Author Archive JRR Tolkien

PB: 5/28 F3 Memorial Day Convergence + Patriot 5K w/ SPEED FOR NEED

Final Details (Updated 5/25/18)

Here’s the skinny for Memorial day… will keep it short, so you actually read it…. Original preblast on bottom of message.  Looking forward to it men!  We have almost 80 PAX signed up and likely many more will be in attendance post convergence on Monday.  This should be an awesome event and our 8 veterans, all of whom have served our country well in WW2 or Korean War, are pumped to participate and spend the morning with you all!

0630 - 0715   Convergence @ Symphony Park Shell - Checkpoint Q
0730 - ?      Patriot 5K (.5mi from convergence) - F32018 Disc Code
0815          "Extra(1)Mile" Run - FREE (run w/ shovel flags)

- Veterans arrive at race venue at ~0630 (we will be there at 0545). If you are not doing convergence, come welcome them and thank them for their service.
- If you don't want to run the 5K, the Extra Mile 1mile run is FREE and its a moderate pace run for 1 mile.
- If you have been assigned to Drive one of the racing chairs, you should have already gotten a separate email from Tolkien... mandatory training at 0600. Read it.  Didn't? email: kevin@speedforneed.org
- Bring shovel flags... we will run with them for the Extra Mile for sure, and PAX choice to run with it during the 5K.
- You can sign up on race day for the race, but it will be the most expensive 5K ever. No discount code will apply.  Your choice. #FREE2spendmore$

Other stuff...
- Send best pictures/video post race to kevin@speedforneed.org
- If you would like to be a Driver in a future race, lots of opportunities to help Q, Drive, or volunteer. Especially for our biggest race of the year, the American 4 Miler on 4th of July, the SFN 1YR Anniversary Race. #BETHERE
- Limited SFN swag sold at the race ($6 SFN Ruck Patches, $25 F3/SFN New Balance shirts or NEW SFN Shirts (UnderArmor).  Buy it at the tent and bring cash or be prepared to PayPal.
Track Commander          Service Branch         F3 Region            Chair             
Gene Blackmon (XL)              Navy                 Rock Hill 1              BLUE                     
Spencer Anderson (XL)          Army                 Rock Hill 2            SILVER                  
Don Hunt (XL)                         Navy                Gastonia                  RED                       
Frank Polito (L)                       Army                Metro 1                    PINK                      
Ed McPoland (L)                     Marines            Metro 2 (CORE)    ORANGE              
John Harris (L)                          Navy                 FORT                   BLACK                  
Dwight “Buzz” Benson (XL)    Air Force           METRO 3          GREEN                  
Fred Peterson (L)                   Coast Guard     Nation                   YELLOW             
Email kevin@speedforneed.org with questions…. looking forward to amazing day all!
Thanks, Tolkien
P.S. Want the feels before the race? Watch the Veterans in the Charlotte Marathon in our video below…..

Original Preblast Below:

F3 Metro, F3 Area 51, and surrounding F3 Nation Regions !!! Coordinate your clowncars, bring your shovel flags, and lace up your shoes to remember our military veterans who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Save the (modified) murph for another day!  This year F3 Nation has the special honor of escorting 8 WW2, Korean War, and other military veterans in the Patriot Family Festival 5K through SPEED FOR NEED, and they could not be more excited!  Don’t believe me? Well watch some of them in the Charlotte Marathon Relay and see what fun they had being honored.  Veterans Complete CLT26.2 Event Video

Here’s the deal… 0630-0715 Convergence followed by 0730 Patriot 5K followed by an additional “Extra Mile” for our military heroes.  Choose your own adventure for the race: Bring your family and run with them, run with one of the 8 racing chairs (many pace groups: fast, faster, fastest), or run your own race.  But whatever you do make sure to cheer these guys on, and all the other service veterans present, and thank them for their service, as they remember their fallen brothers and sisters with us.  The goal is to have all surrounding Charlotte regions represented, and just a great morning of Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith.  Here is the Event Video from last year… which was a great event: 2017 Convergenge and Patriot 5K

 

RACE EVENT: F3 Nation Convergence & Patriot Festival Go the Extra Mile 5K

WHO:       F3 Metro, F3 Area51 & surrounding F3 Nation Regions (driving distance from Southpark)

WHAT:     F3 Nation Convergence, followed by Patriot Festival 5K, followed by Extra Mile for heroes

WHEN:   Monday, May 28th 2018 / 0630-0715 Convergence / 0730 Patriot 5K

WHERE: next to South Park Mall / 2101 Rexford Road, Charlotte NC 28211 (parking lot at The Esplanade Building)

WHY:      Memorial Day is a day where we remember our armed service veterans who died for our freedom.  And celebrate those who have served our great country.

REGISTRATION WEBSITE: CLICK THIS TO REGISTER

TEAM:     F3 / SPEED FOR NEED (Disc Code: F32018) . Price is $30 before code and goes up on 4/30

 

 

Questions? Message me @ JRRTOLKIENF3

See You all out there Memorial Day!

JRR Tolkien

Hanging Around in Waverly

CLIFFS NOTES

16 bros chose Waverly for the three headed panda workout called Cerberus.  We focused on grip strength and abs, using some less commonly used F3 exercises, and threw in some sprints just to make McGee feel good about himself. Congrats on smoking the 40+ year olds young fella.  3 miles were covered.

THE GOODZ

We did stuff…. whoever attended knows, and the rest… well, show to know! Here’s some of what we did:

  • Merkin up/down cadence ladder on the artificial grass pet pee-pad in front of Co
    • #35:  5reg / 5wide / 5diamond / 5R-hand fwd / 5L-hand fwd / 5R-leg up / 5L-leg Up
  • 3 sets of Bulgarian split squats, 10 each side
  • In deck, 5 rounds: dead-hangs exercises on overhead cement ledge, then race around the deck level.
  • In deck, 5 rounds: 10 dragon flag ab lifts… for proper form watch this: https://youtu.be/_mf_TLDVwIs
  • Top of deck, 2 rounds of alternating hip slappers on the top wall.
  • In deck, challenge longest dead-hang on overhead cement ledge
  • Series of AYG sprints outside, until we got back to launch
  • Finito!

THE ‘SKIN-NY

After attending the launch, YHC was excited about the new Waverly AO and was excited to Q Cerberus for the first time.  The opportunity arose when Argonaut asked for Q’s a few weeks back.  Too bad Menchi’s isn’t open that early for some salted caramel soft-serve and infinite mixins!

Couple of musings, before work duty calls…

  • Doc McStuffins held his own <weight> on the parking garage ledge hangs. But not enough to take down Cottonmouth in the main event.  YHC got him once or twice… but who’s counting. He’s still the BROlympics Dead-Hang Champ until 2019, even with his cheating ginormous mits.
  • Yes, Nutter Butter (somewhat of a Frasier lookalike) was there for those of you looking at me funny when YHC asked him to 10-count.  It’s ok… YHC is used to funny looks, and looking funny.
  • No, it’s not Lazy Boy’s birthday yet, he’s still 49.  But thanks for making us do 50 reps of some exercises because of the supposed 50th birthday Cottonmouth.
  • Good to see BillyGoat back from a back injury. Not only did he pre-run but he lifted all 54lbs of Turkey Leg to reach the pull-up ledge.
  • Turkey Leg showed no ill-effects after crushing the Boston Marathon on Monday.  Sneaky guy found a way to ask me what my Kiawah Marathon time was(my PR), and wink at me that his 3:17 on a hillier course in the rain > my 3:16. Well played little guy.
  • Mentioning UFC rules on Slack, Mighty Mite showed up ready for a battle with YHC, but backed down when YHC mentioned he would get beat like a drum with my Shaolin Monk skillz.  You too can develop those skillz by watching the instructional video:  https://youtu.be/dTxMvMdRR-I
  • Always great to meet different F3 men, or men YHC hasn’t posted with in some time.  Nice meeting / seeing you Astro, One Star, Schmedium, CottonMouth, Zeke Face, Good Hands, Lazy Boy, Nutter Butter and thanks for coming today.

LISTEN UP!

– Represent F3 Nation in your community by simply registering for 1 SPEED FOR NEED race this year. Pick whatever race you want of the near 50 events we’ll be supporting, run the race however you desire (alongside racing chairs, pushing a chair, solo for a PR, or with your kids). Be an example of male leadership in the community.  Check out our website at www.speedforneed.org to see the event schedule.  If you’re unfamiliar with SFN, check out a video, or two, or three… LOOK, here’s the link to one: https://youtu.be/5yZ0OCE0ncA

Have a Great weekend men.
SYITG ~ JRR Tolkien

# PeoplesChoice NO AMRAP Vote (18-14)

Tolkien’s Two Cents

So it’s Holy week, and for some of you at this point of your life, this week may be significant to you or mean nothing at all, which is totally fine, I’m not judging.  But for me, it’s defining because I believe God sent His one and only son Jesus to die on the cross to redeem us, so that we may have eternal life in Heaven.  That’s just one sentence, but that’s a big sentence.

But I won’t go deep here in theology… simply imagine one man, any man, doing something selfless for a number of people.  Now imagine that man to be YOU.  Then MAKE that man be YOU.  Ask yourself if your greatest amount of joy in your life has come from you doing something for yourself, or for someone else.  I hope the answer is someone else, and that it would therefore be common sense for you to keep on living Third.  That’s the definition of a High Impact Man #HIM. Strive to be one…Everyday.

“If you cannot feed 100 people, feed just one” – Mother Theresa

“If you cannot feed 100 people, feed just one… BUT make sure that mouth isn’t yours” – Tolkien modification

Have a great Holy Week and Spring Break All.

Summary

YHC was at The Brave, which could only mean one thing…. AMRAP that YHC was the Q.  Bunch of the usual whiners on Slack about whether today was going to be an AMRAP or not, and that’s getting old… so none of that to be discussed here. 32 PAX voted in total, 13 showed up for the actual workout…. #StuffedBallots.

Thang

Pax weren’t fooled from the start… everyone knew where we were going, AMRAP or no AMRAP… and headed straight for Room 101, the new 8 story parking deck.  It’s the best thing in Ballantyne… well, other than lunch at Blue Taj, which will also give you the sh!tz… (getting offtrack).

We lunged, backwards-ran, karaoked, side-shuffled, and ran up the deck and stairs 5times and got 5+ miles in today.  Threw in some merkin variations, attempted pullups #shortarms on the ledge, and some 6-inch LBC’s #General’sFavorite .  We worked hard together, got the 6, and got back to launch by 0615.  Good times.

Moleskine

YHC enjoyed working out with the group of men this morning, as its been probably close to 2 months since YHC has posted this way due to some health issues being worked through (thanks for your thoughts and prayers).  Erector with his virgin post at The Brave and crushed it.  Madison hasn’t stopped slowing down since P200, but now that he’s found a job we’ll see if his significant progress slows down. Cobbler posting at The Brave for his 5th straight post, and making no excuses but just grinding it out. 4/6 P200 Teammates, fresh off their 4th place Ultra Finish put in some training work for 2019 (Mario, Kid Rock, Madison, Tolkien)… man that was a great experience! Frasier again was super supportive of everyone and seemed to enjoy running with lots of pax.  Hollywood loves the parking deck, and showed up for the last AMRAP YHC Q’d… dude is just a beast.  Fire Hazard runs as fast backwards, as he does forwards… wait… does that make him even fast? Mr. Bean was still flapping his gums all morning, even with his braces (which is against British law), but part of the flapping was from the wind in his face from crushing the workout.  Fallout and No Regerts secretly were watching the 6… YHC. Enron… did YHC beat you to posting the Brave backblast?!? You get one day of grace period for showing this morning.

A true pleasure to lead and working out with you men this morning.  YHC has missed the 1st F. Keep up the good work and keep #accelerating.

 

Announcements

  • Check out the upcoming race schedule on www.speedforneed.org and show up to 1 race this year… that’s it. A few upcoming, specifically Sarcoma Stomp on 4/28 and Patriot Family Festival on Memorial Day.
  • F3 Dads Camping Trip 4/13-3/15 – Thanks Frasier for leading this. Check Slack channel for more details.
  • F3 Dads Summer Camp sign u… nevermind… it sold out in less than a day #yousnoozeyoulose
  • Sign up to Q The Brave and lead other men at the toughest SOB workout.
  • Lots of other things but can’t remember… heading DR for Spring Break so need to pack!

SYITG ~JRR Tolkien

Can You Zip Me Up Please?

Summary:

The 6 men who posted DMZ this morning ought to have no grip strength left when squeezing their computer mouse reading this backblast… at least 1 of them had issues pulling the zipper up on their pants when he got home…. #TMI Anyway, it was OCR Training day at DMZ, and so coupons were a plenty, despite the wet weather.

The Thang:

Partner up / rotate through 8 stations / 3.5min per station / 1min run to end of parking lot and back in-between stations… 35 straight minutes of grip sucking work.

Stations:

  1. 75# front-facing bucket carry (Lowe’s not Home Depot which crack!)
  2. Backwards run with resistance cables (flapjack)
  3. 2x45lb plate farmers carry walk
  4. Spear throw (3 burpees for miss)
  5. Tyrolese traverse between two trees
  6. Reverse burpees w/ 25lb kb
  7. Supine pull-ups with thick rope
  8. Partner Resistance Tug-O-War (horizontal rope pulls)

Moleskine:

It was good to be out there this morning with the fellas despite the wet weather, and YHC appreciates the support in showing! Aquafresh didn’t mind the heavy stuff, as he is still on an emotional high from bench pressing 135lbs 1,378 times at BROlympics a few weeks back.  One Eye showed no ill-effects of some sciatica issues and crushed the bucket carry, and led on the runs… work needed on the spear throw 🙂 Coldcuts looked Tom Cruise AKA Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible going across the Tyrolean Traverse.  Uncle Phil and Pothole were getting after it as well, with no time for mumblechatter… or they were just taking in my sweet TABATA song playlist (did you catch the Moana Soundtrack and Wreck-It-Ralph songs… or Whatever It Takes, Imagine Dragons are the best). Me? YHC was just glad to be out with my brothers, which has been less frequent than desired, but hoping that will change soon enough.  Have a great week all.

Announcements:

Reach out to ColdCuts or GOP about helping out at Huntington Farms Elementary for community service this Saturday.  They can use the help at one of CMS most underprivileged schools.

SYITG

JRR Tolkien

Keep HOPE…Have COURAGE…SFN Supports Joe Davis Race

Not even a week into 2018 and SPEED FOR NEED is already off and running to a tremendous start. There is no better morning than starting with 200+ of your closest F3 Nation brothers on behalf of so many AWESOME causes.

Joe Davis was a devoted son, brother, and friend. Joe passed away too early at age 28 from a disease that he battled from his youth—addiction. Recovery from addiction is a process and, unfortunately, it is a disease that cannot be cured. Please go to the Joe Davis Run for Recovery website for more information.

Joe’s personal motto was, “Hope…never lose this.” The morning of January 6th was all about hope. On a morning where the temperature was a frigid 12°, over 200 F3 brothers came together to raise awareness for several causes including: KeystoneOperation Sweet Tooth, and the Run for Holland.

SPEED FOR NEED lined up the entire fleet of 6 racing chairs, including the newly dedicated pink, “Sweetness,” and yellow, “The Smoker,” chairs. Four of the racing chairs ran in memory of past track commander, Ava, our fallen brother, F3 Cheech, and all of those loved ones no longer with us that have left too early.

Holland (down syndrome), a 4 year old bundle of excitement, rode the full 10K in Sweetness’ debut whilst being pushed by her dad, F3 White Lightning, and a contingent of F3 Lake Norman pax. Noah (cerebral palsy), 2.0 of F3 Decibel, rode the full 5K in the green SPEED FOR NEED racing chair.

There were so many incredible moments at the Joe Davis Run for Recovery, and check out the first amazing video of 2018 (above).

Special thanks to Lexington PAX, F3 Thumbs Up for making the drive from Lexington to be at the race, and man the SFN Tent EHing many many men! Also special thanks to F3 Roy, Red October, and Borland from up North in Raleigh & Churham who came to help set up the racing chairs, and learn about SFN so they are prepared to bring SFN to their home regions for inaugural races in 2018!

Here are a few post-race comments from F3 Rock Thrill, Thumbs Up, and Decibel:

“What a special day this year at the 6th Annual Joe Davis Run for Recovery! One of my favorite aspects of the race this year was the unveiling of the 2 new Speed for Need chairs in memory of Cheech and Sweet Tooth, Olive’s daughter. The time of race that our race is held each year and the accompanying cold temps means it is far from an ideal SFN race, so I really appreciated the involvement this year, the travel in from other regions and was really moved at the thought of the “ghost chair” in Joe’s memory. It was honor to lock shields and have two wonderful causes represented! Thanks to the more than 230 PAX that gave support!” – Chris Davis, F3 – Rock Thrill, brother of Joe Davis and race organizer

“The loss of a brother in June of 207 hit is hard in F3 Lexington.  We struggled how to make a lasting memorial for our fallen brother Cheech.  The opportunity to memorialize John by partnering with  Speed For Need was the perfect fit.  THE SMOKER is not John’s chair, it belongs to something bigger than all of us.  Every time it rolls, every time it gives joy to it’s Track Commander, we have lived out Cheech’s mantra, #LeaveNoDoubt.” – Troy Fite, F3-Thumbs Up, Lexington Region PAX and SFN Regional Q

“Fire Chief Noah was pumped to be part of his first race and be part of a team.  The cold temperatures did not deter him at all.  He bundled up and along with Mainframe, NASA, Change Order, Longshanks, Decibel and many others along the way he took to the course.  Noah’s favorite part of the race was being part about of the team.  Having CP makes it difficult for him to join teams.  Partly because his difficulty with muscle control and partly because of the time his therapy takes.  Knowing he was part of the team had him excited beyond words.   Thank you for helping our son complete his first race and for giving him a team!” – F2 Decibel, Father of 2.0 Track Commander Fire Chief Noah

 

SPEED FOR NEED

 

Be sure to check out the 2018 race schedule on Website: www.SpeedForNeed.org and follow us on our social media platforms!

Twitter: @F3SpeedForNeed

Instagram: F3SpeedForNeed

Web: www.facebook.com/F3SpeedForNeed

WonPahtnuGoUhstehrsUddahPahtneRonUdrWei… OK?

Summary

It was cold…10 degrees.  If YHC had whipped out my weinke, it would have frozen.  Speaking of frozen, when YHC got home, found out my pipes had frozen throughout the house #noshowerbeforework .  Oh well, things could be worse… like the cold freezing the eardrums of the 12 bold PAX that posted such that instructions could not be followed… or heard… or understood this morning. That’s ok, as the Q YHC takes ultimate responsibility for such belligerence, so will try to un-sharpen my harsh Mongol intonation and speak more clearly next time. Enough jabbering, here’s what we did…

Thang

  • Quick mosey around the football field, stop in deck for some SSH, I/W and Mountain climbers … really just waiting for Scabby to hurry up after the running in with his 27 layers of high-visability clothing #safety!  Margo was miffed on my Mongol intonation on the #10 of the I/W, which started the morning fiasco.
  • P#1 runs up parking deck staircase carrying 20-35lb instrument (dumbell, sandbell, or kettlebell) five three times. P#2 runs to the other end of the deck, up staircase, and across top of deck to meet P#1.  Each partner then does 5 weighted reverse burpees, and 5 unweighted. Flapjack. 4 rounds total (2x up stairs each)
  • Catch-me-if-you-can:
    • Rd#1: P#1 runs backwards with weight up deck, P#2 does 2 burpees and catches P#1. Flapjack.
    • Rd#2: Carry weighted object running forwards up to teh top of desk, flapjack every turn.
    • Rd#3: Side shuffle up inclines of deck, forwards on flats to the top
    • Rd#4: Both partners up staircase 2X alternating carrying weights each time
  • Wrap-up final few minutes both partners doing full WW2 sit-ups alternating with the weighted object for 3 min.  When complete, do 10 Dragon-Flag sit-ups per Margo‘s Twitter request. Finito!

Moleskine

YHC was worried about today… sick for a few days, and honestly just not in the greatest shape but working on it.  Glad to see one of my very best F3 friends, Mr. Brady, show up today.  Brady would die for me, and proved it today by posting at a bootcamp.. and carrying weights!  Chelms just nearly died from a self-described heart rate spike according to Twitter.  Lorax doesn’t have a heart, since he wore shorts and a shirt to workout in while moving at warp speed #coldblooded.  Mermaid and ? did 1,264 supine rope pullups, and forced YHC to modify the workout after instructions were unfollowed by doing them the ENTIRE time we went up the deck.  Champagne forced us all to do extra slow squats while he exercised his lips… we nearly froze in place.  Rachel needs to wear shorts over his tights , especially if wearing a bright yellow jacket to highlight the feature.  No fun running behind him, and we all are.  Brilleaux was YHC partner and was kind enough to do all the heavy lifting, while YHC cut corners up the deck. Marconi and Utah chose the heavy weights and are exempt from any trolling #respect. Mr. Brady led us chatting with the man upstairs to end the workout. Finito!

Thank you for the opportunity to lead as always, and thanks for joining me in the harsh weather for the first Q of 2018 for me, and post.  YHC enjoyed posting in many regions in 2017 and will likely continue to change it up in 2018.  Encourage you to step out of the comfort zone and try it from time to time as well. #Nation>Region

Announcements

  • Most of you already look like Deuce Bigalow European Gigolo…. so offer your services for FREE for a great cause and be a male escort for someone special girl with a special need at the Joy Prom at Carmel Baptist Church.  Scabby can give you more details, or click the  LINK TO LEARN MORE
  • See you at Joe Davis Race tomorrow with ~200 of your other brothers. Packet pickup today at Omega Sports in Arboretum.  Dress warmly.
    • Please sign the Joe Davis / SFN / F3 Cancas in the SFN tent
    • Be there no later than 0715 for warmup followed by unveiling of two new racing chairs
    • As mentioned in COT, several racing chairs will be running empty in memorial of Joe Davis, TC Ava Malesiewski, F3-Cheech, and others we have lost from addicttion or special circumstance and want to celebrate.  You will have the opportunity to push a segment of the race, and write the name of someone you want to remember on a paper, and put in the bag on the racing chair.

“Who Pushes Who?!?” ~ SPEED FOR NEED 

JRR Tolkien

Bringing back The BRAVE!

Summary

19 men showed up to the toughest SOB workout of the week… THE BRAVE.  More on that later…

Thang

An AMRAP disguised as a “challenge”.

  • 0515 Wheels Up! Run .9mi from launch to the new Bissell 8 Story Parking Deck, through Ballantyne Golf Course
  • Instructions given for the “Tolkien Challenge” of the day:
    • RUN UP 8 LEVELS OF RAMPS (BACKWARDS ON STRAIGHTS)
    • 25 x 6-INCH LBCs AT TOP
    • DOWN STAIRCASE TO BOTTOM
    • 10 X HIP SLAPPERS (EACH SIDE)
    • RUN UP 8 LEVELS OF STAIRS
    • 25 x 6-INCH LBCs AT TOP
    • DOWN STAIRS TO BOTTOM
    • 10 X HIP SLAPPERS (EACH SIDE)

REPEAT SEQUENCE TO LEVEL 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2 > Tolkien Challenge Complete!!!

If finished… GO BACK UP 2 > 3 > 4 > 5 > 6 > 7 > 8

  • Run AYG BACK to Launch at 0600-0605. MUST get back by 0615 and not a minute late or it doesn’t count.

Moleskine

Had a really great time with all of you this morning.  A PERFECT group of guys to sweat with.  Hats off to Kirby, for posting last time YHC did the deck AMRAP, coming again this time knowing it was going to be pain, giving his all, and making it a goal of 2018 not to PR a race, but be fit enough to give a special kid a push in a SPEED FOR NEED racing chair #HIM.  Props to outgoing Nantan Madame Tousseau as well, for always looking out for others and covering the 6, not just today, but at almost every workout YHC has done in my 3+ years of SOB workouts.  Incoming Nantan Thin Mint led the way (along with Mario) and completed the Tolkien Challenge.  He will be leading the SOB region and we should all give him our full support and step up our game.  Speaking of the silverbacked Mario, it’s been quite a successful year for him racing, and even though he’s 26yrs old, we can all learn something about dedication and hard work to get better. Hollywood fell just short of completing the challenge but took 3rd place honors… well done and welcome.  In the battle of the highest hairdue, Wingman and Mr. Bean gave an old fashioned solid effort, and it was really great to see many long-time SOBs show up and put in the work.  Tuck chased down YHC and Doc McStuffins on the 5th level, and is poised for a breakout 2018.  After Q’ing dozens of workouts all over Charlotte in 2017, it was great to suffer with all of you Friday morning, for my last Q of the year.  Thanks for coming.

The Brave used to be my favorite SOB workout… still is.  In fact, back when Slack was still alive, we’d argue where it ranked in the Top5 F3 Nation Charlotte workouts, which says something already to even be in the conversation.  Forget pre-running, you’d need that energy for the workout.  Want to mumblechatter? Post on Saturdays for that.  And there were even less refuseniks on called exercises, because anyone who showed up to the Brave was looking for… EXPECTING … a beatdown, from the Q and themselves, and at 0515 it was time to put in the work.  This is the Brave.

It was Tuck who popped the cherry on “Room 101”, the new Bissell 8-story parking deck on Community House Road back on 6/9/17 during his 8-Deck Tour.  It had not even been fully constructed at the time.  Well it’s done now, and YHC thinks the Brave is supposed to make visiting Room101 a regular stop going forward.  Why? Because this is The Brave!  a 8 story parking deck right in our backyard, willing… waiting…  to test all abilities, and provide a measurable challenge each and every time. Structure the workout right, and you’ll have fellowship from the first pax to the last.  It’s SUPPOSED to be hard, and going up 8 levels (140 steps) to the top of the staircase is tough to beat.  Here’s another challenge, how bout we each set a benchmark to measure how many times up and down the 8-story staircase and back to launch in a hour?  Frasier once held the record at Metro’s The Muthaship of 16X up and down the dizzyback spiral.

All that being said, it’s been a year almost exactly to the day since YHC Q’d the Brave, and YHC has only been to a few Brave workouts in 2017 mostly due to marathon training.  But it’s almost a new year, and YHC is challenging myself, and all of you, to post at the toughest SOB workout of the week…The Brave.

Thank you Private Benjamin for the takeout.

Announcements

  • 1/8/18… clowncar to the Muthaship for partner workout… 12 story parking deck with corkscrew dizzyback ramp. Yes, 50% more elevation than Room101. Test yourself.
  • Sign up to run with ~200 other F3 Nation brothers at the Joe Davis 5K/10K on 1/6/2018… SPEED FOR NEED Racing chairs will be there where F3 Nation men will be pushing their special 2.0s .  Come support them, and join the fight against substance addiction.
  • Show some SOB Regional pride and come to:
    • Stonehenge 5YR Anniversary Convergence on 12/30/17
    • daVinci 2YR Anniversary Convergence on 1/13/18
    • SOB 2YR Anniversary Convergence on 1/16/18
  • Don’t be “that guy” this holiday season.

SYITG ~JRR TOLKIEN

DudePerfect … PingPong Trickshots (Mongol Style)… YEAH!!!

My son loves watching Demolition Ranch on Youtube… we happened to find DudePerfect on Youtube in the process. They have 24+million subscribers, and 4bln+ views.  This particular video ping pong trick shots has 125+ million views.  Watch 30 seconds of it if you want to know what the workout was all about. Dude Perfect – Ping Pong Trick Shots

My Youtube channel has a whopping 33 subscribers, and 15,184 views thank to the SPEED FOR NEED videos. The most viral video YHC has no-one wants to watch… pffft… watch it later. It’s good.

Making Of SPEED FOR NEED shirt

****** WELL TODAY THAT CHANGES!!!! WATCH VIDEO BACKLIST FOR THE MATRIX. Where we put DudePerfect to shame with our PingPong Trickshots…. F3 Nation Mongol Style.

F3 – The MATRIX (Video Backblast)

Enjoyed the workout today guys. Give me a TCLAP for creativity at least since YHC has sprained ankle on one side and busted toe on the other.

SYTIG

JRR Tolkien

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.
  • 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

Blame it on F3 Dads Camp

SUMMARY

Usually, YHC is spot on with writing a legit backblast (well aside from Ragnar 2016, which it’s disputable if YHC was even responsible for writing it) but between attending The PGA Championship Thursday for work, a 3:50AM wakeup to Q in Gastonia Friday, all day prepping SPEED FOR NEED racing chairs for F3Dads Camp, and the camp itself Friday – Sunday, this backblast was never going to be written on time. Hey, thank me for not having us push the racing chairs with each other in it up the Murderhorn for 45minutes!  But thanks to the 16 guys who came out to get their hands on the SPEED FOR NEED chariots and get a feel for what our charity is all about. Thank you for your support.

 

THE THANG

Here’s the deal.. it’s tough to come up with a tough bootcamp workout utilizing the racing chairs that’s not all running. So we ran a bunch of sprints with the racing chair to get a feel for what it would feel like to push them in a race, but mixed in some exercises with the green theraband resistance band to mix it up.  YHC introduced the Mongolian FireDrill, which involved each member of a team pushing and riding at least once, until the destination is reached. It was only appropriate for the Mongol’s Team to have won today.

NEKKID MOLEY

YHC is nearly 40 (October), and losing memory fast… so the fact that this workout was on Thursday, after a long weekend of sleep depravation, and F3 Dads Camp shenanigans means nothing about the workout was retained… or not much. YHC does remember Nemo being dead last on the sprints and saw his arms shaking like two spaghetti noodles on the exercises, and his dad Marlin holding Nemo’s hair back when he was puking, after he double-backed for him.  Frehley’s like the sprints, or appears to, until he pulls a hammy and gets membership to CORE or Silver Bullet workouts for double-respects. Ease up bro!  Great to see Garbage Plate out there at BOTH of my past Q’s… put in the comments how you got your name will ya?  YHC thinks of my daily lunch of cookies, pizza, Dr. Pepper…. diet, and a Nutty Bar as a Garbage Plate.  Thanks to Strawberry Heartbreaker for caring enough about me to show up at his site for my Q.

P.S….. as bad as this BackBlast was… sadly it’s still probably in the top 50% of backblasts written.  But YHC will do better next time.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • LISTEN UP! Now that you are ALL trained in driving these chariots, make sure you show up on Saturday 9/30/2017 for the Inaugural South Charlotte / SOB SPEED FOR NEED Race the Isabella Santos 5K in Ballantyne Corporate Park. It just isn’t an option for you to not show up as a either a runner or supporter.  Run your own race for a PR, run with/behind a racing chariot and an athlete-rider, run with your family, or just show up and cheer like crazy for our rider and represent F3 Nation to over 1,000+ runners and many more spectators in the heart of where SOB has not one, not two, not three, but FOUR workouts a week. Fire Hazard and Buckeye are your event-Q’s and here is their preblast ( PREBLAST for Isabella Santos 5K ). Failure to show will mean Buckeye will tear your limbs off, and Fire Hazard will pour freshly brewed sour beer over the fresh wounds.  And I won’t stop either of them, because… well, you’ll deserve it for being so selfish.

~SYITG JRR Tolkien