Men, it is National Day of Prayer day. Thanks for all of the prayers thus far for Jennings, 3 year old son of our brother, Bout Time. Please continue to pray for Jennings and the Palmer family. Specifically, prayers are needed around the following:
Jennings has an ANC of 100 as of this morning (5/1/18). This is a sign of engraftment! While it will be a process and take some time, this is a very good sign. It also comes with increased pain and other things. He needs to have an ANC of 500 for 3 consecutive days to be considered engrafted. Some things to pray for this week:
*that we can continue to keep Jennings as comfortable as possible until the cells come in and start to heal what chemo hurt
*that engraftment would continue and come without complication
*that the GVL (graft versus leukemia) effect would be strong and keep all Leukemia cells away now and forever
*for Jennings’ strength, energy, joy and appetite to return quickly after engraftment
*will you also pray that he will eat well after engraftment and that we won’t have a lot of issues motivating him to do so? Before transplant and NG tube- eating was never his favorite activity. But it’s an essential part of his body recovering and continuing to grow. We need him to be motivated to eat food. He hasn’t had to since he has had the NG tube and we want that out as soon as we can take it out.
You can follow Jennings progress on Facebook at ALL IN for Jennings. The family is so thankful for all of the support.
11 men and the QIC stood around exchanging pleasantries for a few minutes prior to 0530. Plenty of stretching, grunting, and groaning in this circle. Margo mentioned that he fought the snooze button hard this morning. Good on him for winning. Disclaimer given among significant chatter that increased as the vital details of the disclaimer were provided. YHC assured the crew that we would, indeed stay under 2 miles and we would push hard. Chelms started in on the requests/demands immediately, something about a high hamstring pull and yoga. Paper Jam talking about no burpees or something. Time to move this hardened group of seasoned warriors.
Thang
Mosey into campus, right on thoroughfare next to parking deck. Ascend Stairwell 2 to Level 4. Circle up.
COP
SSH x 10 IC
IW x 10 IC
Mountain Climber x 10 IC
Peter Parker x 10 IC
Alternating Shoulder Taps x 10
Alternating Hip Slappers x 10
Mosey toward Stairwell 1 and down to ground level. High plank while instructions/suggestions provided.
Doubles
Ascend Stairwell 1 to Level 4. Called exercise(s). Run to Stairwell 2 and descend to ground level. Called exercise(s). Repeat
3 Rounds
Plank-o-rama and Mary to wait on six between rounds.
Ascend Stairwell 1 to Level 4.
Line up on wall for People’s Chair. Shoulder Press x 30 IC.
Bear Crawl across deck. Lunge Walk back.
People’s Chair. Alternating Leg Raises x 33 IC.
Bear Crawl across deck. Lunge Walk back.
Line up facing the full length of the parking deck (Stairwell 1 to Stairwell 3).
AYG from Stairwell 1 to Stairwell 3.
Plank-o-rama.
AYG back.
High Flutter x 15 IC/LBC x 15/Hold 6 inches/10 count
AYG S1 to S3.
High Plank. Hold. 6 inches. Alternating Leg Lifts x 10 IC. Right Leg High. One-Leg Merkin x 10 IC
AYG back. 5 Burpees OYO
Descend Stairwell 1 to ground. Ascend Stairwell 1 to Level 4. Back down and continue to launch.
COT
Moleskin
Fairly certain this group went a little out of their way to appear to be a group of cranky old men. Regardless of the complaints, groaning, and call for no burpees and little running, I hold fast to my description above for this group: seasoned warriors. All men went into battle this morning and crushed the opponent, AKA, YHC’s workout plan. Chelms put the high hamstring injury aside and pushed hard along with Margo on the 3xDoubles. We won’t get into form much. Well maybe a little. Paper Jam is always good for a few well timed zingers. Believe YHC heard him refer to the Chelms merkin as a Carolina Dry Dock. Chelms did say that good form is optional at Fishing Hole. Rest of the group stayed pretty much together. Abacus exhibited superior bear crawl skill and speed on Level 4. Frehley’s for some fast twitch on the sprints. Kotters to BOG. Glad to see him at Fishing Hole, and, in general, as he keeps a constant travel schedule. T-claps to Crabcake for EH’ing him last night at Char Bar 7. Great to see Loogie and Commish and chat with Cadillac and Patent Pending some. Shoe put in work and brought some chatter, as expected. Well done today men, way to push hard, and to push each other. That is what we do. Thanks to Bean for reaching out and inviting YHC to Q. Really enjoyed it this morning. Came in at about 1.6 miles. Thanks to Shoe for the takeout.
Announcements
Shoe is praying the Rosary every day in May, specifically for strength and healing for Jennings Palmer. Chelms jumped on board as well. Prayers needed. YHC will follow up with another post with specifics for this month.
Reach out to Chelms for mentorship opportunities for some of our city’s youth. He and a few others are taking a group of 10 middle school boys camping at Crowder’s Mountain on Saturday. Always a need. Hit him up at pchepul@gmail.com.
Patriot Festival 5 K and F3 Convergence with Speed for Need. 05/28/2018. Convergence workout prior to the race with Checkpoint on Q. SFN will be pushing 8 veterans. Will be a great event. JRR Tolkien is your contact for more info.
Pax 9 hit the gloom on a balmy May morn. Sun came up early!
Warmup
20x SSH
20x imperial walkers
15x SSJ
The Thang
Run to the field
10 fence jumps- over and back
Parking lot 4 corners- repeat x3
Corner 1 – 20 burpees
Corner 2 – 20 LBC’s
Corner 3 – 20 rosalitas
Corner 4 – 10 squat straddle jumps
Run the greenway to the tennis courts
Partner up repeat x 3
Raccoon crawl the wall lunges across side one
Raccoon crawl the wall
Karaoke side 2
Switch
Partner alternates dips and squats
Run home
COT
Announcement- Fortitude serving BBQ Saturday night for men’s shelter off site. Check Twitter for details.
GasX brought us out.
I am honored to lead Stonehedge on May 5th for my half-century mark. After 1-1/2 years, I am stronger than ever and expect to bring it. On the agenda:
5:30 pre-run
6:00 the thing
7:05 COT.1 (circle of trust)
7:06 COT.2 (circle of tequila)
7:07 Einstein bagel
15 PAX posted at The Matrix this morning, this was my first post and Q at the Matrix, since I was unfamiliar with the geography of the AO decided to improvise rather than plan it, but off course had to go to a few of my go to exercises.
COP:
Gave the proper disclaimer and mosey to the back of the school behind the soccer fields.
SSH IC about 30
Merkin IC x 10
Plank Jacks IC x 10
Merkin IC x 10
6 inch Plank Jacks IC x 10
Imperial Walker’s IC x 20
LBC IC x 20
The thang:
Mosey to the front of the school and did some plank work/merkins using the wall. Facing the wall x 20, feet on the wall x 10. Heard some complaining and mumble chatter at this point.
Mosey to play ground, partnered up, as a team do 100 pull-ups, with one partner running at a time to the end of the parking lot behind soccer field and back and switch.
Was going to do Jack Webb’s, but after giving the instructions for it decided to do some Plank Webb’s instead, it went like this:
Gave disclaimer before starting that this is to failure, and plank is the rest position, told the PAX that for every time I see someone not following the instructions and resting in any other manner I would add 10 burpees to the next exercise.
Pax gather in small circle holding the plank for the entire exercise. Start with plank position, do 1 merkin and 4 shoulder taps, then 2 merkins and 8 shoulder taps, then 3 merkins and 12 shoulder taps……..all the way up to 10 merkins and 40 shoulder taps. Gave notice before hand that this exercise is to failure, you fail, you shake it off and get back into it, Plank is the resting position. I think this group really hates burpees because I saw people really pushing themselves to hold the plank when they needed a rest from the merkins and shoulder taps, excellent work.
Then we did Jack Wabs, same concept but replacing Merkins with Heels to Heaven and Shoulder Taps with LBCs.
After this we did Dip Webbs?, can’t think of a better name, did it on the curve due to the lack of half walls or enough benches, same concept as the Plank Webb’s above but replacing the Merkins with walk out merkins (Go from standing position, keeping your feet in place, walk out with your hands to a plank position do a merkin walk back with your hands to a standing position) and replaced the shoulder taps with Dips working our way all the way to 10/40.
Still had some time left so we did:
SSH IC x 20
Moroccan Night Club IC x 20
Plank Jacks IC x 20
6 inch Plank Jacks IC x 20
Flutter IC x 40
The Moleskin:
We had a great group of men this morning, I hope everyone got a decent workout and can feel it later today, decided not to do much running, since they were so many fast runners present this morning, and go heavy on the chesto instead.
Thank you Squid for taking us out.
Have a great week brothers,
Doc
YHC woke up this morning with the irresistible urge to #fartsack, but alas, I was on Q. However, that has not stopped me before. Eventually, I did wake up and slowly made my way through the motions and out the door. YHC arrived on site to find a lone motorcyclist had arrived, it was E-Harmony. He was blasting some Hendrix, which prompted me to sing along. It appeared that this would be another twofer, when another vehicle showed up that was unfamiliar to either of us. It had Georgia license plates and looked like a mint condition rental car. A dude got out of the car and approached us. He was wearing a F3 mudgear shirt. He introduced himself as homeboy. He was a traveler from Atlanta, here on business for Family Dollar. He actually, had been here before back in winter with some guys from Atlanta and Chicago. Enough with the pleasantries To the workout
Mosey around the parking lot
COP
SSH IC x 15
Windmills IC x 10
Imperial Walkers IC x 15
Hillbillies IC x 15
Arm Circles x 10 flapjack
The Thang
Suicides at the light poles
1st pole 5 merkins
2nd pole 10 CDDs
3rd pole 15 Diamond Merkins
Mosey to tables
Round 1
15 Derkins
15 Dips
15 Step Ups
Run to the third light pole and back
Monkey Humpers while waiting for the six
Round 2
20 Derkins
20 Dips
20 Step Ups
Run to the third light pole and back
Monkey Humpers while waiting for the six
Round 3
25 Derkins
25 Dips
25 Step Ups
Run to the third light pole and back
Monkey Humpers while waiting for the six
Mosey around to the bus lot covered area.
People’s Chair x 50
Balls to the wall
People’s Chair x 75
Balls to the wall
People’s Chair x 75
Balls to the wall
Mosey past the cop car to the next wall
People’s Chair x 100
Monkey Humpers x 25
Mosey to the playground
30 x Dips at the tables
20 x Alabama Asskickers at the Swings
10 x supine pull-ups
Lap around the playground
Rinse repeat till Q calls time
Mosey to the top of the hill
7s on the hill
Burpees at the top
Jump Squats at the bottom
Mosey to the Parking Lot
Mary
COT
Announcements:
Moleskine
Good push by those that were there today. #Kotters to Homeboy from Atlanta.
Lessons learned from today:
It’s an honor and a privilege as always. Bullwinkle out.
9 PAX answered the call this morning to help me in honoring my friend, Navy Seal Charles Keating IV, on the eve of the anniversary of his ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Warm-up:
Mosey around the parking lot, rounding up all PAX coming in on two wheels and continue down to the football field for COP.
Side straddle hop x 20 IC
Imperial walker x20 IC
Low slow squat x 20 IC
Mountain climber x 20 IC
Peter parker x 20 IC
Merkin x 20 IC
The Thang:
Century club burpee mile: 100 burpees, 4 laps around the track. Break them up however you want, most opted for 25 at each start of the lap. GO.
Flutter waiting on the six.
Line up abreast on the field, 20 sumo squats, bear crawl across the field, sprint back. 20 sumo squats, broad jump across the field, sprint back.
Dolly x20 IC, pistol crunches x20 IC.
Mosey to the Semi-Gloss’s office (I think it’s still his?), for people’s chair. Regular, right leg high, left leg high, regular.
Time for some Jack Webb: 1 donkey kick and 4 air presses, 2 donkey kicks and 8 air presses, etc. all the way to 10 donkey kicks.
Mosey (or sprint if you are Joker, the man has wheels) to the baseball field bleachers for 20 supines, 20 dips, and 20 lunges. Back up the stairs for 10 merkins, loop, rinse and repeat for 3x through.
FIN.
Moleskin:
Thankfully Dollywood sent me a text last night reminding me of my Q that was scheduled back in December. Otherwise it wasn’t on my radar. I was trying to figure out a way to honor my friend Charlie, and aside from having a couple cold ones, what better way than to share in some downPAINment with my F3 brothers. I genuinely appreciate all of the PAX today, the mile and 100 burpee combo was a tall order but the crew was up to the task. Charlie’s quote below is very applicable to the burpees I think. Thank you all for pushing through this one. I know when Rachel is struggling that it is indeed a beatdown.
Obviously the end of May is Memorial Day, but since 2016 the whole month of May has turned into Memorial Day for me and particularly my younger brother, who was best friends with Charlie. I know many of you have people in your life who have given their life in the military service. Try to incorporate the same courage and strength they exuded while in the line of duty in your day-to-day battles, to be a better spouse, brother, significant other, father, friend, co-worker, and community member. That is a way to truly recognize the personal sacrifices of veterans and active military alike.
Charlie lived that way every day, almost always with a huge goofy smile on his face and work hard, play harder attitude. Thank you CIV and Godspeed.
“Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. Moderation is for cowards.” – Charles Keating IV
Announcements:
A couple links on Charlie’s foundation that supports families of those that answer the call to service and the details of his fight:
https://www.charleshumphreykeatingivfoundation.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Keating_III#Charles_Keating_IV
12 pax showed up for an old school Hydra beatdown. Here is what happened.
Warmup
SSH x 20
Merkins x 10 IC
IW x 20
Widearm merkins x 10 IC
Low slow squat x 20
Diamond merkins x 10 IC
Mosey to bench under the big tree
10 one legged squats each leg
15 decline merkins
20 dips
3 sets of this
Mosey across the street to rock pile, partner up and grab a lifting rock
Partner 1 run while partner 2 does called exercise
Curls
Overhead press
Squats
Mosey to Windyrush, run down to Foxworth, stopping at each street light for 10 merkins
7’s on the hill with jump squats at the bottom and CDDs at the top
Mosey back to Rea with 10 Merkins at each street light
Stop at the wall for People’s Chair, with 50 arm raises.
AYG Back to launch, done.
Moleskin
It was great to get back to Hydra and see some old and new faces. Need to get back there more often. Great work by everyone. Thanks for letting me lead, always a pleasure. Can’t recall any mumble chatter, since it’s been almost a week and all.
Announcements – Beer Mile coming up. Check the website
Opening Qi Gong/Stretches
Neck
Shoulders
Spine
Hips
Knees
Ankles
Starting position/commencement
Energy ball – fluid movement
Upper Body
Arm work
Commencement
Single whip
Move hands like clouds
Lower Body
Tai Chi walk
Step
Lunge
Heel pivot
Lunge
Side Step x 3
Putting it all together!
Closing Qi Gong/stretch
Sacred Scrolls
I am not a professional and I am no Tai Chi expert, but I’ve always been curious about Tai Chi and have taken few class, including a leader workshop many years ago. This was my first time truly teaching Tai Chi. I really appreciate everyone’s willingness to try something new. I’m forever thankful for F3 and variety of workout options, especially Gumby.
If you are curious about more Tai Chi resources – here are two reputable organizations –
Saturday, April 28, 2018 was a gorgeous day for the seventh annual Sarcoma Stomp, hosted by the Paula Takacs Foundation for Sarcoma Research. Their mission is to raise funds that will directly benefit the fight to end sarcoma, by supporting local, innovative research to develop and offer cutting-edge treatment options to more sarcoma sufferers.
So many cancer patients, cancer survivors, and their families and friends were dressed in team colors – Team London, V4V (Victory 4 Virginia), The Tumornators, just to name a few. And in the middle of more than 1000 race participants was F3 and Speed For Need, providing locomotion for three young cancer fighters and Jamie, an inspiring survivor who beat sarcoma 36 years ago.
Pitino, Sir Topham Hat, and YHC had the privilege of driving Jamie, who was diagnosed with a rare form of Sarcoma at a young age and is one of the few who beat it and never looked back. She has been a part of the Sarcoma Stomp in the past but before today she had never participated in the race. Speed For Need made it possible for her to ride side-by-side with so many people impacted by Sarcoma and other cancers.
Then there was Mikayla, a young cancer fighter from Morganton, and her supporters, The Tumornators. Mikayla was laughing at Keith’s jokes for a while, but YHC noticed she was wearing iphone earbuds at one point during the race. Coincidence?
The positive electric energy radiating from Virginia Tanner and her V4V supporters, who came from Hickory to support her, was contagious. As a former cross-country runner, her being able to experience the thrill of a 5K with her friends and family was only surpassed by her determination to finish the race on her own 2 feet by pushing the racing chair across the line. Truly Inspiring.
Finally there was London, a 14 year old 7th grader at Carmel Middle. She planned to participate in the 3k walk with two of her schoolmates, but when she spotted a friend running the 5k, she quickly ordered Matlock to change course and start running the 5k course! The most special moment for the pax was seeing her face when she received her SFN medal. She was so excited and couldn’t wait to put it on. Later, she told Matlock that he deserved it more for doing all the pushing — she was so humble and thankful.
Inclusion is one of SFN’s primary missions. Last Saturday the men of F3 Nation answered a call to serve and came together to provide the means (the speed!) for these four ladies to participate in their race with their friends and family. It was a privilege to meet and run with these fighters who are engaged in the battle of their life, and to witness the love and support around them. I was proud to be a part of the SFN team today and I hope we inspired others to get in the fight to end cancer. Who pushes who?
Scabby