Author Archive Glass Joe

Stupid Pet Tricks

*Posted on behalf of The Late Show

Yawn, stretch, and let’s go for a Hairband Mile with the legend himself.
Circle up…
(15) SSH
(14) Imperial Walkers
Let’s go…
Cruise toward the Elem school and stop for some prisoner walking lunges.
Continue and stop again for (6) manmakers on your own and (6) low slow squat.
Onward to the playground for the stupid pet tricks segment.
Round 1&2
(10) donkey kicks on swings
(10) step ups each leg
(2) trips along the monkey bars
Oh yeah, you crawl to each station… Bear, spider, crab, Panther, doesn’t matter, you pick.
Recover and run a lap
Round 3&4
(10) donkey push-ups on swings
(10) slow squats
(2) trips along the monkey bars
Pick your crawl between stations.
Round 5&6
(10) Carolina dry donkeys on swings
(10) jumping lunges
(2) trips along the monkey bars
Pick your crawl
Time to move on.
Pause at school to go over the rules for pinball running and so YHC could attempt to clear my foggy spectacles.
Pin ball runs back to the front of the Mid school and time enough left for bananas and superman rolls.
The Late Show Moleskin
We sort of eased into the gloom this morning with a nice little jog to the elementary school but once we got going it was good times.
While Countertop spouted methane during his bear crawls between stations, Glass Joe decided it would be a good time to a) test the grip of his gloves in the mud and 2) prepare the front of his white tshirt for a little OxiClean versus Tide in the championship laundry match (he’s taking this whole bracket thing to the extreme). Nice work by Hairband as he powered through a nasty side stitch during the runs, and speaking of runs, we all sincerely hope you made it home in time. #warpfactor9mrsulu
Announcements
Continued prayers for Z, DT, and HB
Thanks Countertop for praying us out.

Overcoming Amtrak and Cantore

I left the house really early due to the threat of black ice. On the way, had a train blocking the road. I’m getting #Amtraked. I detour and still arrive 30 minutes early as there was no black ice meaning I got #Cantored. What is going on? Spent some of my #Cantore free time doing a little mileage recon around the track and then I get a text that HB is running late due to his daughter blocking his car in. Then DT texts that he is also getting #Amtraked and will be running about 15 minutes late. Well, we shall overcome so let’s go.

The Thang
3 solo Hairband miles and then HB arrives.
Mosey to the track where we normally plant the shovel flag for Outland
COP
SSH x 20
10 Burpees OYO
IW x 20

3 sets of
Merkins x 20
Carolina Drydock x 20
LBCs x 20
Run the track (roughly .15-.20 miles which is similar to the distance between obstacles in the mud run)

In the middle of the 3rd set, we see DT driving by so we mosey back to the parking lot to pick him up.
Mosey back to the shovel flag track.
2nd COP
SSH x 20

One more set of merkins/drydocks/lbcs/run to spread the joy to DT

Mosey to the hill.
Jacob’s Ladder with 5/10/15/20 burpees at the top and 5/10/15/20 squats at the bottom.

Hairband mile

People’s Chair with 50 air presses x 2

Hairband mile

Backwards run back up the hill with SSH x 30 at the top

Hairband mile

2MOM
Flutter x 25
Dolly x 20
DONE

MOLESKINE
The #Cantore/#Amtrak resistance was strong today but both were overcome. The whole idea of this workout was to do something and then run to get you used to what the effect of the mud run will be. And the idea of increasing burpees for Jacob’s ladder is that if there is something that we can’t do during the mud run, we never know what the number of burpees needed will be so might as well prepare for the worst. Good job to push through them.

Announcements:
Sign up for the mud run ending tomorrow
CT and HB on Q for Outland
Thanks to HB for taking us out.
Prayers for Z, DH and TLS

Free Campus Tour

Odd to see other cars in the parking lot at 6 AM. My first thought was ‘Who would be out here at 6 AM?’. After realizing the irony of this thought (and the realization of the idiot who thought it), let’s get going.

Pre-work
Kettle bells by CounterTop and Drop Thrill
Running tour of the campus by Glass Joe and The Late Show

The Thang
Mosey to the shovel flag and circle up.
COP
Gather around and let’s get warm
Side straddle hops
Imperial walkers
Windmills
Low slow squat
Here’s Donut Hole….
Let’s do more windmills… What y’all can’t read my mind on when to stop?
Peter Parker Mtn climbers
Let’s go warm up some more
Mosey to the outhouse
Peoples chair
Coconuts over banana wall walk x 3
Peoples chair with some air press
Line up side by side and Plank up facing somebody for a little plank-o-Rama. Down to 6 inches. Hold…. Up and shift to the left. Repeato for a few rounds.
Back on the wall.
Done and mosey to practice field.
Over to the dip bars.
Partner up by speed.
P1 runs 30-40 yds while P2 does hand release merkins.
Flapjack
Repeato
Next round Turkish get ups.
Next round supine rows.
Finish up The Late Show with a panther crawl across the field.
Handoff to Glass Joe.
Let’s mosey to the back road.
Keeping your same partner from before, I give you two paths you can run:
1) Run along the back road to the parking lot behind the elementary school
2) Run along the trail around the field to the parking lot behind the elementary school
Or you can run a full track of 1&2
A full track would be roughly 3/4ths of a mile.
While P1 runs, P2 begins perfect form merkins (thanks to our sensei of form The Late Show for showing us the perfection).
Flapjack until 200 perfect form merkins combined are completed.
Since this took longer than I expected (which is actually good as PFMs should be a slow burn to get through since you are nearly kissing the ground each time down), we begin the Native American run back to the flag.
And there are those elevated telephone poles so let’s all scale them (thanks to CT for showing form).
Mosey back to the flag.
Hand off Q to Donut Hole for MOM in honor of his upcoming deployment.
3MOM
LBCs x 20
Flutter x 15
Dolly x 15
DONE

Moleskine
Strong work by all the men today. TLS was giving you a full body workout to get you warmed up for some running. We ended up at 3 miles according to Map My Run. Great to have Tough Skins out and hope we see you again. It was a honor to lead the guys today with lots of chatter and an unfortunate reference to spin the bottle (thanks TLS).

Announcements
Mud Run signups continue. Think we have at least 4 now for sure signing up.
Pray for our Outland Brother Z.
And finish with a strong prayer by Drop Thrill with the PAX surrounding Donut Hole.

A 0.0…at Overdrive?

*Posted on behalf of The Late Show*

Circle up:
Quick warmup with some Imperial Walkers, Peter Parkers, Good Mornings, and Side Lunges. (in honor of Donut Hole)
The Thang:
Simple, brutal, fun.
100 supine rows
100 pushups
100 russian twist
100 squats
Complete all exercises then move to the next. None of us are doing 100 rows in a row (row row your boat) so when you pause to rest hop up and knock out walking lunges to the mailbox (it was about 14 lunges total).
Modify as needed, but keep strict form as much as possible. fatigue + habitual bad form = bad news
We stop with about 5 minutes left for some Mary: back scratchers, then 30 seconds of burpees, dollys that never ended, done!
Moleskine:
Solid work by the crew this morning. The 0.0 mileage (.2 for Glass Joe who couldn’t resist a warmup Hairband Mile) was a novelty, but the beatdown was regulation. Nice to have a visit from Schedule C and Stump Hugger, who jumped in and slugged it out. Nice job by GJ and DT. This was a “you versus you” work out. No cheating on form, just modify the bodyweight you are pushing by leveraging your feet and hands. I will say that when we stopped for Mary I had yet to do my twists or squats, so this workout is one I will mark down to tackle again in another few months. Thanks to GJ for taking us out.
Announcements:
Counter Top and Shepherd (leading his first Q) on tap for Outland Saturday at 7 am.
Mud Run is coming soon…. if you are in speak up.
Good luck to Glass Joe and Horsehead as they run a 15k tomorrow.
Enough typing… as Horsehead says, “Let’s go.”

No lifeguard on duty

Who knew you’d show up for a boot camp and end up needing a lifeguard. It was a sloppy mess but seeing no lifeguard on duty, let’s jump in anyways.

The Thang

Pre-Workout
We had two different pre-workouts going with Double E and Glass Joe meeting at 5:45 for a 5+ mile run. Horsehead, Boondock, and Drop Thrill met at 6:15 to get a few, or 240, swings in. Great work by all!

The Real Workout
Turnpike:
Nothing like hitting the ground hard and wet in a Turnpike Q. There must be something in the air every time I’m on Q because it’s always a wet and wild time!

HB mile to get the PAX warmed up to the shovel flag.

Circle up:
SSH x 20
Ok enough of that time to get dirty boys. Mosey to the rock pile to pick up some manly rocks for Glass Joe’s half!
Carry the rocks and place them by the entrance to the track then mosey to the end zone.

Round 1:
Start at the end zone sprint to the ten yard line and do 10 squats.
Sprint from the 10 yard line to the 30 and do 30 flutters.
Sprint from the 30 to the 50 and do 50 LBC’s
Then sprint to the end zone and plank until all PAX are complete.
Round 2:
Sprint to 10 yard line and do 10 burpees.
Sprint to 30 yard line and do 30 merkins.
Sprint to 50 yard line and do 50 carolina dry docks
Sprint to end zone plank until rest of PAX is there.
Round 3:
Sprint to the 10 and do 10 Merkins
Sprint to the 20 and do 20 squats.
Sprint to the 30 and do 30 flutters
Sprint to the 40 and do 40 LBC’s.
Sprint to the end zone and plank until rest of PAX is there.
100 yard dash.
Round 1 all over again!
Then catch me if you can partner 1 does 5 merkins while partner 2 runs the football field flapjack when caught. Times up time to hand off the Q to Glass Joe.
Glass Joe:
Take the manly rocks to the stadium.
Partner 1 stadium stairs rock carries x2. Partner 2 does dips. Flapjack. Plank until all groups are done.
Partner 1 stadium stairs rock carries x2. Partner 2 does burpees. Flapjack. Plank until all groups are done.
Partner 1 stadium stairs rock carries x2. Partner 2 does LBCs. Flapjack. Plank until all groups are done.

Take the rocks to the football field end zone.
Partner 1 runs to the 50, merkins x 10, runs back while partner 2 does curls with the rock. Flapjack. Plank.
Partner 1 runs to the 50, merkins x 10, runs back while partner 2 does triceps with the rock. Flapjack. Plank.
Partner 1 runs 100 yards and runs back while partner 2 does LBCs with the rock. Flapjack. Plank.

Return the rock to the pile and let’s start an Indian Run back to the flag.
My ADD kicks in and I see the elevated telephone poles. Let’s all scramble over them at which I almost pulled a Napoleon Dynamite-esque flat fall down.

Mosey to the flag.
MoM
6 inch leg holds
Dolly x 35
Flutters x 10
6 inch leg holds
Mountain Climbers x 15
6 inch leg holds
DONE!

COT
Thanks to The Late Show for taking us out

Moleskine
Great work by all in conditions that were less than optimal.
Great job by DT to finish all the elevated telephone poles. You got this mud run brother!!!
Great to see the continued pushing by Shepherd, The Late Show, Countertop.
And who was that guy out front? Oh yeah, Turnpike on his Q. Well done sir.
Horse, you pushed really hard but watch out, Boondock is starting to beast out there.
Hairband, I think I speak for all that it’s great to see you back out. It hurts the PAX when one of our own is down.

I appreciate all the chatter throughout. Makes you forget that you are soaking wet in 40 degree weather.

That’s a great idea

It’s 5:28 and crickets in the parking lot. Uh oh, is this my first solo? And then at 5:29, I get the text from The Late Show that he’s stuck at the light. And as he pulls in, here comes Donut Hole. Awesome!!!

THE THANG:

Hairband Mile

COP
SSH x 20
IW x 20

Mosey over to the tables under the shelter by the cafeteria.

2 rounds of pain stations:
Step Ups x 20
Merkins x 20
Dips x 20
Uphill rail slides

Then my great idea for the workout:
Rail Holds: Basically, all three of us get on the rail as if doing uphill rail slides but instead of moving, we hold. Then we all move together one arm length up the rail and hold. Move/Hold/Move/Hold/etc. It seemed like a great idea but the burn was real and painful.

2 more rounds of the same pain stations but this time, my arms really didn’t want to do merkins or rail slides anymore. Dear Lord I’m about to #QFAIL due to my great idea so let’s hold off on another rail hold for the moment and go do a recovery HairBand Mile instead. Yay running!

Finish HairBand Mile at the bottom of the hill and so we do 11s. 10 lbcs at the top/1 low, slow squat at the bottom, 9 lbcs at the top/2 low, slow squats at the bottom…finish with 1 lbc at the top, 10 low, slow squats at the bottom.

Let’s mosey back to the rails for more great ideas.

This time we start at the bottom, rail slide about half way and then hold. The Late Show discovered the first time that if you put your feet on the brick wall behind the rail, it stretched you a little further and burned a little worse. Great idea TLS!!! So, various rounds of feet on the wall and hold, feet on the rail and hold, feet on the wall and hold, etc. Now let’s rail slide to the end and again, the arms don’t really want to respond…it’s time to run.

A couple of HairBand miles but this time, I call out a point in the parking lot and we all sprint to that point. Then mosey, then sprint, etc.

End up back at the rails again. Let’s go with the original idea and do the move/hold/move/hold/etc. And mercifully, that’s the end of rails for the day.

MOM
Hold legs up 6 inches. Hold your hands above you for some extra burn (TLS special)
Dolly x 20
Back to 6 inches and hands above you.

DONE!

MOLESKINE
Rail holds seemed like such a great idea. As I write this, I am really sore which I guess means it was a great idea. Really appreciate the chatter and you guys pushing me and yourselves through it today.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Outland tomorrow and Donut Hole on his VQ along with Horsehead.

Thanks to TLS for taking us out.

Jack Webb and his cousin too

*Posted by Glass Joe on behalf of The Late Show

What you are about to read is true…

My name’s The Late Show, my partners Spielberg, Glass Joe, and I were working the early morning shift.

Here are the facts.

COP

A Hairband Mile to warmup a little.
Circle up for (15) each: SSH, Low Slow Squats, Imperial Walkers.
Then (6) t-pushups on your own
Let’s mosey.

Cruise past the fleet of cheese and the fumes of hot diesel hit our cold noses. Breathe deep boys!

Stop for a quick railslide then off to the elementary school.
Plank in the rear parking lot for some partner work.
P1 merkins, while P2 runs about 40 yards and back.
flapjack
Repeat with walking lunges.
Mosey to the playground. (More cheesy fumes!)

P1 hangs from the monkey bars while P2 runs a lap.
Flapjack
(50) step ups to allow the hands to thaw.
Mosey back to the rear parking lot. (stop along the way for some plank-ups – start in plank, down on your elbows, back up = 1 rep)

Circle up in the grass.
We were working the early morning shift…
Jack Webb up to 5 merkins.
Mosey back to the Middle School. (stop for some more railslide)

Head to the front of the school and looky there! No beard, but we meet Jack Webb’s partner.
Think plank-ups meet Jack Webb meet people’s chair on the coast of Carolina.
(1) Carolina Dry Dock
(4) Surrender Squats (start with hands behind head, knees on ground. bring right knee up, then left knee, ending up in a people’s chair position, then right knee down, left knee down = 1 repetition)
We did 3 rounds, then time for some Mary.

Under the covered area in front of the school, grab some rail.
(5) supine rows in between each Mary exercise.
The Mary: Protractor (hands up above your face for a little more burn!), Dolly’s, Back Scratchers, Rosalita, Flutters.

Done!

COT
Thanks Glass Joe for taking us out!

The Moleskin from The Late Show
With my chin feeling the breeze for the first time in about 10 years off we went in search of my whiskers. The focus was on staying moving this morning to beat the cold. Kudos to UCPS staff and the Bus Maintenance teams who had every piece of cheese at the Elementary and Middle School cranked up and warming up. Jack Webb’s partner was quickly welcomed by the PAX and looks to become a regular visitor. YHC completely spaced on the name-o-rama and didn’t realize it until Spielberg turned to me and said “I’m Spielberg, what’s your name?” The no-beard-face had him fooled!

Solid work in the chilly morning air this morning gents. As always, a pleasure to sweat it out at Overdrive!

A Perfect Circle

A Perfect Circle
In keeping with HB’s musical themed backblasts for Overdrive, I’ll call this ‘A Perfect Circle’. Not sure anyone noticed but we did the same basic exercises going and coming back just in reverse (railslides up the ramp and bear crawl down the ramp the first time and crab walk up the ramp and railslides down the ramp on the way back). Only variation is I had extra time so I threw in a Road Less Traveled with a jailbreak but even then, we ended up looping back to where we began so still a circle. As my 8 year old daughter reminds me constantly, nobody is perfect.

The Thang:

COP (after a mosey to the bus lot)
SSH x 20
IW x 20
LBCs x 20

Mosey to the tri-level rails going up the ramp to the school. Sorry about taking you through the wetness to get there. #QFAIL
Rail Slides Up all three levels of the ramp with lunge walks on the turns as only Barney is tall enough to do those.
Bear Crawl back down all three levels.

Mosey to the Elementary School.
The People’s Chair with 40 air presses x 2

Mosey to the playground.
4 Rounds of pain stations:
Step-Ups x 25
Mule kicks using the swing x 25
Dips x 25
Run around the track

Mosey back to the Elementary School.
The People’s Chair with 40 air presses and then 50 air presses.

Got extra time so off we go for the Road Less Traveled along the back road:
10 lunges
10 merkins OYO
10 lunges
10 seal sit-ups…at an increasing rate of speed
10 lunges
10 low, slow squats in cadence
10 lunges
Backwards Run for a while
10 lunges
Jail break run back to the point we started from

Mosey back to the tri-level ramp
Crab walk up all three levels
Rail slides back down to the bottom

Mosey back to parking lot

Mary:
Protractor
Dolly x 15
Protractor

Moleskin:

Great work by all. This was not your traditional Glass Joe-led workout. Pain stations are not my norm and CT seemed a little confused: ‘Who is this guy and what did you do with Glass Joe?’ Great to have Ice9 out pushing us to go harder while we all were humbled by The Late Show’s technical form.

Announcements:
Joe Davis Run
Outland tomorrow with CT/TLS on Q
FNG Friendly workouts next week

Thanks to CT for taking us out.

Honor to lead men who pushed me harder than I think I pushed them.

Bassackwards 5K

BASSACKWARDSPIC

A disclaimer said even though everyone is a F3 veteran. You can just tell this one will be interesting. But in keeping with safety first, I did tell everyone to make sure they put their hand behind their head if they started to fall. Better a hand than a brain hemorrhage. And with that, let’s get going……

The Thang

GJ on Q!
Let’s start with a Hairband Mile at which point the PAX are told that all running during this workout will be backwards unless told otherwise which would only be due to safety concerns. So, it’s a backwards Hairband Mile. Hey, where is Hairband BTW?

COP
SSH x 20 (Oh look, there’s Hairband)
In honor of Hairband’s late arrival, 10 burpees OYO
IW x 20

To the hill and partner up. Partner 1 does merkins. Partner 2 runs backwards uphill and Dolly x 20 at the top and then run backwards downhill. Now partners switch up. Keep at it until your group has combined for 200 merkins. Plank when finished.

Backwards run to the bus lot. 10 low, slow squats.
Backwards run with a little bit of karaoke mixed in.
Backwards run and then plank at the entrance to the back road to keep the PAX together.
Backwards run. 20 seal situps.
And now a long, grueling backwards run that is slightly uphill and no stops so we can enjoy the fullness of the climb. Let’s plank at the gate. Um wait, there’s a car coming so let’s backwards run a little bit more into the parking lot (wonder if that looks weird for him to see 8 guys running backwards for no good reason).
10 Burpees OYO.
Backwards run to the football field.
Hey, I have two minutes, protractor and now it’s Double E time.

Double E On Q!
Mosey to the SVHS football field for the 2nd Ever – 100 Yards of (Backwards) Kamikaze Suicides
Slightly modified – All running backwards and pain as follows:
Start at Endzone Goal Line A w/ 20 LBC’s
Backward Run to opposite Goal Line 100 Yards – 10 Burpees / 10 Low Deep Squat Jumps / 10 BombJacks
Backward Run to Goal Line A w/ 20 LBC’s
Backward Run to 90 Yard Line – 9 Burpees / 9 Low Deep Squat Jumps / 9 BombJacks
Backward Run to Goal Line A w/ 20 LBC’s
80 YD Line (8/8/8), backwards to GL 20LBC
70 YD line (7/7/7), backwards to GL 20LBC
60 YD line (6/6/6), backwards to GL 20LBC
50 YD line (5/5/5), backwards to GL 20LBC
40 YD Line (4/4/4), backwards to GL 20LBC
30 YD line (3/3/3), backwards to GL 20LBC
20 YD line (2/2/2), backwards to GL 20LBC
10 YD line (1/1/1), backwards to GL 20LBC
Flutter while all PAX finish
Backwards mosey to Track for ¼ Mile Backwards Sprint /Run around track!
Mosey to Bottom of hill for What??? How about a little Backwards Jail Break to PSV
The Bassackwards 5K is now complete!!

COT:
Joe Davis Run
Unbroken viewing Signup
Prayers for DT and Electric Slide
Workout convergences???
Thanks to Shepherd for taking us out.

Moleskin:
GJ:
Great work by everyone for what was a real crowd pleaser. Thanks to Double E for the 5 miler to kick things off at 6 AM. Though it was a forwards run so did it really count? We did not know coming into this that we’d do 3 miles….backwards. That is like realizing you have a gift remaining under the tree when you thought you were done. And now when someone asks if you’ve ever run a 5K backwards, you can answer ‘Yes I have actually’. #bucketlist
EE:
A Bassackward workout seemed like a great idea when GJ and I were discussing it during a long O2 deprived run. But it seems all the PAX thoroughly enjoyed the F3 workout experience in Reverse! The Kamikaze Suicides never get easy and there was not much mumblechatter during the workout, except when CT started singing some Pirate song #THINKHEWASLOSINGIT. Great Job by all the PAX for sticking it out and finishing the beatdown in a new direction!

Always an Honor Growing with such an Amazing group of Men!! And appreciate all of the guys going over to help Turnpike with his move into his new house. Minimal bungee cords and maximum loads are a #F3Outland tradition at this point.

EE & GJ

Random Cadence or not so Random

Funny_Farm

*Posted by Glass Joe on behalf of The Late Show

‘Helluva dog… He sure likes to run.’

Good morning!
Two Hairband miles to get the blood moving. Circle up.

COP

(14) Imperial walkers (which I forgot to have us do!)
(12) SSH
(11) Low Slow Squats

And off we go….

Stop at the elementary school for some people’s chair and banana over coconuts.

At the playground…
EE planning to knuckle down on form so let’s get some practice in around the track.
(5) good form merkins – eyes forward, chest to deck, slow and steady.
Run to next corner.
(10) good form squats – proud papa chest (congrats to Donut Hole and the M by the way… baby DH coming in March?), knees tracking with toes, butt back, lower back not hunched over.
(5) good form supine rows – good plank position- don’t arch that back, squeeze the shoulders, use your foot placement to modify weight as needed.
Run to next corner.
Good form lunges till we stop – eyes forward, feet and knees tracking in line, knees tracking with toes, knee barely kissing the ground.

Then off we go back to Middle School.
Stop at the gate for some plank work (shoulder taps and wallet grabs)
Mosey towards the bus area.
Stop for (5) burpees on your own and then (10) carolina dry docks just cause we were there.
Mosey along the gravel drive behind the MS.
Glass Joe spots the rails, so off we go hoping to do some rail slides.
Frost warning, so we swap the rail work for some bear crawl action up the ramp!
Stop at the top, look around, and lunge back down the ramp.

In the enclosed courtyard, back on the wall for some boc, then catch our breath with some one leg straight leg air deadlifts, (5) each leg.
Mosey to the bus courtyard for some Hairband work:
(10) Plerkins (elbow plank, hands tracking below shoulders, press yourself up to burn those triceps!)
(6) rounds of Jack Webb… we stop b/c of *cough* time constraints, yeah, that’s it…

Back to the covered railing at cafeteria for some Mary mixed in with supine rows.
(25) LBC’s, row work, some protractor work, row.

Finish up with
(14) back scratchers
(12) dolly’s
(11) flutters

Moleskin

Last Friday during Overdrive (and for the last few months) pain increased in my heels during and after running intense w/o’s. So much so last Friday that I wore the walking boot on one foot and would have worn them on both if I could have. Short story: I shaved my legs and got an appointment with the therapist at Monroe Aquatic & Fitness Center. Got worked on and kinesio-taped up and ran pain free for the first time since I remember. So this morning as I ran the HB mile I realized that it still didn’t hurt. I tossed out my original plan and we took off all over campus. Just for the joy of running.

As evidenced by the above training session I am not a fitness professional… However as a “professional” man of faith I offer this in explanation of the seemingly random 14.12.11 rep scheme at the beginning and end:

On 2014.12.11 Mama DropThrill passed away.

And so many F3 brothers will gather together to pay last respects to a greatly loved woman this coming Monday – Mama Drop Thrill. I dare say none of us knew her personally, but we will share the comfort of the Lord with her family and friends.
Because a time of parting is hard even when you know it’s coming.
And so we share God’s comfort because He offers it for any and all who turn their hearts toward Him. It’s hard to say a final goodbye to one who is loved, but that’s not all we will gather for… We will gather in a Christian service of worship. In our Presbyterian tradition this service is called not a funeral service, not even a memorial service, it’s called a witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And brothers that is the focus of what we will do. It will be a celebration of a mutual hope of all believers in Jesus, that for us too there is life beyond the grave.
And so with love for her friends and family, with memories of Mama Drop Thrill, with sorrow over a final farewell, and with a celebration of Christ’s victory we can boldly pray:

As the ever present and ever loving Father, give us your comfort.
As one who came to live with us just as we are, share our burdens.
As the living word, speak to us of eternal things.
We ask in the strong name of Jesus Christ. Amen.