As The Fort region continues to grow, our new expansion area will be Lancaster, SC. We have pegged two site Qs (Outlaw and Watson) and have selected a site AO (Lancaster High School). Our soft launch recon will take place 8/20 at 0630.

Start EHing your Lancaster friends and share this soft launch date. Follow and share Lancaster’s Twitter account (@Lancaster_F3). We are excited about the launch of F3 Lancaster and bringing the principles and values to the men of Lancaster.

• Who: Men of the Fort Region
• What: Recon Soft Launch F3 Lancaster
• When:8/20 @0630
• Where: Lancaster High School 617 Normandy Rd, Lancaster, SC 29720

It was Friday, May 6^th and we just finished a beat down at the Foundry.  During the CoT, I asked the Pax to say a prayer for my daughter, Christina, to feel better and to bless her for her Holy Communion which should have been that Saturday.  Sadly, those prayers were not answered.  12 hours later, our precious daughter, our Angel, was now in Heaven.  She died the day before her Holy Communion and two days before Mother’s Day.  Why? Why?!  My wife, son and I were in complete shock; filled with questions, sorrow and anger. We could not imagine how this could happen to her…to us.  To this day, we still feel that way.  We are devastated.  My M and I have endured many losses in our lives, but nothing, NOTHING compares to losing your child.  We question how we can live each day without her.  We question our faith.  Why would God take her when she had so many things to accomplish on this Earth with her family?  None of this makes sense to us…and probably never will.  I did not think we would ever survive a day.  However, as of today, it has been exactly two months.  Two months of Hell on Earth but we are still here, fighting, surviving and trying to live another day.  One of reasons we are here…is all of you.  The Pax of F3 and FiA Nation.

Your support has been nothing short of amazing.  We have appreciated all the prayers, meals, donations and visits we have received.  But the real support has been through the 2^nd F, the fellowship.  216 men inspired me to get out of the fart sack for a supportive convergence the Monday after her passing, many from different AO’s.  53 women helped Jager post to her first ever 5:30am work out to show their support.  Again, numerous AO’s represented.  Numerous Pax were sporting their colors and their shovel flags at my daughter’s wake and funeral in NC.  Mooch traveling from New Hampshire to NY just to show me support and to deliver a shovel flag in her honor.  Jimmy Olsen flew to NY to be there for the wake and funeral. Raffles.  Memory bricks and so on and so forth. And I can sit here and go on and on about each individual’s contribution to my healing or surviving rather but then my message would not get read.  All I can say is that I am truly humbled, and thankful that I/we have F3 and FiA Nation behind us because without you all, we may not be standing.

Often times, on those rare occasions I make it into the gloom lately I get asked “what else can I do to help other than prayers?” My usual response is there is really nothing anyone can do…well; I am calling an audible today.  And I am calling on the Pax of F3 and FiA Nation countrywide to help us heal, and create a mission to honor our sweet daughter.  The M and I know we need some sort of motivation to continue to “live” but more importantly, have a positive impact in the lives of others.  In other words, take actions of Christ and of a #HIM.  Many of you don’t know our daughter or us for that matter.  But Christina (Sweet Tooth) was an amazing little girl.  Through all the outcries from friends, family, students, teachers, religious educators and strangers, one common theme that was always mentioned was that she had a big heart which is quite ironic since it was her heart that failed her two months ago.  She was the girl that when a new student came into the class, Christina would befriend her.  If a student was sad, she would act her goofy self and cheer them up.  She was everybody’s friend, seemed like everybody’s BFF from all the cards we received from her class mates…and enemies with no one.  She also loved animals, especially cats and often I was influenced to adopt another in need of a good home.  She was bright, sassy and had a smile that could light up a room.  She loved Minecraft, loved playing Star Wars with her Dad, getting mani/pedis with her Mom.  She also loved Spartan racing and F3.  She wore her jersey proudly many times when we would hit the trails.  She enjoyed F3 Kids workouts even though it interfered with her sleep.  She had so much fun at F3 Dads Camp and was so excited to go again this year.  I don’t know if we could ever do her enough justice but we are certainly going to try.

To keep her memory living for years to come, we are creating an initiative called Operation Sweet Tooth.  Although there will be much bigger and more impactful things to come.  However, to begin this mission, I am calling, asking all the Pax throughout all the regions of F3 to have a toy drive in her honor during their respective Christmas parties.  I want to help support those children that are sick and scared lying in hospital beds not knowing their fate.  I want to provide some sort of peace and or comfort to children, who reside in orphanages without anyone to call Mom or Dad.  I want these children to know that a stranger cares about them and that they know there is an Angel looking down over them.  But I cannot do this alone…I need High Impact Men and Women to help…so I am asking all of you for that help.

I would need a Q from each region/AO to identify an orphanage, children’s hospital etc that would benefit from our collection and to help coordinate delivery of the items and just share the message of F3, Sweet Tooth and how her parents just want to provide peace or comfort, even if just for a brief moment in time. Below is a link from our local children’s hospital here in Charlotte.  There is usually a donating list of items, toys, blankets, stuffed animals that are accepted.  You can get a sense of what is needed or wanted by looking at the “Donating to Levine’s Childrens Hopsital” Toys and Gifts.

http://www.carolinashealthcare.org/medical-services/childrens-services/levine-childrens-hospital/give-back

I have had custom designed shirts available through Mudgear.  The links are below.  I was informed that the board has decided to share the proceeds with the sales to help fund this initiative…again, truly humbled and honored.  I will be working on printed boxes for the collections and hopefully prayer cards to be distributed as well.

http://f3.mudgear.com/products/f3-operation-sweet-tooth-shirt-pre-order

http://fia.mudgear.com/products/fia-operation-sweet-tooth-shirt-pre-order

This is just one small step, small part my family and I can do to honor our daughter.  Larger plans down the road include creating a non-profit organization, continued toy drives, hospital visits, animal rescue events, scholarships etc.  That will all be in the works sometime in the future, but we still need time to mourn our baby and don’t want to take too much on all at one time.

“So what can you do to help me and my family other than pray?”  Help us help others is now what I will say.

Humbly Yours,

Olive, Jager and Happy Meal

Aye!

This morning, 5 PAX explored our newest AO (launching soon), Boom Town Central. This AO has tons of potential as a run/boot with lit trails, bridges, benches, fields, and steps…all the elements for a sure beatdown. Stay tuned for launch details.

The Thang

We ran 3.25 miles and mixed in the following at various locations throughout the Rock Hill Technical Park:

• SSH
• Low Slow Squats
• Merkins
• Incline Merkins
• Diamond Merkins
• Wide Arm Merkins
• Bear Crawls
• Crab Walks
• Dips
• Nur
• Karaoke
• Side Shuffles

NMM

Apache found a gem centrally located in Rock Hill. I’m not sure how we haven’t tapped into the potential at this site until now. This AO has HUGE potential. It was a blessing to share the gloom with my brothers even though its 1.5 hours after the workout and I’m still sweating. Great leadership Apache. Proud to see Pistol pushing the PAX this morning. Awesome job this morning Popeye. Way to push through the pain Blackhawk. Little bit of advice when you post out here the first time – bring a headlamp or flashlight. Some of the trails are a bit dark at 0515.

We spent some time around the Civitas statues at the entrance of Gateway Blvd and Dave Lyle. The Gateway intersection where the 4 Civitas statues stand is circular to symbolize unity, teamwork and togetherness.

Quick history lesson. The 22 foot tall Civitas statues were designed as a female version of Michelangelo’s “David.” The thought behind the design relates to the similarities between the cities of Rock Hill and Florence, Italy. At the time of the commission of “David,” Florence was a city of 45,000 people whose vibrant textile industry was slowly fading and the growth of their much larger neighbor Rome was affecting Florence’s growth. Rock Hill’s size and textile history paralleled Rome’s during the creation of the statues. The Civitas reflects the spirit of Rock Hill’s textile heritage in the clothing and hair, which suggest billowing ribbons of material. That material transforms into wings representing the fact that Rock Hill’s textile history provided the texture and foundation that gave the city wings to move forward.

Each Civitas holds a different circular emblems to signify four key themes of Rock Hill.

• Gears of Industry
• Flame of Knowledge
• Stars of Inspiration
• Lightning Bolt of Energy

Remember that as we continue to grow F3 in our region, we are to be men of inspiration and energy. We are the gears that make this thing work. We are to fuel the flame inside the Sadclowns in our churches, workplaces, and neighborhoods. We are to share the knowledge of our Creator. And, we are going to do it together, as a team. Keep up the good work men. I’m proud to share the gloom with you.

The heat of the day had carried over into the gloom. It was almost 80° and 90% humidity when YHC gave a quick disclaimer to the faithful PAX that had fought off the holiday recovery slumber.

We circled up for some windmills, IW, LSS and merkins – just to get a bit of a warm up. Then we were off on a 1/2 mile jog to get the blood flowing.

The PAX partnered up and began one 100 box jumps (accumulative) while the other made a lap around Byrnes Auditorium. After planking for the six it was a slow mosey to Campus Green.

The partner worked continued with one PAX starting on 100 merkins with the other running up the hill to Scholars Walk and back down. The PAX cranked out LBC’s for the six and we repeated the hill with 100 squats. Planks for the six followed by flutters for a 10 count IC and we moseyed to the loading dock walls for a 10 count of BTW, then a 10 count of the peoples chair and, just for good measure, another 10 count of BTW.

We moseyed up and down the stairs at DiGiorgio and back up the stairs at the West Health center. Crossed Heritage to the handrails at the sidewalk and began 100 inverted rows while the other partner lt. dan’ed back up the hill to West and jogged back. LBC’s for the six and a quick 10 count before we moseyed back to COT for a few minutes of Mary.

Such an honor to lead this group of HIM’s. Rock Hill has exploded this spring and it’s been great to see all the new faces! Keep EH’ing guys! Every man needs it, he just doesn’t know it yet!

Catfish … out!

Rust developed on the bell as humidity oozed in the gloom this morning. I was early and going through my stretching routine when a lone set of headlights inched up the hill to the Iron Academy. Princess Vespa pulled up with a puzzled look and asked me if the workout was moved to another location. Glancing at my phone I realized we were one minute out and we were going to be a small group. After a brief discussion we decided to sharpen our iron. After all…where two or more are gathered…

I quickly assumed Q responsibility; the disclaimer was disclaimed, and as a reminder to each of us…we are not professionals…let the sweat roll.

• Right over left and left over right stretches
• Berry/Grass pickers
• Imperial Walkers
• Hillbilly Walkers
• Moroccan Night Clubs

A short loop mosey to get the blood flowing and we arrive back at the bells.

Stealing from each HIM who has shared the Q role I quickly started into that thang:

• Around the world 10 each way
• 20 right hand followed by 20 left hand overhead tricep raises
• 20 two hand behind head tricep raises
• 20 Goblet Squats
• 50 LBCs with bell on chest
• 20 box cutters with bell on chest

Mosey because both of us love to run…rinse and repeat dropping count by half but adding…

• Around the world 10 each way
• 10 right hand and left hand overhead tricep raises
• 10 two hand behind head tricep raises
• 20 Goblet Squats
• 25 LBCs with bell on chest
• 20 box cutters with bell on chest
• 20 Bicep Curls each arm
• 20 bent over rows each arm
• 15 in place lunges each side

Mosey again as our love of running cannot be contained…stop by the Acadamy Wall for a little Peoples chair with arms out followed by a serious of low slow squats for a 20 count.

I think we got another round of the above knocked out because Princess Vespa was giving me that look so I decided to audible off the incredible plan I had so carefully crafted…

Calling for a one-two count so we could partner up…the PAX had a little difficulty with this but after trial and error we  were able to manage…I announced the audible.

• Partner one sprints 4 parking lines while partner 2 performs the low slow squat.
• Rinse and repeat until 100 low slow squats are achieved.
• Final 10 right hand and left hand overhead tricep raises
• Final 10 bicep curls right and left hand

I was honored to lead this impromptu Q with Princess Vespa,and blown away by the improvement I see as well as the effort expended by this HIM. Iron sharpening iron and this happens because of the men of this PAX..each of you…creating leaders out of each of us. The COT count off and nameorama occurred because tradition and consistancy are at the core of all we do. Announcements made (read your news letter) and prayers prayed.

Smiley Face Out!

What a morning! This was YHC’s 1st Q out at Trinity in York. Love this AO and we have a lot of fun in downtown York on many a Tuesday now. But this one started a little differently than I’ve seen in the past. BTW, it was like 80 degrees at 5am with 90 humidity…but I digress.

So I was planning my Weinke before fireworks the night before. So you pull up the AO on google maps to get a good baring on where I needed to go. I wrote up my plan and at 5am Tuesday I was in downtown York ready to put it in place. I needed to drop a few cones down a backroad to set up the main pain stations. Well, I missed my carefully planned turn and did a u turn to get back to the right side street. I drove me car slowly down the road, every once and a while stopping, opening the door, and dropping a cone in the road. Once complete down the street I turned the corner and parked in our regular AO gathering location. I pulled out my notes for a quick review before getting out the car, and wondered why the light was so good in my vehicle. Oh well must be under a parking lot light. I get out of the car, and next thing I know a couple of York’s finest are standing there flashlights in my face telling me to “Stop right there!” I looked up a little confused, saw that this had gotten the attention of the other 13 men standing in the parking lot, and I asked “What can I do for you officers?”

“Seems you’ve been driving suspiciously around the neighborhood and a few people called the law to check you out.” I stated, well that makes a little sense, I was setting up for our morning workout here with F3. If you go down that road over yonder you’ll see some cones I was placing this morning.
Then Realtree starts walking over EHing the policemen to join us for Tuesday mornings here at Trinity…

I apologized for the misunderstanding, thanked them for there time…and they took off. No harm no foul. But if you ask me in person, there might be a few more truth nuggets in the next version!

Well that was a new way to get my blood flowing in the morning. We all got a good laugh and a little extra mumblechatter, but now it was 5:15am. Time to put in the work!

We had a new FNG, I gave the long disclaimer, and we were off!

Mosey to the library across the street for COP
25x SSHs
20x IWs
10x Merkins
20x LS Squats
15x CDDs
15x Ski Abs
a little Yoga stretching

Before the next phase, I prepared a little message. I wanted to share with the group we should not forget the basics. Every now and then we need to keep the newer members of the group up to speed with what F3 is all about, and we started with the 5 core principals.

We gathered and shared that F3 workouts are:
1. Free 2. held outdoors, rain or shine 3. for all Men 4. led in a rotating fashion by members of the group 5. and ends with a COT

Next we moseyed to the Wall over by Congress Street
Bear crawl with Peoples Chair
BTTW 2 10 counts
Rinse a repeat 2x

Mosey down Congress Street to the next intersection. Stopped for Dragon Walk Merkins, but had to audible half way because I was a little too ambitious on the distance. We switched half to Lt. Dans.

Shared another back to basics story on Principal #4. A goal for all PAX should be to lead these workouts. I’ve been very proud to see how quickly many of the PAX in York have stepped up and Q’d multiple times in a very short period of time, better than anywhere else I’ve been. But EVERYONE should be preparing to Q. That opportunity for leadership is one of the many things that makes F3 great!

Final stage, and the one the got me “busted” this morning. We made it to the road by the Coal Yard Restaurant & Lounge where I had set up my cones this AM.

Complete long lunge walk to the cone – complete 30x Ranger Merkins – next long leg bear crawl to cone – 25 Ranger Merkins, rinse & repeat – down to the 6th and final cone with 5x Ranger Merkins. This was a long, hot crowd pleaser… but we all made it!

Mosey back to our AO start for a few minutes of Mary.
15x Hello Dolly
15x Dying Cockroach
25x LBCs

COT
Welcome FNG “The Dude”
Announcements
HDHH Lake Wylie 7/6 6pm
F3 picnic 7/23
read the newsletter

Praises & Prayers
Realtree’s daughter safely moved to Seattle
Praise that Scorekeeper is out here working hard

Always a pleasure not getting arrested!

Royale

Weather: Glorious – Hot but who cares when you get to spend time with your 2.0s?

As the Pax rolled it, and Bolt set out his pain stations (for the young 2.0s), everyone was wondering if the little ones were going to be hauling sand bags across WEP.  Thankfully he had age appropriate tasks in mind….We split up and went off to start the fun.

For the little ones (10ish and younger):

Zima kicked off the fun with a short mosey followed by COP, led by Hotwheels:

• Windmills x10 IC
• SSH x10 IC
• Low Slow Squat x10 IC
• Mountain Climbers x10 IC
• Merkins x5 IC

Then a game of Side Straddle Tag was played in which you have to do SSHs once tagged, eagerly awaiting the whistle to be blown.

Next was a quick round of Sharks and Minnows, always a crowd favorite.

After a refreshing water break, Bolt took over with a great lesson of teamwork, and helping one another as a team. An obstacle course was created and 4-5 teams of 2.0s were created, with each team assigned a Dad. Work together as a team and no one gets left behind.

Each team was given a soccer ball and 2 bocce balls to carry on the course which were not to be dropped, and alternated between team members.

Each team encountered an F3 Dad who led them on an exercise of choice. We did our best to have the teams work together.

The end obstacles were a cornhole toss for each teammate, a sand bag roll, a balancing walk around the entire playground wall, and finishing with a team jenga large block build where the teams worked together in trying to build the tallest structure.

A lot of encouragement and assistance was given by all the Dads and all the kids finished the course with a little competitiveness at the jenga build.

Nearly all the 20 minutes were used followed by a much needed water break.

YHC took the kids up to the soccer field for COP, called out by many of the kids in the circle.

• Windmills x20 IC
• SSH x20 IC
• Merkins x10 IC
• LBCs x10 IC
• Squats x10 IC

Starting at the first corner of the soccer field, we created a figure 8 by running the side lines and bear crawl midfield and the baselines. Next set included 10 squats at each turn while running the sidelines and endlines.

All throughout we talked about looking at things from a different perspective.  Maybe a coach trying to teach you how to do something a bit differently, a friend wanting to do something you don’t want to do, or just trying to understand someone else’s point of view.  In an effort of doing things from a completely different perspective, we played 15 minutes of Bear vs. Crab soccer, a completely different (and fun) way to play.  Goalies must remain in the plank position and change out each time a goal is scored.  One team is in the bear crawl position while the other is in the Crab walk position.  Once a goal is scored, the teams flip flop crab and bear. Talk about burning up your arms, but the 2.0’s ALL had a great time.  As a reward, we played on our feet for the last 3-5 minutes.

We ended with a mosey back down to the rest of the 2.0s for announcements and prayers.

Thank you for allowing Zima, Bolt and YHC to lead your amazing children in this workout.  While it was hot and humid out, there were very few complaints and lots of fun was had!

3 men took on WCW’s (Walker, Cheeto, Winchester) Hills of Pain this Sunday morning. This was my first post out that this running AO–and its an impressive venue. We’re lucky to have two great options for getting those necessary miles in as folks train for races in Rock Hill with Hills of Gloom and HoP. I had hard committed a few weeks to post there this week, and after Walker said today would be “moderate”, I decided to see what his moderate was all about.

We took off from the AO and Walker decided to give me a tour of all of the attractions out there. After a slow mosey (for Walker, 7:30 Pace for those of us who are human) around the mall, Walker and Winchester started talking about the “Big Nasty” hill. I thought I had seen it ahead, as there was an approximate 1/4 mile steep hill ahead. Walker assured me that hill was just its little brother. As we moved along and took a left towards Waterford, then I saw the Big Nasty. At least 1/3 mile long with a steep grade that never flattens out. Jackpot for those of us training for BRR!

We ran down and up that hill and back to the AO, covering 5.7 miles in the process at right around an 8 minute clip with some active rests (for me, the 6; of course). #Walkerisnothuman #winchesterisntfarbehind Overall, ran about 4-6 steep hills in the process and got some great work in.

All in all, a great run at a great AO. Lots of space to run, well lit, no cars, and lots of options. Definitely posting again–thanks for the invite, Walker.

Prayer Requests:
Winchester as he goes to the Dominican Republic on a mission trip.
Pax who are hurt and have tough situations in their personal lives

Aye!

Schrute

22 showed up today for a true test of football mantle. The Spitz Challenge has taken me all over the last couple weeks but this was the first time I was able to lead for a while. It just so happen to be that I got to do it at an amazing AO The Dragon!

With that being said…

Warm Up
SSH
Low Slow Squat
Moroccan Night Clubs
Left over right stretches
Monkey Humpers

The Thang
Mosey to Stadium, FYI it is huge and a really awesome part of The Dragon.

From one End Zone we Partnered up for a series workout

100 Merkins
200 LBC’s

Pair up partners with another group those two run to 50 yard line completes 10 Merkins. Passing the ball back and forth, drop it do ten squats.

Then continues to run to the end zone then back to partner at the other end zone

Repeat until all reps are finished

Then we broke into a tag football game which focused on speed and catching skills.

Every touch down the opposing team had to do 10 merkins. The scoring team performed Ten SSH.

Final score
Team Black shirts 7
Team color shirts 7

A couple of interceptions, including me catching one in the mouth. Tasted real good. Field was slick so watching people fall was a treat.

Mosey back to COT
Left over right stretches
Yoga stretches

Announcements and Prayers

Drifter went over the importance of the shovel flag and the meaning behind F3. He is a great representation of the brotherhood and a HIM!

Ragnar
Spitz Challenge
Last Laces In before board of pain next week
CHECK THAT NEWSLETTER

Prayers
Nunchucks niece
Dabo continued prayers since fathers passing
2 in lake Wylie that drown
Individual prayer for family friends that passed this week David Jenkins, Travis Martin

The Dragon is an Amazing AO, this week in your has been humbling and powerful. They got a really tight knit group over here. Even after the Spitz Challenge is complete I will return. These guys consistently encourage one another to get better everyday.

Welcome 6 FNGS! Captain America, Dapper Dan, Crosshairs, Chicken Nuggets, Forest Gump and Gaston! #Boomsville

Aye

Riddler

The Thang

The Thang

Warmups 15 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Windmills,10 Low Slow Squats,

Mosey over to the fountain- 10 Erkins,10 Derkins,10 dips

Mosey to the retention Pond- 4 cones 2 exercises each cone.

15 Merkins,15 Carolina Dry Docks,15 Low Slow Squats,Lunge Walk to the next cone,10 Burpees,

10 Bombjacks, 20 Mountain climbers,

Talk on Humility referencing what going back to get the six means and the ultimate gift of humility in Christ going to the cross

200 leg lifts- 100 each person , 20 per set , 5 sets each person

20 step ups on park benches

20 jumps ups on concrete wall

Mosey back to Man U