Category: Minnow Pond

Back and Forth

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6 men at Minnow Pond this morning. We started with a half mile warm-up. Hill repeats up and down Monroe White Street, exercises ( squats, merkins, LBCs – 10 of each) at each right turn.
Return to COT the long way via 160 with two stops performing the same exercises.
Made the 3 miles minimum. Great job everyone.

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Minnow Pond Zipper of pain

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WARMUP: Run 1/2 miles to zipper starting point (E Elliot St/Spring St
THE THANG: run the zigzag route. Right side of the zigzag (Unity St) Merkins, middle point of the zigzag (Spring St) Burpees, and left side of the zigzag (Pine St) Squats. Keep moving forward tobthe next street and stating with 5 repetitions, increment the number of exercises by 5 until you get to 25, then decrease the reps by 5 until yo get back to 5 reps. At this point we where at the intersection of E Lockman st and Pine st. Then run back to COT through Pine St and then 160, then Main st. Total number: 90 Burpees, 90 Merkins, 90 Squats, 3.8mi.
MARY:
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
COT:

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Failure is an Option

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Disclaimer:  I didn’t plan my workout the way I should have this morning, but I did have a topic we would run (literally) with this morning.  Failure. No one wants to hear the word.

synonyms
loser · born loser · incompetent · nonachiever · underachiever · ne’er-do-well · disappointment · write-off · no one · nobody · inadequacy · insufficiency · deficiency · lack · dearth · scarcity · shortfall

Back to the workout, first stop was the Subway parking lot.  I gave the Pax a few minutes to think about how many merkins they could do in 2 minutes, similar to APT.  Next, we each did our best to meet or exceed the goal.  I asked the Pax who didn’t meet their goal how they felt..most disappointed.  We briefly discussed failure.  How do we teach our kids how to handle it? Do we help them through it or let them learn on their own?

More discussion later as we moved to the next location.  After 13 years in the area, I still can’t remember street names.  We took a left at Hardees and I right on Hill (I called it Shady street) which wrapped around to 160.  We ended up at the Presbyterian Church.

Three rounds: Half the group ran around the front of the church while the others did an exercise.

Round 1:  Squats

Round 2: Burpees

Round 3: Plank

Next stop was First Baptist Church parking lot.  The group was split in half again.  Two pax were lined up on opposite sides on parking lot approximately 50 yards apart.  The other pax ran to the far end of the parking lot and switch places with the other pax.  It short, continuous sprinting back and forth for seven minutes.  With a few minutes left, we caught our breath, compared our heath rates, and moseyed back to the flags.

We had some extra time on the clock for some Mary.  Jekyll shared his experience with his 2.0 working on his Eagle scout project. The tricky balance between helping him navigate and letting him learn on his own.  Whether you call it a setback or failure, the more you learn how to handle these situations, the more the boulder becomes a pebble.

Keep getting better, Don’t give up!

 

 

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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!

Jekyll

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F3 The Fort – Adopt a Highway (#2)

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****March 5th 2022- 7:45am – 8:00am****

Men,

We have officially signed up for the Adopt-A-Highway Litter pick-up program.  Our adopted Highway is US21 from Peachstand south to Sutton Rd. (2 miles). We will have a sign installed to promote this section of the highway.  We are encouraged to complete 4 pick-ups a year (once a quarter).  All supplies will be provided.  All we need to do is show up.  The SC DOT will come out and pick up our bags along the route after completion.

**Our NEXT Clean-up date is tentatively scheduled for March 5th. (start time )  7:45 am – 8:00am**. There is no time expectation for participation.  Stay as long as needed or head out early.  Modify as needed. Plan for 2 hours if you complete the 1-mile loop.  We split up into two groups last time and met at the halfway point.

We will begin at the Peachstand (rear of the building) and coordinate.  I have 30 vests and all supplies.

Fogerty will be the main contact for this event over the next two years.

Here are some of the logistics:

• Make sure your group knows that in case of bad weather the cleanup will be postponed. Litter collection should never be done in the dark or in bad weather.
• Notify local news media who may have an interest in publicizing your group’s activities. • Remind your group of the appropriate clothing. Long pants and long-sleeved shirts and sturdy shoes help avoid scratches and irritation from poisonous plants. Light or brightly colored clothing will make them easily visible to passing traffic.
• Be sure you have all the materials and supplies you’ll need beforehand, including first aid kits.
• Check with members of your group to be aware of any allergies that might be important (such as bee-stings, etc).
• Work out a plan for what you will do in the event of an emergency. Find out what the quickest route to the hospital is.
• Park vehicles at both ends of the adopted section.

• Volunteers must be at least 13 years old to participate in Adopt-A-Highway cleanups. Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult on all Adopt-A-Highway cleanups.

The state does provide adopt-a-highway orange and blue bags.  Orange bags are for trash and blue bags are for recyclables if you want to recycle.  Your group is also provided with orange safety vests.   We do require four pickups every year, usually once every quarter.  All that is needed to be done after trash is picked up is to call or email me and I will send one of our crews to pick up the bags.

It is volunteers like you who are going to make a difference by speaking up and doing what they can to help their community.  Please let me know If you have any questions, I will be glad to assist you.

Thank you,

Sherry J. Johnson
Administrative Specialist/
Adopt-A-Highway Coordinator
SC Department of Transportation
803-327-6186 O I 803-327-6184 F
JohnsonSJ@scdot.org

District Four Maintenance
338 Robertson Road West
Rock Hill, SC 29730

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1st Annual The Fort Weight Loss Challenge

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The weight-loss challenge for 2022 has been established to create some focus on the Queen.  The goal is fellowship, accountability, support, discipline, and a little motivation.  Pax will depart on a 90-day journey beginning January 3rd, 2022, and ending on approximately April 2nd or 3rd.

There will be a buy-in and payouts to the top 3 places – determined by “percentage of weight loss”.   Uhaul has agreed to be the holder of the buy-in with a tracking spreadsheet created for each pax to help monitor their progress.  Good Luck Pax!

T-Claps to Uhaul for assisting with this endeavor!

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Loops in the Dark

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A thunderstorm with high winds rolled through The Fort around 0200hrs and woke YHC. As I sat in the parking lot at 0509hrs, I began to wonder if it had done the same to other PAX, and that I may be running alone this morning.

I didn’t have to fret long, as a rush of vehicles and one running Band Camp ascended upon the AO.

A total of 8 PAX started the day off right with the Pledge of Alliance at 0514hrs. A disclaimer was given and we began warm ups with:
20 SSH IC
10 Tappy Taps IC
10 LSS IC
Then we ran from Veterans Park, up Main Street, took a right on 160 and ran to Unity Street.

The Thang
RUn a series of expanding “loops” in the Whiteville Park neighborhood, with varying exercises assigned to each loop.
Loop 1 – Run down Unity St, left on Elliot St, left on Springs St and left on 160. 10 Merkins at every corner.
Loop 2 – Run down Unity St, left on Leroy St, left on Springs St and left on 160. 10 Sumo Squats at every corner.
Loop 3 – Run down Unity St, left on Hill St, left on Springs St and left on 160. 10 Wide Armed Merkins at every corner.
Loop 4 – Run down Unity St, left on Oak St, left on Springs St and left on 160. 10 CDD at every corner.
Loop 5 – Run down Unity St, left on Elliot St, left on Springs St and left on 160. 10 Monkey Humpers at every corner.

The established neighborhood can be pretty dark in the gloom, but all PAX were able to push themselves and others (as a few partnered up). 4 miles was the goal and most PAX got them all in. 

We all met back at CoT at 0600hrs for announcements, prayers and praises.

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F3TheFort Holiday Drop-In

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The Forts annual holiday party will have a different feel this year.
With COVID still lingering we have decided to have a gathering but it will be a bit different.

We are encouraging The PAX to go to dinner with your M and either your Shieldlock, Whetstone, or small group of fellow PAX and their Ms. After dinner we will all gather for an hour or so of a social hour(s).
This will give our Ms the opportunity to meet the crazy fellas we spend the early mornings with but more importantly their M.

We are all fortunate to have this crazy group it is also just as important to try and let our Ms meet some other ladies in the community and possibly let them start great friendships as well.

Make it a day of F3. Start with the golf outing, go to dinner and then grab a couple beers, a bottle of J Lohr wine, a cocktail and let’s kick off the holiday season.

If COVID worries you or your M we will have an outdoor area to hang out at as well as indoor areas.

Where- Springfield Community Center- by the tennis courts/pool
420 Horton Grove, Fort Mill, SC 29715

Time- 7pm-9pmish

When- Dec 3rd, 2021

Contact- Backdraft with any concerns…

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Bullpen Call in The Pond

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Late the night before, I got a text from Shady, the scheduled Q, that he was having to make a call to the bullpen. He had other responsibilities to attend to and needed some help. Sure Nantan, I gotcha.
That said, quickly went through my pregame routine and produced a Weinke to go into rotation. Here’s what it included:

Disclaimer
Our plan was to grab a partner or a few so we didn’t have anyone running solo.
You’d run a 1mi loop with 2 stops for exercises along the way. Goal was for a 3 lap minimum to hit the distance requirement.

Route:
Run up Massey to the Valero gas station
Spiderman Merkins – 5ea side
Side Lunges – 5ea side
V-Ups – 10

R/T Harris
R/T Ardrey

R/T White St and make your way into the parking lot
Spiderman Merkins – 5ea side
Side Lunges – 5ea side
V-Ups – 10

Continue on White St  to then make a R/T onto Massey and do it all over again.

We all got 3mi and some got closer to 4.

SYITG

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Roll The Dice

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I had the opportunity to be joined by 13 other men this morning at Minnow Pond. It was hot and humid, but we covered 3 miles with dicey pain along the way. Here’s what we did:

Warm Up

  • 10 Ranger Merkins (IC)
  • 10 Plank Jacks (IC)
  • 10 Gorilla Humpers (IC)
  • 10 Burpees
  • 5 Y-Rises (IC) – an almost Overhead Clap

The Thang

The workout was pretty simple in concept, but not easy. Run to Fort Mill Animal Hospital, Town Hall, First Baptist, and the Improper Pig, roll the dice (color indicated exercise and number x10 represented count) and repeat. We used a 10-sided die (2 of each color on the die) and a standard 6-sided number die. There was one caveat, when it was your turn to roll, you had the option to take a chance or call 20 Burpees. The choice was up to the roller. There was a 17% chance we would do Burpees, but that could have been anywhere from 10-60 Burpees. So the chances were just as good that we would have done 10 Y-Rises as there was to do 60 Burpees. Two men chose the 20 Burpees, and to be honest, I would probably done the same. After all, better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. To my best recollection, we did:

  • 10 Ranger Merkins
  • 100ish Plank Jacks
  • 150ish Gorilla Humpers
  • 50 Burpees
  • 175ish Y-Rises

NMM

In life, sometimes you have to roll the dice. If you stay stagnant, you’ll never know what might have been. Rarely do opportunities fall in the lap of the sedentary person. You have to take the risk to find the rewards. You must be willing to try, fail, and learn. Today’s workout was designed to let each man take a chance and see what was in store for the PAX. Everyone got better today because they were willing to do something…anything. Take that lesson with you throughout the week. Take a chance and roll the dice.

Aye!

Italian Job

 

 

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