Some people need a date way out there to train for. They need a shirt. Pre-runs, pre-rucks and all sorts of nonsense. And then sometimes, you find a CSAUP lands right in your lap. This would be that time. There’s no shirt and there’s no patch. It’ll happen and no one will probably ever know you did something cool. But that’s the beauty of it. The guys (and gal(s) this time) that you did it with? They’ll know! I know, you’re interested. You’re like, Zima suggests a lot of stupid things. Some I want to punch him in the face for (#Longshanks) but some have been the best 1st and 2nd F times in my short F3 life. Let me tell you…this will be 50% fun and 50% sucky. You should join us. I’ve got HC’s from some high quality PAX. But let me stop here and let you know what’s happening.

What you need?
-30# ruck or 20# if you’re WWL/Repeat (<150#) #petite
-Positive Attitude

When: This Tuesday Night, 1800
Where: Trailhead Park (Tega Cay)
What: Start rucking until you hit 20 miles

Highlights: Baxter Starbucks, Hobos, Waffle House, QT, Good MumbleChatter

We'll be moving at approx. 18 min/mile pace for 6 hours. We'll have about 1.5-2.0 hours of rest at the above mentioned establishments. End time is between 1-2 AM.

You read this and your first instinct is to say "No"! How many times did you say no to F3 before you posted? It's all good. We might do it sometime next year. Or we might not. I'm just saying, some of us are already living the #goodlife. How long til you get a taste? Sorry, I've said too much. I shouldn't have to sell it. Hope to see you at Trailhead in 48 hours.

Aye!
Zima

PS: If the The Fort Custom Goruck is in your future, you should participate!

Steadily the crowd grew at the buffet line at Golden Coral.  Eventually 21 men made their way out if their beds and into the parking lot to enjoy the cool crisp temps this morning and to get a head start on burning Thanksgiving day calories.

The Thang:

15 rukcers took off with Cobra Kai, and the 6 men remaining followed me and moseyed to the Pre-School.  Call me crazy, but I think this ruck thing might have some legs.

Dynamic WarmUp:  Karaoke, Butt Kickers, High Knees, Side Shuffle

More Warming Up:  SSH x 30 – Squats x 30 – IW x 30 – Moroccan Night Club x 50

4 Corners – Corner 1, 50 SSH – Corner 2, LBC’s x 50, Corner 3 – CDD x 50 – Corner 4, Squats x 50 – Rinse and Repeat

Sprint Work – Spring the Parking Lot / Jog Back – Cool down with each PAX giving something that they are thankful for.  Rinse and Repeat x 10

Moseyed Back to Teeter and circled up for 5 minutes of Ab Work.

Finished with a Burpee Countoff

Moleskin

This was not a workout that left the PAX gasping for air, or not being able to lift your arms to your keyboard.  The purpose was to take some time to reflect on the things we have to be thankful for. To often, our hectic schedules keep us from seeing the blessings around us.  Instead, we are rushed and focused on the next task, the next deadline, the next errand, or the next event.

While there is a lot to be thankful for there is also a lot of  pain and hurt during this time. Take the time this Thanksgiving season to really connect with those that you encounter.  Try to reach them wherever they might be in their journey.

As always, thanks for the opportunity to lead and thank you PAX for continuing to push YHC physically, relationally, and spiritually.

Being my VQ I was humbled by the number of people that showed up to see what CSUP I had planned.  At 5:15 I gave my best attempt at the disclaimer and then we took off for a little mosey.

20 SSH

10 windmill

20 Hillbilly walkers

10 Merkins

Next while standing in the parking lot across from the military memorial with the flags I proceeded to tell the Pax we would be jumping the wall and running up to the next wall (which no one could see due to the gloom and lights).

ladder of 5 donkey kicks at the top down to 1

ladder of 1 burpee up to 5

ladder of 6 inches 10 count and Heels to the sky 10 count

Moved over to the hill where we

Ran backwards, bear crawl, Right side shuffle, Left side shuffle with 10 merkins at the top each time.

Next and might be one of my favorites was Pink Floyd (balls to the wall 30 sec and people’s chair 30 seconds) repeat 3 times.

Once we finished this we went for a long mosey to pick up or stuff paxs dropped at the top of the hill and went back to COT.  I had more planned, but the time ran out and I am glad it did because the last part was not going to be fun.

Next I tried to perform my best interpretation of the message CSAPN provided on Monday.  The jest is when you are interacting with wife, kids, family, friends or others Ask Questions, Listen and Recall what they said so that you can retain the information which will let them understand you do care.

Prayer Request – Fire fighters and those affected by the fires in NC Mountains, people traveling for Thanskgiving, Java to be blessed with the word when he speaks at the main campus for the first time.

@0600-0700 at Eternal Church

We humbly offer this pre-blast as we prepare our hearts and minds for the next conversation, and the important work ahead. These are some of the thoughts and questions that arose as we processed our last meeting of 21 HIM. We hope this will serve to spark thought and further the discussion. We ask that you pray and think about it, and come with some ideas for action.

Background and action to date

This initiative was born out of the strong desire of many PAX to do something following the shooting death of Keith Scott, an African American man, by a Charlotte police officer and the subsequent protests in and around Charlotte. The shooting and events following personalized and localized a recurring and deeply troubling national narrative, bringing to light and placing at our doorstep the undeniable racial divide right in our communities. (Feelings of separation, misunderstanding and mistrust have been further exacerbated by the outcome of our presidential election.)

We men are “fixers” by nature, and the men of F3 began important work several weeks ago with the sharing of empirical facts and professional and personal life experiences from Fellini, Figaro and Deacon.

This was followed by a “round-table” discussion, with many PAX asking questions and offering ideas about how we can address the lack of diversity in our ranks, and find ways to build and nurture empathy both in F3 and our communities at large.

Next Conversation is to agree on vision and agree on tactics 

1. The WHAT: What are the goals of this initiative?

Is it to… “More intentionally invigorate male community leadership through small work-out groups across all ethnic and racial groups within our community”

If so, how is this best accomplished? Can we accept with incremental, intentional (but organic) Emotional Headocking (EH) and outreach? Or is it best accomplished by swinging for the fence and partnering with houses of worship or other organizations and asking for a chance to present in front of their congregation or group in a Presentation Headlock (PH)

Is it changing the hearts and minds of PAX who may lack empathy and understanding?

Empathy cannot be forced; it can only be nurtured. Otherwise, integration would have solved racism years ago. One of the most interesting and profound things heard Saturday was that the socioeconomic makeup and segregation of communities vary drastically from F3 region to region. “It’s not like it is in Charlotte or Fort Mill.” These realities predicate the need for multiple methods of outreach. Some of these will be more challenging than others based on the specific living and working conditions of area residents.

F3 has the “secret sauce” and this cannot be taken lightly. The formula is proven. Workouts (First F) is where this all begins. It is this weekly (or multiple-times weekly) interactions that is the foundation of trust and the bonds of brotherhood.

2. The HOW: Tactics For Initiative (Both In and Out of F3)

Empathy and understanding can result from efforts in many different venues. In addition to PAX diversity, there are other ways HIMs can become involved and make a positive impact in the community. These efforts can raise awareness of F3 and its mission, which in turn makes EH and PH more successful.

Some possible tactics include (let’s prioritize 2-3 idea):

• Make “Empathy” a Theme of the Month
• Grow involvement of existing outreach and initiatives that allow for interracial interaction such as Let Me Run and mentoring organizations like Boys Club.
• Reach out to African-American houses of worship, community leaders and civic organizations, sharing the F3 mission of invigorating male leadership, and our goal of building diversity.

Teaching empathy. Displaying empathy. Providing opportunities to develop empathy through intentional interactions and encounters. All of these things will work to move the needle.

There are very real barriers to get men to post, and if they do, to come back. And these reasons have nothing to do with race. Time of day. Work schedule. Life and family situation. Temperature and the cost of proper winter attire. These realities should be factors as we think about how we move forward, and measure the results of our efforts.

Twenty-one men came together for the first of its kind roundtable discussion addressing how F3 intersects with real world issues.  This discussion was not about fixing anything, coming up with an action plan rather it was an opportunity to share perspective, feel each other’s pain and to understand.  On this day, we continued the conversation on the opportunities to improve racial tension in our community through F3.  We started a conversation on the vision for F3, things we must consider and next steps with some personal challenges sprinkled in for good measure.

Vision: <No different than F3’s mission> Invigorate male community leadership <across our diverse community>

• How do we make our circle more representative of our community? (At 95%+ white we are not representative)
• How do we give “it” away and invigorate leadership within the Black/Hispanic communities?
• How do we create more experiences for PAX to engage in this topic?

Things to Address:

• Offer alternate work out times to include different work shifts and men who aren’t early birds (e.g. Run N Gun is an existing option to leverage)
• Have workout locations of workouts to be convenient to other socio economic and cultural groups
• End any bigoted or racial intolerance within PAX and remove these elements to ensure the circle is inviting to all groups
• Build relationships with minorities and avoid making our outreach look and feel like charity
• Change requires small intentional steps that start with our willingness to be vulnerable and uncomfortable to share life with people that are different than us

Personal Challenges:

• Empathy is created through relationships…expand our personal networks to include diverse racial and socio-economic statuses in and outside of F3
• There is no …“Them.” We can move forward once we recognize that all people want respect and love

Next Steps:

• Create a monthly theme on “Empathy” to continue the focus on the theme (likely January)
• Identify a Q (or pair of Qs) to drive future discussions, activities, develop programs, etc
• Come together for another conversation to continue the discussion (December)

Title is catchy inst it? I’ll tell you what isn’t catchy, that’s YHC and his dumb idea to bring a 200 LB sediment log from work. Best way to describe it is a 12′ long sandbag filled with chopped up tires. Ideas always sound so good….in my head

The Thang

Disclaimer, basically since it was Indian Land we are all professionals but you know….formalities. A fast than normal Indian run around the AO got the blood flowing. Then the normal- merkins, windmills, squats, night clubs, etc etc etc. You get the point.

Now to the fun. Everyone grabbed my log :/

Well it took teams or 3 and 4 respectively since we were 1 short for the even 4 and 4. Exercises were all in group format. We used the 4 corners on the lot as our stations. Each station had the same 4 exercises. First set:

Squat x 10 Overhead Press x10 Curls x10

Reminder we did all this with a 200LB death apparatus

Next set:

Shoulder to Shoulder Press x 10 Dips (Log in lap) x 10 Sit up (yes …. with the log) x 10

Okay things here got really interesting. All was well until the sit-ups began. Lets just say we modified as a matter of self interest to 5 sit-ups per station.

After completion of second set we lined up across from each other about 5 feet away. Yea…we took turns throwing the log back and forth. Luckily I lined up across from General who can dang near through it overhand. We tossed it 10 times each. Then mossey to the front of the school. If you haven’t been there there are 6′ brick walls all along the front. This detail is important as we did clean and presses with the logs from ground to top of wall. Did this x10

Okay we are moving way to past still. Slowed it down with 10 group bench presses and overhead hold to break point. Break point was about 30 seconds lol. For my last trick we took turns dragging the log 50 feet back and forth….with only 2 team mates. We rotated as one team would come back. Ok COT

Moleskin

Thanks for the invite Firehazard. Always fun to q out there. We are one nation, one country, and one body. Lets not forget why we go to F3. If you want to be in shape you are missing the whole point. That can be achieved at a gym. We are called to grow, plant, and serve. Be the man God has called you to be. Shine his light into a dark world.

Your master of disaster- Birdcage

2 pax put on their swim trunks, googles, and headed to the pool for their weekly water aerobics.

The thang:
200 yd warmup
6 sets of 75 yd, sprinting one leg of 25 yd
Break out the kick board and buoy, 25 kick, 25 swim, 25 buoy, 50 swim, 25 kick, 25 buoy
Repeat
50 cool down

Total >1000 yds

I was so excited for my first Q at the Patriot that I constructed a 2 hour weinke.  The reason why I was so excited was I got to Co-Q with the legendary Dark Helmet.  I was a little disappointed when I learned that several members of the JV team were reporting to Planet Pain instead.  However,  with 14 brave men we soldiered on.

The Thang:  1. Warm-up  30 Seal Jacks, 15 Windmills, 15 Moroccan Night clubs, 15 Scorpion Drydocks each leg, recover.  2.  Divide into two groups for Indian Runs around Cherry Park loop.  Group 1 – Lead man drops and does 10 Mericans.  Group 2 – Lead man drops and does 10 air squats. Run the path in opposite directions. Switch exercises when the two lines pass each other.  3. Mosey to the Hills behind Sullivan.   Bernie Sanders up the hill, followed by 3 burpees, bearcrawl down X 5.    At this point I passed the Q over to the legendary Dark Helmet.  The Kraken 8 cones – get a partner to hold you accountable, bear crawl out to the cones, do the exercise run back to the middle.  In middle do 3 Kraken burpees, then rotate to next arm of the kraken.  Cones were 1-80 calf raises, 2-30 squats, 3- 20 merkins, 4-20 Makthar Njaiyes, 5-15 donkey kicks, 6- 15 jump squats, 7-30 mountain climbers, 8-40 flutters.  1 full round then back to COT.

Moleskin:  Had a fantastic time crossing the river and working with Helmet.

I spent the first 19 years of my life in Arvada, Colorado about 30 minutes from @F3Littleton and their first class AO

Conditions were perfect for November, clear, dry, and 44 degrees

Great group of men decided to show up, CCR made the commute from @F3Nashville

Disclaimer in detail with no lawyers present

Fast mosey downhill to the corner of the school lot

COP in cadence (we don’t follow the lexicon? – gave me a chance to smart ass my way through the exercises all in cadence to 10 repetitions)

Line up along curb for #arloader series, all of my favorites to loosen up my legs from the high quality Frontier Airlines flight

Switzer to review F3 Mission Statement…we got close…burpee broad jump penalty enforced a few times until we got it right

100 reps with sprints down and back of CDD, LBC, and Squats

Moset to flag pole for Pledge of Allegiance

Line up for 30 yard sprints x 8 repetitions

Times up

Mosey to COT/Prayer or Praise/BOM

Naked Man Moleskine

-Very fun group with quality #mumblechatter
-You have something that other men need, bring them to F3 #ABH
-Thank you for the opportunity to Q
-Never been to a workout where 2 random dudes toss fireworks at us…#weird
-I have been thinking how odd it was that the two grown men tossed fireworks at us, I think they really did need the prayer, because that situation would have quickly escalated if I would have went and confronted them…#ISI and appreciate the advice to let it go…
-Here is the link to Freed to Lead as it might help explain why we do what we do in F3 that makes us different “https://amzn.com/0991238109”
-My #sermon was on CONCENTRICA: The circular rings formed by a man’s relationships on the Big Ball. (think a big archery target)

1. First Ring: M

2. Second Ring: Shorties

3. Third Ring: Shield Lock

4. Fourth Ring: Blades

5. Fifth Ring: Mammon

Each one has a place, and you can only develop the vertical relationship with The Lord once you figure out how to manage the horizontal relationships of this world

I may have made the workout too easy as the altitude was real, but I really showed for the #sermon…and I was the #wardaddy

Expect to see me again on my next trip

Be a better man today than you were yesterday,
AYE!
CSPAN

So today marks the 6 month anniversary of Sweet Tooth’s passing.  Let alone a difficult day but a difficult past week with Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day and a special Mass for those lost with St. Marks Church.  But, as difficult as this road has been and will continue to be until the last breath I breath, there is a reason to keep on fighting…to live in all that is great with Christina; Operation Sweet Tooth.

To us, only a short 6 months has felt like an eternity without having our precious baby by our side.  The countless moments we miss can never be replaced.  All we can do at this point is honor her by helping kids, who need our help.  I am calling on you, the Pax of F3 Nation and FiA Nation to aid in that support.  The purpose of Operation Sweet Tooth is to provide smiles, comfort, and peace to those kids who need it most and to let them know…that strangers care.  This I is something that is bigger than me…bigger than you…this is real life.  As awful my family feels, there are children, and their parents, (if they have any) that may feel worse and more sorrowful than we are.  And together, we can make a difference.  The decisions we make today can have a ripple effect that can last a life time. It’s time to roll up our sleeves, empty our pocket books and humble ourselves for the betterment of those less fortunate.

My family and I are eternally grateful for all the support we have seen already.  You know who you are.  All the plans, establishments in consideration and willingness to support her, has made this family truly humbled.

Now, as the first “official event” it is time to make a huge impact on children.  What started out as a concept has transformed into an entity.  Operation Sweet Tooth is officially a 501C3, a non for profit business.  The mission is to provide children hope, peace and comfort though toys, money or companionship and to let them know a stranger cares.  That was what Christina was all about.  Currently, DDP of Isotope and his business partner is working on our official website.  We intend to fulfill our lives for the benefit of children who need our help.  But I will be honest, we are using this platform to help with our mourning, and healing, and to give us hope and reason to survive, live and maybe one day, not anytime soon, thrive.

Entities to benefit from our efforts are Levine’s Children Hospital, homeless shelters, orphanages, special needs establishments and anything else that caters to children.  Truthfully, any organization that supports children has our support.  I have been asked by the Pax about Jeff Gordon’s Children Hospital…this is where Christina passed away…and many mistakes were made.  Although maybe their intentions are good, for the purpose of this first drive, my wish is that this organization is not honored.  You want to know? Ask me and you will have no problem with my decision!  Other than that, you have our support if it supports children in need.

That said, I want to make sure this is a complete success and gets the notoriety it deserves…not for me…but for the cause.  Please let me know how many toys or items you have collected so I can send the prayer cards that should accompany them.  I have two thousand! Wondering if we can beat that?  I also want pictures for our future website, OperationSweetTooth.org.  We will have current events/fundraisers to who the impact we are having on our communities.

For my brothers is Isotope/NoCo, if you cannot make the Christmas party, please let me know.  I will be encouraging the Pax to bring items at their local Friday workouts.  MQ’s, please touch base to make arrangements for pickups etc.

I will let everyone know when the website is fully operational.  As well as FB, Instagram etc.  As of now, only @OpSweetTooth on Twitter is functional. Of course any questions you have you can send there or @F3_Olive, operationsweettooth@yahoo.com or operationsweettooth@gmail.com

I want to personally thank each and every one of you for supporting OST.  I will be honest, I hate that I am doing this.  I should not have to be.   But I will do anything to honor her, HIM and ensure that I get the opportunity to see her again.  This is our calling, whether welcomed or not to have an impact on lives that far reach above and beyond ours….and I believe, rather I know…this is what we are supposed to do, under our circumstances…and I am humbled by your support!

Lastly, this is a movement to bring awareness to to myocarditis.  The heart condition that killed my daughter that was undiagnosed…and unrecognized.  The medical community failed her.  I don’t want that happen to anyone again, even if it does not bring my baby back!

myocarditisfoundation.org

-Olive, Jager and Happy Meal