All Runners were accounted for today.
Some ran five others 3-4
Heck we even Prayed twice!
2nd F today at Pita Wheel in Belmont.
The Bed Pan is Full!
Page 57 of 917
4 PAX gathered on The Halfpipe to try and continue to recover from the past weekend’s events. 2 relayers and 2 halfers moseyed up and down from start to finish.
We did announcements, prayer requests, and Defib took us out in prayer.
Until next time…
6 PAX braved the nearly freezing temperatures and perhaps a little frost on the car in the morning to do some stretches, throw around some kettlebells, and even some work on the track at Bulldog this morning. It would’ve been 7 PAX if Hunchback would have been there. Here’s what I remember:
YHC got out of the car and yelled “One Minute”, and even then Nutria pulled in after that. Game on, but a little different today.
Warm Up Stretches:
A thorough stretch was called for after a Tesla beatdown at Life Line, so YHC obliged and put a round of stretching on the Weinke
- Front Bend
- Legs Crossed Side Bend L
- Legs Crossed Side Bend R
- Seated Back Twists L
- Seated Back Twists R
- Something where you put your feet together and try to bend forward but that didn’t work for any of us
- Some Tesla Stretches
- Ankle Circles in all directions
- Swinging Legs Forward
- Swinging Legs Sidewards
- Arm Circles Forward, Backwards, Large & Small
You really should have been there. But if you weren’t I’m sure there was a good reason.
Kettlebell Circuit (40 seconds AMRAP/15 seconds between):
- Halos (CW & CCW)
- One-handed Curl Presses (L & R)
- One-armed Bent Over Rows (L & R)
- Squeezes
- Tricep Extensions
- Kraken Burpees (no KB, but none needed)
And some Mary in Cadence:
- 15 x Toe Touches (IC)
- 15 x Flutter Kicks (IC)
- 15 x Penguins (IC)
Next to the track for a Modified Murph-ish partner routine:
- 1 Lap around the track
- 100 Combined Merkins
- 200 Combined Squats
- 300 Combined LBCs
- Completed in 5 synchronized sets of 10/20/30 with partners
- 1 Lap around the track
Nutria and Winehouse went out fast. Spiderman and Stagecoach were next. Tube and YHC mall walked. Q Fail as Tube and YHC ditched Nutria and Winehouse who were out to pick up the Six, because the Q knew we needed the time to get in another round. It’s cool, we counted off, and they caught up. If we would have had one more PAX, it would’ve been awkward though with there being odd numbers. Thank goodness we didn’t have one more PAX.
Repeato earlier work:
Kettlebell Circuit (40 seconds AMRAP/15 seconds between):
- Halos (CW & CCW)
- One-handed Curl Presses (L & R)
- One-armed Bent Over Rows (L & R)
- Squeezes
- Tricep Extensions
- Kraken Burpees (no KB, but none needed)
And finally, time left for some Mary in Cadence:
- 15 x Toe Touches (IC)
- 15 x Flutter Kicks (IC)
- 15 x Penguins (IC)
And that was time. Just how we drew it up. Anyone who missed it really missed out on a good one.
Announcements:
- Bulldog moving to Thursdays and Diablo Sammich moving to Tuesdays starting the first full week of March
- 2nd F Lunch – Pita Wheel in BELMONT Wednesday 2/21
- QSchool – 3/2 @ Gashouse
Prayer Requests:
- Turtleman
- Anchorman
Enjoyed it this morning, men. Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
Yabba Dabba Doo
I’m at The Storm this AM for my first time visit and Q at this locale. As I pull into the parking lot I see a large lively group ready for werk. I also noticed Slaw back from his recent trip to the Chapel Hill Burn Center courtesy of Def Leppard. Good job buddy way to get back up on that horse. Well it’s time to go. After a few quick introductions, my disclaimer, and The Pledge we were quickly at it. There were a lot of SSHs and Mike Tysons during the warmup. Along with these and a few other movements there was a good bit of Mumblechatter as well as zero attention paid to the instructions given during the warmup. That’s all good as I’m completely eat up with ADDDDHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHDDDDDD myself and go off the rails quite often too.
After we finished up the warmup we headed out to the lower entrance for a Tripple Nickel in the dark. Exercise selection was Jump Squats and Perfect Form HR Merkins. While here I caught a little more crap about how I avoided an entirely lit parking lot and chose to run where the lights were out. It was also said how someone should report this to someone who works for Duke Power. Ha ha ha good one. Well I’m a lineman and we do our best work in the dark. Plus most of you are 10s when your M turns the lights off anyway.
After the Nickel we got in a little recovery stretching before heading off to run a bunch of rounds of 4 Corners where we ran through several rounds of single exercise before stacking them all together for the final round.
- Rd. 1 – 10 Merkins each corner
- Rd. 2 – 20 Hillbilly Squats each corner
- Rd. 3 – 30 Seal Jacks each corner
- Rd. 4 – 40 Flutters each corner
- Rd. 5 – All Previous Work each corner
It was during this time that Dr. Suess became the source of everyone’s attention. Every time he got up from any exercise the chants started. No way Seuss! No Rep Seuss! He’s going because someone else is going again! All of this said as if to insinuate that Dr. Seuss would take off if he thought someone was ahead of him. I tell you I kinda like this saucy little crowd over here. They talked $h!t profusely, pushed hard the whole time, and kept on calling out some nonexistent PAX named CPAP. The entire dang workout his teammates cheered this fella on. He got cheers like that last poor Some Beech that crosses the finish lines at the Boston Marathon. CPAP you need to show up and earn your team them points for yours and your family’s sake. I fear your teammates may decide to do you some harm if you don’t show up soon.
Well it was getting close to that time so we made a mad dash back to the COT for Praise, Prayers, and Announcements. Once finished some of us headed for refreshments while others quickly scurried off about their Thanks for all the Trash Talk, Fellowship, and Hard Work Men.
Until Next Time
We started out with the a standard warm up of SSH, Moracin Night Clubs, Overhead claps, Sun gods, and gravel pickers.
(Stogie Took off on a ruck)
After that we partnered up and ran “catch me if you can style” up to the flag while one partner did 5 merkins.
Upon arrival at the flag, we said the pledge then started our first “thing”. This was a 5 round set of 20 mountain climbers, 20 Rocky Balboas, 10 jump squats, followed by a lap around the island.
After completing 5 rounds of the above we circled up under the awning for a mini Q school round of Mary for the benefit of “Band Camp” a young PAX who has been posting the last several days. We started with LBC’s and everyone had a chance to call a 10 count cadence of their favorite ab exercise, then we ended wit Band Camp calling a 10 count cadence of LBCs to finish, he counted them better than some veteran PAX!
We worked the clock with a set of dirty 11’s, starting with 10 merkins hitting a burpee in the center (each trip) and big boys on the other end.
That left us just enough time to get back to COT to wrap it up!
I am writing this BB by request of the Fake Run Club on behalf of the CSAUP in the for mentioned title all in accordance with Article 5 section 1 subsection b.
4 pax showed up to attempt the challenge: carry your body weight 1 mile in under 21 minutes. While several completed the distance none made the time. It wasn’t as physically hard as I thought it would be. The hardest part was how to carry it. This was uncomfortable no matter what you did. Join us next month as we do something else dumb.
Wayback on February 11th, I had the honor to Q the Coconut Horse. We had runners and ruckers getting some miles in for an unseasonably warm winter morning. Following the COT, we went inside for Q-Source which is in the “freestyle” period. As the Q I selected a topic that I struggle with at work which is Delegation. I have a team of 11 people that work directly for me that I can best describe to those outside my place of work that we are a triage unit for problem appraisals at the bank. When we have a unique property that doesn’t easily fit into the guidelines or our policy doesn’t quite cover it, out team searches for a solution. Additionally, when someone doesn’t like their appraisal (i.e. their value), we dig into it. While everyone has their responsibilities, I as the manager have to delegate various projects, tasks or strategy.
In case you’re interested, I’ll give a brief summary, otherwise, feel free to close this out of your browser.
Delegation in leadership not only helps get things done, but it also empowers employees by giving them greater autonomy. No leader can do all things at all times, and delegation is a key tool for boosting team and organizational performance and efficiency.
Key methods why you would delegate:
- Frees up time – manager focuses on the strategy (in F3 lingo – the “Next 43 feet”)
- Encourages Prioritization of Tasks
- Empowers Employees
- Supports New Skill Development
One method to consider in better prioritization (and time management) is to divide tasks into 4 quadrants:
- Quadrant I (Urgent and Important): You feel you are constantly putting out fires and operating in emergency mode. Most of the projects you are working on demand your immediate attention due to a pressing deadline.
- Quadrant II (Not Urgent and Important): You feel like you are on top of things because of careful planning, preparation and prevention. Apart from planning and preparation, you focus your time on high-leverage projects, new opportunities, learning and relationship building.
- Quadrant III (Urgent and Not Important): Most of your time is spent with activities that require your immediate attention but are not necessarily related to your top priorities. You spend a lot of time in un-important meetings, being interrupted and dealing with non-critical phone calls and emails. You feel as if you are constantly dealing with issues that are important to others but not related to your own priorities.
- Quadrant IV (Not Urgent and Not Important): You often feel like you are wasting your time. You spend a lot of time on busy work that is not directly related to your goals, social media, videos, games and pointless web surfing.
According to surveys – the best leaders spend 80% of their time in Quadrant II – Not Urgent but Important.
As always, we had a lively discussion with sharing of information among our group.
It was great to get back to the Sword!
Stogie, Wirenut, Pallbearer, and Flintstone rucked;
Runners Westside, Slaw, Gearwrench got a headstart; Radar, Alma Mater, and YHC left at about 5:07;), then later caught up..much to the dismay of Westside who tried a “Freight” maneuver on a surprised Seuss; Gearwrench acted a little offended when Radar seemed to mistake him for Sister Act..haha. Good camaraderie!
Announcements:
F2 Lunch- Wednesday at Belmont Pita Wheel
Q School-Gashouse on March 2
Requests:
Stogie-eye issues
Anchorman, Turtleman
Pax traveling back from Austin
Word:
Psalm 23: 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.
..whatever the valley, you are walking THROUGH it. Jesus is not up ahead asking for directions. He is not lost. He knows where He is leading you. He knows there is a way through it and out of it because that was His own experience of the valley; HE HAS BEEN THERE AHEAD OF YOU AND FOR YOU.” (David Gibson) An encouraging word for those who are followers of Christ.
Pallbearer took us out.
Seuss
YHC has run the D2D twice before and knows it sells out in an hour or two, so it was time to HC and get that registration. With no team in mind, I decided to volunteer my shieldlock to run it with me as a four-man team. Being that the Mortimer is early this year, a good relay three weeks before will help us BTF (Big tough frogman) up to get after it.
Going on one and half hours of broken sleep, YHC arrived at Boudin’s at 0245, ready to take the “elite” race vehicle to the start line in Lexington. SC. Whoopee had texted me that there were no lights on in Stroganoff’s house but not for long as they got to Boudin’s right on time as well. We drove down to Lexington with lots of great shieldlock type talk about the Prodigal Son and other lessons to learn along with many jokes per usual. We arrived at the start line FORTY-FIVE MINUTES early! GOOD…more time for Stroganoff to pee multiple times. Boudin got coffee.
It was cold and windy at the starting line, and we lollygagged around waiting for the start of the race. YHC had the first leg and we were off. The D2D is a pretty straightforward race. 100k from one dam to another, while running through mainly rural farmland and some sketchy areas, while stopping at small churches along the way for EZ’s and usually barely adequate bathrooms. This year the race raised over $45000 for the churches and various charities in the region. It is probably the best relay race around and it well worth the price of admission, especially if you do it with people you have a good time with. We certainly enjoyed it.
Started off at 0515. Four kills on leg one. Whoopee got a few more on Leg two. Got to see F3 Team F & B from Belmont made up of Tiger, Tesla, Orangeman, Breaker Breaker, a kid, and a couple ladies. Come on guys, you can’t put F3 in your team name if you are rolling with the ladies! There was some concern about Tesla not having lights, and his bib was upside down, (but not when he looked down at it.) They lost precious time at the EZ’s trying to sort it all out. There may have been some candor being thrown around, especially by Tiger or so I have been told.
Stroganoff had peed three times before his first run.
Along the way, we made jokes, laughed a lot, and gave Breaker Breaker lots of grief for drinking sub-par protein drinks. His weak stuff wasn’t even grass fed! Breaker is part of Team HRB and is used to this kind of candor. We discussed which Mortimer legs he wants to run this year and it seemed to me like he wants some more challenging legs this year!
After Stroganoff’s second run, his calves were twitching like a meth head going through WD’s. We looked down and said, “Good, you will be able to stretch them out on your next seven-mile leg”.
On our last runs, we all kept going strong. There was some worry that as we were waiting for Whoopee to come to his last EZ, we saw Breaker Breaker on his six catching up. Tiger mentioned that if Whoopee gets passed by Breaker, he will never live it down! That didn’t happen as Whoopee handed off to Stroganoff and went off to recover and change clothes.
We headed out to go to the last EZ and drove up on Stroganoff clicking off the miles. We offered him a can of Jocko GO but he waived us off, looking comfortable and running strong. When we got to the EZ and were waiting for him, we received a four-letter text message that starts with F. A picture of Midol was immediately texted back to him so he would have some encouragement. A conversation occurred regarding how Stroganoff was likely walking and costing us precious minutes instead of running…i.e., running for himself and not the team. Some talk occurred about how the perfect number for a shieldlock is three and not four, etc. Stroganoff “Beat the French” and ran into the finish with rather straight knees and cramping toes and Boudin left the EZ to run the Glory Leg and finish at the Dam at Lake Greenwood.
Stroganoff went off to change clothes in the car. When he emerged from the car his seat cover got stuck in his underwear and was hanging out the back of his shorts like Buford T Justice walking out of the diner with toilet paper stuck to his glasses. Without hesitation, Whoopee and YHC both said “Nice Ass” in unison. You had to be there but that was good stuff.
At the finish line, Breaker Breaker came to our car, and we pulled out some fine IPA’s and toasted to another great D2D race. We watched Boudin come in hot and we celebrated with cold fries, a burger, and a picture at the finish line. A quick pit stop at the porta jon’s and we were on our way home, arriving safely back to Boudin’s by about 5:15.
Along the way we ran or conversed with guys from F3 Lake Wylie, F3 Shelby, and F3 the Fort. I encourage you to get a team next year and make it happen. You can’t beat one day relay races and it makes me want to spearhead another 50-mile F3 Gastonia relay. Do you hear me Defib?!!!
The mumblechatter and laughs were outstanding and there was no slack given, and none expected. All of that carries over into life when you are having a tough day, you need someone to tell you to get over yourself. Check your Ego folks. Do hard things. We finished 13th in the Men’s Open category and 60th out of 110 teams. We didn’t win any pint glasses like 2020 but who cares.
YHC did not make the same mistake as last time and showed up at 5:15 for the 5:30 start at shark tank (which Cindy now takes credit for “making me a better man” or some such). Speaking of Cindy, he took every opportunity to mock Slaughter’s affinity for GrowRuck, which was in large part ignored. All in all we ran about 4.5 (forward and backward) miles with plenty of exercises and what felt like 4.5 miles of elevation change in the parking decks.