Breaking Patterns

What a great morning for a run. Low 50’s, no wind and 20 PAX for a post P200 Monday. Up in the rotation today was the newest member of the Flight Plan plans, “Loops of Choice.” They include a 2.5 mile loop that goes over the walking trail at the end of YMCA parking lot, out 6th Baxter, up Sutton and back to Starbucks. And a 1.5 mile loop that goes down market, comes up Sutton and back to Starbucks. Modify as necessary, find a running buddy, have some fellowship, attend COT, check the box.

Flight Plan is an AO that’s predictable. Because of safety, we stay on the north side of 77. We have 4 routes and run each one, once per month. Today’s route emphasizes, (maybe represents is a better word) those circles we find ourselves in. Don’t get me wrong, the workout is beneficial. And I love the sense of accomplishment of conquering the long climb up Sutton (twice) in the gloom. However, the round and round is indicative of what can become of us as men.

But F3 is there to break those patterns. In COT we were reminded of that by two very strong PAX. Pusher (along w/ Twister & Change Order) who has taken the monumental task of leading Q-source. The weekly study of how this group can shape lives, of not just ourselves, but our families and community. If you’re not involved, you’re missing out. If you’ve been going, you know what I’m talking about. The added support outside of fellowship of the gloom, is great.

The other PAX is Stang. What happens when something throws us off these loops we find so comfortable. Something devastating or tragic.  Or what if we struggle just to stay upright on the loops but don’t feel like we can tell anyone so we use other outlets to hide the burden?  Stang is going to lead the discussion on these topics Wednesday at The Tomahawk (Doby’s Bridge Elementary – Kettle Bell). The last 15 minutes of the workout will be a stretching session with discussion on these heavy topics. Things we need to be able to share and discuss if we are going to be the leaders we need to be.

It’s great to see these HIMs pushing us past the 1st F.

Annoucments:

  • See Above
  • Cristina Latini Memorial 8K – Saturday March 30th – Clown Cars leaving Baxter Starbucks at 7:00 for Huntersville or Virtual run 6:30 at Alcatraz
  • Cake Boss 40 Day Challenge – On going

Prayers and Praises

  • Rebel’s daughter getting her first real job
  • The safe return of all the PAX who ran the P200

Welcome FNG – Seuss! (EH’d by Cake Boss)

See you in the gloom!

Boeheim

 

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2

Preparing For the Storm

I was excited to be the Q at The Colosseum this cool morning and my attempt to push the Pax at one of The Fort well known challenging AO’s.  Being one of the older pax, I wanted to push everyone physically and also share what has been going on in my life storm and how I have felt the love and support of the Pax.

A short disclaimer was given since all of the Pax were well versed in F3.  Off we moseyed to the basketball courts and circled up for some warm-up.

  • Wind mill
  • SSH
  • Squats
  • Merkins
  • 6 inch hold 10 sec
  • Mountain Climber
  • MNC

Moseyed to the back bus entrance drive for some light pole work.  I arrived early and with the side walk chalk (borrowed from a neighbors child, DD made mention that my kids were to old for sidewalk chalk) I put an exercise at 6 poles.  Start at 1st pole, do the exercise and run to 2nd.  Return back to 1st and go 2nd, 3rd and return.  Continue this up the hill to the 6th pole and back.

Poles:

  • 20 Merkins
  • 30 Squats
  • 30 Monkey Humpers
  • 10 Burpees
  • 20 CDD
  • 25 Dips

Once all Pax completed then we went back to the 6th pole and worked our way back to the 1st pole.

Mosey back to the basketball court for Mary.

  • Freddie Mercury
  • Dynamic LBC (LBC with feet at 6 inches)
  • Hello Dolly
  • American hammer

This past week has been one of the toughest in our parenting years.  When we got a call at 1:30am from our 21 yr old daughter and she had a serious accident and her car flipped and then caught on fire, our hearts sank.  Thankfully through the Grace of God, all of the events of that night turned out to be ok for our daughter physically.  No injuries and just a loss of material items.  This has opened our eyes to a couple of things.  God’s love and protection of His children even when sometimes we have run far away from Him.  Mental Illness is real and when you see your adult age children struggle with this, it is heart breaking.  The relationships that we build in F3 are real and I have felt the love and support of the PAX.

In the QSource we talk about preparing for the expected and unexpected and the unexpected preparation was confusing to me.  I now understand that for me, this preparation was building the relationships with My Lord, My Shieldlock, Pax and having a good relationship with my M. When the unexpected storms of life come and crash on the beach, you have to have others around to help walk through the storm and lift you up.  I have felt this over the past week.

Thanks to Jekyll for the opportunity to Q and share!!!

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Clear & Crisp P200 Tune Up

What a great morning to get out in The Fort for a little jog around Wally World. Attendance is strong lately with all of the P200 training and the handful of (almost) only running PAX. There’s a pace and a buddy for everyone when the crowd is this size for a running workout.

The Thang:

Wally World – A Flight Plan original wrapping around a shopping mecca and the back road for two of Fort Mills finest learning institutions. All kinds of opportunities to modify distance and incline. So if you were well rested, take that Dave Gibson Hill. If you had too much for St. Patty’s day, easy out and back to WW entrance. It was a glorious morning to be reminded how lucky we are to have our brotherhood and inhale that late winter frosty air.

COT/Announcements

Jekyll took the lead at COT. Reminding us to support our brother Olive and The Christina Latini Memorial 8K on March 30th. Sign ups right now are lower than last year. Let’s get the word out not just to the PAX but to everyone we know. Olive has taken the worst of situations and grown it into a lasting tribute. Something that he has made easy for us to be a part of. He’s done all the heavy lifting and we can claim a little bit of pride simply by doing something we already do, run a little bit. If you can’t make the actual run in Huntersville or the virtual one set up by Change Order at Alcatraz, then still donate. You will be smiling all day after you do (Christina Latini Memorial 8K) Thanks for the reminder Jekyll

Paryers:

Lift up Funhouse’s brother Scott . He’s going through major life changes today; new home for himself as he starts the painful process of a divorce. He will need the strength of Sky Q so be sure to add Scott to your prayers.

Help Hootie as he travels this week. He asks that we lift his M & kids in prayer as they work through the week while he’s gone. The life work balance is hard on everyone. Supporting each PAX with fellowship and prayer will get us through.

 

NMM:

A COT this large can be tough for me. I don’t hear well (Funhouse & Pusher excepted) and can’t wear my hearing aids while running. The sweat makes them shut down. I miss a lot of the jokes and camaraderie that goes on. But the energy that comes from the circle is real. Just like the workout, it doesn’t matter if you’re wide awake or struggled just to make it back, there’s something in there for everyone. Take these jokes, causes, praises and prayers to heart. Think about them as you go through your day. Give them the extra prayer they need or the smile/laugh to yourself they bring to your soul.  And know there’s more waiting for you tomorrow when you need it all over again.

Boeheim

Aye!

 

 

 

 

 

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No Balance & No 50-Yard Line

6 Veteran pax posted to The Colosseum on a dry (thank you!) crisp morning to share in another #DRP experience.  Within just a span of a few days, it’s great to experience the energy of the Convergence last Friday with 70-ish pax and then the intimacy of a small group where no one can hide.  Drive-by Disclaimer today given the crowd, and then we were into the warm-up in place as Jekyll pulled in at 0516.

The Thang

COP — SSH, Mtn climber, Parker Peter, Windmill, Hillbilly walker

Mosey to front of school with grassy area/trees along right

Three separate Suicide series to 3 trees and stop sign
1. Bear crawl to trees / backward lunge walk back
2. Backward run to trees / backward run back
3. Sprint to trees / sprint back

Plank series plus Merkins x40

Mosey to basketball courts behind school & pick partner

Dora 1-2-3 EXCEPT NO AGGREGATION, each partner does full count of exercise
1. Merkins x100 / run to 1st light pole & back
2. LBCs x200 / run to 2nd light pole & back
3. Squats x300 / run to 3rd light pole & back
First partner to finish can then aid the other partner in reaching his finish line through aggregate counting of additional exercises

Mosey home

COT

NMM

Core of today’s workout was derived from QPoint on The M.  In reading past two weeks of The Jester and The M, I was struck by just how critical these two phases are to the Get Right…almost to the point of deserving more attention, more time, more sharpening than anything up to this point (and maybe even beyond in future weeks).  Just two pieces of The M yielded today’s message and workout template. The “myth” of work-life balance, as I call it, alone could stimulate many long conversations around shared experience.  Work is part of life, and only one of many parts…to pull work outside of life and then try to create balance is like taking a pie slice out of a wheel and then expecting it to roll right.  The idea of a marriage being 50/50 is equally flawed.  I’ve been through many experiences when my wife and I both gave 100 and then we came to the other end with a sum less than 200, in some cases even less than 100.  If you’re not giving 100, then why should your wife?  Or how can you expect to reach your potential.  Thus, the reason for the Dora without aggregation.  All each man could do was encourage his partner and the others around him through word and mostly through action until he’d finished it all.  Interesting to see that each pair finished without much need for aggregate counting.  Way to push!

It was great to see Rebel in The Gloom this am, and see his spirits rebounding.  He kept pace with his partner MacGyver during Dora, proving he put it all out there.

Thank you to Jekyll for the opportunity to lead.  It’s always a privilege.

 

 

 

 

 

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VD Boot Camp at Footloose

An extra special Valentines Day boot camp written, produced and Q’d by YHC

Total of 19 PAX , several of whom ran

Warm Up

LSS, SSH and High Step Marching!

The PAX moseyed to a church parking lot to work through some very bad Valentines Day poetry.  Two groups were formed with two groups of exercises  separated by 1) power skips, because you make my heart skip and 2) the stairway to heaven between all of the following stations.

  • Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Plank Punches I’ll do for you . . . Round one – 20, Round two – 30
  • Together we reach for the STARS . . Round one – 15 Bombjacks, Round two – 20 Bombjacks
  • When I hear your voice . . . I sit up and listen – Round One – 20 BBSU, Round Two – 30 BBSU
  • Together we climb every mountain . . Round one – 20 MC, Round two – 30 MC
  • My tummy goes tight when I think if you  . . . crunches Round one – 20 Round two – 30
  • You are  my Super Girl . . . Round ONe – 25 Superman Claps, Round two – 30 Superman claps

All this followed by a tunnel of love courtesy Dungaree, AKA Jack Jones

The PAX then moseyed up and back to 160

We  closed with :10 of Mary, in rhyme!

Awesome work by all the PAX

 

The moleskin:  Mathew 6:34

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FACT: The human body will not melt in the rain

9 strong at The Ballroom, a place that typical brings crowds in the 20’s. I can’t explain the low numbers, I love my BCs.

I can only assume it was one of 3 things:
1. Hatred for the Copa Cabana
2. Rain
3. Blame it on Lola (she was a showgirl)

The thang:
mosey to the lot on the other side of the track, line up on the side of the lot
10x weed pullers, 10x SSH, 10x windmills
back and forth across the lot
high knees, butt kickers, soccer knees, squat walkers, windmill walkers, toy soldier, karaoke L, karaoke R, knees to chest, imperial walker walker, power skip x2
mosey to the track, 50% down the straight away, 75% around the corner, sprint down the straight away

mosey to the gym wall
wall sit, ends bear crawl to end of curb and LLS, all 2 at a time, then bear crawl back to the wall.
pop out burpees x2 from both ends
plank on curb, walk left, walk right, merkins and 10x plank jacks
wall sit w/ overhead claps
pop out burpees again

mosey across the bridge for some cover next to the field
Matt Foley, 1 animated squat, 4 dying cockroach, 2-8, 3-12, 4-16, 5-20
10x LBCs, 10x SSH, 10x hello dolly, 10x seal jack, 10x dips, 20x line hops, 10x freddie, 10x merkins

mosey across the bleachers, the wet, slippery bleachers, 10x dips along the way, and back to the front of the school
PAX blind picks 4 of 1-6
5. 10x hillbilly walker
2. 10x mahktar n’diayes
3. 10x donkey kicks
1. 10x shoulder taps
(jump squat and MNC not picked)
10x LSS, 10x CDD, 5x burpees, 10x monkey humpers, 10x donkey kicks, 10x burpees, 10x Travolta, 10x bombjacks … COT

looks like we made it,
Barry Manlow

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SlowBurn – Wegman’s Send off to Chimbote

Today at SlowBurn it was about Wegmans and his choice to say YES to a calling to serve. He heard this calling and it spoke to his heart and he accepted the opportunity to be vulnerable, uncomfortable and go into the world for his creator Sky Q. The cool thing about mission trips is we think its about serving others, but in reality its about Sky Q working on us.

38 PAX came to show Wegmans support. They were running, rucking, boot-camp and even Broga was represented. for 45 mins everyone got better in some fashion, but for YHC I felt led to honor Wegmans by pulling some of his work from previous workouts. I felt the best way to respect a man is to use his material. So away we went.

The Thang:

Warm Up mosey to lower lot

  • Typical COP stuff 5-7 exercise moves
  • Line up at end of lot for some others
    • High Knees
    • Butt Kickers
    • Karaoke
    • Shuffles
    • sprints

Mosey to far side of Indian Restaurant

DMB from Wegmans Ranch workout

  • Duckwalk – 20 yards
  • Merkins – 10
  • Bearcrawl back – 20 yards
  • 3 rounds

Mosey to Far side of Lowes

From the Wegninator’s Coop workout

  • Partner up
    • #1 = Wall Sit
    • #2 =
      • 10 Broadjump Burpees
      • 10 Powerskips
      • 10 Plankwalks (right and then left)
    • Flap jack
    • 3 rounds

Mosey to opposite side of Lowes

From Wegmans’ Slow Burn workout – The Triple Check

Groups of 3

  1. Al Gore
  2. Plank
  3. Run Lap around parking lot
  • 3 rounds, with each person rotating position

Mosey back to COT

Wegmans’s shared his WHY during the workout and serving others and his willingness to be vulnerable in a strange place and open to see what Sky Q will do.

Many in the group have been on mission trips before and I believe that we all have intentions of serving and helping others, however these trips are about what Sky Q teaches us about ourselves. Gives us perspective and understanding that everyone around the globe are all children of HIS and we should love each other.

Best to you Wegmans and look forward to hearing the lesson’s learned.

Cake Boss

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We’ll Make It Breathable

I know Beacon had this idea in mind but as you’re reading, think about an area of your life where you can push yourself just a little bit more. Not in the sense of looking to DO more but rather, looking to BE more. This comes from pushing yourself. Push yourself to meet guys at another workout, push yourself to be present for others, push yourself to be more engaged. When you get comfortable with your routine, you coast rather than accelerate.

23 was the number at Footloose this morning and evidently, not everyone knew who was on Q. Once they learned, I was happy that nobody left. We started with 23 and we finished with 23. My ask of the PAX was this: I don’t know what you’re carrying on your mind as you roll in here at 0515 but as you’re here for the next 45mins, be HERE, be present, enjoy the guys to your left and right.

Once we were disclaimed, we took a long mosey over to and up Main Street to the Methodist Church to circle up in their parking lot.

Wind Mills

Imperial Walkers

Hillbilly Walkers

5 Burpees by special request

Squats

Moroccan Night Clubs

Carolina Dry Docks

5 more Burpees by special request

Mosey over to behind the Baptist Church

Switzer to explain the deal. Partner up while partners start on opposite ends of the large parking lot.

Each partner bear crawls to their respective 1st island then run to meet their partner in the “middle” of the lot. 20 Single count merkins, run back to that previously-mentioned island and crawl bear back to your starting point. Remember, push yourself just a little bit more.

Rd 2 was crab walk to that island, then run to meet the partner, 20 Wide Arm Merkins, run back to the island and walk crab back to your starting point. Remember, push yourself just a little bit more.

Mosey back to our starting parking lot for a little plank work.

20 Mountain Climbers

10 Peter Parkers

10 Donkey Kicks

10 Parker Peters

2min plank hold

2min Al Gore

1min Burpees

Remember, push yourself just a little bit more.

1min Side Straddle Hops

7min of Mary

WWII Sit-Ups

Flutter Kicks

Freddy Mercury

Heels to Heaven

Protractor

Remember, push yourself just a little bit more.

And that was it…well done.

Announcements:

  1. Mini-convergence at Slow Burn tomorrow to pray for and send Wegmans off on his F3 mission trip to Peru. (Broga will be at 0500 at Slow Burn AO)
  2. Engage in the running training plan that Anchorman and Barry Manilow are leading guys through
  3. Read your newsletter b/c I forgot the remainder.

Prayers:

PRAY

 

Until next time.

Maximus

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Frozen Shart Run

Apparently according to reliable source if one farts when it is 20 degrees below 0, it will freeze to you pants… try at your own risk.

We met at Foodlion did some Broga, ran down the street, around the ‘hood and back for about 2.7 miles.

Good times!

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The Ranch – Where you need to prepare for the unexpected!!

8 Ruckers were out marching around when 16 more PAX arrived at the cold Ranch. YHC was expecting low numbers since the temp was 20-22, but I was thrilled to see the men circling and getting ready for the unexpected.

The Thang:

Mosey to entrance
COP

SSHs-20
CCDs-18
Seal Jacks-20
Wind Mills-15
Imperial Walkers-20

Mosey to baseball field……it was creepy dark!!

3 rounds of Crawl, Walk Run

Home to 1st-bear crawls
1st to 2nd-lunge walk
2nd to home-Run

Mosey to bridge

Two lines and Partner is next to you
Wheel barrow little baby Jesus up steps alternating when needed

Indian Run to Football field

Partner Carry to playground

With Partner: 1 does exercise/1 runs lap
Pull ups
Derkins
Swing Crunches
Dips

Burpee Indian Run back to COT

IT was a fun filled day at The Ranch and the PAX worked hard and pushed each other. Message was about being prepared and no matter if its preparing for breakfast or for retirement, as a leader we need to be ready for the expected. Today my Director resigned from our team and company. We don’t know who our leader will be or what our organization will look like, but as leader of my work and home I need to look in the mirror and say, Get After It! There is no waiting to see where the chips fall,  but to get out in front and lead. Reflect on all things in your life and address those things that you need to get prepared for……finances, stronger marriage, tough talks with the kids and death. Don’t leave these for someone else to take care of.

Thanks Jiffy for the lead…..humbled and honored!!

Cake Boss out!

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