Prayer Convergence

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This year is a little different.  Now, more than ever, our schools and the people who work in, attend, support and visit them all need prayers. Specifically, we need to pray for a layer of protection and that school can return to “normal” as quickly as possible.

Calling All PAX of Fort Mill to step up and live out the 3rd F.  Most of us have children that attend FMSD schools, as well as neighbors, friends and family that work at these schools. Some PAX work in these schools. What better way to start off the school year than to go to the schools, physically go, and pray?!?   Regardless of how we are connected to them, we are all impacted by what happens in these schools and this is a chance for us to live out what we are called to do.

NEW THIS YEAR :  I’d like to invite those that can make it to the Springs Farm location (in front of Springfield) on Sunday, August 30th @ 5:00.  We can grab some ice cream, have a little 2nd F and end in a Ball of Man (socially distanced, of course) in prayer for the entire district.

What: The Fort PAX (at least 2, preferably 3 or more at each location!) converging at every school in the FMSD, to pray for the students, school leadership, every employee of the school, the safety of the school, etc.

When: Any time Saturday, August 29 through Sunday, August 30

How (do I get involved):  Pick a school, grab a few fellow PAX and show up, ready to pray.  Spread the word in COT!!!

Why: Evil looks for every opportunity to cause chaos in schools.  Now, more than ever, we need prayer.  We pray that any and all evil is kept away from these schools, administrators, teachers, children and families. We also pray that God uses the believers in these school to be a light unto those that do not know him (students and adults alike).

For the guided prayer list click here

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Army Staff Sgt/NYPD Officer McNaughton

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Today we Honored Army Staff Sgt/ NYPD Officer James McNaughton. We had 8 Pax start their day off like a hero.

We started in the center of the NaFo football field with a warmup of SSH, windmills and Imperial Walkers.

The workout consisted of several exercises and lots of 100 yard runs.

10 BURPEES- RUN 100 YARDS

27 MERKINS- RUN 100 YARDS

10 DONKEY KICKS- RUN 100 YARDS

27 BIG BOY SITUPS- RUN 100 YARDS

10 LUNGES -RUN 100 YARDS

27 SQUATS- RUN 100 YARDS

RINSE AND REPEAT 5 ROUNDS….some Pax did more

We ended with some Mary and COT

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The Sweati 2020

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The Sweati 2020-
79 HIM took to The Forts annual summer CSAUP event. It was 78 degrees when 24 Ruckers launched from The Coliseum at 0530. They had their disclaimer and direction to the first of the 3 pain stations. Just After at 0600 54 runners took to the route. They departed and ran about 2.5 miles and got to meet Bones at Golden Corral for the first pain station. He worked them over as they came in for about 10-15 minutes. Once he finished dishing the pain they took off to Pantheon only about 1.5 miles up the Road. Fishsticks was waiting for sprints and pain. He had the PAX attention for another 10-15 minutes. Once they left they brought the route back to YHC. While waiting for the PAX to return and doing burpees I decided that my other two Qs most likely put the PAX through so much I would give them a choice. Either 20 burpees at 5 light poles with bear crawls in-between or they could buyout of it for a $50. going to our brother Cash. Most wanted to take on both challenges. We wore black for Cash and am still amazed at the Photos coming in from across the Country showing support to this HIM. We love you Cash. Here is a link to the pay-pal account if you feel you would like to support.

paypal.me/f3thefort

Backdraft Out

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Running trip not to far from town

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Wow! That was a SWEATY SWEATI! It was another step for me in moving toward getting back in shape since my last post a month ago. One day at a time. Thanks for the fun Backdraft! Live every day!

As a next step in the progression, I’d love to have you join me for a fellowship “run” but with plenty of options for what you are after. On this short trip you could:

  • Trail run anywhere between ~3-6 miles (quite flexible)
  • Ruck if you want (you will need to appoint someone to lead it because I will be running if the body is ready)
  • Hike
  • Train – you can do targeted training at this sight quite easily, especially different types of hill terrain
  • Or I can bring you a “Minnow Pond/STL-style trail running” workout if you are up for a challenge.

When do we leave?

  • 5:15 a.m. August 29, 2020 from Harris Teeter parking lot at 160/Pleasant Rd.
  • You can choose if you want to clown car or drive separately.

Where are we going?

How long will I be away from my home?

  • My estimate is the following:
    • 5:15 am-6:20ish drive time. It opens at dawn.
    • 6:20-6:40 stretch/warmup/get organized in parking lot
    • 6:40 explore and exercise 40 Acres
    • 8 am Hopeful finish back to parking lot
    • 8:10 am Snack it up and drive back
    • 9:15 back at HT parking lot or your home
  • Total time: not less than 4 hours including drive time. Probably not more than 4.5.
  • You will still be back in time to do your family responsibilities for the day starting at 10 a.m. (my goal).

What do I need to bring?

  • Regular running shoes for street running (I do not recommend trail running shoes unless the tread is very low key as we will be on the rocks some)
  • I will be wearing a small running backpack with plenty of water.
  • Sunscreen if desired
  • Snacks/energy bar
  • Ruck if rucking
  • Towel(s)
  • Your phone and ID
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Extra shirt/shorts

How much does it cost?

  • There is no cost
  • There is no donation suggested or required.
  • Just show up with a good attitude.

What will I see?

  • An awesome series of rocks
  • A cave
  • Wildlife
  • Kershaw County
  • Waterfalls during winter, spring, fall only

What will I experience?

  • Fun
  • Hills in the middle of Kershaw County, SC 29067

What pace will you be running?

  • The area is mostly shaded (minus the rocks) and pretty easy to understand so all paces are welcome. It is unlikely you would get lost or in a situation where we could not find you.

What are some reasons I would do this?

  • To challenge yourself outside of a typical 45-60 minute F3 daily workout
  • To do something a step above a “Minnow Pond/STL” and running the Greenway or Whitewater
  • To get outside of York County
  • To scout out a unique and awesome SC area to figure out how you will give your M multiple hours to herself in the future without the kids as you take them on a “hike/exploration”
  • To discover how you could come back and do further running/training/rucking

What do I need to be aware of?

  • There is no Port-o-Jon or bathroom.
  • You will be using the woods if you need to go so plan accordingly.
  • Closest bathroom is a 15 minute drive if they let you use it.

Are 2.0s invited?

  • Not this time. I would not doubt that we would try to do this again with 2.0s.

What would cancel this outing?

  • Expected rainy weather of 40% or more rain chance between 6:30-8:30 am that morning in Kershaw County
  • Significant rainy weather the day before
  • My M says at the last minute there is a change of plans

So whether you attend the 8/28 F3 discussion that night or not, make time in your schedule to join me at 5:15 a.m. for this unsanctioned F3 outing! Take time our of your schedule to scout out this beautiful area to take your family to in the future or to give your M some time to herself one day!

P.S. If you cannot come, then please attend one of our awesome Saturday F3 workout options: The Fort, Alcatraz, The Deep, The Patriot or Planet Pain!

P.P.S. Also keep in mind that this local YMCA event is coming up soon (9/12) so this would be good training ground for it: https://www.ymcacharlotte.org/community-events/c2-obstacle-trail-run-1

P.P.P.S. And this one (9/26) 70 minutes from Ft Mill (awesome trail/OCR course-mine and Yoshi’s favorite one and super cheap, F3 Hickory likes to compete at this one so if you want to get a team together let me know): https://www.adventuresignup.com/Race/NC/GraniteFalls/ENDURE

Straight Up!

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One time at Bandcamp….RPG Style

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Band Camp came to RPG with one objective, prepare the Pax for the Sweati on Saturday morning.  Objective achieved!  

BROGA prepared the Pax for the SWEATI -CSAUP and offered a subtle reminder of the importance to add in some flexibility training during the week!

Bandcamp directed the Pax thru 30 mins of BROGA, then turned over the RUN/RUCK option to Bass-o-Matic (RUN Q) & CakeBoss (RUCK Q).

15 mins remained,  for a 1-mile tempo RUN with Bass-O-Matic or the all-important 3rd F Ruck with Cake Boss!

What are you doing to Get Right, Live Right, and Lead RIght?  POST somewhere to get better!

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SNOWMAN taking CHARGE at TheSWAMP

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Disclaimer was the warmup. Let’s just get this party started.

So with any challenge you face in life, I feel the simplest way to prevent procrastination is to just get started. so that is what we did this morning. Had a quick lesson on why learning by failure often can teach the best lessons as long as the consequences of the failure are not death or other terrible things. “Pain” doesn’t fall into the other terrible things category so….So we just started the mosey around the typical Rivergate loop placing cones with exercises listed at various corners until we made it back to the starting point. I believe it was 14 cones in total, or I can only remember 14 exercises at the moment, so let’s just call it 14.

Volentold Cabana Boy to lead the first exercise giving him some key clues as needed and he did a much-improved job compared to previous attempts. Practice makes perfect.
Once we had completed the first loop the message was discussed as we moseyed back to the starting cone.
Life is full of setbacks but the people that get the furthest in life are the ones that can be humble enough to learn from their predecessor’s mistakes. This has been resonating in my mind these past few months and I keep going back to it. So the plan is everyone starts at the beginning cone and performs the exercise then proceeds to the next cone when finished to perform that exercise. But instead of performing the exercise keep moving towards the third cone to perform the exercise before returning back to the second. Once the leader has completed the second exercise he then yells charge and everyone moves towards the next stop which is three cones forward. It sounds way more complicated and it takes more words than it should to explain but I don’t know how to draw you a picture so show up to know if you’re curious.
Check out the Strava map here: https://www.strava.com/activities/3911335002
Replay of beatdown on Strava

Exercise list(no particular order): 10 of each
SSH
Peter Parkers
Burpees
Hand release merkins
ChaCha merkins
Plank Jacks
Bobby Hurleys
Mack Tar Jais
Burpees (yes again)
Imperial walkers
Jump lunges
Suicide squats
Jump squats
V-ups
and last but certainly not least was the 8 count body bag builder burpee. A burpee with a plank jack thrown in there. Crowd pleaser.

NMM:
The lesson of the BB is that even the guy in the six or the one putting in the least amount of effort, or the one with the least amount of experience, can still learn from the front runners “mistakes” and not have to backtrack and repeat the same “mistakes” for themself. This is what makes F3 and the PAX within so rare and valuable in my eyes. Not only are the seasoned guys out in the gloom working hard every day, pushing to get themselves better, but they are also often seen encouraging others to get better as well. In this crazy broken world, it warms my heart, (careful I might melt), to see the positive energy being sprinkled around(some could call it love) by these super MACHO men during the early hrs of the morning. These seasoned men are not following in the expectations of Goo nation by holding the knowledge and wisdom gained from previous sufferings close to their chest but in true HIM style sharing and reaching out to those in need to offer advice, support, and encouragement. It doesn’t matter if you think you don’t have any “life wisdom” to share and I am willing to bet you probably have more than you think but let’s say you are super fresh and don’t for a minute. You still can be an asset to the group by offering your words of encouragement to those out front. I will leave you with this thought: What do you have to offer that you could share to make this dark world just a little bit brighter?

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Pre-Blast: August 2020 Invergence: How do we find Community while Socially Distant?

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Calling all Pax to Pantheon on 8/28/20 for a Convergence/Invergence. All manners of beatdown will be offered from  5:15-6. After the sweatfest,  we will gather at the “Amphitheater” of Pantheon (front-left corner, follow the Pax).

There we will  hear from a panel of High Impact Men about the challenge of  creating a sense of Community during these times of isolation and distancing. We are called to gather and worship together. We are commanded to love our neighbors .

So, how do we do that in this time of uncertainty? Bring a chair, bring questions and ideas of your own and let’s discuss together. Looking forward to it.

Blessings,

Short Sale

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HIIT or Treat

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Six pax came out to observe Harry Carry’s 46th birthday and get a good beating via HIIT.

Warmup
Mosey run (with butt kickers, high knees, toy soldiers)
SSH (10x I/C)
Windmills (10x I/C)
Imperial Walkers (12x I/C)
Morrocan N/C (10x I/C)
Low Slow Squats (10x I/C)
Arm Circles (12x I/C)
Peter Parkers (10x I/C)
Plank Stretches (Downward dog/honeymooner)

Thang 1
At Pull up bars: interval routine, 20 seconds on exercise followed by 20 seconds rest. Exercises are below:
Pull-ups
Big Boy Situps
Chin-ups
Merkins
Squats (with cinder block)
Repeat for a total of three sets.

Run to school entrance

Thang 2
At the benches: interval routine, 35 seconds on exercise followed by 15 seconds rest. Exercises are below:
Dips
Imperial Walkers
Step ups
Incline merkins
Calf raises
Repeat for a total of three sets.

Run to COT area

Mary: Freddies, leg raises, box cutters, LBC, gas pumpers, cross-over toe touches,

Fini, COT

Prayers/Praises: Cash and his family; teachers and all school personnel with the upcoming school year.

NMM: HIIT keeps it simple but tough, and the time flies by as mentioned by more than one pax.  the tunes help too.

Water and cookies distributed after COT…I’m sure there will be some happy kids this morning.

Playlist:
The man, Killers
Got Nuffin, Spoon
Weapon of choice, fat boy slim
mountain song, Jane’s addiction
Date w/ the night, Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Seether, veruca salt
Give it away, RHCP
Every 1’s a winner, Hot Chocolate
Royals, Lorde
Every day is Halloween, ministry

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Deep End at Minnow Pond

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15 (I think) maybe 16 answered the bell at Minnow Pond for 3 miles- #rabbits got 4 and    Merk/LBC/Squat box of hate.

Twitter machine instructions:

  • 0514: Pledge
  • 0515: AYG to Post Office, Wait for instructions

The Thang:

  • Partner up. leave in opposite directions for a run around the block. Meet up, exercise.  keep running your loop. Meet up, Exercise  Add street from the block back each time.
  • Pain: 50 Merkins Net, 100 LBC Net, 150 Squats net.  Rinse/repeat until 0555 and head back to shovel flag.

Man- Expected Gears and Long Duck DONG to be out front but watching Darkest of All in action is a thing to behold.  Don’t let hair gel (Cat 4 approved) fool you.  Fast lean and drives to front of pack.  Partnered with Refugee (San Diego transplant).  4-5 post so far and crushing.  Although apropo and fitting to be my partner as he spilled merlot.  but gutted it out.  Well done Refugee.

Partner theme appealed to me today and the exercises with net numbers allowed to pick up your partner.  My charge for you today is to pick up someone today.  Emotionally, physically, help with a task or just tell them you were thinking about them.

Prayers for teachers, patience, relationships and for Cash.

Aye!

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Honoring Schmalstieg at The Fire Ant

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Taking a page out of the Honey Badger book by using a page out of the Hero Workout book. This day at the Fire Ant, we’d honor Gunnery Sergeant Justin Schmalstieg (December 15, 2010).

First, disclaimer.
Second, minor warmup.
Third, drop to the plank and listen:

Justin grew up in the Stanton Heights neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and graduated high school in 2000. He spent a semester at Penn State before enlisting in the Marine Corps, where he initially trained as a bulk fuel specialist. After serving overseas in Kuwait, Justin was stationed in Okinawa, Japan and was accepted into the Explosive Ordnance Disposal program. He finished the demanding training required to become an EOD technician and completed two deployments in the Middle East.

In 2008, Justin received orders to Camp Pendleton in California to serve with the 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company, 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group. He deployed twice more, first to Iraq in February 2009 and then to the Helmand province of Afghanistan in September 2010. During a night mission, Justin’s unit was in danger of being ambushed – it was his job to clear the way back to base. Staff Sergeant Justin Schmalstieg, 28, gave his life on December 15 while working to render safe an improvised explosive device. He is survived by his widow, Ann Schneider; his parents, John and Deborah Gilkey; and his brother, John Gilkey Jr. For his service and sacrifice, Justin was posthumously decorated with the Purple Heart and promoted to the rank of Gunnery Sergeant.

The EOD WArrior Foundation is dedicated to supporting EOD service members and their families through a number of assistance programs. Please consider making a donation in Justin’s name at www.EODWarriorFoundation.org/Memorial/Warrior/Justin-E-Schmalstieg.

So, the WOD would be slightly modified for our Ruck AO to the following:

For Time:
Run 800M Slick (without Ruck)

2 rounds of the following:
50 Burpees (slick)
40 Pull-Ups would be substituted with 80 Upright Rows
30 One-Legged Pistol Squats
20 Ruck Swings
10 Hand Stand Push Ups would be substituted with 10 Carolina Dry Docks & 10 Merkins

Run another 800M Slick (without Ruck)

Once we completed this, we did a few core exercises.

Until next time, SYITG.
Maximus

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