11 PAX in all showed up at The Arsenal this morning. 6 for the prerun, where we did the Swift prescribed 4x 800m’s at a 5k pace. The high school track was great for it for obvious reasons. 5 more arrived for the main event and Happy Meal had to bounce out. If he hadn’t had told me yesterday he wasn’t going to be able to stick around, I’d think it was when he saw Fire Hazard and I pulling the sand bags out.
Warmup
Disclaimers given, sandbags shouldered, and we’re off to drop them off at the large student lot. Warmup on arrival, 15-20x of each IC
The Main Event
Leave the sandbags for a minute to head up to the smaller lot for 7 of diamonds. Starting in center, run out to each corner of the lot for called exercise, run back to center between each of 4 corners. Plank for 6 between rounds.
Return to the sandbags. PAX form groups per sandbag. 1 PAX starts as the timer and begins to throw the sandbag to the other end of the lot. The rest of PAX sprint to the end that the throwing PAX is headed toward and do as many of called exercise as possible until throwing PAX makes it to them. PAX then rotate sandbag throwers, and turn around to head back to starting point of lot. We had 3 per group and ended up doing 3 rounds.
Carry the sandbags back to launch. With about 10 minutes left we ran 3 laps around the parking lot doing burpees at the start. 10 after first lap, 5 after second, none for last. Plank up for final minute of time. Bounty Hunter really tried to stretch it out, but couldn’t figure out his fancy new GPS watch.
Announcements
Thanks, Fire Hazard, for taking us out.
Moleskine
Rain held out for a nice day at The Floater
Mosey to the basketball court at the school
Straight from warmup – get on your six for ab-web
Cutoff to finish later. Let’s mosey to Bad Idea and crush it.
Jailbreak up and let’s catch our breath plank? Thanks Carb Load! (must have watched the whole 8.5 hr video of the old guy planking for motivation this past weekend…..has anyone else seen that?)
Perfect timing for the Slurpee burpee train….
Mosey to the corner of the graveyard and do laps stopping at each corner and alternate Dry Dock and BH each corner:
Mosey to the elementary school.
Snake the parking lot there and back twice while doing 5 burpees when you round each island for a total of 40 20 more burpees
Let’s mosey to the bakery parking lot and finish that ab-web!
Start at 6-24 and finish up at 10-40. At around 8-20 you could hear me struggling a bit so Foundation jumped in to finish the count, thanks.
Mosey back to COT and as we got to crossing the street jailbreak if you got it!
1:30 left so Deadwood lead a synchronized swimming plank routine to finish it up, thank you sir.
First time Qing the Floater and I love this site. Burpee train cut the weinke short a bit but still turned out nicely. I actually love hearing that train come by because I hate burpees, so it forces me to get better at them.
Shout out to O-69 for showing up day in and day out and doing his thing! He is a testament to dedication. It’s not about motivation or drive – its about discipline. Especially when your body is sore and tired, your mind will always want you to take the easy route and rest…so don’t think! Just get up and go – you will always feel better after.
There was no real 6 today because everyone stuck together, even on some longer moseys. Obviously the Roosters were out front but everyone seemed very fast today – must be all the weight lost these past few months.
Some surprises at the weigh-ins! A lot of people getting down so serious weight and I know it must feel nicer when running and working out, I know I feel a huge difference. I think the most surprised was anyone seeing a bunch of half-naked men hanging out in front of the church…nothing to see here, move along.
Thank you all for letting me lead you today, we have a great group of guys out here in Waxhaw and it makes it a ton of fun!
Happy hour tonight at Queens South 7-9pm – dress as your favorite queen
Final Weigh In Announcement coming soon!
Man Touch has successfully completed his name change to Two Hand Touch – while signing a blood contract that he will post regularly forever
Brutus and YHC (Your Humble Chastain) rolled into the Millbridge Clubhouse parking lot about 0505 to get a good pre-stretch in. Rubbermaid is out with some nasty eye infection that I declined his offer to provide details about. Tuck is the Q but he’s out for some unknown reason. No one else in the lot yet, but we see Turnbuckle’s van over at the gym so we make a quick jog over to say hi. Locked out. Oh well. Back to the lot and Wolverine rolls in and then Sledge-O-Matic. Time to get moving so we set off at different paces. I had a good conversation with Sledge prior to his early departure to get his kids ready for school. Then I caught up with Brutus and Wolve…Goodfella! A bit more running and catch back up with Wolverine, snap a photo, then back to the clubhouse to wrap it up. And with that, I think I’ve doubled the word count for the average Pursuit back blast.
YHC took us out.
Announcements
17 PAX showed up on a pleasant morning with a temperature in the mid 50’s. DiCCS given. Moseyed to the parking lot for the warm-up.
Warm-up:
25 SSHs
10 imperial walkers
10 mountain climbers
Calf Stretch (thanks to Goodfella and Sprinkles for the countdown)
10 Carolina Dry Docks
Recover……(pull out and check the Weinke……sh*&%!)…..back down 10 Merkins
Recover and Mosey to the covered area up from the small track
The Thang(s):
Partner Exercise – grab a table and alternate between a short run to the chained area and the following:
150 Dips
150 Step-ups
100 Derkins
Thanks to Runflat and Sprinkles for leading Mary while we finished up
Mosey
Alternate exercises at each light on the way down to the globe:
30 squats
20 LBCs
…on the way back:
30 Bobby Hurley’s
20 Big Boy Sit-ups
Thanks to those of you who led Mary while we finished up
Mosey back to the big lot
7 of Diamonds:
Round 1: 7 Burpees at each corner
Round 2: 14 Mike Tysons
Round 3: 21 Box cutters
Time was upon us, so we didn’t make it to Round 7….to be continued….
COT: Number and Name-O-Rama.
Announcements: Still looking for Qs in March.
Took us out with a prayer for Tennesseans impacted by a tornado this week.
So, yesterday when Dana sent me a subtle “Looking forward to tomorrow” reminder (thanks for that!), I had my dates backwards and thought Sprinkles (my 2.0 for those of you who don’t know) was on Q today and I was on Q next Wednesday……so if the Weinke seemed a little thrown together…..it was. Please accept my apology. However, after my VQ where I was woefully short of exercises, I vowed to not run out and to keep everyone moving. I sat down with my Weinke and a beer…mmm….beer…..I digress. I reviewed the F3 Q School handout Posse gave us and started jotting down everything. Looked good on paper! I re-read the section about the Q commands since I struggled with that my first round…..yep…..struggled with it again….Q command 2: Exercise!!!!
Despite going to bed anxious and waking up a 2:30, 3:30, and 4:00 worried I’d oversleep, I felt better about my 2nd Q than my VQ. Still lots to work on but such is life, right? Special shout-out to Bottlecap for pointing out my light was on in my truck. And to Goodfella for keeping an eye on the time. And to One Star for giving me a Weinke holder for my wrist!
I really enjoyed being the Q today. All things are timed just right. I was born in Western Tn and raised on the border of western TN and KY. I lived in Lebanon, TN from 2011 to 2018 which was one of many towns near Nashville that was hit hard. It wasn’t a coincidence that a former Tennessee native was on Q here in NC after a tragic day TN. Please keep the people of middle Tennessee in your thoughts, prayers, and deeds as it will be a long recovery and lots of people have lost more than just their homes and possessions.
And finally…(I think writing and talking about this stuff helps us cope and makes us stronger)…thanks to everyone in the F3 Nation that showed up last Thursday in their bright colorful shirts for #F3forFaye. I’m sure that many of you felt the same way I did from the time she was abducted to the time they found her. I’m not too proud to admit that I cried more during that time than I have in a very long time. Sprinkles is not my only 2.0. I have a daughter, Emmerson, who is a 6-year-old kindergartner at Kensington. Like Faye and many little girls at her age, her favorite colors are pink and purple, she loves ponies and unicorns, she likes to ride her bike and skate up and down the sidewalks in our neighborhood. So, every time I scrolled through my social media feeds and saw her picture or turned on the news and saw her picture, Emmerson’s face flashed in my mind. I can’t imagine what her family and those close to this situation are going through right now but as I referenced above….nothing is a coincidence. She didn’t die in vain. It has made a huge difference in my life and I hope thousands of others. I listen to all the “silly” things my kids want to talk about a lot closer now. I appreciate the time with them a lot more. I make sure they know I love them and will protect them. And lastly, my head is on a swivel even if I’m stepping away for just a moment. Continue your prayers for her family and community.
Thanks again for your patience today! Looking forward to Qing again in April.
Downpour
The Warm Up
DICCS given, a little chit chat. a little failed Q-Jacking (No names will be called out), Time…..Let’s Mosey. We head around the parking lot to back of building. We are come to a stop at Mt. Chiseled to show PAX where Mt Chiseled is located. Well, they thought we were stopping there for me to show Mt Chiseled, and I did, but Deadwood was right…I was running a little low on gas, but that is what happens when you only post 1 or 2 times a month. (note to self, work out more so Deadwood don’t call you out). Then proceeded for a short little mosey back to center stage where all the action will be taking place and the bills will start flying, where we performed the following warm up exercises.
-SSH
-Imperial Walkers
-Mericans
-LBC’s
-Calf Stretch Right (Aka..the Dana Stretch)
-Calf Stretch Left (Aka..the Dana Stretch)
Head over to Center stage to go over the morning performances
The Thang
Station 1 – Tire Flip
Station 2 – Bent over rows with cinder blocks
Station 3 – Shoulder press with cinder blocks
Station 4 – Slam ball
Station 5 – Goblet Squat
Station 6 – Gift Bag Squat – If you don’t know what this is, then maybe next time you will show up.
Station 7 – Hair Burners (everyone’s favorite)
Station 8 – Stairway to Heaven – This may or may not have involved the company ladder
Station 9 – Funky squats with a press
Station 10 – Curls
Station 11 – Manmakers
Station 12 – Triceps Extensions
Moleskine
Let me preface by saying, as this was my VQ, this BB may not be the best reading materiel for the Porcelain office chair, but hey, it was my VQ so back off, and know there will be more, just not in the month of March.
If I am truly honest, I was very nervous last night. So bad, I did not go to sleep until 1am or so. Then my youngest decided to wake up around 2am, and then again around 330am. I went back to bed and my alarms went off at 415am &430am…Well, I woke up at 450am. I run out of the house, and thinking I would be the only one onsite…Nope! Several pax decided to do a prerun and beat me onsite. Good for you guys and WELL DONE SIRS, but Nails did mention to me “If I knew we were going to run this much, I wouldn’t have done a prerun”. Sorry about that, my question to you is Will you return for another Showgirl Dance Off?
I have not made many workouts of the past year, but today made it incredible. Thank you all for showing up and showing out. The effort everyone put in was by far 120%. It seemed like a good workout as I heard a lot of groaning, moaning, and hands on the knees. I am truly honored to be a part of the organization and the Region
#F3Waxhaw4Life
Mic Drop – Showgirl Out!
Announcements
This was mentioned but I wanted to mention it as I am the Q and I have the right….so Mark This Moment – Father/Daughter dance Ballantyne Hotel – Friday, March 6 http://www.markthismoment.com/
Shop Dawg is starting up a new Q Source on Friday, May 1. – See Shop Dawg
It’s Speed for Need season. -See Deadwood or Zinfandel
Prayers for Chicken Little, as he had someone close to him pass.
Circled up, and I took us out
Woke up this morning and father time had just struck 40 on my clock. No better way to ring in a new decade than getting up @ 4:45am and getting some work in while the rest of the world sleeps. I have to start this week’s back blast thanking @Lorax and @Fallout for getting me out here 3 months ago. It only took them 6 years to convince me but they stuck with. Now three months in (having gained the ability to talk while working out) YHC is ready for his VQ.
Disclaimer provided. VQ Announced. Apologies provided. Informed the PAX that today is my 40th birthday and they’re all going to celebrate 1980 with me.
The Thang
Quick mosey over to the semi-circle astroturf area to get the blood flowing
Quick Fact: Lots of notable celebrities were born in 1980 (Macauley Culkin, Ryan Gosling, Jessica Simpson, Albert Pujols). But I love chicken and in 1980 we lost a true hero, the original Colonel Sanders. He had 11 spices in his secret recipe.
Warm-Up Exercises in Cadence:
Quick pace out to the Hot Box for some body work.
Quick Fact: In addition to going to school for acting (hence the nickname) I also played hockey. In 1980 USA beat Russia in the Winter Olympics @ Lake Placid: Score = 4-3 (also a variation of today’s date, if you’re European).
Sets of 43 for each called exercise OYO, followed by a run to the parking lot light, 5 burpees, and back. Repeat for each exercise.
Fallout with the 10 count.
Hustle over to the rock pile for some lift/runs. Pick a repping rock.
Quick Fact: Another actor who had a big year in 1980 was Ronald Reagan. He was elected president in 1980 after a fairly respectable acting career. He was the 40th President.
Sets of 40 (20 per exercise per round) for each exercise OYO. Rocks on one end, run around the circle to the portico, exercise, run back. Repeat three times:
Plank while we wait for the 6.
10 more burpees to round out a total of 40 before we leave. YHC with the 10 count.
Jog back out to the hotbox for some wall sits with air presses. 40 count.
At this point Spackler, eager to lead a portion of the workout (I did bump him to Q today) jumped in to give me a breather with a 20 count of hand release merkins.
Indian run the long way back to start.
Quick Fact: After my failed attempt at acting, I ended up with a degree in Computer Science. In 1980 a consortium of DEC, Intel, and Xerox introduced the DIX standard for Ethernet. It ran an astonishing 10Mbps. Also of note, it was not stolen from Al Gore.
Full 6MoM of 10 exercises until time is called. Each PAX contributed and called out an exercise.
Called time and COT with the Meathead men.
Moleskin
Not a lot of mumblechatter this morning. Not sure if that was due to the PAX waiting to see if I was going to screw up, or if I was just too focused on not screwing up that I didn’t pay attention. Likely a healthy combination of the two.
Shout out to Posse who drove in from F3 Waxhaw for my VQ. I mentioned this to the group but will do so again, Posse and the F3 Waxhaw group are running several ‘Q Schools’ throughout the year. Huge help for new guys like me. If you know of any new guys who are hesitant to Q and need a good push, reach out and get them signed up.
Final thanks one more time to Lorax and Fallout. These guys never gave up on me even in the face of tremendous pushback (6+ years) and finally got me over the hurdle. Keep that in mind if you’re getting resistance from guys in your circle. Don’t give up and keep pushing. If they’re like me, they’ll realize pretty quickly how important it is to find something they can do to invest in themselves. For most men my age (40), life is pretty hectic and I found that I’ve spent a lot of the last 10 years doing things for others. Primarily the M, the 2.0s, and obviously work. It’s easy to lose yourself in that routine. Find something that allows you to invest in yourself and gives you the opportunity to build fellowship with other men.
Thanks for the opportunity to lead. Looking forward to more.
Announcements
YHC with the closing prayer.
3 Pax for LRC to run the standard loop. Pace continues to pick up and lots of encouragement on the course today.
smithers and YHC put in weights on official scale post workout and sit atop leaderboard for weight loss competition. All comes down to Floater and see if anyone can jump to top of leaderboard.
You may not have heard, but I’ve officially posted for 2 consecutive days and without quitting the Playhouse. How long can I keep this blistering pace of commitment? Will I make it all the way to Commitment this Saturday and complete the Octuple? Sounds impossible, but the support encouragement motivation other PAX might help me get there.
15 joined me in a copycat version of Foundation’s Q couple weeks back. I had so much fun on that day that I wanted to imitate as much of it as possible.
DiCCS given prematurely with a full minute to spare.
Let’s mosey a fast lap and back to the Flag to circle up.
WARM UP
SSH’s until I shut up – I finally stopped when the crying complaining instructions we finally given. I love to hear my own voice, very inspirational.
Lesson learned on not getting everyone stretched out the way they like. Everyone needs a good stretch every so often.
THE THANG
Mosey to the front of the school.
Circle up for some low slow squats until there is only one man left. This was an epic fail. Usually you can see who is out. We stopped at 50 and they were terrible.
Mosey over to another race track we had set up. Same teams as before, but this time we would run a lap.
Everyone on your 6 to do as many BBSU’s as you can. I think the group stopped before I shat myself around 56 reps.
We still have time, let’s have each person do two laps. Yep, you guessed it. Another Loss.
Mosey to the front of the school to get the cones and get back to COT.
Moleskin
I’ve been giving consistent effort the past few months, little to none. I can give you a bunch of true and irrelevant reasons why, but who really cares? Not me. Let’s jump back in and get stupid with a bunch of clown’s great guys. Everyone did a great job of mumbling today. There are plenty of times where Gerber can run you 6+ miles, but it is nice to be in proximity to each other and hear all the nonsense. I laughed more today than I have at a site in quite some time. I can lift on my own, I can even run on my own, but being surrounded by this much stupidity is impossible to replicate. Thanks to everyone for making today such a good time.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
I know we don’t normally do Fast Twitch backblasts, but the feedback on Slack #run has been so favorable that I wanted to spread the joy:
“We hate your face” – RS, Private School Runners Weekly
“That was awful” – P, baldisbeautiful.com
“That workout sucked” – A, Short Arm Gazette
It’s amazing how bad it can get without leaving campus. Run from the cars up the driveway to the top of the hill on the North? side of campus. 5 burpees. Back down the driveway, bang a right and head onto the track (I imagine that I’m an Olympic marathoner when I break through onto the track). At the far end of the track, 5 burpees. Continue around the track and out the gate on the other side, across the bridge and up to the pavilion. 5 burpees. Back down that driveway, hang a right at the stop sign and up the hill to the new tennis courts (the old ones were lame). 5 burpees. Then go all the way back down and up the driveway to the first hill. The loop is about 1.5 miles. Oof. We all did 4 laps. Purell almost got 5. Alf and Christmas got into their 5th laps.
Here are your attendees:
Purell – I’m happy to report that he did not lap me. Although he said he was hurting from a good weekend out in Phoenix or something.
Horsehead – Texted me at 5:05: “you better be at Fast Twitch”. He looked really angry all morning, then said afterwards, “I’ll see you next year.”
Alf – He almost caught Purell.
Retread – He also seemed angry this morning, although he told me “good job” once when I passed him and he was the first to give me “Kudos” on Strava, so maybe we’re ok.
Fault Line – He’s a grinder. He said something funny at the tennis court stop towards the end, but I was so done that I can’t remember what it was now.
Christmas – Alf made a dad joke about Christmas during the first lap that Christmas was nice about. Christmas was the most encouraging to me as he passed me every time.
Gypsy – We went back and forth all morning. He flew by me on the track on the second lap then fell apart on the third lap, only to rally on the last lap and pass me on the way to the finish. Solid work.
Runstopper – I think he almost joined the Hawks Nest guys when we by them, but he girded his loins (which is easier in tights) and stayed after it for the full 60 minutes.
Utah – Remember when he and Mermaid used to ride together to every workout. Did they breakup?
It was fun getting heckled by the Hawks Nest crew a few times. There was not a lot of exercising going on in the hotbox when I saw them there. Lots of chatter. Except Sprockets. Teacher’s pet. I could tell that Ductwork (Q at Hawks Nest) wished he was with us.
5 men (we missed you Dancing Bear) gathered at Dreamchasers to discuss next steps for how F3 Waxhaw lives out our 3rd F (Faith). Here are a few of the highlights and things in the works:
Service projects (Site Qs Deadwood and Carb Load):
Ray of Hope (Site Qs Bottlecap and Dancing Bear):
Christ’s Closet (Site Qs Dana and Shop Dawg):
Fixing It For Christ
Communication
Qsource (Site Q Shop Dawg)
Core Principles of F3:
THERE ARE A LOT OF OPPORTUNITIES TO SERVE IN OUR COMMUNITIES. WE HAVE A CHANCE TO INFLUENCE WHAT F3 WAXHAW IS KNOWN FOR . . . BOTH NOW AND IN THE FUTURE. DID ANYTHING ABOVE STRIKE A NERVE WITH YOU? WE URGE YOU TO REACH OUT AND SEE HOW YOU CAN HELP. WE ARE ALL DOING THIS ON OUR FREE TIME TO MAKE OTHERS’ LIVES BETTER. WILL YOU JOIN US?