Author: Michael King (Page 4 of 4)

 

An impactful night like we had serving with Rice N Beans certainly deserves a backblast, and from what I saw, the 16 HIMs and one M  were the ones who were impacted the most.  We went to serve hot meals to the hungry, we went to cloth those about to spend a night outside in 20-degree weather, and we went to share God’s love with those who needed to hear it the most…….and what ended up happening was that we were changed in the process.  Changed with a better understanding of the struggles these men and women face, a better understanding of how blessed we are, and a better understanding of our calling to serve our fellow man.

1 Peter 4:10 “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

Thank you for giving of yourselves and being a part of this incredible night.

~Anchorman

Thankful for the men who joined me this morning at The Yank for my birthday Q! It was important for me to Q today, not just because it was my birthday, but because of what hitting 53 meant to me. More on that later.

Pledge and Mosey to side street. Lunge/High Knee/Butt Kicks/Toy Soldier/Inch Worms Circled up for more….SSH, Moroccan Nightclubs, and since we were so close to the train tracks, why not do 5 burpees. Telsa came to a very true revelation that offering up voluntary burpees early in the workout and so close to the tracks eliminates any trains from coming through for the next hour. It worked!

4 Corners (10, 10/20, 10/20/30, 10/20/30/40 …up and back down) alternate with bear crawls and crab walk in between each corner. Omaha’d to lunges on the way back through. With one corner to go, Buckeye found us and joined up with the PAX. Just in time to give us an even number for the next round.

10 American Hammers

20 Calf Raises

30 Monkey Humpers

40 Flutter Kick

Mosey to Stowe Park and partner up for Dora 1,2,3,4 with the run being up the stairs. Orangeman pointed out that the timing was perfect as each run up the stairs gave us a great view of a brilliant sunrise. We commented on how blessed we were to be able to do this. I think Virus may have been running too quickly to enjoy the view though!

100 Merkins

200 Plank Jacks

300 LBC

400 Squats

Mosey to the pavilion for 11s

Dips

Bobby Hurley’s

Quick trip up to the Field of Dreams for Triple Nickel . Heard a couple more groans from the PAX when this round was announce, music to the Q’s ears.

Speed Skaters

Run across the field

Wide hand Merkins

Thought we might not have time, so I was going to cut it short but YHC didn’t want to disappoint Norwood so we finished the last round as part of the mosey back to the Yank. Nice work by all including some EC beforehand by Dr. Seuss and Breaker Breaker. Gold Digger also did an early run, but couldn’t stay for the workout……good to see him as well. Reminded PAX about Rice N Beans on January 29th, we have a few more slots left.

YHC shared why this birthday was important for me to Q. When I was 23 years old, my Dad was diagnosed with Leukemia. He fought it hard but was very sick for 9 months and just after he turned 53, the disease took his life. Here I am now at that same age thinking about how much more I want to do in my life and how much was taken away from my Dad and our family when he was taken too soon. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wish I had just a little more time with my incredible Dad. If your father is still with us, please give him a call today or go grab a beer together. Spend a little extra time with your kids if you have them. If your father is no longer with us, he will be in my prayers today as I imagine what it will be like when we are all back together again in the Kingdom of Heaven.

We ended with some prayer requests. Breaker Breakers family with health issues, Tesla’s son, Buckeye’s cousin diagnosed with stage 2 cancer, F3 Money (77 yrs old) diagnosed with Lymphoma, and of course for sons and fathers everywhere. Thank you brothers for helping me honor my Dad today…..he would have loved this entire F3 Gastonia PAX as much as I do.

Opportunity To Serve

Literally, we get to serve dinner to the homeless on the streets of Charlotte. My M and I got involved with a group called Rice N Beans last November and it changed us, so now it’s time to bring a group of F3 HIMs down to help for one night. By giving just a couple hours of your night you can truly make a difference and have some fellowship with your brothers. So, Tuesday January 29th 6:45pm to 8:30pm, we can meet locally at 6:15pm and clown car down together. I’m looking for commitment from 1-20 of you. Check them out and let me know if you are in so I can give them a head count in a week.

https://www.ricenbeans.org/

We dedicated today’s workout to our F3 Louisville brother Double Down who is in the hospital today for surgery.  We even themed the workout after him by doubling of the exercise counts on our 4 corners of ACES.  Here’s how it went down.

Warmup
Smurf Jacks IC (20)
Wave of Merkins (10)
Goofballs IC (20)

Mosey to the circle
Dan Taylor (1 squat, 4 lunges. 2/8, 3/12, 4/16, 5/20, 6/24, 7/28, 8,32, 9/36, 10/40)

Mosey to 4 Corners
Aces-Double Down x10, x20, x20

A
American Hammer
Merkin
Calf Raise

C
CCD
Burpee
Moroccan Nightclub

E
E2K (aka Oblique Crunch)
Seal Jack
Bobby Hurley

S
Squat
WWI Sit-up
Monkey Humper

Tested a new Olympic Exhibition Sport – Crab vs Bear Soccer.  A narrow 2-1 victory by the odd team.

Announcements:  Christmas party (need tables, chairs, and outside heaters), keep an eye out for info on how to donate toys to Operation Sweet Tooth.

Prayers: Orangeman praise for daughter’s wedding and prayers for wisdom and strength to make some tough choices.  Tesla’s friend (& family) who lost his son in a car accident last week.

Name-o-rama and we named our new F3 Brother-Storm.

Dr. Seuss took us out in prayer.

Great day to be out there with my F3 Brothers, the best way to start any day.

As we gathered today at The Goat, small talk led to some wondering if it was going to rain on our workout.  YHC quickly said, naw, not until maybe 6:00 am. We’ll be fine. OK, it’s 5:30 am and we started with the pledge and then some noticed a sensation of being wet, so I guess for them the pledge was pretty strenuous because they were already “sweating”.

 

Warm-up

Goofballs

Toy Soldiers

Walk out plank (10 OYO)

Squats

Arm circles (F & R)

By the time we finished the warm-up, everyone was soaking wet.  Hmmm, I didn’t think the warm-up was that hard. Oh well, “Last Man Up” run to the top of the stairs.

 

Pyramid 16/8/4/2/4/8/16 (x2)

16-Gumby Jacks

8-Mountain Climbers

4-Burpees

2-Clock Mercans

4-Burpees

8-Mountain Climbers

16-Gumby Jacks

It appears that the ground was a little damp.  “Last Man Up” run to the basketball court.

 

Basketball court

Partner up

A=Suicide runs on the court (3x normal, 3x side shuffle)

B=LBCs, American Hammers, leg raises

At this point everyone was soaking wet…..must have been my hard workout.  I guess some of my sweat got on my phone screen and accidentally deleted my winkie.  Waterproof phones keep them from being ruined but it doesn’t mean the touchscreen will function with water all over it.  Fortunately, I did this whole workout OYO on Monday since this was my VQ and I wanted to make sure it timed out right. Good thing I did, because the rest of my Q was based on memory.

Run to the train bridge as fast as you can and then loop back to get the 6.  Repeat to the Goat Island bridge.

As I predicted, at 6:00am it was raining.

 

Bridge

Perfect time for a train to come through…..5 burpees.

Partner up

A=Single leg squats (R/L)

B=Bear crawl halfway, Crab walk halfway

 

Pavillion

Partner up

A=Zombie Walk w/twist

B=Dips, Inclined Mercans

 

Fellowship mosey across the slippery wood bridge. This workout was about being a part of a team and a partner to your F3 brothers.  Since moving to Belmont 7 months ago, and starting with F3 shortly thereafter, the fellowship and regular workouts with this group have been extremely important to me, so thank you, brothers, for showing up week in and week out.   Announcements; Burpee-thon (not all burpees, feel free to donate just for the shirt), Christmas lights 5K. Prayer request for Maddox Ritch. Dr. Suess took us out in prayer.

 

Thank you again brothers,

Anchorman

Great turnout for the Stop Soldier Suicide 5K/10K, including over 20 PAX and two very special Speed For Need riders, Frank Polito (94) Army &  Spencer Anderson (83) Army.   Frank made it clear to Tool Time from the very beginning, “I want to win this time!” or maybe it was more like “We WILL win this time, right Tool Time!”  Tool Time didn’t disappoint as he crushed the 5K in a time that most of us couldn’t even come close to without pushing a chair.  Team Spencer was a close second and the smiles on both these Vets faces were priceless.

The remainder of the PAX inadvertently lined up for the start of the 10K, although most of them only planned on doing the 5K.  No worries, these guys are F3 men and they handled this Omaha even though they didn’t realize what had happened until it was too late.   All finished with a smile and with the support of the PAX cheering them across the finish line.  We wrapped up the day in a circle doing 22 push-ups for the soldiers we were racing for today.

Sometimes pictures can tell more of the story than any written word, so check these out and be sure to notice some of those smiles, especially from Frank, Spencer, and Pizza Man’s  2.0.  Thank you Pizza Man for your help and guidance Q’ing my first SFN race!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/c7Bckbm91Gb5A6ASA

 

SPEEDFORNEED IS COMING BACK TO OUR REGION!!

F3 Gastonia, I was lucky enough to be involved with a recent SPEEDFORNEED event and now I’m hooked on being a part of the good work they are doing!!  Now it’s your opportunity to join us for an event right here within F3 Gastonia!  Join your brothers from F3 Gastonia and F3 Nation for our 2nd SPEEDFORNEED event of 2018.  If you’ve never heard of SPEEDFORNEED, watch this video from F3 Gastonia’s Community Foundation Event earlier in the year.  2018 – Speed For Need – Gastonia Community Foundation Run .  If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

 

• RACE EVENT: Stop Soldier Suicide 5k/10k
• DATE: September 22, 2018 @ 7:00am
• WHO’S INVITED: F3 Nation PAX, their M’s and 2.0s (spectate & support or register to run)
• REGISTRATION WEBSITE: Stop Soldier Suicide 10k/5k Tickets, Sat, Sep 22, 2018 at 7:00 AM | Eventbrite
• OTHER DETAILS: Use Discount Code : HAPPY
• MEETING POINT:F3 Nation SPEEDFORNEED tent (look for the racing chairs!)
• HOST F3 REGION: F3 Gastonia
• DRIVERS:ToolTime, Defib, 2-TBD
• TRACK COMMANDER (TC):4 VETS!
  • Frank Polito (94) Army
  • Dwayne “Buzz” Benson (84) Air Force
  • Spencer Anderson (83) Army
  • Margaret Craven (95) Army