SPEEDFORNEED IS JOINING THE LIGHT SHOW IN OUR REGION AND YOU SHOULD TOO!!

F3 Gastonia, Join your brothers from F3 Gastonia and F3 Nation for our 3^rd SPEEDFORNEED event of 2018. This event is one of the most unique events on the calendar and if you haven’t heard of McAdenville (Christmastown USA) then google it. McAdenville is known for their Christmas lights throughout the town. With that being said, imagine helping push one of eight chairs through the Christmas lights and bringing joy to each Track Commander. Even if you’re not planning on participating please consider coming out for the festivities and lights. We will need all the help and support during this SPEEDFORNEED event. If you’ve never heard of SPEEDFORNEED or Christmastown then watch this video from F3 Gastonia’s SPEEDFORNEED event last year at the Christmastown 5k 2017 SPEED FOR NEED Race #19 – ChristmasTown 5K – YouTube If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

• • RACE EVENT: Christmastown 5k
  • DATE: November 24, 2018 @ 6:00pm
  • WHO’S INVITED: F3 Nation PAX, their M’s and 2.0s (spectate & support or register to run)
  • REGISTRATION WEBSITE: ChristmasTown 5K | Gaston County Family YMCA
  • OTHER DETAILS: *More to come*
  • MEETING POINT: F3 Nation SPEEDFORNEED tent in front of the YMCA (look for the racing chairs!)
  • HOST F3 REGION: F3 Gastonia
  • DRIVERS: 8 drivers TBD
  • TRACK COMMANDER (TC): 8 Track Commanders TBD

When an organization doesn’t have a leader, it forces others to step up.  This was the point of me being late for the start of my Q today.  I hope the PAX all take that lesson to heart.

Okay maybe not.  I admit it was a Q-Fail.  GOOD

I heard a great podcast on sleep the other day.  One of the many things I learned was to not look at your phone or any light source until your alarm goes off.  I have a tendancy (most every night) to wake up sometime between 0100 and 0400 and look at my phone for the time, especially on days when I post to F3.  This morning I fought that urge the first time but then couldn’t take it and looked at my phone and behold!  It was 0530.  My mind immediately went to a picture of the many assembled PAX in the parking lot of the Pub wondering what to do and them scrambling off confused in multiple directions.  It also went to the fact that A. I would own up to being a slackard  B. They would be fine figuring out the route and C. Give me lots of grief for being a loser this morning.

From the Q-Source (Q1.1):  The HIM depends upon his Guardrails to continue Accelerating. The faster his Movement, the stronger they need to be. To get ready for the expected and be ready for the unexpected, the HIM gradually improves his Guardrails by forming Routines that allow for increasing action with decreasing thought. Because it is comprised of habits, a Routine does not require an active choice to perform. Over time, it becomes ingrained into the HIM’s daily rhythm such that it would require his active choice not to perform.

I set an alarm for 0555 and not 0455.  I set the wrong time.  I usually set two alarms.  The new routine is not looking at the clock.  I need to keep the guardrails!

Settled on that I went through my normal preparation about 15x faster than normal and raced out the door barefoot to get on the road.  It was raining.  GOOD

I arrived at the PUB to see lots of cars and a beautiful American Flag flying.  I knew JJ was there.  I put on my shoes and started running around the parking lot, not sure where to go at first.  I ran towards Hoffman and circled the McDonalds then back to the parking lot and then past the gas pumps.  I thought maybe the PAX would be doing the New Hope route so I ran down and after a mile or so I saw Sargento on his way back, and then Tool Time, and then Defib told me who was the six because I had to find the six.  Several runners later…..Monk, Whoopee,

I crossed New Hope and found the 6!  Wojo, ShortSale, and JJ were coming up the hill so I turned and ran with them back to start.  Everybody got 5 miles with the exception of YHC.  Perhaps some did EC?  I owe another 1.63 miles to complete the Pub route which I will make up tomorrow with an EC run from the Schiele to the Pavilion and back before and after the Pavilion workout tomorrow.  0500 at the Schiele if you want to join me.

We got back to the flag and YHC took a little grief for being late.  We did the Pledge of the Allegiance and the Name-O-Rama, Announcements,  and Prayer requests.

Announcements:     Burpees By the Lake.  Sign up, donate, help put something positive at Rankin Lake next Saturday

Prayer Requests are many:   Pray for Maddox Ritch

2.0’s and their struggles at school, driving, etc.

Sly in Afghanistan and ToolTime’s 2.0.  Marriages

Monk’s M on her new job.

Gastone’s MIL and his 2.0’s on the pending health crisis.  Pray for Gastone.

Thanks for giving me grief. Good.  It give me a chance to get better.  Also, T-Claps to Folsom’s twitter account for accountability!  Much respect!

Forge 9/26/18
Our story this week was an Old Testament man named Namaan who was a popular, respected battle hero but had a terrible skin disease called leprosy. The cliff notes version of the story is his wife’s servant girl said he should go to Israel and see a prophet who could heal him. He talked about this with his king and his king have him money and sent him on his way. The King of Israel got angry and thought this was a trick but the prophet Elisha sent for Namaan. When Namaam arrived at Elisha’s house, a messenger was sent out to Namaan and told him to wash seven times in the Jordan river and your flesh will be restored! Namaan got angry about this since the prophet didn’t even come out to greet him and he also complained about the dirty Jordan river! Namaan’s servants convinced him to do as the prophet said and as a result he was healed! Here are a few lessons from the story that we discussed:
1) God uses available, committed messengers. The servant girl was small, humble, obedient, insignificant to men and living in dire conditions but used her position for God’s message to an unwilling listener.
2) The Grace of God can’t be purchased. The king wanted to help by paying the King of Israel to help heal Namaan rather than relying on God’s healing through the prophet.
3) God is contantly at work to lead people to himself, no matter how dark their condition. Elisha says “Let him come to me” and this is a symbol of God’s love for all of us.
4) Pride can cause us to miss out on God’s blessings. Who can experience God’s grace? The humble. Who are the proud? Those who are indifferent to God’s plan. There are many verses on the destruction caused by pride.
5) Opinions can also cause us to miss God’s blessings. Verse 11 begins with “I thought” whereas following God’s plans as laid out in His Word is usually a pretty clear path to follow. Opinions shouldn’t take priority over God’s Word.
6) God has the power to change lives if we follow His commands. Just as Namaan stubbornly followed God’s plan, it healed him and changed his life. The same can apply to our lives and those we affect.

Questions We Discussed
1) Are we open to God’s message? Do we even remember what our preacher preaches or what our devotions are about?
2) Do we sometimes ignore certain people with God’s message because of their “condition”? Family members, angry people, people different from us.
3) Are we too proud? If we were sure God was telling us to do something seemingly ridiculous, would we do it? Are we humble enough to be open to God’s plan?
4) Do we let our “opinions” about God’s word cloud the message he is trying to send? My preacher friend said he often heard from people, “I know the Bible says this but…” Are we guilty of saying that or at least thinking it in some situations?
5) Do we really believe God still changes lives? Have we “given up” on certain people?

Thanks for the guys attending and hope to see you next week.

Well, as you all may know, YHC broke his leg about a year and a half ago. Since then, I’ve had some minor setbacks and complications. That being said, Folsom being relentless as they are, had a Twitter account setup for “MW’s Jacked Up Leg.” Moving along, i sold my F350 truck since I no longer needed it and bought my dads company truck. My dad has some medical issues which validate the need for a Handycap License plate. Now that the back drop has been set, let’s move along to the WO……….I roll into Folsom running a little behind which is not normal of myself. Rather than backing into a spot, I pulled straight in.(this is where I messed up). So, looks like we have a great group, so let’s get it started.

Pledge

13 PAX total on this episode of PrisonBreak. 12 ran while 1 mall walked. Montross is back at it slowly and on the mend. After a few miles and a bathroom break(myself), we finish up at start.

so…….as we circle up for some COT, Roadie feels the need to point out my afformentioned license plate. Which escalated into yet another continuation of the Leg saga. Therefore, that was the topic of discussion on GroupMe for quite a while.

Prayer requests lifted

YHC took us out in prayer.

Its an honor to be asked to be the Site Q of PrisonBreak. It has truly motivated me to get out there at least 1 more day to workout. Thanks to y’all Folsom PAX who continue to bust balls that pushes us to post and be accountable.

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

Just kidding, tophat doesn’t do them, but others want credit for being there. We worked out to some exercises he called out.

After 3 months on IR and crutches, I have learned 3 things. 1) That extra hour in the bed feels good. 2) I would rather get up in the morning and do rock pushing thangs with my rock pushing friends. 3) All that hard work goes away quick when you stop posting. So I’m out of shape (my first real post in 3 months was Saturday at Painlab), I’m still having some pain in my hip from a torn labrum, and I started rehab less than a week ago…..I was planning to let Sparky pick up the Q this morning (he had told me he would last week if I needed him to).

So he texts yesterday a simple message: “Are you good with the Q tomorrow?”. I almost replied asking him to do it for me. I’m not ready. I’m out of shape. I’m not sure if I can do it yet. I had my reply all typed out but before I hit send, I thought “What would the Chief do?” We joke around about it but I’m serious. I’m thinking what better way for the Assistant Chief to set that rock pushing example than to Q on his 2nd post? I felt I needed to challenge myself to. Can Montross bring a Painlab-style beatdown despite not being in shape and able to run? Damn right I can! I immediately erased that reply and told Sparky I had it, bring blocks. I scrambled to put together a weinke unlike any other I have done before. I was going to set it up to push as hard as I could and let the team pull us through to the end of the workout.

I arrive a little early to have time to stretch and I see a few vehicles and some early birds getting in some running. Volt was running through the park and Hacksaw took off just before 5:30…both guys have to cut out early to get to work. I respect that! Many familiar faces in Folsom this morning though a few did not make it. There is a fng named Chris Gattis (maybe I spelled that right) who was recruited by Stepdown. He just showed up this morning. Nice guy, in the Guard, military background, works with boxes…welcome. The Chief pulls in about 5:29 bumping Wu-Tang. I’m feelin’ it. I let him know we have a FNG and he spins in circles celebrating. Quick disclaimer – I’m not a professional….yada yada yada. Let’s go.

Warmarama:

SSH – 10 IC (noticed I was going a little slow so I picked up the pace at the end)
Props to the FNG…he knows how to count along.
Def Leppard Merkins (aka CDDs) – 10 (a little Q counting fail here….there’s more, don’t worry)
Monkey Humpers – 10 IC (yet another Q fail…IC didn’t work well)
Did something else here….I made it up on the spot and don’t remember.

Pledge….how appropriate Huck still has the Painlab shovel flag. I’m so glad he had it though…I was not trying to run to the flag pole today.

Grab a block and let’s go to the tennis courts. I turn on the boom-box – nothing but 90s rock today guys.

With the Burpeethon coming up, I felt it would be a good idea to go through the burpee in detail to make sure everyone had a good grasp of this wonderful exercise. Some say it is the most complete full-body exercise you can do.

10 Burpees OYO – I figure a little pre-test is a great way to evaluate everyone’s burpee efficiency.

10 to 1 Deconstructed Burpees – the best way to hone your skills is breaking down a problem task by task and practicing those tasks. So we broke the burpee down and we practiced it. (thanks Huck for helping me get the flow together…I needed some practice too)

10 Reverse Burpees OYO – A few guys from Snowbird got the joke when I said “now I’m gonna put my thang down, flip it, and reverse it”. The reverse burpee threw a few Pax for a loop…but it’s basically just a burpee with a jump and clap at the beginning.

Super Mike Tysons 10 to 1 – Now for the advanced section. There were MANY selections to choose from. Slaw and Oompa gave me some suggestions on Group Me but I ended up with my own little variation – Super Mike Tysons. I have called them a few times. What are they? For 10 Super Mike Tysons, you do 10 Mike Tysons and 10 Burpees. I fully intended to Omaha to leave time for the next exercise but I believe the whole group was about to fall out after the second set. We ended up going 10 to 9…maybe next time. Recover! I go grab Huck’s deck of cards for the next part. This is the part I planned to have the Pax help pull me through to the end.

Let’s play Blackjack. We split into 2 teams, Huck and I are captains. We play a hand of blackjack, each team completes all the exercises on their hand. However the team who loses the most hands also gets 5 blockees at the end. We played a few hands, we did a lot of exercises but it was kinda hard to keep up with in the dark. At that point, I just started pulling cards from the deck. We did Merkins, we did lunges, we did all kinds of stuff. I decided we’d all do 5 blockees because it just wouldn’t be right to sit there and watch our brothers do blockees alone. Done.

We have 7 minutes left so we circle up for a round of Mary. I called 25 LBCs (also had another Q fail which Sparky gave me a hard time about….everyone called me Gomer). So, I call Sparky next and 10 burpees he says. Crap! We do them. I call Hank – 10 Blockees. Crap, Crap! I call on Allen Tate – 10 Blockees. WTF! We do them…well, we try…I was just controlling my fall at that point. I think that was all. Hell I don’t know at this point, I was about to lose consciousness! Time!!!!!!!!

COT: Prayers for BP’s church, our families, our kids, Maddox (the young man ‘lost’ at Rankin Lake), his family, and those searching/investigating, and those affected by and supporting recovery from the floods after Florence. YHC prayed us out.

Oh yeah, and we named our FNG Clubhouse. Let me tell ya, he was ALMOST Sleeping Beauty. He answered the ‘favorite Disney princess’ question. However, we didn’t rush it…the Chief said we should ask a few more questions just to be sure. Turns out Chris works for a company that builds boxes. Now you know Folsom loves the Friday movies with a passion! Chief says ‘What you stealing boxes for, you trying to build a clubhouse.” If you know Friday, you know that line! Clubhouse it is.

Moleskin: Thanks for the opportunity and the push. I tried my best to stay connected while I was injured but it was tough not getting out there and posting with you all. Through Twitter, Slack, Group Me and breakfast each Saturday, you guys kept me motivated and itching to come back. I’m out of shape again right now, but I can tell it’s not as bad as it was when I started. All that work wasn’t for nothing. I’m going to try to balance working hard and rehabbing and I fully expect to be back to where I was in May pre-injury sooner than later. I do still have the torn labrum but it didn’t seem serious according to the doctor. Hopefully it’s something I can manage and I won’t need surgery down the road. Looking forward to seeing all of you guys in the Gloom soon!