Buy a SPEED FOR NEED Shirt… or TWO… PLEASE

Buy a SPEED FOR NEED Shirt… or TWO… PLEASE

Summary, Thang, Moleskine, and Everything Your Heart Desires from a Backblast…

22 men showed up to play with some man-strollers…. boy-toyz… this isn’t working.  Let’s just call them what they are… SPEED FOR NEED racing chariots.  Fresh off his sub-20 minute 5k, Benny got there early intent on falling on his face at least once more to make himself prettier… um faster.  Disclaimer and Operating Instructions… left a couple of minutes late because YHC likes to hear the sound of his own voice.  It’s sexxxy like that. And old ladies at home and less old ladies at Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctors offices waiting rooms around Charlotte were serenaded by it for all of 2 minutes yesterday on FOX Good Morning Charlotte (http://www.fox46charlotte.com/good-day/seen-on-tv/290443874-video ) #MongolTV.  Mosey down Woodfox Drive to where Fireman Ed lives on Burning Tree Drive.  We did 5 laps of the cul-de-sac loop alternating pushing the chariots filled with 50-80lbs of weight.  There was a strange banging noise coming from the general direction of Ed’s bedroom… and some panting. But alas, it was just Cheese Curd huffing and stomping his rucking legs around the circle, he was working hard. Nothing to see here.  Next over to the steep hill on Rising Meadows Road for 5 trips up and down with the racing chairs, alternating between PAX. Backwards run halfway to top if not pushing.  Hillz Part Deaux: 3 or 4 trips up to the top, this time pushing a PAX AYG to the top (switch halfway if needed).  Turkey Leg helped simulate a small child Track Commander riding in the chariot Marathon Day.  He kept playing that role when we were done with the workout… the small child. The guy can flat out act, and stay in character!   Back towards launch for some speed work (aka time filler).  Sprint down Strawberry lane from one speed bump to the next, with instruction from YHC to try and beat the chariots.  Purell and Lorax… you completely failed the test.  You won the “Least Willing to Care About Anyone But Yourself Award” for finishing ahead of the racing chair, while the rest of us didn’t take the bait, and finished behind.  Redefining #HIM the wrong way… High INDIVIDUAL Men.  Finish off with 35 Merkin Ladder (regular/wide/diamond/R-hand Fwd/L-hand Fwd/R-leg up/L-Leg up) really only because Mr Brady was there and YHC wanted his male hormone dispenser to re-simulate the BRR a year ago… or was it this year… both? By doing a strength exercise. Eh whatever.  Finito! Thanks Haze for the takeout. YHC will tag the South Charlotte Twitter handle a few less times for it… but you won’t be able to tell.

More musings: Breaking news… Alf is not helpful. In fact he’s something that rhymes with BRICK…. Yup, he did have a little cough this morning.. SICK!  His efforts to coordinate the marathon relay were negated 10x by releasing the inventory amount of SPEED FOR NEED shirts sitting in YHC office… 526.  Did YHC mention it’s the second highest selling shirt in all of F3 Nation? YUP* it is.  YHC didn’t recognize One Eye this morning… mixed him up in the group of 35-45yr old white guys that showed this morning, except Margo who hasn’t stopped growing his Movember since last year. Men’s health all day every day! Poptart…. excuse me, Rachel is… the model of men’s health. They both are models really, BEFORE and AFTER.  Thanks Madison for coming and preaching more SPEED FOR NEED… YHC will unblock you one day, since it’s so irritating my feed is littered with your Tweets. Ok, would love to stay and provide more candor in this backblast, but time to get home to trick-or-treat…. My son is Indiana Jones, and YHC knows because of the whip mark on my back from the “toy”.

Tolkien’s Thoughts (the somewhat serious part)

Thanks for having me out this morning, and thanks everyone for your support, big or small for SPEED FOR NEED.  Sometimes I can get emotional in presence of my brothers because you guys are my family, my outlet, and I appreciate being able to have that in my life, and hope you all feel like at some point you can confide in another brother and feel like F3 is true community as well.

Here is a segment of the backblast I wrote for Lake Norman’s Amazing Grace 5K Race, the only race I have pushed in so far, but thought it would be good to share with the group.

“When I think about it, our being at the Amazing Grace Race was no accident. It was God giving us a gentle reminder, in the midst of so much short term success and exuberance, of why SPEED FOR NEED exists.  It was about Him refocusing us on what SPEED FOR NEED is really about: to be there and help the community, with the gifts He has given us… our time, our money, our fitness, our kindness, and for SPEED FOR NEED, our racing chariots.  A reminder that each of us can make a small difference wherever we are at, whether it’s a 15,000 person race or just a few hundred.  A reminder that when we feel burdened by soccer games taking up every Saturday, that there is a mother and father out there that will never see their child kick a ball, since they’re immobilized in a wheelchair.  SPEED FOR NEED isn’t about having 50+ F3 Nation runners signed up to get the largest team award.  It’s not about how fast we can push our Track Commanders to the finish line.  And it’s not about how many people watch our Youtube videos or like our Facebook page.  It’s about continuing to help the community one person at a time.”

Announcements & Events

• 11/11/2017 Charlotte Marathon Relay – looking forward to running with you men. Good luck on those hills. Message me if you want a SFN shirt $20 and/or if you want to run alongside the racing chairs in the event.
• 1/6/2018 Joe Davis 10K / 5K: Today is the last day to sign up for the Joe Davis 10K and 5K and save $5 on pricing. In addition, Rock Thrill will donate $10 of his own money for everyone who signs up today, as well as do 10 burpees for each man that signs up, in honor of his fallen brother Joe, whom this race is in memory of.  For those of you newer to F3, consider this race a HC every year. It easily draws the most F3 men and FiA women from all regions in the Charlotte area.
  • SignUp Link: https://joedavisrun.racesonline.com/

• Few other things… can’t remember. I’d refer you to the newsletter . Speaking of the newsletter, there are 1,252 recipients but only 369 opens (~30%)and 4.3 click rate. Cmon fellas get involved. Read what’s happening in our region, get involved and make F3 more than a workout. You’ll not regret it.

SYITG ~JRR Tolkien