship. Started in April 2020, the Bubble sought to fill a gap caused by the lockdown and was one of the many blessings from the Fort during a tumultuous time in our world. It starts at 6 AM so you get the extra sleep time and Baxter offers lots of options for pain.  YHC was excited to Q for both of those reasons!

Weather – 43 and dare I say warmer than the last few weeks. No rain. Perfect F3 climate!

The Thang

Proper Disclaimer was reviewed

Mosey to YMCA pool parking lot

COP

Windmills x 10

SSH x 20

IW x 10

Man Climbers x 20

Merkins x 10

Mosey to top of the hill at Springmaid Street

4 Corners using Springmaid, Promenade, Shady Grove and Market Street

At each corner do the following

5 Burpees

10 Merkins

15 Squats

20 LBCs

Rinse and repeat 3 times

Mosey back to YMCA

6 minutes of Mary

YHC shared a concept on my heart which is “Breaking Ties” in your life. Whether its your spouse, significant others, co-workers, etc. there will be times where you don’t agree with someone. While I don’t have the answers, I do know a few things about failure in these circumstances. I have learned the following:

  • Know who you are and who you arent
  • Dont assume you are right…what if you are wrong?
  • Listen and learn about the other person
  • Pray about it
  • Show love to them

Moleskin

  • Prayers for Twisters daughter
  • Prayers for the Kerns
  • 3/6 is the Yeti…you should sign up
  • 3/13 is the beginning of Acceleration, a leadership journey.
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Take that, treats!

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IIRC, the last and only time YHC has Qed at Golden Corral was partnering with Slapshot over a year ago, so when Lutefisk said there was an opening, it was time to step up. I had quite a few devious plans built up for Q-vengence over the years of getting my arse handed to me by HIM left and right and had a hard time settling on just one, but then, it came to me in a vision… The PAX were forewarned to bring lights.

the gloom

I pulled into the Corral just in time and saw Skipper, Half Shell, Lutefisk, Geronimo, Fire Marshall Bill, and Nasa waiting to see what awful nastiness would ensue. The disclaimer was disclaimed after I verified Skipper’s identity, because I’m bad with names.

Warm up

LOL, wut?

The thang

Run to the light (okay, no traffic, let’s cross at Burn) and head to Dunkin. Circle up for 15 SSH and 15 Monkey Humpers (faces facing away from Dunkin). This is where Olaf caught up with us.

The next leg was supposed to stop at Brewsters, but a couple of female runners were stretching in front of the building, and I don’t like looking like a creeper, so we just kept going until we got to Abbot’s (YHC was reminded a few times that we were doing a Bootcamp during this leg). 10x merkins and 10x monkey humpers.

Last leg, run to the Model A parking lot and look for any PAX from Colosseum (I talked to Slapshot and he said they’d make their way there if possible).

Quick DORA to wait and see if Colo shows up, only got past the first round but this is what was called:
100 BBSU, 100 Leg Lift, 200 LBC
Partners would run around the parking lot islands or bear crawl to the middle island and back (an option that was picked only twice!)

YHC kept a close watch on the time to ensure we’d get back in time, and with 20 min left, we retraced our steps. The first leg ended in the Gamestonks parking lot (at the top of the hill) for 10x Peter Parker and 10x Parker Peter.

The next leg, YHC began slowing down, but the PAX waited for me at Brewsters and were doing some very nice looking flutters. When YHC arrived we added 10x Low Slow Squat and 10x Imperial Walkers.

Next leg back to Dunkin, where I was smoked by the rest of the PAX, who were doing overhead clap when I arrived, and we busted out more monkey humpers before using the crosswalk.

Finally we converged on the S wall of HT for people’s chair with bear crawl chain. Then BTTW chain with a run (PAX really ran fast here). About 90 seconds left, we took our one and only ten count before a 45s BTTW (countdown by YHC) and back to COT.

COT

Hyped the Yeti and prayed for a Geronimo’s new job and some PAX who were hoping to find something new to do.  Wives were also mentioned (context omitted).

nmm

I generally try to find some kind of message for my Qs, but today was all about stupid fun. My original plan was a bit more ambitious than my body is prepared to pull off, and far more running than a BC should be (this idea will be a thing in the future, though).

Seriously, though. Fun is what I needed.  Fun has been in short supply over the last 11 months.  The kind of fun where you’re laughing, gasping and wheezing because you choose to do something a bit too ambitious and everyone smoked you, but it doesn’t matter because you’re all part of one big stupid group of fun.  And my Garmin says I burned 731 calories during this fun.

Monkey Humpers facing away from Dunkin and the ice cream shops were part of that fun. I hope security personnel get a hearty laugh or a “WTH” look on their faces if we were on camera, too.

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Cupids’ Cup Virtual 5K at Minnow Pond

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For those of you that have been in The Fort for a while, you may remember I had a heart attack on February 11, 2015. To say I was lucky compared to other victims is an understatement. My fitness is probably stronger now than it was before it happened. But the foundation that I built THROUGH F-3 no doubt helped in my episode being mild and allowed a smooth road to recovery.

Another part of my recovery was cardiac rehab through Atrium Health. Every year I run in the Cupid’s Cup 5K. Some of you have run with me. Many more were supportive through generous donations. Since the event is virtual this year, I decided to take the Q at Minnow Pond on 2/11/2021, 6 years to the day and host a mini live event to assist the virtual efforts of the cardiac rehab team.

Last July 2nd, another Pax became a “student” and then a graduate of the Cardiac Rehab program. Bonsai had his own event after a double down. Again, when you see him now, you’d have no idea. He also attributes his good fortune to F3 and his care through Atrium’s program.

TWO OPTIONS TO GIVE

(1) So come out on Thursday if you can. OR run 3.1 miles on your own between now and (through)Sunday. You can register here to send in an official time and be part of the F3 – The Fort team.

(2) You can also donate without running by using this link.

Besides being lucky that we could overcome our heart attacks, Bonsai and I could go to cardiac rehab with no financial strain. This event is a way to make sure everybody has access to the care they need.

This is a great way to get in a regular post and give back to the community.

Boeheim

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