Somethin Somethin at the Swamp

Thursday I asked Cobra Kai if we were doing ruck miles or a WOD at the Swamp (really didn’t care but was curious). He said whatever I wanted since I would be the Q. Love how that happens so often. I rolled in at 0515 just in time to get after it. Several Pax followed Lutefisk into the gloom. 4 remained to follow me with rucks. A few of us are training for the 9/11 Tough so we chose to carry 40#. Bad choice. Here’s what happened.

  • I think we warmed up a little SSH, Windmills, Cherry Pickers, etc.
  • Mosey to Best Buy and Overhead Carry Rucks all the way to Petsmart
  • Rucks on and mosey to Target
  • Alternate Bear Crawl and Lunge Walk from red ball to red ball all the way to Stop Sign
  • Repeat Back (Crowd Pleaser)
  • Mosey to near Just Fresh
  • Wall Sits with Rucks out while partner Runs across the parking lot and back (3 Series)
  • Mosey Back to meet bootcampers for a set of Merkins and Donkey Kicks to some very loud music #old

My shoulders still hurt. Thanks for the opportunity CK.

Zima Out

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Running away from hills towards hills

Thursday morning we ran. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to Tempo so I asked Gekko what’s been going on recently so I could do something a little different. This is what we did.

  • We ran away from the hills of Tega Cay Only to find more hills (Hubert Graham and Dave Gibson)
  • Exit Trailhead towards 160
  • Right at Hubert Graham
  • Go straight at the round about into Walmart Parking Lot
  • Run around the back of Walmart
  • Cross Dam Road and Run the back entrance to Gold Hill Middle School
  • Run out the front up Dave Gibson Hill 🙂
  • Left at 160
  • Left at Stonecrest Blvd
  • Right at Hubert Graham (another hill)
  • Left Gold Hill
  • Return to Trailhead Park

Total Miles: 4.7

Several Prayers for healing, comfort, families and marriages. Always an honor to lead. Thanks Gekko.

Zima Out

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Whistles and Field Work

24 Strong #HIMs braved the humid Fort Mill air for a beat down at Thursday staple Laces IN/Laces OUT.

Funhouse was Q for Laces OUT and decided to take his marry band of yoggers (soft J) around the track and either whistle at them or tell them to take a break.  I don’t get it either – you have to ask him I guess.

YHC took the rest of the Pax for a little Field Work.  Here’s the thang:

Dynamic Warm-Up:

High Knees, Butt Kickers, Slide L/Slide R, Toy Soldiers, Dipping Birds, WWL’s (power skips – trademark), Knee to Chest, Long Strides, Shoulder Rotations.

There.  You’re warm.

Mosey to midfield for Partner Yo-Yo’s.  Partner 1 runs 50 yard to goal line and back while Partner 2 does exercise.  Then Flap Jack.

Merkins x 3

Squats x 3

Flutters x 3

Mosey to the goal line for Tandem Bear Crawls.  New Partner 1 bear crawls 10 yards then Partner 2 bear crawls 10 yards and continue that to other goal line.  You read that right – 100 YARDS!!!

Let’s try something similar.  New Partner – same thing (kinda) – CRAWL BEARS this time.

Omaha after 50-yards.  That was a dumb idea.

Mosey to the corner for the confusing part of the workout.  Cross Field Up-Downs with an Accountability Partner.  Cross field every 20 yards then do 5 up-downs and stay with your partner.

Yeah – that was awful.  Another dumb idea.

Give me a 10-count on that one CSPAN!

Next we line up on the goal line for some Matriculating Rugby Sprints down the field.  Hank Stram would be proud.  Did you know that “Matriculate” doesn’t even mean “move” or “progress”?!?!  What the hell, Hank?!

And yes – YHC LIED when posting to the Twitter machine that they would not be featured.  Start a class action.

We finished with 8 MOM.  Yes EIGHT because I was all out of ideas and breath.

Mosey to COT.

Great time out there with everyone – it had been a while.  Always thankful for these men of F3 and the accountability they provide.

Going to be very sad to see CSPAN leave us for Philly but looking forward to the first time we post together in the City of Brotherly Love.  #F3PhillyRising  Godspeed young man and thank you for everything you’ve taught me over the years!  Greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for the opportunity to lead.  Aye!

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Where is Spring??

18 Men showed up on a very chilly April morning. The pre-ruck was very well attended, and the ruck portion was being Q’ed by Olaf and there seemed to be several implements of torcher that were assembled for the rucking PAX to carry around.  5:15 came and the disclaimer was given(in spirit if not actually) and the entire group was challenged to begin thinking of prayers that needed to be shared at COT. No prayers for your neighbors sick cat, what do YOU need your brothers to know and pray for in your life?  With that the Ruckers were dismissed and the rest of us circled up for some COP.  SSH, IW, Squats, on your side for some hip flexing and strengthening – Jane Fonda – Leg Circles forward and reverse, back kicks.  All on your side 5 count then flip sides. Strong loose hips are key to injury prevention.  Mosey to lay out the cones for a 5 corner workout tour around the Golden Corral. 1st cone at the bottom of the hill(10 Bomb Jacks) Cone #2 at the top of the hill(20 LBC) Cone 3 around Auto Parts and Oil change(10 CDD) 4th cone at COT(15 Squats) Cone 5 at Dominos(15 Merkins) You vs You workout, you choose how fast you want to push it, how hard you want to work.  The PAX did awesome, everyone finished at least 4 full laps and a few did 4 plus, Mileage count was over 3 miles, pretty strong for a 45 minute boot camp.  Final mosey to COT

Announcements – Strawberry Fields, Guidance & CAH, Bonsai has Beyond next Tuesday at GC

Prayers & Praises – Continued prayers for Badger – Prayers for patience and wisdom with young kids(especially boys), Prayers for healing for the young kids in our community growing up in dysfunctional or non-existent homes, prayers for patience and energy to continue dealing with the racial injustices that many of us don’t want to admit exist.  I appreciated the hearts of the men who shared this morning, and challenge the PAX to press into being vulnerable with our real struggles and needs so that we can properly car for each other.

 

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Running the Lights with Classic Rock

I haven’t Q’d at the Ranch in quite a while so I thought it would be fun to use the field and light poles in a circuit training of sorts.  It is always a decent change in pace when I can carry around a phone and speaker to add a little life to the party.

Started with a mosey to the back of the school and began with a warm-up of SSH, Moroccan Night Clubs, Imperial Walkers, Hillbilly Walkers and Windmills. We then mosey back to the front light poles along the field.  There are 8 poles so I planned on 2 exercises per pole 50 seconds on and 10 second rest with 10 seconds after them to travel to the next pole.  I hoped to make 2 circuits of the field.  It all hit the fan right off the bat when I actually started on a light pole from the parking lot not the field.  Thankfully in my incredibly observant nature I realized this 9 light poles later and since I’m easily adaptable I was able to handle this wrinkle of an extra pole like the champion I am… The action went like this

-Merkins

-Squats

MOVE

LBS’c

Donkey Kicks

MOVE

-Dips

-Mountain Climbers

MOVE

-Side Straddle Hops

-Nolan Ryan

MOVE

-Box Cutter

-Plank Jack

MOVE

-Lunges

-Peter Parker Merkins

MOVE

-Dry Docks

-Bobby Hurley

MOVE

-American Hammers

-High Knees

Confusion about how an extra pole appeared, Then just MOVE anyway

 

After 2 cycles we mosey to the lot for COT, announcements and prayer.  Always and excellent AO and appreciate the opportunity.

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Burpee Bonanza at the Swamp

Tuesday morning at Golden Corral, Cable Guy (in typical Cable Guy fashion) looks over at YHC (who is conveniently located across the parking lot, because, well, Cable Guy in the morning…) and says, “So, you’ll Q Friday at the Swamp.” It wasn’t really a question; it was more a statement of fact.

“I’ll what now?”

“Yeah, you’ll Q.”

Before I could raise any objections to protect my fellow PAX from what would become my fifth bootcamp Q in just over 2 weeks, word started to spread, and my fate was sealed.

No Twitter announcement was made to prepare the PAX for today, so when 0515 rolled over on my watch, I stepped into the circle to make the disclaimer. It was a C-Span-approved disclaimer, so I’m getting better there. Disclaimer disclaimed, the 7 ruckers walked off one way and the 8 bootcampers moseyed the other.

COP, Part 1

Short mosey to the parking lot behind Cold Stone for

20 SSH IC

10 hillbilly walkers IC

Moving on…

COP, Part 2

Following a mosey with a few side shuffles thrown in, we circled up outside Books A Million for

10 windmills IC

10 low slow squats IC

20 Moroccan night clubs IC

That’s it for the warm up; I wanted to leave plenty of time for the main event. So we moseyed over to the Sun Trust Bank parking lot for the fun to start.

The Thang

The bank is a good size to run around, and it conveniently has 11 parking spaces in a nice, flat, straight row, making it perfect for a lineup of stations. For today’s fun, we had ten burpee stations and a “rest” station of 100 LBCs. Exercises were all OYO, with a lap around the bank after each station, resulting in 11 laps. The burpee stations, in no particular order:

20 Burpees (plain old burpees)

10 Prison cell burpees

10 Kraken burpees

15 Walmart burpees (“Walmart” because you roll back; these were the focus of much mumblechatter)

15 Bodybuilder burpees

15 Inverted burpees

20 One-arm burpees (10 per arm)

20 One-leg burpees (10 per leg)

15 Tuck jump burpees (jump knees to chest)

20 Jump ½ turn burpees (ideally 10 per direction)

For those counting, that makes for 160 wonderfully fun burpees. I think we ended up running over two miles, too, but I’m not sure on that one.

T-claps to all the bootcampers, as everybody completed the entire circuit, and nobody really got far ahead of anybody else. LBCs were completed by some as we waited for the six. With five minutes to spare, we moseyed back to Chick-Fil-A for a couple minutes of stretching our now very tight shoulders and hips.

Announcements

  • GoRuck Light tomorrow. Good luck and have fun to those guys going. Make sure you’re prepared, as the list on the website is not suggestions.
  • Post somewhere tomorrow if you’re not rucking.
  • Yeti in two weeks.
  • Read your newsletter.

Prayers and Praises

  • Wild Thing’s sister-in-law is being induced today to deliver their still-born child. Please pray for this entire family as they deal with this.
  • C-Span’s son (and the whole family really) eagerly anticipating the birth of their baby. (I think I understood that right.)
  • World Wide Leader had to return to work after six weeks of paternity leave, and now their son is starting into daycare, so tons of transitions for all of that family.
  • Rad’s daughter is still in the hospital after a high fever and numerous seizures. The fever is down, but other tests are being done, so pray for her and the whole family.
  • YHC is dealing with some difficult situations at work, including a family returning from overseas early, which may lead to marital issues. Pray for them, and for those who are caring for them.
  • DaVinci’s business has gained some new clients with potentially more on the way, which is great and also daunting.

Even with limited notice (which seems to be the only way I end up Qing), it’s an honor to get to lead and serve these men. Thanks to Cable Guy for the Q-portunity. Kotters to Photobomb.

Ask the ruckers what they did. I only ever saw them walking.

-Jedi

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The Q, a Weinke, and an Audible

Dang, it was cold.  The PAX assembled, 2 were off running and the rest began the mosey.  We mosey’d to the access road to Springfield Middle School and completed some warm-ups consisting dynamic stretching, karaoke, accelerating sprints, COP.  We then assembled at the bottom of the drop off for an ab lab.  The plan was for 30 reps LBCs then run the loop, 25 reps each LBCs & American Hammers then run the loop (opted for flagpole as the loop was bigger than remembered – audible 1), 20 reps each LBCs, AH, Flutter Kicks then run the loop (opted this time for the tree line at the top of the adjacent grass hill).  As the ab exercises were all 4 count, we did enough.  There’s still enough time before beach season, but time was flying on this morning’s Q.  Audible 2 – found a wall for wall sits, balls to the wall, and sprints back to the top of the hill.  Off-weinke, the rest of the morning was impromptQ.  Mosey’d to the back of the school and split into two groups of 4 PAX.  Group 1 did partner wheel barrels up and down a flight of stairs, while group 2 did step ups and box jumps.  Mosey’d to back parking lot and completed burpee suicide.  A little stretching to regain composure and then mosey’d to a bus loop behind the elementary school for Dora 1-2-3 with 50 Merkins, 100 Carolina Dry Docks, and 150 Front/Back Alternating Lunges.  As time was dwindling, the decision was made (Audible 3) to abort Dora and begin the mosey back, culminating in dips and a jail break run back to COT to meet the runners.

Count-o-Rama, Name-o-Rama, Name the FNG (Glowstick), announcements, prayers/praises.  Pray for safe travels and patience with the kids still at home from school for the holiday break.

Moleskin: Today was a great workout.  Sometimes life (or a workout) doesn’t go as expected.  Being too rigid and inflexible may cause you to miss out on something great (albeit, unexpected).

Thanks for the opportunity to lead!

 

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2017 Clave Boss 5k/10k & Christmas Convergence

Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more——Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!!

The largest turn out by far for the Clave Boss 5k/10k was a success. We started on time and as far as I know nobody died. Thank you to all the PAX that ran and had a fun time and fellowship.

For the 5k, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. MacGyver
  2. Harry Carry

For the 10k, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. Sir Topham Hat
  2. mix of PAX coming from all directions—no idea

For the Ruck, here were are winners of Bundt Cakes

  1. Dark Helmet for 11min pace 5k ruck…..nice work!

Honorable Mention for Anchorman completing the 5k and Barry Manilow being his wingman!

The Convergence kicked off on time and we had Gecko open us up in prayer. We split the groups up and away we went with COT at 0750. Click on links to see the pain that was delivered…..Merry Christmas!

Black Diamond – Longshanks Q – https://t.co/odVJHWCBPS

Bootcamp – Cha Ching Q – https://f3thefort.com/2017/12/23/christmas-convergence-boot-camp-mixed-w-some-bd/

Noderate – Barry Manilow Q – https://f3thefort.com/2017/12/23/your-moderate-option-at-the-convergence/

COT came together and we had 83 men attend this year.

Welcome FNG – Lake Effect, who is 41 not the 50 that he just shouted out. Classic!

Many announcements:

  • Thank you Site Qs for all your work, dedication and leadership!
  • Serve Saturdays ….reach out to Deacon, Bolt, NASA for info…..HIMs!!
  • Joe Davis Run Jan 6
  • Friday Convergence with 3rdF post beat down Jan 12
  • Rooster CSAUP Jan 20
  • Yeti – February
  • P200 – March

More than a workout!!

Prayers/Praises

  • Dark Helmet shared his sister is in need of prayer. Please remember DH and his family each day in prayer
  • Family visiting is fun and sometimes no so fun. BE HIMs!!
  • Prayers for all the PAX traveling and for peace this week!

Challenge:

I spoke to the PAX about how 2000 years ago Sky Q sent his son into the world in the form of a baby. When looking for a place to come in from the cold there WAS NO ROOM AT THE INN. I believe we all fall into this trap and put so much busy into our lives that we don’t have ROOM AT THE INN for Sky Q in our lives. We fill our hearts and minds with so much and when it come to his word and being in relationship, we DON”T HAVE ROOM AT THE INN (in our hearts).

I challenge myself and the PAX to make room for SKY Q and see how it changes your life in 2018 and beyond.

Honored to lead this PAX. I am blessed and grateful for each of you!

Cake Boss

 

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Pick a card at Quagmire

It was a non-winter Monday morning and a great group of PAX showed up to get the week started. No FNGs but disclaimer was given and off we went.

  • Mosey to Home Depot lot with high-knees, butt-kickers, & karaoke’s along the way. Circle up for normal stretchy things, grunting, and other pleasantries.
  • Mosey to alley behind Home Depot. PAX line up on one side and start with flutters. PAX run to wall and do BTW walk down the wall, crab walk to end of next wall, run to end of alley, 20 squats, run back to PAX. When PAX ahead of you is 1/4 way down wall next PAX start. Large group so it took a while to cycle through everyone.
  • Mosey over to fountain and break into 2 groups. Each group had a cone at down at round-about with 8 cards. Each card had an exercise for the group to do together and then another exercise for group to do while next PAX ran to get next card. Each group had same cards but order was random.
    • Run full lap outside round-abouts / LBCs
    • 20 jump squats / plank punches
    • 10 Lt Dans (lunge-lunge-squat) / plank jacks
    • 20 dips / flutters
    • Run full lap outside round-abouts / Freddie mercs
    • 15 diamond merkins / SSHs
    • 20 derkins / step-ups
    • 10 burpees / MNCs
  • Mosey back to COT for a few minutes of Mary

I’ve been doing my normal routine of running on Mondays so it was good to shake things up and get back out to Quagmire. Always a great group of PAX with lots of mumble-chatter (DH was there). Thanks DaVinci for the opportunity!

-Mainframe

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