DPQ – New F3 Acronym (Don’t Poke the Q) Rad Brad’s Fault

Rad decided it was a good idea the night before to start ragging on my Monday Q and that pre-runs should be required in order to get a decent workout.  Well, didn’t really need that motivation, but it definitely pushed me to add more weight to the flat bed relays.

Warm-up (or lack thereof):  2 songs played – one drove merkin count, one drove squat count
– The Police – Roxanne:  every time you hear Roxanne, drop it down to 6 inch hold, next Roxanne push up.  Do it for the whole song w/ plenty of instrumentals played at the 6 inch hold
– AC/DC – Thunderstruck (sorry DaVinci):  same as above, only squat and hold down on the word “Thunder” and then when you hear it again, come up but then immediately do calf raises until the next “Thunder”

  • Next up – flat bed relays.  Prior to the workout, Olaf, Lutefisk and myself hit Home Depot looking for some flat bed carts.  After being questioned by the manager on duty for some “shady-ness”, we convinced her it was cool and that we’d return all Home Depot assets post workout.
    We then proceeded to load up each flat bed w/ the following:  2 cinder blocks, an engine, a car battery, and about 3 bags of metal pellets (each weighing approx 15-30 lbs).   2 teams (one for each flat bed cart) – while one pax from each team pushed the cart the full length of the Home Depot parking lot and then back, the rest of the pax did as many they could of the following exercises (each exercise was done 3x, ie. 3 seperate team member flat bed pushes) – carolina dry docks, jump lunges, toe touches
  • 2nd station – wall sits between Target and Home Depot.  All pax held a wall sit until all of the following was complete:  each pax sprints to the opposite wall one by one, does 5 burpees and sprints back (then the next guy can go), each pax sprints to the opposite wall one by one, does 5 vertical jumps (touch the highest brick you can on the wall) and sprints back.  We then finished her off w/ single leg wall sits for 20 sec holds each.
  • 3rd station – moseyed on over to the fountain and did some new wave tabata (thx for the inspiration On the Rocks).  No timer w/ this tabata – our “timer” was 2 pax at a time doing suicides.  While they did suicides, the rest of us did the following exercises max rep – single arm row planks, diamond merkins, crab cakes, knee to elbow merkins.
  • Finished it off w/ all you got 50 yd sprints in front of Best Buy x 3 w/ a jailbreak to COT.

Thanks for allowing me to lead DaVinci.  Had a blast.  Left the pax w/ some words around making more time for what’s important.  I’ve been struggling w/ putting in way too many hours at the office, and have sacrificed time w/ my kids, wife and in the word.  I recently got my hands on a leadership book from a guy at work (Leading…for God’s Sake) and one of the passages states “If you are too busy for God, maybe you are busier than he intended you to be”.  Make the time.

ChaChing

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2017 Board of Pain at The Abyss – 7/19/2017

17 brave souls showed up for everyone’s favorite summer tradition- the Board of Pain.   With the majority being first-timers I knew this was going to be fun.  There is not better representation of ‘You vs You’ than the #BoardOfPain.

The Thang: perform each exercise and the associated rep count.  You can not move on to next exercise until previous exercise is complete.  In between each exercise is a recovery run of 1/4 mile.  Below are the stats on the day.  Come back next week to compete against the others and yourself.

An amazing effort from all the Pax today, especially first timers.  The Board of Pain tests you both physically and mentally.  Below are resutls:

Prayers
Went around the circle and everyone Pax was asked to give a pray or praise. Too many to remember but they were heard.

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Sharknado Strikes The Poopdeck

I always tell folk that the Poopdeck is the best AO around; It showcases amazing views, is expansive, has some gnarly asphalt for merkins and MARY, and always has a breeze coming off of the lake.  However, this morning, 6 PAX faced an impeccable storm generated by the F3Lake Norman crew with Burner and Olive (Tclaps to you guys!!).  After a brief intro and disclaimer, we moseyed:

COP:

20 SSH IC

20 Imperial Walkers IC

20 Hillbilly Walkers IC

10 Windmills IC

10 Cherry Pickers IC

30 MNC IC

Mosey to Waterfront

The Thang:

“Sharknado” – brought to us by Burner, via Olive at a mean, July 4th beatdown at the Warthog @F3GrandStrand

After remembering how glorious Sharknado is, it was described and commenced

15 Burpees OYO

run a lap around the waterfront parking lot – a little over .15 mile

20 diamond merkins

run a lap around the waterfront parking lot – a little over .15 mile

20 big boy situps

run a lap around the waterfront parking lot – a little over .15 mile

20 wide arm merkins

run a lap around the waterfront parking lot – a little over .15 mile

20 scorpion dry docks

Rinse and Repeat, aiming for 5 cycles.  I believe that Wildthing described it as “hateful.”  Due diligence had been achieved.

At 10 til, we circled up for some MARY  right on the waterfront as the sun was rising:

Flutters

X’s and O’s

Freddie Mercury’s

Box Cutters

Mosey back to COT

Great push by all PAX!  I also appreciate you’s guy’s support!

Announcements:

If in need of retiring a flag, take it to your local American Legion Post.

Ragnar coming up, as is a Delta Ruck event

CAH is doing great work even with the move in time.  Always looking for continued support.

Prayer

I appreciate the opportunity to lead.  F3 has given me so much in a short amount of time (5 months in), and I continually look to give back however possible.  See you in the gloom.

Droppin’ the bass,

Flea

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Oshi Shinobu

What a great morning for a workout with 14 men at The Swamp.  We quickly split off as Ruckers, Runners and Bootcampers.  A short mosey led us to our 1st stop for the warmup:  15 SSH, 3-burpees, 10 Windmills, 3-burpees, 10 Moroccan Night Clubs, 3-burpees, 15 SSH, 3-burpees.

Good and warm we mosey’d to backside of Jush Fresh to the stairs.  Partner Up.  P1 Holds Plank, P2 runs stairs, Flip/Flop; P1 Flutter Kicks, P2 runs stairs, Flip/Flop; P1 Hello Dollies, P2 run stairs, Flip/Flop and finally P1 Wall Sits,  P2 runs stairs, Flip Flop.

Short stroll to the Fountain w/a round-a-bout version of 4-corners.  Working in Decending order w/4-stations;  8, 6, 4 and 2 reps at ea.  Starting at Fountain, Incline/Decline Merkins, run to top of lot, Squats, run around to fountain, step-ups (ea leg), run to bottom of lot, burpees and back to fountain.  Rinse and repeat to next descending count.

I wanted to do something a little different with the PAX this am and introduce a little Jiu Jitsu warmup so we mosey’d over by the Q’s truck and pick up some Martial Arts belts.  Partner up, P1 places belt around himself and sprints while P2 offers resistance by holding him back across the lane.  Rinse&Repeat x 2.  From there we demonstrated what each warmup is for and how to execute it in BJJ with:  seated shrimping, breakdance, alligator crawl, gorilla walks, leg drag drills and finished w/another bout of the belt resistance drills w/new partners and ab-work.

COT

Always a struggle getting moving in the am and putting our bodies through the workouts but love the results and who I get to do it with.  In Jiu Jitsu we always finish w/a bow and handshake to one other with the statement of “OSS!” also known as “ossu”, means Oshi Shinobu, which conveys the idea of “persevering when pushed”. In other words, never give up, have determination, grit and withstand the most arduous of training.

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Two years and counting

Two years ago, Jekyll invited me to WEP for my first workout.  I thought I was in pretty good shape, but little did I know what was in store for me.   I remember halfway through the workout thinking, this was a bad idea and would anyone notice if I lost my breakfast.  Luckily, I kept my stomach in check, but spent the afternoon on the couch recovering.  Since this first day, F3 has greatly impacted my life both  physically and mentally.

Quagmire  workout – 7/17

After the disclaimer, we moseyed to the front of Best Buy for some dynamic stretches:

Butt Kickers

Knees to Chest

Lunges

Soccer stretches

Next, we took a short jog to COP for warm-ups:

SSH, Space Invaders, Imperial Walker, Mountain Climbers, Plank with 6″ hold

Next, we partnered up for a game of catch me if you can.  Partner 1 ran around the parking lot while partner 2 jogged around the same  route.  Once Partner 1 caught up with Partner 2, they each did 5 burpees.  Rinse and repeat.

Once complete, we moseyed to the front of Marshalls for wall sits and calf raises.

We finished up the final 15 minutes with some cadence strength training.

First round:  Bearcrawl/Merkin  10/5

Second round:  Lunge/Squat  10/5

Third round:  Backward Bearcrawl/Carolina Dry Docks 10/5

Forth round:  Crabwalk/LBC: 10/10

Jailbreak to COT

Announcements:

Children’s Attention Home – Friday 7pm

F3 Dads – 10am at WEP

Read Newsletter

 

Prayers/ Praises:

Tater – Healing (eye)

Jekyll – Quality time with his 2.0s

Royale – Daughter’s B-day

Witch Hunt – Son starts baseball camp

 

 

 

 

 

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Millstone 10.5 Trail Race

Enough PAX posted to the annual Millstone Loop 10.5 I felt a BB was in order. YHC posted a link to the FREE registration a few months back to those PAX I knew would be interested and willing.  After discovering that Sir Topham Hat was not running in the race I emailed the Race Director to see if there were any spots open.  The director emailed back and stated registration was open for just the next 3 hours. Text sent to STH and @channel blast to Slack that if you wanted to register, now was your chance.  So on Saturday morning 9 PAX showed up to run 10.5 miles of uneven terrain (more on that later) on the Anne Springs Close Greenway.

0800 Nothing Fancy, On your marks, get set, GO!!!

A number of things can happen over the course of a trail race. Thrills, spills, classic rock, dodging horse droppings, getting lost, more spills, quality 2ndF, etc.  Towards the end, this is how the numbers shook out.

Place Last Time
9 Spud 1:28:49
18 Rad 1:38:22
23 STH 1:44:32
25 Gekko 1:47:46
26 Photobomb 1:47:49
28 Zima 1:51:18
57 NASA 2:13:38
65 DaVinci 2:24:18
N/A Gears 1:18:51

NMM
Trail Races are a lot of fun and a lot can happen. Here are some insights and comments.

  • Gears went rogue and ran 8ish miles. That or he got lost.
  • Photobomb dropped another type of bomb not knowing a few female runners were nearby. We asked if they’d like to pass and they stated they were fine, just don’t do that again.
  • Rad stubbed his pinky toe that morning and it fell off during the race
  • Several PAX learned the importance of fueling and hydration
  • A female runner offered her children to NASA for adoption (in jest…we think)
  • Spud and Zima tied for most crashes (2 each)
  • Spud continues to prove that he is not human
  • Gekko and Photobomb were bosom buddies. I tried to keep up but when Photobomb took the lead around the 9 mile mark, I waved them goodbye.
  • Tclaps to NASA who just keeps pushing himself in all 3 Fs
  • Tclaps to DaVinci who just started running and said sure, why not run 10.5 trails

All in all it was a great race, great community of runners and Legal Remedy on tap at the finish. The Rock Hill Striders know how to throw a party. I try to keep an eye on these somewhat CSAUPy events and will continue to try to keep the PAX updated.

Aye!

Zima

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Time to find my Sea Legs

Good showing for an early Tuesday morning run. Quick disclaimer was given and route was explained. Runners took off from the Bowl n Bounce parking lot to run the Montgomery Loop. Quick stop to pick up Brickhouse who was coming in hot and a couple minutes late.

Great run, about 4.25 for most, with Witch Hunt and Royale hitting the bridge for some extra credit and finishing a little over 5.

Prayers for:
Andretti’s brother as he battles the return of his cancer.
NASA’s M as she deals with some challenges at work
Royale’s 2.0’s as they deal with summer illnesses

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Only you can define Moderate and reflection from my 30’s

After a 2 1/2 year Slowburn Q ban, YHC was honored to lead 24 #HIMS on a “Create you own Adventure” workout in the 80 degree 150% humidity gloom. After a brief discussion on the moderate and an even shorter disclaimer, we left the CFA parking lot destined for glory.

The Thang

Mosey down to the Parking lot in front of empire pizza. Circle up for:
SSH x 10
Windmills x 10
IW x 10
Peter Parkers x 10

Mosey to the lot in front of Charandas and circle up again
Slow Squats x 10
Slow Merkins x 10
Slow Sumo Squats x 10
Slow WideArm Merkins x 10

Mosey to the Parking lot next to what used to have the bouncy stuff and grab a piece of chalk. Talk the chalk and write an exercise in a parking spot and then write x 40 after it. Partner up and go to a parking spot to start. Do the exercise in the parking spot then run a lap around the bushes (about .08 per lap) and then go to a different spot. You and your partner decide which spots to go to and whether you want to do 40 each or 40 total (20 each).

Spots (exercises included)
LBC’s
Merkins
Burpees
Flutter
Dips
Plank Roes
Scorpion Dry Docks
WideArm Merkins
Freddy Mercury
Box Cutters
and more ab exercise

with about 8 minutes left to go YHC called time

Mosey over to strip in front of the stores as I gave a short testimony about reflecting on my 30’s (don’t worry the longer version is in my moleskin at the bottom). As promised, since its my Birthday everyone got a cupcake (its what we called a suicide growing up, but with youth taking their lives at a younger age due to the pressures put on them, we decided at Basketball to call them cupcakes no instead of suicides).

After the cupcake we moseyed back to CFA for COT and BOM

Announcements – CAH workout next Friday still looking for a Q (contact NASA if interested), F3 Dads this Saturday

Prayers – Smithers in-law close to passing from Cancer, Dark Helmets friend also close to passing from Cancer, Marriages, Qbert’sDar 64 year old father who lost his job yesterday

Moleskin
1. Would like to thank Barry Manilow for allowing be back to Q at this wonderful AO and to all the PAX who came out (or posted elsewhere) that have wished me a happy birthday.

2. Moderate – what does it mean. Well it all means something different to all of us, what it doesn’t mean is easy. Think about moderate this way. If i’m someone who doesn’t drink alcohol very often, 1-2 drinks may be a moderate amount. If I drink a little more frequently 3-4 or a six pack might be moderate. Whereas an alcoholic may think moderate is 7-8 drinks. The point is this applies to your fitness level as well. What I think is moderate may be different than what someone else thinks is moderate. The key is to keep posting and keep getting better.

3. Life in my 30’s – Short Version -turned 30 in 2007, seperated from wife and started going to church again in 2011, divorced finalized in 2012, started going to F3 in October 2013, lost my father to cancer in June 2014, got remarried in August 2015, turn 40 today. Now you see, its more complicated than that. Long Version – In 2007 i thought I had it all was married had a couple of dogs, had a job teaching and coaching, everything was good (just not great). But something in me wanted more. I wanted a family. At this point in my life I was working a lot and my wife at the time worked a lot too. We weren’t going to church, had no relationship with God/Jesus, and really had no time for each other. Was even told my wife at the time that she didn’t want me and that we didn’t have time to be intimate. I turned to Porn. When that wasn’t enough I cheated on my wife. That lead down the path to separation and divorce. It also lead me back to going to church and listening to God’s word. My divorce went final in October 2012. In December 2012 I started dating Elizabeth. In September 2013 we broke up. While broken up I decided to give this F3 thing a try. Santini Q’ed and I already knew half the guys as I was teaching/or had taught many of their kids. On that first Saturday in October in 2013 I struggled through the workout and was given the name Longshanks (evil king in Braveheart). I would post sometimes, just not often. In March 2014 I asked Elizabeth to marry me before heading off to a Spartan Race in Charlotte. She said yes. 3 days later my dad called to tell me he had Pancreatic Cancer, 3 months later he was gone. Married my M in August 2015, and turned 40 today.

4. Back when I was in my early 30’s I thought I had a good amount of guy friends, which may be kind of hard when you teach elementary school PE and there’s only 3-5 guys in the entire school. When I went through my separation and divorce I realized that the almost all the guys I considered my friends were actually just husbands of my ex-wifes friends. I had almost nobody to turn to. Luckily a few guys pointed me back to the church. I got involved in volunteering and being part of a mens a group. Shortly after that I started coming to F3, although at first I didn’t make it a workout priority, I would go on Saturdays if I woke up on time (not always easy when coaching and getting home late Friday nights). If I didn’t wake up to go to F3, I would just go to the gym and do a fern workout. I realized something was still missing so I made it a point to start going to F3 more often. About the same time I started going more often I engaged and that was celebrated by the PAX and my dad learned he had cancer and eventually passed and the PAX where there for me during that too. The thing I’ve realized over the last almost 4 years of coming to F3 is that as long as you are willing to be part of the PAX by posting regularly, the PAX will be there for you when you need it. I know that from being a part of F3, my faith is stronger, my relationship with my M is better, and I feel like a better leader in my house and my community.

5. Keep Posting. Keep mentioning your prayers and praises. Keep getting better!! We are all in this together.

Shanks out (mic drop)

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