Pre-Blast – Oral Cancer Foundation Run in Memory of Jeremy Blevins

2016-01-09Leave a comment

QIC: Bing
When: February, 6, 2016
Posted In: Alcatraz

Pax,A friend’s husband lost his battle to Oral Cancer in August of 2013. He was diagnosed in January of 2013 and lost the battle only a few short months later. While Jeremy wasn’t a part of F3 (to my knowledge) he was a #HIM as he was an avid runner and didn’t miss a day of running in over 7 years, until his cancer no longer allowed him to run. In his honor, his friends all met that first missed morning and ran his usual route. To this date, we continue to dedicate every mile run to his honor and for the cause, to beat Oral Cancer. This has motivated me to push myself every day, to get out and pound the pavement on those mornings in which the excuses were rampant.

I ask for your support to this cause. Please consider signing up for the Oral Cancer Foundation Run on February 6th in Baxter Village. My 2.0 and I have participated in this event for the past 3 years and have proudly raised nearly $600 for the cause. There is a fundraising element that can be done with the race, but is not required.

If you choose to register, I have created an F3 team. Please sign up for that team as it will keep track of all F3 members and their fundraising efforts. Let’s show our support to this great cause and to Shelley Blevins!

Registration Link: http://donate.oralcancer.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eventID=673

My Fundraiser Page: http://donate.oralcancer.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=19601

Thank you!

TClap |

Mini-Murph @ The Patriot

2016-01-09Leave a comment

QIC: Popeye and Italian Job
When: 1/9/16
Pax: Burgundy, Posh, Peach, Crabcakes, Limp Bizkit, Rosetta, Green Mountain, Fusion
Posted In: The Fort

This morning included a mini-Murph for YHC and 9 PAX. Popeye blasted us off then handed the tired crew to me 30 minutes in.

The Thang
WARM UP – Mosey from COT to next parking lot

SSH X10
IW X10
MERKINS X10
MNC X10
MERKINS X10
WINDMILLS X10
MR. MIAGI’s X10

MOSEY

HIGH KNEES
BUTT KICKERS
BEAR CRAWL

Find Some Wall. At this point we heard a scream that sounded like it came from inside the school. Being the #HIM we are, we investigated. Fusion narrowed it down to a dozen or so kids playing in the gym. Crisis averted.

10 MERKINS
10 DIPS
10 DIRKINS
10 IRKINS
Rinse & Repeat

MOSEY TO HILL –

JACOBS LADDER by 2’s to 10
Bottom of the hill – SQUAT
Top of the Hill – MERKINS

Hand off to YHC

Long mosey from the hill to the playground in Cherry Park. We have been meeting at this AO for nearly 2 years, and we just figured out last week that there is a covered picnic area with a ledge for pull-ups. Knowing this, a mini-Murph sounded perfect. But first, we stretched.

Right over left
Left over right
Middle
Quad stretch

Then the fun began:

50 pull-ups
100 push-ups
150 squats
Run around the full parking lot

Once the 6 was in,

25 Dips
25 Calf raises
25 Step ups

5 Minutes of Mary – dealer’s choice

10 count American Hammers
10 Ins and outs
10 Freddies
10 Peter Parker Peters
10 Freddies

Mosey

4 Count People’s Chair (shoulders, knees, toes) x25
People’s Chair (3 ten counts)
BTTW x2

Mosey to the COT

NMM

We missed our brothers who were running for a great cause at the Joe Davis Resolution Run. Great leadership fellas. It was a pleasure to share the gloom with the great PAX of Rock Hill this morning. Triple Claps for Crabcakes coming across the river to join us. You’re always welcome with us. It was good to have Green Mountain back for his 2nd post. Also good to have Rosetta back in the rotation. Appreciate Posh and Burgundy setting a strong pace for the rest of us this morning. Great job by Popeye for the solid warmup as well. Good to see Fusion back out and appreciate the solid leadership of Peach, our super fit 51 year old Site Q. Don’t sleep on Limp Bizkit, dude is getting fit!

Its morning’s like this that make me glad to get out of bed. The air was cool, the conversation was good and the PAX were pushing themselves hard. Today was a good day! Thanks for letting Popeye and I take the lead this morning.

Announcements

3rdF Convergence
Jan 22 (Friday) @0600 – Eternal Church- Start the new year off right. Post to this 3rdF Convergence to hear from High Impact Men on Accountability. Check out the pre-blast for more info.

Rock Hill / Easley Convergence
Jan 23 (Saturday) @0700 – Star Command – Post to this “Padre Convergence” at the Upward Star Center in Spartanburg, with CSPAN, Padre, and Iceman on Q. Coffeteria to follow. Clown cars details are coming soon. Mark the date, and keep an eye out for the pre-blast.

Yeti #CSAUP
Feb 20 (Saturday) @0600 – Sign up for the Yeti, Iceman, and other combinations of this 17 mile #CSAUP event. Check the pre-blast for details.

Prayer Requests

Continue to lift up Limp Bizkit’s niece, Emma fighting leukemia. Once gofundme details are available, we’ll let the PAX know.

Our Rock Hill brother, Good Neighbor is looking for work. He’s looking for factory work and or anything working with his hands (including outside manual labor). If you know of anything, let me know and I’ll pass it on.

TClap |

2016 Word – Sacrifice

2016-01-09Leave a comment

QIC: Longshanks
When: 01-09-2016
Pax: All of F3
Posted In: Uncategorized

The past couple of years, Santini has challenged our F3 brothers to choose one word to focus on that year to help make a meaningful impact in their life and the people closest to them. See here – http://f3nation.com/2015/12/28/your-one-word-for-2016/

Some intial words I came up withe were GOALS, PLANS, and SERVE with each being an acronym for something else. I saw Santini at church last week and told him my word would be PLANS. He asked me to search deeper. So deeper I would search and spend some time in prayer trying to decide on a word. The word Sacrifice kept coming to mind (it was part of the S in each of the acronyms above). So I decided that Sacrifice would be my word for the year.

Definition of sacrifice

: the act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone
destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else
: something given up or lost <the sacrifices made by parents>

Hebrews 13:16

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

So I started looking at my life and searching for areas where I could make some sacrifices for the betterment of my family. I looked at finances, family, work, and other areas of my life and made a list of sacrifices.

Would give up on always trying to prove I was right when having a disagreement with my wife and stepkids. Sometimes keeping the peace is is better than having an argument over something stupid just to prove that you are right. In the end nobody wins.
Sacrifice having the newest running shoes or running gear, or more F3 shirts, etc. so I can pay off all of my credit card debt by the end of the year (hold me to this guys #accountability)
Giving up what I want to do everyday after work, so I can spend more quality time with my family and actually plan things to do with the family.
Sacrifice my wants to line up with what God wants of me.

So this morning before the Joe Davis Memorial Run, I saw Santini and told him word. His response “that’s a dangerous a word.” It is a dangerous word, but a word I know that will challenge me throughout the year. I didn’t know at the time what this word would truly mean, until about 45 minutes later and 1.25 miles into Joe Davis 10k. At that point, my arrhythmia started to flare up. I made the decision to stop running and DNF the race (I know not very F3 like to quit). But I could tell even before the race that something wasn’t right. F3 brother after F3 brother slowed down as they passed me to ask if I was okay. Told them to continue on (as I know how hard most of them trained for this race). As I was coming up one of the hills to walk back to WEP, I saw Double D come back to get me. No man left behind was his response. In short, he sacrificed his time (which I know was going to be pretty good), to make sure that I got back to WEP and that I was medically taken care of. It hammered home a point to me that Sacrifice goes 2 ways. We often think about what we must give up and seldom realize what others give up for us. It really hammered home that my word for the year is two fold. Not only to recognize what I need to give up but what others have given up for me, with the ultimate sacrifice being Jesus laying down his life for the forgiveness of not only my sins but all of yours as well.

MOLESKIN – WHY F3 WORKS

There I was, Disappointed!! First race of 2016 and my first DNF ever. I was bummed not only for me, but for Double D as well. After being cleared by Medics, I told Double D we should go towards the Finish Line to cheer everyone on as they finished. I know it would bring me some joy (and also some hurt) to see my F3 brothers finish. One by one they came across the line asking what happened to me. And I told them. And this is why F3 works. It wasn’t a bunch of guys calling you a p*ssy for quitting or telling you that you should have just sucked it up and finished. It was a group of guys that were sincerely concerned with how I was doing and feeling. Where else will a group of guys do that? And it really doesn’t matter if its a 5k/10k/half marathon or something else going on in your home life, work life, etc. These guys are always here for you. It’s why F3 works!! Thank you Double D for helping to reinforce my word for 2016.

John 15:13 – Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends

TClap |

You did WHAT in 1988?

2016-01-08Leave a comment

QIC: CSPAN
When: 01/08/16
Pax: Ringer, MP, & Skate or Die
Posted In: Varsity

Conditions were balmy and 44

Kind of sat there awhile until 3 cars showed up at 0510

Disclaimer was disclaimed in detail, about today being “moderate” for @JoeDavisRun prep…it was really not that moderate…

And we were off…

THANG

8 minutes of running in no apparent pattern around NAFO HS Parking lot and athletic fields, quality 2^nd F during most of the run…

Dynamic warmup for 4 more minutes until I felt like I could continue…#OLD and I took yesterday off for no good reason then I was tired @F3_250Fail…

So we started in 1988= (the year equates the reps described below)

1 perfect pullup
Run down the hill
9 flying squirrels (we changed these up in 1992 to broad jump burp & 1993 we changed to leg jack burpees)
Run up the hill
8 squats
8 flutter kicks

Move on to 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, & 1994…as we ran out of time

Move onto a perfect pull-up pyramid 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 (try this, great way to improve your pull-up counts)

Finish off with a few cool down stretches

Prayer and Praise

BOM

NMM=Naked Man Moleskin

Somebody tell our Bounty Hunter that I appreciate the invite to Q…he must still be taking pictures with Jimmy Fallon somewhere…

This morning the workout was based on a USMC workout I used to do at 1^st Tank BN in 1988, this was always done in place of getting your full hour lunch (I know it is hard to believe a lunch with me would be a punishment…?) The workout was used to encourage you to improve your PFT (physical fitness test) scores, to score perfect you needed to get 20 perfect pull-ups. This workout gets your running endurance up, perfect PFT score was 3 miles in 18 minutes and 80 sit-ups in 2 minutes…we all got better today…sometines a smaller group leads to more fellowship, this morning was a great group and they all pushed through the “FUN”…

AYE!

CSPAN

TClap |

Sun’s Out Gun’s out with Howitzer on Q

2016-01-08Leave a comment

Posted In: The Hive

3 at the Hive for a beatdown lead by Howitzer. I wasn’t there but I’m sure he gave a disclaimer and got down to it.

The Thang,

warm up lap around the parking lot, we had to do at least 155 Merkins for the 155MM Howitzer

SIDE STRADDLE HOP 25

IMPERIAL WALKER

WINDMILL

MERKIN

Mt. CLIMBER

SQUAT

CAROLINA DRY DOCKS

MOROCCAN NIGH CLUB

SEAL JACK

PETER PARKER

PLANK, RIGHT, LEFT, MIDDLE & 6”

Kettle bell

SINGLE ARM CURL/ KICK BACK/ BACKWARD/SPRINT/ MERKIN 25

CONSENTRATION CURL/ OVER HEAD EXTENSION / HIGH KNEE/ BUTT KICKER/ WIDE MERKIN 25

7-7-7 / DIPS 25 / BEAR CRAWL/SPRINT/DIAMOND MERKIN 25

HAMMER CURL/ LYING TRI EXTENSION / POWER SKIP/ MILTARY MERKIN 25

NEGITIVE CURLS 10 COUNT/ 2 HAND EXTENSION / HOP RIGHT FOOT/HOP LEFT FOOT/DERKIN 25

WRIST CURLS 20 x 20 BURPEE BROAD JUMP / 3 PUSH UP BURPEE 10

LBC 50 / DIAMOND MERKIN 25/ SHUFFLE

FLUTTER KICK 25/HELLO DOLLY 25 / WALKING LUNGE

SQUAT 50 / MERKIN 25 / SPRINT

Moleskin – Somebody get Howitzer some privileges on this site as I know he has plenty to say that would inspire us. Thanks for your leadership out there today.

TClap |

TheSwamp- 1/8/16

2016-01-08Leave a comment

QIC: WorldWide Leader
When: 1/8/16
Pax: Repeat, Photobomb, Vinny, Fishsticks, Kordy?, Gears, Zima, Gekko, Family Guy, Puddles, Bart, MainFrame, Royal, Cornhole, Willy, Trucker
Posted In: The Swamp

17 posted on a cool and crisp Friday morning at the Swamp.

4 Ruckers picked up their Dora-the-Explorer backpacks and rucked into the gloom.

The other 13 men followed the welcome back from 3 months+ of marathon training (aka lots of miles, not so much merkins) the HYC- WorldWide Leader.

Mosey- 1 mile warm up

Dynamic warm up – high knees, butt kicks, karaoke, toy soldiers, side shuffle and the WWL favorite, power skips!

Mosey

COP- SSH, Squat, IW, Merkin, Mountain climber, Sumo Squat, Staggered merkins right, Windmill, Staggered merkins left

Mosey to loading dock near Target
Jacobs ladder to 7, Bear crawl up, CDD, lunge walk back, squat

Mosey

Six Minutes of Marry

Ruckers mosey in

COT

Solid workout men! Group was not overly talkative this am, not sure if that was the absence of Gears or HYC’s warmup mile had a few pax winded…

Reminder that Joe Davis run is tomorrow, carpool if you can, HYC will lead a warm up at 0730, WEP.

P200 – start training!

Fuel Challenge – HC!

BRR – start putting together a team!

– WWL

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New year same PHOP

2016-01-07Leave a comment

QIC: The Riddler
When: 01/06/16
Pax: The Riddler, Boots, River Rat, Snapper, Bill Nye, Schrute, Tinker Toy, Mail Man, Sergeant York, Gauge
Posted In: Uncategorized

It’s getting cold out there boys, however 10 winter tested F3 brothers came to the Gloom ready! We had five prepping for the P200 as we have an amazing neighborhood next door to the AO. The other five were there for a fantastic Boot Camp let by YHC.

Warm-up
Both groups ran together into the neighborhood to get us started led by Schrute. The boot camp boys did a little over a mile loop and then headed by to the AO. The P200 crew set a blistering pace and continued on to the next loop.

The Workout

Over the last few weeks I have noticed we have done a good bit of leg work, I decided it was time to switch it up.

We went ahead and did a few stretches, legs arms and shoulders.

Then we lined up at the front of the Church.

Started with line bear crawls.

One Pax crawls up the stairs in a triangle formation then back to the end of the line.
The other Pax do merkins until the bear returns. Rotate each pax through.

Next round rinse and repeat other Pax do Carolina Dry Docks, while we wait for the single pax to return to the line this time completing Aligator crawls.

On the Curb
20 Urkins
20 Derkins

Bear Crawl three times back and forth between stair and other curb.

Get in a few more stretches

On the curb
Alternating Merkins 5 on each turn, complete a full 360 spin.

Circle up
Planks 20 seconds
Honey Mooner 20 seconds
Planks 20 seconds
Honey Mooner 20 seconds

Flip 20 crap humpers

Flip 27 ground jacks(stretch arms/legs up and out. Perform slow jumping jacks while laying flat)

Recover and run around Church and return to COT.

COT
Prayer for marriages, job situations and families.

Challenge for this year get into the Word.

P200 Crew Complete a 5 mile run, bootcamp crew could not feel our arms.

Good Work by all.

The Riddler Out!

TClap |

Preworkout @slow burn Chick-fil-A

2016-01-07Leave a comment

QIC: Apache
When: 01/8/2016
Pax: Attention all Fort Mill region pax
Posted In: Slow Burn

YHC is on Q for slow burn at Chick-fil-A tomorrow. There will be extra credit pre-workout fun run around the baxter area @0430. Let’s get a couple mile warm up before the show begins.

See you there!!! AYE!! APACHE!!!

TClap |

1-6-20-16

2016-01-06Leave a comment

QIC: Copay
When: 01/06/2016
Pax: What Did, Anchor Man, Car Bomb, Change Order, Skate or Die, Huckleberry, Decibel, Ginsu, Sasquatch, Pebbles
Posted In: Uncategorized

With the temperature being lower than the age of this young whipper snapper of a Q, I was glad this post of constant motion would get and keep the blood boiling.

The Thang:

Mosey around the parking lot to get the juices flowing then heading towards the stop sign at the top of the hill near ROTC building

Circled up for 20 SSH, 16 Imperial Walkers, and 16 Cherry Pickers IC

Mosey down the bottom of the hill to do Standing Mountain Climbers for 1 min

Mosey up the hill to pull up bars for 6 pull ups OYO

Mosey back to top of the hill for 20 LBC’s. Plank when finished until the 6 completed

16 Merkins and recover

Rinse and repeat with pull up and ab exercise changing each cycle

PAX completed 6 cycles

COT:

Was a pleasure to lead some great men in the gloom! The chatter was great from Nat’l Championship plans to the building being moved several inches thanks to the standing mountain climbers, and 1min, 6 reps 20 reps, 16 reps, oh I got it!! T-Claps to Decibel for showing up late but still getting a full workout. #HIM showing late is better than never!

Prayers for the spirit of health to cover all those who are dealing with sickness. For those who have lost loved ones to have comfort through transition.

Announcements: Joe Davis this Saturday, Fuel Challenge

Thanks to Geronimo for reaching out with the opportunity to Q. Enjoy the Coop and leaving a better man because of it. Until next time treat every day just like we did 1-6-20-16, breaking down to breaking through!! #getbetter

Copay

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I’m not a motivational speaker, but…

2016-01-06Leave a comment

QIC: Zima
When: 01/06/16
Pax: Pusher, CSPAN, Flat Tire, Axl, Howitzer, Cornhole, Fishsticks, Chaser, Jekyll, Freebird, Bing, El Diablo, Cerrano, Crash, The Speaker (Exit Stage Left), Zima (QIC)
Posted In: Pantheon

I started the disclaimer a little early so we could get after it in these freezing (24 degrees) temperatures. I let the Pax gathering know that I’m not a motivational speaker, but “It’s a New Year”! This drew some friendly fire! I’m not sure I ever finished my thought but I rarely do anyways #old. The goal for today was to look back at 2015’s favorite spots on the AO and have some fun with them. We never made it to the amphitheater but we’ve got a whole year to get there several times and I’m pretty sure more shoulder work (Bear Crawls) would’ve created a mutiny. So with that, we were off.

THE THANG

Quick Mosey around the carpool loop to the side parking area for:

COP (All in Cadence)
SSH X25
Windmill X15
*Quick Break for 10 Burpees OYO*
Merkins X15
Mountain Climbers X25

Another quick mosey (they all were) to the base of the stairs in back for what was planned as a Jacobs Ladder. Having 16 Pax proved to be too many so I swapped the location with the back drive. We made a quick stop at the top of the stairs for a BTTW 30 count. Mosey to the back drive.

Jacobs Ladder from Stairway to Fire Hydrant (about 50 yds)
1 Burpee – Run the length – 7 Bombjacks – Run back
2 Burpees – Run the length – 6 Bombjacks – Run back
And so on…

Once completed mosey to the teacher’s parking lot. Quick word again about not being a motivational speaker but gave a little personal share time (see NMM).

Partner Carry Races
The teachers parking lot sets up almost like a mini-Nascar track. We all partnered up, our Mystery Pax (The Speaker) made a ninja like exit which allowed an even number. The goal was to carry your partner around the “track” and complete 20 Merkins every time you hit the finish line (1 lap). Swap partner carry and repeat for 4 laps (Each partner carried 2 laps and completed 80 merkins). #crowdpleaser

10-Count from Freebird (Thanks, I forget sometimes)

Mosey to the field in front and line up along the width of the field for…

Jack Webbicides
Complete 1st Series of JW (1 Merkin, 4 Overhead Claps) – Sprint to the opposite side of the field!
Complete 2nd Series, Sprint, Repeat
We made it to 11 #spinaltap

YHC was reaching for 12 but the lights came on as we were sprinting back

COT

NMM
So I started the morning off stating “I’m not a motivational speaker”, but I think I really would like to focus on motivating the Pax more. I’m not much on sermons and switzers, but maybe I could be? I started this F3 thing a couple of years ago, got sidelined by a hernia, so I really didn’t get the 2nd F part just yet. A couple of years ago I would never think that I would be leading a group of #HIM in a workout. I never thought I’d be posting 5-6 times a week either. Or lead a bible study with a bunch of men. F3 is a lot of things but it’s shown me that I’m capable of a lot more than what I think I am. It’s gotten me to evaluate my life and my relationships and exposed the “sad clown” sections in my life. When I mentioned that I wasn’t a motivational speaker, I shared that I had all these goals and hopes for the New Year and had already fallen flat on my face (not literally Flat Tire but thank you for the concern). But I shared that I got up, dusted myself off, and got back out into the gloom with my brothers. It’s these brothers that I can lean on for support, accountability and just about anything if you ask. By the end of the workout I came to the conclusion that maybe I could motivate, maybe I could give a sermon. Pusher asked what my word for 2016 was? It’s IMPACT! Making an IMPACT in every aspect of my life. IMPACT as a Father, Husband, Friend, Christ Follower, and the list goes on. So I ask my brothers when you see me, ask me how I’m making an IMPACT. Keep me accountable. Keep each other accountable. I thank you. Enough of this rabbit trail.

Great to see the Baxter Bunch setting a trend by the frequent posts at Pantheon.
Chaser, you looked like a homeless Ninja…and it was Awesome!
Speaking of Ninjas, The Speaker’s exit was Ninja-like.
Howitzer, thanks for the partner work and carrying me like I was one of your kids.
Flat Tire, not sure how you can do BTTW with no hands, but more power to you (insert joke here)
Fishsticks and Cerrano, you two be fast!
Thanks to CSPAN for taking us out!

Great to see the numbers hold with the temps dropping. Appreciate you all!

Announcements
Joe Davis Run this Saturday
Padre’s Convergence later this month 1/23 (see pre-blast)
Yeti (still 18 miles)
3rd F Speaker Series – Eternal Church – 1/22 @ 0600

Prayers/Praise
Prayers Sir Topham Hat and Family
Prayers for Patience
Praise for Flat Tire’s M recovering well
Prayers for people struggling with addiction
Prayers for injured Pax

Zima Out!

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