Well, YHC will never attend another Xmas party as I got volun-told by one Geraldo to Q in the site q’s absence.
I tease about the never again stuff. That’s just how F3 rolls. We’re all about the starfish. With that in mind YHC didn’t want to think/remember a complicated wienke. While G and Hoover were no doubt carrying heavy things at a local GoRck event by 7am – 8 rugged pax and 2 iron tossing, very gullible, Olympus pax ventured out to see what Rea Rd has to offer.
Quick jog out to the front of Calvary. Skeerrrt… Turn around and grab the LIFOs. I thought we got all that out of the way with floorslapper classically :30 late but no, he would be outdone by OT. Gotta love a Saturday morning. Things are always a little slower to get going.
COP for SSH, IW, Low Slow Squat, Mtn Climbers and Merkins x 10 in cadence. All warm we took entrance 3 out to rea.
Long run down to Bevington and plank to wait on the six. Take the long uphill haul to Old Course.
Quick instruction on peaks/valleys. It sounds like it says, surprise surprise. On the peak 5 Merkins. In the valley 5 squats. Stop at the stop sign – about 3/4 mile with 13 combined peaks/valleys. Repeato back out to Rea with CCD in valley and Jump Squats on the peak. Squats got those quads and glutes firing after nice uphill climbs. 230ish exercises and about 250 elevation in dem hills.
Slow mosey back to bevington. Wall sit w/50 arm raises to wait on the six. Strong push up the hill to entrance 4, also known as the forbidden hill at Calvary. But when the cats away the mice will play. One all you got up the steep incline and jog back to the launch.
Six minutes of Mary and we’re done.
4.5 miles does a body good. Now that you’ve earned that extra IPA tonight you can thank me later.
Announcements
Taco Party next Friday. See SOB slack channel for more info. There will be some questionable beverages post workout.
Prayers for friends of Stalker whose lil girl is fighting cancer.
As always, it’s a pleasure to lead the fine men of F3. Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope this year has been good to you and next is looking good. Cheers
Udder
DCCS was covered and we were off for a Christmas light tour of Millbridge.
18 elf’s with me, mosey to clubhouse for the warmup
20 SSH, 15 IW, stretch, 20 plank jacks, 20 LBCs calf stretch.
On dasher on dancer on prancer and vixen, on Comet on Cupid, Donner, Blitzen & Rudolph.
mosey to the Main Street. Stacking these as we go and mosey to the next intersection in between.
1. Burpee
2. diamond murkins
3. Bomb jacks
4. in and outs
5. Freddie mercury’s
6. Bonnie blairs
7. Spring Ups
8. J-los
9. SSH
10. LBCs
11. dry docks
12. Mike Tysons
We stayed together. 10 count to recover
mosey back to Millbridge clubhouse for some partner work.
200 LBCs and 100 step ups between partner. Timer is the runner .25 mile loop.
finish together with one last loop to hit 3 mi.
mosey back to COT – heads up biker burning rubber around the corner.
circle back for the six.
finish with 30 american hammers while we wait for everyone to do at least 1 together. Accomplished.
Numberrama, namearama, no FNGs, time to get serious with prayers. Many men are hurting, some are quiet, others share, but all have something to provide another pax. Today was an honor to lead you men. It was fun at times, it was hard at times. And that’s what it’s all about.
Prayer requests were important to note. Let us be mindful of our blessings, take stock and be proud of the new group you have taken this year in your life, in your ministry, in your relationships and in your work.
dreams:
“Everything is figureoutable” ~ Matt Drinkhahn
this past week as a management team our executives did something I have never seen done in 15 years. We had a hour and a half dream session. Not an eyes closed dream session, but a really important start with Why you are doing what you are doing dream session. What we walked away with was clarity on why we all work as hard as we do. Don’t forget to dream. Then share your dreams. Here are a few categories you may consider doing this exercise with those who are import in your life, perhaps you start with the category of Travel, then go to Adventure, Relationships, career/finances, spiritual & faith, and
. I’ll leave you with this as you consider slowing down and reaching out to a person in your life to reconcile, help, or just let the ek know they mean something to you. Do not take one single day for granted and alway remember that you and I alone are weak, but through Gods strength and his will you are amazingly perfect and an unstoppable force for good.
my goal this year was 150 workouts and an almost there!
love you brothers –
twinke toes.
7 -Souls showed at the Body Shop for a Tribute to a milestone in our F3 History; Area 51’s 10-Year Anniversary…..Here’s what happened!
Mosey around the parking lot with a few high-knees, butt-kickers and karaoke then circle-up.
Canadian SSH x 10 (Shuffle Feet front-to-back, not side-to-side)
Merkins x 10
Calf-Stretch then Warrior-Stretch
Imperial Walkers x 10
Potato Pickers x 10
Then mosey to the Track to partner up for an early game of ‘Catch Me If You Can’. Partner 1 stands 15-yards away from Partner 2, on GO it’s 1-Lap and Partner 2 tries to catch Partner 1. (If so, the penalty is 10-Burpees) Flapjack and Go Again! Finish with a little Merry for Recovery.
Mosey around the back of the school while stopping at two street lights for 10-Burpees at each stop. Mosey to back Parking Lot for a Starfish
5-Merkins in the Middle
10-Squats, 10-LBCs, 10-Carolina Dry Docks & 10-Plank Jacks
Rinse & Repeat again, with the same, except this time 10-Merkins in the Middle. Mosey to the Rock Pile in the Front Entrance.
Circle Up for Pax-Choice of Rock Exercise x 10-Reps. After two rounds, run down to street light and back. Repeat 4-times and then return rocks.
Mosey to front of school at the Map of the US for an East Coast vs. West Coast Partner Pull [With Ropes]. Each Pax goes 4-Times
Grab some wall for 50-Jabs & 50- OHP
Line up in Plank Position on the Map to make a Horseshoe-route Jailbreak back to COT.
Moleskin:
We had a few V-Posts today; Bratwurst for sure and I think possibly Dunkin & Endo. It was great to have you and hope you come back again.
If you weren’t there, then you’re probably wondering what happened on the “Catch Me If You Can” game. We had NO Losers! I think there was some close calls, but no penalty burpees.
The QIC did have a little fun with the Gazelles in the group. As a Clydesdale, I feel obliged to demonstrate that slow & steady can also win the race. So to be respectful of social distancing, we did a 1-on-1 Tug-of-War. Das Boot looked like he was water skiing he was pulling so hard and Prohibition got jerked about 3-feet into the air.
Respect to Area 51 and it’s Leaders on their 10-year Milestone!!!!
“Don’t sue me, don’t sue Petsmart, and don’t sue former vice-president Joe Biden who will be upset at today’s agenda”.
Exciting extended calf warmups custom-made for Damascus (but fartsackin!) upper AND lower calf-stretches…double pleasure.
Special LGBFJB kettlebell reps partnered with alternating run to Target and back.
L(unges)
G(olf swings)
B(urpess)
F(ront press)
J(ump squats)
B(ack rows)
Followed by misc KB exercises coupled with PetSmart parking lot sprints. Blue Screen faked hamstring cramp to get out of running it appeared… just sayin’
Wrapped up with 10-minute abs where Chastain started calling in fake numbers as BScreen approached 50 high-flutters.
LET’S GO BRANDON!!
7 Pax ignored the fart sack on a chilly, rainy morning that would have been an easy morning to mail it in. Instead they did the opposite and manned up for another edition of The Brave. To follow is a written history of what transpired.
The Thing:
Full disclaimer and off towards 521. Stopped at Ballantyne Corp Drive and into the first parking garage for COP consisting of SSH, potato picker, hillbilly, mtn climbers and stretching. Frehley’s noted that we passed several dry parking decks on the way to this one. True…and to further go against Frehley’s desires to not get wet YHC explained that we would not be staying at said parking deck but to remember it for later.
The group continued down Ballantyne Corp Dr with instructions to stop at Campbells building at the bottom of Bagpipe Hill. In addition, we were stopping at every cut into a parking lot for 10 merkins, starting with wide arm then regular then diamond. Keep this cycle going until reaching the bottom of the hill. Cut over to the fitness trail and partner up. P1 runs one direction to pull up bars and P2 heads the other direction to the other set of pull up bars. 10 pull ups each and then meet in the middle for 10 should taps (R+L = 1). Then flapjack and head to the other set of pull up bars and continue for 6 rounds altogether.
Head back to the parking deck where we did COP (I said to remember if for later) stopping for rotations of 20 LBC’s or 20 heels to heaven at each cut into a parking lot. At the parking deck YHC called for parking deck suicides. Run up the first level for 10 Carolina Dry Docks and 20 monkey humpers. Then down the stairs and up to Level 2 for 10 CDD’s and 20 MH’s. We were not able to get the whole deck in before time to head back to launch.
Moleskin:
Great work out there as we got somewhere between 4.4 and 4.8 miles in with a heavy dose of upper body work in as well. It can be tricky getting the workout portion in at The Brave AND hit the 4 mile minimum but pull ups are the great equalizer. It was a rainy morning, which we have not had many of around here lately, but the group put in the work. I really had no idea what to title this backblast until I went back and listened to my COT recording and the first thing said was Midriff asking “Was it everything that you expected?” I can’t remember what context it was said in but I think that he was asking Odd Job since it was his first Brave workout. Speaking of Odd Job, that guy is crushing it and getting in wedding shape. Happy Meal with the overacheiver award pre-running the Brave for 2 miles….impressive! Frehley’s may be mostly a kettlebell swinging meathead but he can still get down and dirty with the bootcampers for 4 miles like it is his day job. Good to see Teddy back out. Always good to catch up. Speaking of getting back out, welcome back Fire Hazard. Obviously you have not been sitting around doing nothing seeing as you led the pack the whole morning. And Midriff of course was right up there with him.
Announcements:
YHC: Just when I thought Tuck couldn’t plan anything dumber… he goes and does this… AND TOTALLY REDEEMS HIMSELF!
Back in 2015 Tuck got the grand stupid idea of running all the Ballantyne parking decks (7 at the time) over the course of an hour-long Brave workout. Why, you may ask? Because it’s Tuck. And it’s the Brave. The better question becomes this. Why the hell not?
We continue the time-honored SOB tradition of gracefully scaling each parking deck and collectively holding our breath that security won’t foil our visions of grandeur. We shatter the concrete ceiling by taking on not just 9 parking decks, but 10. We throw reason to the cool wind that greets us at the upper deck. It’s time to take this to another level.
Here’s what you need to know if you consider yourself brave enough to take on the Deck-athlon:
Now join in with me!
Deck the halls with feats of folly
Fa la la la la, la la la la
‘Tis the gloom that makes us jolly
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Don we now our reflective apparel
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Troll the risk of your own peril
Fa la la la la, la la la la!
YHC had his site-VQ at The Brave scheduled for 12/3 and around 8 PM on 12/2 a post went out on Slack specifically calling for “Fake Brave” at 0530 a mile up the road from The Brave and regulars from The Brave were tagged. Whoa! Wow! How could this be? Mind was reeling, but The Brave must carry on. Two strong men resisted the urge for a 45-minute “Fake Brave” in favor of joining YHC for no sleep till Gibson’s.* (*or whatever it’s now called)
THE THANG
Run towards the Morrison YMCA, stopping for some obligatory warm up — SSH, Goofballs, etc.
Go to Wayfair Meadow for 10x wall jumps, 20x Little Baby Dips on the curb. Repeato for 3 sets.
Head to Briarwick for alternating exercises at driveways
Cut through the woods and head to the YMCA parking lot for trip work:
Head south to the southern roundabout on Community House
Head north on CH to the next roundabout
Head north for another 10x wall jumps
Head back to COT with more running and one more stop for T-merkins
MOLESKINE
Friday in the gloom was time to get ill and a little Fake Brave wasn’t going to stop that. Big props to Wild Turkey and Midriff for keeping YHC honest and making the site VQ a fun one. Great conversation on the runs and a good time pushing each other through the wall jumps and the roundabout madness. As fate would have it, one of the turncoats was stuck at the light at Community House as the PAX ran up. He looked uncomfortable, some might say guilty. The PAX debated calling exercises in front of his early 2000s Sequoia but opted for the kinder route of a few verbal taunts.
As an update, it turns out the Fake Brave was an attempt to EH a guy who might not have 4 miles in him. YHC can respect that. In the completely unrelated words of Adam Yauch, “Well I got to keep it going keep it going full steam/ Too sweet to be sour too nice to be mean/ On the tough guy style I’m not too keen/ To try to change the world I will plot and scheme”
Knowing the rain would deter most Pax from showing up, YHC was really contemplating staying in the nice warm DRY bed, and telling himself, “Why would Gerber last minute aske ME to Q knowing it was gonna be 40 and 100% chance of rain?” well, this dumbass didn’t look at the weather before committing.
So, I roll my butt out of bed and head what seems like 2.5 hours to Cowbell from Marvin thinking maybe I can warm up with a pre-run. Show up and Gerber is waiting in the lot, we both look at each other and scour for dry land.. just as we decide to run for office at the Town Hall, Rain man shows up just in time to make this a party.
Rain lightened up just enough for a quick mosey, but wouldn’t be that way all day. Luckily the Puddle and drainage were still in full effect and we were able to get our feet wet immediately.
Warmup:
Potato picker/Arm stretch/LBAC/Motivators/calf/Up/Down dog.
Thang: We had to modify a bit due to rain being quite forceful at times, but pretty much 2 exercises with 2 reps of 20 then a run.
Finish up with some LBC’s to kill some time.
Moleskin:
I don’t think we expected to, but we somehow got over 2.5 miles in. Luckily we all wore As gerber called “our C shoes” knowing they’d be toast for a few days as we tried to cross the puddles. We had a good time chatting it up and listening to some tunes in the process. Thanks to Gerber and Rain Main for showing up.
Announcement:
What is Faith?
Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. In this case my faith was in the generosity of the fine men of F3 and the amazing women of FIA and it was rewarded in spades. When I was asked to put this race back on for the second time I was not sure how it would go but I was sure I would need help. Faith was rewarded again with a group of high impact men to help plan and execute the race. A board was assembled and the date was set the rest we left up to faith.
We had several marginally led planning sessions led by YHC. Luckily I was surrounded by a great team. Hoover, Franky, Cheese Curd, Soft Pretzel, Strawberry, Fuse Box and Bratwurst were instrumental in the success of the race. With out these intrepid men the event would not be anywhere near what it turned out to be. A massive thanks to them for giving up there time and energy to make the race amazing.
We were blessed to have amazing sponsors step up and help us as well. Olaf and his team at Charlotte Vitamin and Health were the main sponsor and donated not just money but amazing race fuel and recovery items for us. Kelly with Intuite Technologies and Focker with Stat Floor Cleaning sponsored as well. We also had a race team Up N Over get in on the action as well.
We had several donations to the event that deserve a special thanks. Soft Pretzel, Fraiser, and Strawberry donated the refreshments and food at the event. We also had some special beverages donated by Hoover for the adults as well.
Selfless volunteers stepped up as well to support the race. Strange Brew, Midriff, The Worm, Patent Pending Wild Turkey and so many others that helped to make things happen before during and after the race from set up, guiding and cheering racers to the clean up. We thank you!
The Results!
YOU helped raise over $6000 that is going to go a long way to helping others out. The majority of it will impact three charities that are right here in the area. There are so many great and wonderful charities out there but here are the ones we picked to to make an impact.
Congregation for Kids https://www.cfknc.org/
and
Christs Closet https://unionumc.net/local-missions/christs-closet
PS. If you did not get your shirt please contact my self or Cheese Curd and we will make arrangements to get it to you.
Thank you again
Your Extremely Humble Correspondent,
Kirby