Author Archive Mermaid

Falcon Crest??

Circuit City put out a Slack asking for someone to take his Q this week at Hawks Nest. YHC thought it was 0600 start. It was not, but responding to a Q call with a question about start time is really an HC, so, after a month-long hiatus, I wound up with the Q. Disclaimer was talked over and interrupted, as expected, but it was said.

Thang

Mosey a little and circle up for COP

SSH/IW/Peter Parker/Merkins/Parker Peters/Merkins

Short move to the corner of the lot.

4 Corners, 2 rounds

First round. Merkins. 5 at each corner up to 100. Mary. 2nd round. Squats. Same numbers. Mary.

Mosey to Hope Church. Grab a rock. 10 each-Curls/Tri Ext/Overhead Press. 2x through. AYG down the parking lot and back. Repeat 2 rounds of Rock set. Mosey back to launch lot.

Mary/Plank set. 5 Burpees OYO. Done

COT

Moleskin

Solid crew of 18 plus the Q. Had no idea what the numbers would look like so the plan was to keep the group in the same general vicinity. Didn’t much matter what we did today, the humidity was through the roof and the sweat was flowing.

Great to be back out after some time off of F3. Missed you guys. Spackler, too.

Some mumbles about the name change of the workout to Falcon Crest. Did not get a definitive answer on whether or not that officially happened.

T-claps to Snowflake for the takeout prayer. More for Sable for prodding me along to take the Q.

Announcements

Clover is collecting for the Limey Tennis Shoe Fund.

Crane Relay coming up. Hit up Frasier if interested.

Don’t Let The Door Hit You In the A$$

16 men joined YHC at Centurion for a workout and handing over of the shovel flag. Disclaimer given and we took off.

Mosey across 51 to the WF parking lot. Circle up.

COP

SSH/IW/MC/Peter Parker/Merkins

Mosey down 51 to CCHS campus to Stairwell 3 of Tartarus. Chair Plank. Talk of A51 Champions begins.

Quinite Tower Set

5 trips up to level 4 and back down. 100 Jump Squat mixed in wherever pax chose.

Mary to regroup

AYG to level 4 using ramps. Plank-o-rama at top. Mosey down to ground level.

Chair Plank. Continue Talk of A51 Champions.

Quinite Tower Set 2

5 trips up to level 4 and back down. 125 Merkins mixed in. Pax choice.

Mary/Plank to regroup

Mosey back to launch lot. Circle up.

Mary/Plank/Burpees for 5 minutes. Done

COT

Moleskin

Snowflake was handed the shovel flag this morning. He joins Preschool as a co-site Q at Centurion. These guys will do a great job leading this site. T-claps to both for stepping up to lead. Centurion is a long-running site in A51. My first post, over 9 years ago, was right here. Hurt like a mother-f-er. Dora was on Q. He ran us through Byron’s 40th birthday workout. Found out later, Byron was not in attendance. We celebrated with a ridiculous amount of squats, which I felt for a solid week afterwards.

A51 Champions were talked about. Dolphin was in town for his daughter’s graduation. He moved to the beach a while back. Great to see him again. Told the pax about his completion of the Barkley Marathons
“Fun Run.” A huge accomplishment of 3 laps of a roughly 20-mile loop starting at the Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee. It is described as the hardest ultra running event. Watch a documentary on the race HERE. Well done, Dolphin.

Also, brought up Curd’s recent WTF gold medal performance, as well as, his Mud Run A51 Championship, many moons prior. Another A51 Mud Run Champion, also a pre-runner today, Hops, was in attendance as well. Talked about A51 and F3 participation in the Mud Run down in Columbia, SC, when we used to charter a bus and bring 20 or so teams of 4 men down to race the other regions and our A51 teams for bragging rights. Back in the day.

Get something on your calendar. Challenge yourself and the guys around you. Give yourself a reason to avoid the fartsack.

Floorslapper pulled in as we were leaving the launch lot. No surprise there. He caught up.

Hops, Sable, Lorax, and, Curd completed the Centurion mile prior to the workout. Preschool ran in and back.

Clover’s barber disappeared. He is looking for recommendations.

Great group of men this morning. Thankful to lead and share some fellowship.

We prayed for Dolphin’s daughter and Hops’ oldest, who are both graduating this weekend.

We prayed for Jennings Palmer, for complete healing, from cancer. Please keep him in your prayers.

Preschool announced that he and Snowflake are looking for Q’s for Centurion schedule. Get you one (or more) on the Google Sheet that will be floating around the inner-webs.

Memorial Day Convergence on Monday. South Charlotte Middle School. Thunder Road on Q. Runs and Guns will also do the Murph and launch from the same spot. 0700-0800

Have a great weekend. Remember why we celebrate Memorial Day, for those who gave their lives for our freedom here in the US. The US has lost over 1.3 million servicemen and servicewomen since 1775.

 

 

 

Maybe 5 or 6

Title was my expectation for number of pax. Far exceeded at 18, including YHC. Disclaimer given. Pretty full one, at that. Waffle House did point out that it really did not cover vehicles. Noted. Off we went.

We moseyed across 51 through campus to Stairwell 2 and up to the top. COP done at top with various exercises called in cadence to stretch out the Q’s legs. 2 weeks since last post with Spring Break and what not.

We ran to the bottom of the deck and did 3 repeats to the top. 1. 20 merkin/20 Jump Squat at bottom. 10 Burpees at top. 2. 6 CDD at each right turn. 3. Bear crawl 30 yards then AYG to top. Plank and mary after each rep.

Partner up at the benches in the middle of campus. Partner swap between running to Stairwells 1, 2, 3 and doing exercises at the benches.

Little bit of mary then run back to the launch lot. We did one or two things before we hit 0615. Done.

COT

Moleskin

Been so long since I’ve seen Morning After I introduced myself. He also has longer hair. #kotters

Runstopper got warm and moist so he took off his quarter zip. That’s what we are looking for. Progress. He left the tights on. Also what we are hoping for.

After COP, when we were getting up to leave, someone unleashed some impressive flatulence. Not sure who, but it was verbally applauded (?). More simply, it was pretty impressive if 1/3 to 1/2 of pax made reference to it. Well done, nameless (to me) pax. Comment below.

Great group of men out there today. Pretty sure Mildew came out to Centurion for his first post about 4 years ago, if memory serves. Waffle House is a newer pax. He was crushing it all morning. Thanks to Clover for some free legal advice. Thanks to Lorax for taking us out. Continued prayers for Jennings Palmer. He needs to get his appetite back and fill his body with nutrients. Enjoyed it immensely, men. Thank you all for coming. Have a great weekend

7 Plus or Minus 2

Cold rain. Again. Even so, 9 dudes joined YHC. Brief disclaimer offered and quickly cut off by Lorax. He was ready to get moving. Nothing fun about standing around in cold rain.

Thang

Mosey across 51 and through some of the parking deck. Circle up on level 1.

COP: 8 or so exercises. Pax called exercise, YHC called cadence to 10.

Double Ascension

Level 1. Launch between stairwell 1 and 2. Run up a level using stairwell 2. 10 Merkin. Proceed to stairwell 1 and down to launch. 10 Heels to Heaven. Up to level 2. 20 Merkin. Down stairwell 1. 10 H2H. Up to 3 and back down. Plank-o-Mary. Round 2 called by Gravedancer. Launch was 10 burpees. 10-20-30 Parker Peters. Plank-o-Mary.

AYG to level 4 and back down stairwell 1. Wall sits with alternating foot raises.

Mosey back to launch lot at Amelies. Some more Plank-o-Mary with some Merkins for good measure.

COT 

Motorboat had to cancel his Q this morning. Was hoping that would not happen, as he was supposed to bring me the Lonesome Dove DVDs. Great book. Pulitzer Prize winner. Recommendation and book provided to YHC by Clover, who was noticeably absent.

Margo was getting after it this morning. P200 training was on display.

Lorax quickly dropped his rain coat. He don’t need no stinkin’ jacket.

This crew put in the work this morning. No complaining about the weather, or the burpees called by Gravedancer, for that matter. Well done, men. Big win is getting out of bed and posting.

On to the title. 7 +/- 2 is sometimes referred to as Miller’s Law. George A Miller was a Harvard psychologist who studied short-term memory capabilities in humans. His 1956 study is somewhat famous (i.e., one of the most cited papers in psychology). In it, Miller argues that the average human short-term memory can hold 7 plus or minus 2 items. I got 10 pax names today. 14 last week. While my case of OLD thrives relentlessly through my body, my mind appears to be morphing into a steel trap. Or something like that. Anyway, you have to take a win where you can.

Thanks to the 9 men who posted this morning. Gotta admit, the weather has been beating me down some. This is a tough time of year for many people. Seasonal Affective Disorder is a disorder with symptoms similar to (or including) depression. Fatigue, depression, social withdrawal are major symptoms. Given the current state of affairs with COVID, most people are experiencing forced social withdrawal already. The last 11 months have been hard on many folks. Check in on your friends and neighbors that you haven’t touched base with lately. Say hello to a stranger in your travels.

Thanks to Thunder Road for the takeout prayer.

Continue to pray for Jennings Palmer. For zero cancer cells in his body. For the chance to have another successful bone marrow transplant. For his parents and siblings.

 

Back in ’17 When Purple Haze Last Q’d Boot Camp

Best I can tell from the website, Purple Haze has not Q’d a boot camp workout since 2017.

He is listed as the Rock Zero Q for tomorrow. For those of you who have joined F3 post-2017, this is a big deal. Maybe the biggest deal of 2021, thus far, IMHO.

To get your head around the happenings of the world the last time Haze Q’d, read a little bit further.

-Half-man Half-cat creature was spotted in Malaysia

-Sea monster washed up in Indonesia

-Drunken time traveler arrested in Wyoming

-Flying reindeer spotted in several countries around the world on the same evening

-The McRib was available for only the second time after disappearing for years

So, you should post tomorrow at Rock Zero. You will be amazed and, very likely, have your soul crushed at the same time, by the Purple Haze #Kotters Q

Note: YHC is not able to post. Breaks my heart. Will be working a swim meet. I am trying very hard to pawn off the shift to my lovely M.

Five and a Half Days

Last Anvil post was 10/28/2020. Dang, that’s a while back. Glad to be invited to Q this morning. 12 men joined me. Disclaimer offered and we took off at 0530. Not a morning to stand around for too long.

Thang

Mosey over to the Activity Center building courtyard next to the turf semi-circle.

COP

MC x 10/SSH x 10/Squat x 10/Merkin x 10/IW x 10

Mosey back toward launch lot. Stop at the picnic area next to the Main Entrance. Grab a bench.

10x Step Up/Derkin/Incline Merkin. Repeat.

Mosey through launch lot and down to the base of North Face. 10 Jump Squats/5 Burpees. Ascend NF. 10 Heels to Heaven. Mosey back to picnic area.

Mary

Repeat x 2 with some additional Mary in between repeats.

Mosey back over to Activity Center courtyard. Grab some wall. People’s Chair with Shoulder Presses x 20 IC.

Mosey to the Avenue of Trees. 5 Merkins at each tree. Alternate between Regular and Diamonds.

Plank-o-rama at end. Mosey back to launch. High Flutter x 20. Hold 6 inches. Done.

COT

Enjoyed getting back over to Anvil today. Thankful for the invite to Q from Lorax. Speaking of Lorax, he shared with the group that his mother, Donnele, was recently diagnosed with ALS. Please lift her up in prayer.

Bunch of Chatty Cathy’s out there today at Anvil. Maybe the workout was not hard enough. Clover got called out for “lawyer speak” by Puddin after questioning rep counts of the pax. Puddin was wearing long sleeves, which mattered for some reason.

Prohibition did a fine job, as usual. Good work Pro

Brushback posted. Even brought Pulled Pork out. Great to see both of them.

Snowflake ran in and out. Also took us out in prayer.

Today, as best I can account, was my 175th F3 Q. That’s roughly five and a half 24 hour days of leading pax. Very thankful to have the ability to post, and to lead, the men of F3, from time to time.

Please keep Jennings Palmer in your prayers. Pray for complete healing from the cancer.

Reach out to someone you haven’t had contact with in a while. Let them know you are thinking about them. Its amazing how hearing from someone can brighten your day. Van Pelt hit me up with a text message last week. It brought a smile to my face. He wanted me to say hello to everyone.

There is a lot of hunger in our country right now. If you can, find a way to help alleviate this. Second Harvest Food Bank is one local place to help out. $100 donation equates to 700 pounds of food for those who are hungry. $25=175 pounds. Donate HERE 

Valley Crew at Centurion

Written by Mermaid, based loosely on YHC’s recollection of events:

Sable brought the Valley crew out for his Centurion Q this morning. Joined by a few Centurion regulars, the group was offered the quickest disclaimer and charged out of the launch lot.

Thang

No time for easing in this morning. Follow Sable across 51 onto CCHS campus. Circle up next to Stairwell 1 of Tartarus

COP

Low Slow Squat x 15

SSH x 15

MC x 15

Merkin x 15

Probably forgetting a few exercises here.

Enter Tartarus, level 1.

Long Ramp 11’s. AYG up full ramp. 10 Thruster type things (Plank-bring knees to stomach and back down). Run down ramp. 1 Plank Jack. 9-2, 8-3…you see the pattern.

Run up to level 4. Mary up at the top.

Back down ramps to thoroughfare on Tartarus side of football field, around the 50-yard line.

10 Merkin/10 offset right Merkin/10 offset left Merkin. Run around field to the other side. Stop at the 50. Repeat Merkins. Run to launch.

Mosey over to the Charlotte Aquatics lot. 3 times up and down the hill with some bear crawls and burpee broad jumps.

Mosey back to launch lot.

COT

Moleskin

Sable is site Q at The Valley. This workout has been meeting at Huntingtowne Farms Elementary on Thursdays for several years. It has been a bit of an isolated workout from A51 and Metro and includes some guys who straddle the line. Glad to see all the guys who regularly post over there join us at Centurion. Good on Sable for rallying the troops and then providing the beatdown. Over 3.5 miles of run. This guy will try damn hard to get a nap later.

Boones Farm informed Clover and YHC that his friend founded Biscuitville. Apparently, this place needs to be on your list.

Lorax had a fresh cut. Professional and all. He looked suave. Apparently it made him run fast too, he was out front all morning and lapped several on the 11’s. T-claps for the takeout prayer this morning.

Snuka was heading over to the gym on his way home. Gotta say, him telling me that made me feel like a  bit of a slacker.

Margo got up and then dosed off before waking up again and texting YHC at 5:33 that he would not make it. Missed you out there. Shovel Flag, too.

All around, a great morning. Tough workout and solid crew of men.

Avast Ye!

Shiver me timbers! 6 hearties joined the old salt and swashbuckler, Frehley’s Comet, for a trip on the Centurion Pirate Ship. Frehley’s assured 6 sons of biscuit eaters that he would give no quarter during today’s workout. Talk of mutiny was quickly suppressed as Frehley’s prepared the crew to batton down the hatches and move forward.

Mosey was called for and bounty promised upon completion of the mornings events. Onward, to the bilge.

COP

Bunch of exercises that Frehley’s free-wheeled

Start at the bilge and do 10x called exercise. Run up a half level. 10x called exercise. Back down and do exercises again. Did this a few times. Heavy on the Merkins.

Mary

Orlop to Poop Deck Set

Start at Orlop. Run to the dungbie. Do some exercises. Run back. Repeat this a few times with different exercises. Stairs were taken to the poop deck each time.

Mary

Start at entrance to the deck at bilge level. Run to the dungbie. Wall sits. Do this a few times. Run back to the launch.

No hornswagglers today, the 6 hearties got it done.

COT

Moleskin

Frehley’s called one of his sets the Pirate Ship. Actually, he asked what that amusement park ride that swings back and forth was called. The pax provided the answer, and, a theme for a backblast that was not going to get written. Weather was nasty at 37 with a 10mph NW wind that made it feel like 30. Enough rain to make it uncomfortable. T-claps to the men who posted this morning. Much easier to stay in the nice, warm confines of your fartsack.

If you have any interest in deciphering the Pirate talk included in this backblast, click HERE

Announcements

Please continue to pray for Jennings Palmer as he battles leukemia. He is in Nashville with Bout Time, getting treatment.

Centurion 2021 BB 1

8 men joined YHC for 60 minutes of work on New Year’s Day 2021 at Centurion. Disclaimer given. Off we went.

Cross 51 and mosey through campus to stairwell 2 and up to level 3. Circle up for COP. We did some exercises to get warmed up. IW, Merkin, Squat, maybe a few more.

Mosey down to level ground level. We ran from the bottom to the top 3 times, stopping at each right turn to do some reps: 10 reps for 2 exercises at each turn. Merkins, jump squats, Heels to Heaven, Diamond Merks, Wide arm Merks, etc. Chair planks to regroup.

Mosey down stairs and over to the circular benches. Did a Triple Tower Set here. Start with 10 Step Up/15 Derkin/15 dips. Run to Stairwell 1. 5 Burpees at bottom and top. Back to benches. Plank-o-rama to regroup. Proceeded through towers 2 and 3 with some different exercises mixed in. Chopper requested the third tower and chose the exercises. Well, Frehley’s strongly suggested Monkey Humpers, which Chopper agreed to.

Enter the deck for 3 full-length sprints up level 1, full ramp. Rep 1, stop in middle for some exercise we did. Mary at the top. Mosey back down. Repeato x 2, without exercise stops, but with Mary at the top.

Mosey back to the launch lot and under the cover of the shopping center. COT

Moleskin

Light, misting rain, slightly heavier for brief periods, accompanied by steady winds around 10mph with gusts up to 15ish. Pretty damn nice weather for a workout. Thankful for the 8 men who posted. Wanted to have an A51 option this morning for those that did not want to post Metro.

Huge Q fail today. Failed to facilitate and/or lead a takeout prayer. Honestly, don’t think I have ever done that before. Sincere apologies, men.

Frehley’s Comet on Q next week. Followed by Preschool 1/15 (site VQ) and Sable 1/22

Best wishes for 2021

Mudfish

Extra helpings were the theme at dinner yesterday. It was a nice Thanksgiving. Different, but nice. Not sure about the rest of the Pax, but YHC needed to put in some good work this morning. Gotta try and equalize the Thanksgiving foodfest. 18 men joined me in the actual gloom this morning. Disclaimer was given and included the obligatory COVID statements about social distance. Voodoo would have approved, I think. Off we went.

Thang

We had 4 stops this morning. Chair plank was called for to regroup after each mosey and finished set.

  1. Palatine Hill behind the shopping center we parked at. We did COP there. Several exercises to 10 in cadence. Next we shored up to the base of the hill. Some of us on the steep end and some of us not so much. We did a Triple Nickel with Diamond Merkins/Jump Squats. Flutter x 25 IC, Dolly x 25 IC.
  2. Mosey back over through the launch lot, cross 51 at the crosswalk, North on Carmel to 2nd stop. Shopping Center at 51/Carmel. We did another Triple Nickel using the shopping center stairs. Hand Clap Merkins/Heels to Heaven. Mary to regroup. AYG down thoroughfare to McMahon.
  3. Rock Pile. Lifting Rock. We did all exercises in civilian cadence to 10. Curls, Tri Extensions, Tea Bag Squats, Overhead Press. Did each a few times with no breaks and rocks in hand for the duration.
  4. Mosey down Little Avenue and enter CCHS campus on the back side. Continue to the circular benches and partner up. Partner 1 does 15 Step Up/15 Dip/15 Derkin, repeating, while Partner 2 runs to Stairwell 2 up to Level 4, does 5 Wide Arm Merkins, and back to benches. Swap. Continue to 6 total reps.

Mosey into the bowels of Tartarus. Line up at the entrance. Plank up. Low Plank Jack x 10 OYO. AYG up the full first level. A bit of Mary and then mosey back down the deck and across 51 at the crosswalk. Back to launch. Civilian cadence Merkin set to 10: Regular/Offset Left/Offset Right. Done.

COT

Moleskin

Gotta tell everyone, the 0700 start was nice. Enjoyed the 60 minute boot camp. It allowed for a little more movement around the vast AO.

19 men out this morning. Green Bean was visiting from Atlanta. Chelms came out of semi-retirement. Couldn’t get Shoe to join him this morning. Too bad, we miss that guy. Chopper brought his nephew, Huey, who will be joining the Air Force to serve our great country. He was crushing the workout. Horsehead and Boondocks were site FNGs, surprisingly. A bit more about them later. Cage may have been site-FNG as well. Glad to have him, he was moving well out there. Hops has completed his 1/2 marathon and is now back in the boot camp fold. Sure I’m not the only one glad he is back to posting.

Horsehead was throwing out the zingers before the workout started. He asked Chelms if he cleared the post with the nursing home. Then Snuka showed up to add some fuel to that fire. Snuka told the crew that F3 keeps him young. He is usually out front so there’s that.

Had a chance to talk with Horsehead and Boondocks during coffeeteria. The conversation included custom golf clubs, disc golf, and morphed into fishing. Particularly, we talked about the mudfish. Mudfish refer to any number of elongated fish that are able to survive long periods of drought by burrowing in the mud. Boondocks catches the Bowfin. It looks like a fat snake with a big, strong tail. A lot of fun to catch, and, bonus, you can eat them. Care is needed in preparation due to the many small bones throughout. So, back to the mudfish and the ability to survive long periods of drought by burrowing into the mud. In YHC’s mind, this parallels what we are going through right now. Horsehead provided a reminder to reach out to Pax who have dropped off. A lot like the bowfin burrowing in the mud to survive, there are a lot of people who are “burrowing in the mud,” or socially isolating right now due to COVID. Guys we haven’t seen in a while. We know that social isolation is not a good thing for people. As much as we may like our time to ourselves, humans are social beings. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Love and Belonging comes in right after the basic Physiological and Safety needs in the hierarchy. Current conditions make it more difficult to meet this need. It gets dark early, people work from home and make virtual “connections,” spend more time on the screens and social media. Like Horsehead said in COT, reach out to someone you haven’t seen in a while. Ask them how they are doing. Grab a socially distanced coffee or lunch. If you are feeling isolated and lonely, don’t hesitate to reach out to your F3 brothers. We need to work together.

Lastly, I ask that you include Jennings Palmer in your prayers. He is Bout Time’s son. Jennings battled Acute Myeloid Leukemia and was in remission for 2 years. His sister, Caroline, donated bone marrow and he had a transplant. This week, the Leukemia came back. Please pray for Jennings and the Palmer family.

Thankful for each of you men joining us at Centurion this morning. That hour is like fuel in my tank to get through the rest of the day. Fellowship offered at coffeeteria is always a sweet bonus. Well done today, men.