Tribute to Area 51’s 10-Yr Anniversary

Tribute to Area 51’s 10-Yr Anniversary

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!!!!

Let’s GOOOO Brandon!!

“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!!

Was It Everything You Expected?

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:

  • A51 Holiday Part 12/16 at Candlewyck.  It is called A51 party but it’s a South Charlotte party.
  • Deck the Halls 12/17. Special start time of 5:15 for The Brave so that we can hit all 10 decks while staying together.  Coffeeteria and cookies to follow, and who doesn’t like coffee and cookies at 6:30 in the morning?
  • Feliz Navidad Christmas Eve bootcamp hosted by Taco Stand at the green at Rea Farms (behind Improper Pig).
  • Reach out to any guys that you have not seen in a while.  Sometimes this time of year may not be as festive for some guys as others so let’s look out for our brothers.

10 Years of F3, a reordering of the 3 F’s, and gratitude.

10 Years of F3.  Wow.  I’m old…Respect just around the corner.  Suppose I didn’t want to stay fat into my 40’s, so I tried this F3 thing at age 39.  My belt and my shoes were screaming.  A pax named Longhorn EH’d me at a Christmas party in between bites of my third red & green M&M cookie.

And while I dropped about 35 pounds (have added 20+ back!), my F3 journey has not really been about the 1st F pursuits.  Sure – there were the  5 or 6 mud runs (lost track, and I don’t spreadsheet everything in my life a la Mermaid, Bugeater, etc. – ha!), 3 BRR’s (4th one I drove which was, by far, my favorite), several 5K’s…in which I always finished just behind Prohibition as well as countless others..

F3 South Charlotte didn’t fully exist 10 years ago.  There were whispers of Joker, Tiger Rag, Stone Cold and others starting an AO or two, but frankly the first few AO’s were farther from my home than several of the Metro workouts – so my first’ish year in F3 was spent in Cotswold, MPHS & Freedom Park.

Launched The Rock, DMZ and Hawks Nest with Runstopper, MallCop (remember that guy?), Skywalker, and Doc McStuffins.

All that being said, where God really impacted my life was in the 2nd & 3rd F categories.  But you know what, category is a bad characterization.  Fellowship & Faith should impact all of our lives.  They are not compartments or pie pieces, rather, they should be at the center of everything.  More like the hub of a wheel if that makes sense.

But God surprised me.  I came into F3 knowing I needed to “skip rope” and “skip some dinners” – the 1st F.

I was selfish.  I thought to myself, I already have plenty of friends but I do love meeting new guys and hearing their stories, so “OK” to the 2nd F.  And I certainly didn’t think I had anything to learn in the 3rd F category.  Boy was I wrong!

He inverted the order of F3 in terms of importance for me.  Faith, Fellowship & Fitness.  Thankfully, that’s still now the case for me.  God expanded my view of what His kingdom is, and my role in it.

I love writing backblasts.  I know…that’s weird.  And I could write a lot (aka too much) with respect to F3 and the impact you men have had on me and my family.  I should thank all of you individually, and I’ll do so in time.

I’ll close with this prayer:

Father God, thank you for F3 and the men who have become my dearest friends.  Thank you for the lessons you’ve taught me and the truths you’ve impressed on me in and through F3.  Give me and these men continued courage to invite other men to what we’ve found in F3, and to point them to you.  Thank you that you are our ultimate Hope, and that while this world seems to spin out of control, yet you promise to never leave us.  Make us thankful for the Giver more than for the gifts as the gifts can and often are taken away, but You will not be taken away from us.

May the exhortation spoken by your son centuries ago become life-giving reality for all of us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind….and love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

Deck the Halls: The Deck-athlon Preblast

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:

  • When: December 17th (yes, yes, I know this is right after the Area 51 Holiday party)
  • Where: Launch from the parking lot in front of the Gibson Woody’s, Broken Egg cafe at intersection of Community House and Ballantyne Commons
  • What time: Launching at 5:15 a.m. and should be finished by 6:30 a.m.
  • Coffeeteria Cookie Exchange Extravaganza to follow in the parking lot. We’ll take care of the coffee. If you’re feeling festive like me, bring cookies to share.
  • This is not a race to see who finishes first. We will move as a group and have some called exercises at each of the ten decks.

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!

Listen all y’all, it’s a sabotage

I can’t stand it, Madame T planned it
I’m gonna set it straight, this Q-jackgate
I can’t stand burpees when I’m on Brave
‘Cause your fake AO ain’t all the rave
So while you sit back and go for short work
I got an hour weinke to go berzerk
Holy Nantan, it’s a mirage
I’m tellin’ y’all, it’s a sabotage

So, so, so, no plank it up when you want to recover
Came to The Brave to be a strong ugly mutha
Big Boys, merkins at ev’ry home
The weinke says to keep it on and on

Fake Brave doesn’t push you to run
No wall jumps or rows, goofballs none
You’re banking on a post that’s a mirage
Your body soon knows, it’s sabotage

Why

The Brave is now against the wall?
Listen all y’all, it’s a sabotage
Listen all y’all, it’s a sabotage
Listen all y’all, it’s a sabotage
Listen all y’all, it’s a sabotage

I can’t stand it, Madame T planned it
Sweetwater tried to set it straight, this Q-jackgate

PAX, I still must Q when I’m in this place
Site Qs feel disgrace because you’re all in their space
Don’t be no flakes and avoid the hard post
Like Taco’s bull shot it’ll work you the most

Still want the Fake? It’s a mirage
Shortchanging the PAX, that’s sabotage

 

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

  • 5x T-merkins at first house, third house, fifth, etc
  • 5x Big Boys at second, fourth, etc.

Cut through the woods and head to the YMCA parking lot for trip work:

  • One planks, one grabs his ankles for bent-over rows, third wheel does LBCs.  Alternate at each end of the parking lot

Head south to the southern roundabout on Community House

  • In plank, move counterclockwise around the circle, stopping 4x for 5 merkins each time

Head north on CH to the next roundabout

  • Same as before, but just the semicircle

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”

 

 

Wearing our C/Sea shoes to keep warm?

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.

  • Squats
  • 1 arm swings
  • High Pull Deadlift
  • Hernia
  • 1 Arm rows
  • Lunges
  • 21’S (curls)
  • Lateral Raise
  • Tricepts
  • Sit up press
  • Chest Press

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:

  • Sock Drive for Twinkle toes
  • Beer run in SOB (12/17?)
  • Christmas eve workout in Rea Farms as Taco Stand delivers the goods with Tacos and BullShots maaybe!?!?

Impact Local 2021

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.

Mel’s Diner

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

Remembering Pearl Harbor

Today marks the 80-year anniversary of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor. We remember the incredible sacrifice of many men and women who acted courageously in the face of chaos to protect our homeland. Chaos reveals the character of a nation. The US responded decisively and swiftly, by declaring war on Japan and joining the allies in World War II.

The Thang

  • Mosey to circle in front of clubhouse for warmup: IW’s, windmills, SSH’s, mtn. climbers, runner’s lunge
  • Mosey to neighborhood hill. Run hill 3 times, 20 merkins at top, 20 LBC’s at the bottom, except for the last set of 10 LBC’s instead of 20
    • 110 minutes was the duration of the Japanese bombing
  • Mosey to nature trail cut-through, completing 45 LBC’s in cadence in two sets
    • The attack was carried out in two waves, 45 minutes apart
  • Mosey to basketball court for 2 merkins, 4 burpees, 0 merkins, then 3 burpees
    • 2,403 US casualties
  • Mosey to rock pile, grab lifting rock. Partner 1 chips away at 88 tricep extensions while Partner 2 runs down to end of parking lot and back. Flapjack. Do 100 curls when done with tri’s
    • 188 US airplanes destroyed
  • Same format for 50 bent over rows, 100 chest press, 100 squats with partner
    • 353 Japanese airplanes attacked US forces

80 years ago, America was attacked. Without hesitation, we responded and went on to win World War II. Today we remember those who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor. And honor those who continue to defend our great nation.

Just Another Merkin Monday

Monday workouts are tough. Retribution for that extra drink or dessert while taking in the last gasp of the weekend. My attendance has been poor on Mondays, so took some action by signing up to Q.

The Thang

  • Warmup in parking lot next to Alloy Fitness: IW’s, SSH’s, Mtn. Climbers, Plankjacks, Low slow merkins
  • Mosey to US Bank for Stop 1 on the circuit. Partner 1 does 10 staggered arm merkins while partner 2 does donkey kicks. Flapjack when partner 1 completes merkins.
  • Mosey to retaining wall behind Old Navy. Partner 1 does 10 spiderman merkins while partner 2 does wall jumps. Flapjack.
  • Mosey to Target. Partner 1 does 10 diamond merkins while partner 2 does dips or stepups on bench. Flapjack.
  • Mosey to staircase by yoga studio. Partner 1 does upside down merkins (pullups) on the bar while partner 2 does bunny hops up the staircase. Flapjack
  • Mosey to launch, where we complete 5 kraken burpees (burpee with 3 merkins) and assorted Mary while waiting on the 6
  • Repeat this circuit 2 times, with new partner each lap.
  • Kill last few minutes with four corners Jack Webb. Starting with 1 merkin, 4 air press and moving our way all the way up to 6(?) 7(?) 8. Q fail by completely botching my count for the 7th set.

Reflections

  • Really wanted to focus on form and quality, rather than quantity. We’ve all been to those workouts with absurdly high exercise counts that destroy any hope of good form (*cough cough IRON PAX CHALLENGE cough cough*)
  • Point Break, Cheese Curd and McGee led the pack
  • McGee loved the format and shamelessly plugged WAMRAP (Waverly AMRAP). If you haven’t vomited yet at an F3 workout, go to WAMRAP for that rite of passage.
  • I complimented McGee on his solid spiderman merkin form. Cheese Curd nearly fell off the retaining wall in shock, mentioning this was the first time he ever heard McGee and good form in one sentence. The form was legit though.
  • 2.75 miles covered and shoulders feeling sore

Announcements

  • Area 51 holiday party+10 year celebration on Thursday night, 12/16. See Slack for preblast. Everyone invited, signup online.
  • Deck the Halls at the Brave on 12/17. Run all 10 parking decks in an hour.
  • SOBeer Run sometime in December. More details to come
  • Passport Challenge in January: get as many unique workouts in during the month to earn points and WIN

Close with gospel prayer. Because I am in Christ:

  • There is nothing I have done that could make you love me less, and nothing I could do that would make you love me more.
  • You are all I need for everlasting joy.
  • As you have been to me, so I will be to others.
  • As I pray, I’ll do so according to the compassion you’ve shown at the cross and the power you demonstrated through the resurrection.

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