Never let History Repeat itself

Continuing the F3 Gastonia “redwood” tradition of Q’s at the Sandlot, YHC obliged for a history lesson. We had 14 show up, including Stinky Bird!  Great to see him making the drive back to his former home AO. In conducting research for this history lesson, YHC was reminded of “Martha’s House” being a Monday and Wednesday workout. Somewhere along the line, it became a thing for the site Q to rename the AO.  It was the “Dark Night”, it is the Labryinth, the Sandlot, and at some point it was called “Neverland”.  In hindsight, probably a terrible name as tell me which stranger you can EH and say, “join me in posting at Neverland”.  Probably not going to happen.  With that in mind, we said the Pledge and then immediately paid a 5 burpee price for the name Neverland and got it out of our system.  This was a small price to pay as it should be 2500 burpees.  The next time name changes should go through a Committee of Pax, sort of like getting your Mudgear shirt design approved before it is printed.

With that we moseyed to the medical office down the road for the warmup. We started with the original AO, the Gashouse, which began on 3-21-15. Three burpees, 21 Big Boy’s, and 15 Flutters. In the same fashion, we went through the dates of the next AO’s that were planted in chronological order. The Storm (5-26-15), Martha’s House (6-3-15), The Goat (6-11-15, Downtown (7-31-15), etc. We modified the exercises to 8 Count Bodybuilders instead of burpees and did LBC’s and squats at some point as well. We got to the Pub (12-22-16) which was the second running AO, and instead of exercises we ran in honor of Monk who planted to PUB and ran to the bottom of Gastone’s Hill to discuss CSAUP’s. We covered the many F3 Gastonia CSAUPS to include the Back Woods Brawl, the 50-mile relay(s), The “Climb”, the “Moron”, the Memorial Day Murphs, etc. We talked about the other CSAUP’s…the Yeti, the BRR, Bourbon Chase, Dam to Dam, and then the Mortimer 100. In honor of the Mortimer, we ran Gastone’s hill, while stopping at every other mailbox for 5 squats along the way. We returned to the bottom of the hill and then moseyed back to the medical office lot to finish the workout. Time was fleeting this morning. Whoopee and YHC discussed bringing this workout to a Saturday so we can do it justice with a full hour.
Next, we performed one set of exercises from each year I q’d a workout since I have been in F3. For some reason I couldn’t find any Backblasts for 2015 so we started in 2016 with a modified Colonel Trautman, followed by “3rd Base” from 2017…15 shoulder taps, 15 WW1’s, and 10 CDD’s. Then we skipped 2018 for some reason (mini chicken) and moved to a solo Dora (2019)..run…10 squats…20 LBC’s…30 flutters…run
(2020) EMOM Plank one minute
(2021) Captain’s Choice First PAX to 100 reps calls it….Moroccan nightclubs
(2022) Bunker…10 Lunges (running out of time here)
We moseyed back to start and that concluded the workout.

Announcements:  Amazon with his VQ this Wednesday at the Labryinth

Prayer requests:  EZ rider’s son and Uncle,

Praise:  Whoopee’s uncle being buried at sea in Florida

Moleskin:  Flintstone asked me to share what I remember in the early days of F3.  What came to mind was the original “Coffeerama” spot at Panera’s after the Saturday morning Gashouse workouts.  We always got the big table in the middle and I would always hit my head on the lights above.  Besides that, I remember being in awe that this was F3 thing was free.  That men from other regions would set up a website that was free.  We had a weaselshaker for F3Nation.  We had an App that you could put on your phone and look up other PAX.  It was awesome.  At coffeerama we discussed strategic growth and launching new AO’s.  We began sharing podcasts instead of listening to radio on morning commutes.   Stroganoff always had wisdom gleaned from the numerous books he would read.  Older Pax had advice to share with younger PAX and we learned from one another that whatever was going on in your life someone else had already faced it.

If you are reading this I encourage you to start participating in the best parts of F3 that you may have missed.  It is not the workouts.   It is the Whetstone, the Shieldlock, the Q-Source.  It is signing up for CSAUP’s and training for them.   It is bringing out the slip and slide when a tropical storm hits on a Saturday morning, or a 10 mile run earlier this year in the falling snow.  It is pushing yourself to be better and using your time more wisely to improve yourself so you can serve others, namely your M and your families better.  It is thinking less of yourself and more of the needs of others around you.

Probably one of my favorite things about F3 is that you don’t have to be First F Q or the Nantan to lead something.  You just need the idea, no matter how stupid, and then bring others along.  We have done some fantastic events in F3 Gastonia over the years, but the best part is the fellowship and routine that comes with being around better men than me.  Thank you for helping me become a better version of myself.  I am forever grateful.

Roscoe