Miles and Smiles

WARMUP: None

THE THANG:
0514 – The pledge
0515 – 4ish miles around Fort Mill, stopping every half mile-ish for burpees alternating counts of 6&7 with some pull-ups thrown in there

MARY:
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Newsletter
COT:

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Sharks and Minnows at The Block Party

Lots of dudes showed up to the Pond Party this morning .
Pledge..Let's go
First stop, The Pharmacy for SSHs and a couple burpees
Next Stop, New parking lot, Old Hardee's
10 merkins, 10 Squats, 10 LBCs.
Partner up with like speed so you and partner arrive at the destination at same time. I didn't do a good job explaining this, no worries we made it safely to the Post Offices
Same exercises, back to the parking lot, same exercises with partner dips and merkins until six arrives.
Next, we ran to the First Baptist Church parking lot. I did my best to describe this workout as the merkin mile, 20 merkins at each island, each lap, 5 laps = 1 mile. Once complete, we did the same routine swapping out the merkins for squats and LBCs.
Back to COT
Prayers for Wegmans Boston Marathon adventure.

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Walmart Trip

– run to hardees for a less than warm up . wait for birdcage to arrive
– run to walmart . wait for birdcage to arrive
– partner work at walmart, 1 person plank and the other lap the parking lot
– run to hardees. wait for birdcage to arrive
– run the zipper intersections increasing rep count by 1. sets of burpee merkin squats

cot- DO NOT let fear control you. Its the root of anxiety, apprehension, and indisicion. We are called not to carry a spirit of fear by our faith in Jesus Christ. We will be carried even when we dont understand the mechanics.

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Crossroads Between 2025 and 2026

10 Minnows, 2 runners (BassOMatic, Wegmans), 1 rucker w nutsniffer (Cake Boss and Jarvis)
WARMUP: Nah
THE THANG:
Mosey on over to the corner of Academy and Withers, via Main to Confederate. Academy and Withers is the start point of The Crossroads workout:
– Up the hill on Withers to the parking lot at the top of the hill. 10 Merkins and 15 2ct mountain climbers
– Back down to start point, then 1 burpee
– Down Academy towards Fort Mill Church of God. Stop at the student ministry building. 10 Merkins, 15 LSS
– Back to start point, 1 burpee
– Up Withers to corner at Confederate, 10 merkins and 15 LBC
– Back to start point, 1 burpee
– Down Academy to corner near Main, 10 merkins and 15 2ct fullter
– Back to start point, 1 burpee
– Rinse and repeat, adding 1 burpee each round
– Everyone got through 3 complete rounds, some hard chargers started on a 4th
– Back to COT
Total count:
3 miles even, at least 24 burpees (some did extra, starting round 4), and minimum of 120 merkins, 45 MC, 45 LSS, 45 LBC, 45 2-ct flutters.
MARY: almost 2 minutes worth
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
LAST MINNOW POND WORKOUT! Will be rebranded as Block Party, but will still be at same location, same day of the week, same time, and same format (running w pain stations). I will still be site Q.
COT:
Happy New Year! Went around the COT, asked everyone 1. what were they most thankful for in 2025; 2. What about 2025 that they were glad it is over and gone; and 3. What are they looking forward to in 2026. A lot of great candor in the COT regarding this. THIS is what the COT is all about!

Take what you are getting out of F3, how it has helped make you better in whatever ways, and try your best to pay it forward and spread it. Take the positive ripple effects it has had in your life and continue to make more positive ripple effects, eventually all those ripples will cover oceans. Someone may see what you are doing, how you are becoming a better person, and may want a part of that for themselves. If you can EH them into F3, great, but at the least be a positive impact on them. It may be all they need to push themselves out of their situations and into something better.

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Respectables take over the Pond

WARMUP: pledge of allegiance
THE THANG:
1 mile lap Four corners with 5 burpees 10 merkins and 15 leg raises at each corner
MARY: Dis you know??
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Christmas is 5 days away
COT: Pray for the children

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Parading around Minnow Pond

Temperature was 40 degrees however it was a bit windy. The Pledge of Alliance was recited, the Pax were counted and instructions were given.

WARMUP: N/A for Minnow Pond

THE THANG:
Following the FM Christmas Parade route, Pax were to complete the following exercises at stops along the way:

10 burpees
20 big boys
10 lunges each leg

Stops were the following:

Unity Presbyterian
Corner of Main and Tom Hall
Corner of Main and White
Lot beside FM Town Hall
Lap around WEP

Once complete, Pax were to reverse the route with stops along the way until COT.

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Park to Calhoun

WARMUP: it was cold. we’ll warm up on the run
THE THANG: cover distance stop for:
5 burpees
10 merkins
15 squats
added some lunges once
did some leg lifts after a muscle up twice
bear crawled the length of Calhoun St. Parking lot twice too
covered 3.11 miles–except for Beaker (his strava only said 2.98, which feels like a failure on my part. see NMM below)
MARY: flutters in cadence for 1:30 to hit 0600
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Xmas Party 12/12, Bethel service tonight

NMM:

You ever just 3000% took care of everything and crushed it by all outward metrics, but you didn’t do it with JOY in your heart? So your wife, kids, or close friend noticed and it wasn’t the reaction you expected…even though the mission was fully accomplished

It isn’t enough to just do a good job

Handle the mess your kids created with success, but did it in a way that made them feel scared rather than safe? Failure

Take care of business for your family, but made your wife feel like it was a burden rather than a mission? Failure

Maybe it’s just me… 😉 Good thing failure is a way point and not an end point. Let’s stay after it!

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Unexpected Opportunities

WARMUP: Disclaimer and Pledge duly pronounced
THE THANG: 1 mile loop (rectangle) with an exercise at each corner.

Up Massey, right on Harris, right on Ardrey, right on 160

Burpees x10
Hand release merkins x10
Apollo ono x10
Donkey kicks x10

Pax stayed together for first mile, then thoroughbreds were cut loose. All pax completed at least 3 laps/3 miles and all finished 1-0 for the day.
MARY: she stayed in the sack
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Christmas party, Turkey convergence
COT: Theme today was the Unexpected. I finished a book this week called “The Unexpected Journey” about caregivers of dementia patients (my dad’s current daily reality caring for my mom). I was also reminded of a quote from one of my favorite spiritual teachers, Henri Nouwen: “I’ve always complained about my work being interrupted until one day I realized the interruptions were my work.”

How do you respond to interruptions? Or when the Unexpected drops in front of you? Too often my response has been poor. I’m improving and yet I still have a ways to go.

I call these moments out as critical leadership moments. It’s harder to lead when something unexpected surfaces, and yet those are the moments when leadership is needed the most. Use these moments as instances to learn and grow your awareness, your skills, your consistency, and your leadership.

Thanks for the push from all pax today! I needed you around me, because as Nasa heard during the run, I was close to texting him at midnight last night that I was out because of an oncoming head cold. I didn’t send the message. And then something unexpected happened — I woke up feeling like I was good to go!

#KeepPosting

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Run, Do The Thing, Repeat

After a prompting from Farmers Only (On Q elsewhere today), I decided to recycle a workout from last year.
WARMUP: No
THE THANG:
Run to a stop, do exercises, run to the next, etc…
The first 3 stops had 3 exercises at each stop.
The next 3 stops had 2 exercises at each stop.
The final 4 stops had 1 exercise at each stop.
The rep count was always 10 which in some cases, meant 5 each leg.
Total distance covered was ~3.6m.
MARY: See above
ANNOUNCEMENTS: All the same + the formation of a BRR 2026 Slack Channel with more comm’s coming from Pusher.
COT: Oh absolutely. Strong.

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