Bad 2020 Pun Title Goes Here

What’s up F3 South Wake! So a few months back I had the honor of being nominated within the leadership team to fill Deadbolt’s shoes as our next Nantan. (For those unaware, the lexicon defines Nantan as “A cultural/spiritual Leader within a Starfish-modelled Organization who Influences through VAPE.” VAPE is defined as “Acronym for the four F3 Leadership Skills: Vision, Articulation, Persuasion, and Exhortation.” Honestly I had zero expectations of being selected to be our Nantan but I am honored for the opportunity and can’t wait to see what 2020 holds in store. That all being said – these are my ramblings about how I envision us moving forward into the 2020 year as a region. As always, we are at our core Freed to Lead. There is no requirement that anyone, even an FNG, listen to what I (or the rest of your leadership team) have to say here or anywhere else, but after a lot of reflection and consultation with numerous pax at our core I believe it is a good objective list for the 2020 year and beyond!

 

Speaking of leadership team, I’d like to highlight who we have stepping down, stepping up, and staying the same for now. It may look like slightly organized chaos (and well you wouldn’t be wrong) but we discussed after having the entire team start anew at the same time in 2019 that we would like to have some continuity when team changes happen, so we’re staggering our swaps moving forward.

 

  • Nantan (see above) – Deadbolt is stepping down 2.5 years of official leadership (and many more before he got titled) after helping our region get established as its own thing. If you like this F3 South Wake thing then give DB some love next time you see him. Respect
  • 1st F Q (fitness – all that fitness stuff that we like so much) – YHC (Your Humble Coordinator, that’s me) is stepping out of this role. Banana Seat, the original form king, will be stepping in. BS has already lead Q school, yelled at people about form, encouraged usage of the Q sheet, reminded site Q’s of what they’re supposed to do, and yelled at more people about form. Don’t Q 10,000 merkins or expect to hear from him.
  • 2nd F Q (fellowship – delicious delicious coffee, donuts, movies, games, and all the other ways you spend  time with your F3 brothers when you aren’t sweating) – Emeril is stepping down (and in high style after a fantastic Christmas party!) and Dawgpound is taking the reins. There’s already some great conversations happening around even more ways you can hang out outside of the gloom – keep your eyes, ears, and taste buds ready.
  • 3rd F Q (faith – that dynamite!) – Slide Rule is kinda in between. Something about a baby. Don’t worry though, I hear swype text input is a thing for Slack between burps and diaper changes. This guy was the defacto 3rd F Q for a long time before putting the title next to his name and he definitely has kept us accelerating. Our own wonderfully named U.T.I. is taking up the mantle moving forward and already has big things planned. He even brought a powerpoint to our first meeting – the apple clearly hasn’t fallen far from the tree ;P
  • Weasel Shaker (the guy who keeps us doing what we say we do and not what we say we’re not) – Skidmark is staying in this role for another 6 months. If you haven’t been yelled at for not doing a back blast, running without lights on, or any other myriad of things then you must be steering clear of our Weasel Shaker. Skidmark also does a ton of behind the scenes work in keeping an eye on workout numbers and culture across the board so that we grow smart and controlled.
  • Coms – Gump is stepping down after doing an absolutely amazing job of building a coms team for everything from website design to Q sheet input all while keeping our Slack and Facebook habits communications flowing smoothly. 16-bit will be stepping in and already has some ideas about how we can get even more phone notifications communicate even better with our F3 brothers.

 

Give these guys some love when you see them in the gloom – they’ve all sacrificed some evenings (and lots of text messages) to keep F3 South Wake churning along. They’re also fantastic resources within our pax and I would highly encourage you talk to any/all of us about anything you believe we should do more/less/better/different.

 

That all being said – here are my musings about what the future holds in store for us. All for your reading pleasure!

 

~ Pikachu

 

Wow. What a year 2019 was. We became a region thanks to Deadbolt’s continued leadership. We established our first leadership team. Slack is Back. Lots of new AOs. Numerous first time half and full marathons. Q-Source and 3rd F for really the first time in our region’s history. More coffee (and poops thanks to Lipstick) then we can count. Q Swap with our Carpex brothers. Another Long Ass Run. Wrightsville. BRR. Holly Springs Half and flag runs up the ramp. 3rd annual Frosty CSAUP, annual Christmas party, Oakwood24, Throwback AO Week, and it looks like 11 pax that will complete the accomplishment of setting a goal and tracking their workouts throughout the year. Way to be men!

 

Plant

 

For the first time in the past two years we have grown enough in number of AOs that we are not averaging 20+ at any given AO (not to be confused with Any Given Sunday). This has been great organic growth from pax members stepping up to plant new AOs (too many to list) with new and unique offerings all over the place (Kettlebells have become all the rage, Sheepdog offers something you can’t get anywhere else, running continues to be popular) and some rivalries developing (looking at you R4TJ and TBD). We should continue to closely monitor workout numbers to keep our numbers closer to the F3 target of 8 – 15 to allow proper community building and accountability.

 

We have also (deservingly so) gained a reputation as a running region. While this is great for pax like YHC who love to run and are always seeking more miles, we have at times treaded on the line of Open to All Men. We must strive to plant workouts that are intentionally (and consistently) low/no running. 5-Onnit has filled this to a degree, but I envision multiple, permanent options that establishes this side of our community and allows pax that are committed to the no/low running life (or are starting their Fitness journey and need to start there) somewhere to accelerate as well. T-Claps to Forceps for the excellent work on this front with Groundpounder.

 

Grow

 

We should strive to continue to grow within our community. Our 1st F will continue to draw new men in, but we should continue to find new ways to get our name out there and make all of South Wake (not just Holly Springs!) aware of F3. FiA did a great job of outreach at Holly Springs Half Marathon – we should find some active outreach activities of our own to do. We have done events with Hope Community church in the past – I’m sure we can find at least 4 events throughout the year to staff to spread the word about F3. If F3 means as much to all of us as we frequently say it does then we should have no qualms getting 4-5 guys together to spread the word at a few events!

 

We must also continue to have our pax grow accelerate in all aspects of their lives. We do a great job of pushing each other to accelerate in their Fitness (lots of great half and full marathon testimonies out there) but do we meet our full potential outside of fitness? Are we creating community(ies) outside of workouts? Shield locks? Serving together? Slide Rule continues to accelerate us here, and the January Shield Lock challenge is a fantastic start. We’ve seen many of these groups be organically created over the past years – let’s be just a bit more intentional with them moving forward. It doesn’t have to be awkward or forced, just purposeful and value added.

 

Serve

 

2019 will go down in the history books as the year that we gained a 3rd F for the first time. We might not be where Slide Rule wants us to be (guy has high standards!), but we should recognize that we have improved a ton and have grown so much as a region. T-Claps! 2020 should be the year that we continue to serve and be active within our community – we are, and always will be, Freed to Lead, but I envision us selecting the key (and popular) partnerships from our 2019 Breathtaker campaign (Healing Transitions, Meg’s Smile, Food Pantry, A Cure In Sight, etc) and doubling down our efforts (and thus impact) on these organizations.

 

I would also like to see us serve the pax of our region further through internal 3rd F opportunities. Q-Source was again a huge step up for us as a region, but the nationwide effort ends with the 2019 calendar year and we need to move on to something else. The Garner area pax have a great study that meets weekly on Thursdays at 0545 at the Banks Road Sheetz. I would like to see an option or two pop up around our Holly Springs/Fuquay pax – remember it doesn’t have to be Christian focused (and ideally all of our options shouldn’t be). There are some rumblings of new opportunities – I look forward to what our region plants in the 2020 year!

 

So there you have it. Let’s go enjoy our holidays and if you’re in town get after it with those throwback AO mini-convergences. 

 

See You in the Gloom!

 

~ Pikachu

December Fitness Test

YHC is still on IR and had a fun but rough weekend on the town.  That combined made me the master of ceremonies but not the master of anything fitness related.

The numbers continue to be a challenge at good ole PC.  Even the fitness test wasn’t enough to challenge the growing appeal of Downtown Train.

FNG: No

Warm Up: Windmills, SSH, Frankensteins

The Workout:

Paradise City Fitness Test: All must be done in order. Each rep is .01 points. Each lap is also .01 points.

15 Burpees
1 Lap
20 Merkins
1 Lap
20 Squats (as close to parallel as you can get)
1 Lap
20 WW II (Non Cadence)
1 Lap
20 Scorpion Dry Docks
1 Lap

1 Lap will be around 2 parking medians.  We left the basketball court and made a left.
Then down past the cars and made a right.  Ran past one aisle then the next aisle turned
right up past the median then right and ran back to the basketball court.

Mary: She doesn’t like Paradise City anymore either.

Announcements:. Oakwood 24

T-Claps (Recognition):. Fanny Pack.  He left the workout with a Lipstick-esque urgency but returned to keep working through the circuit.

Prayer: Silence, YHC took us out

Monday mutiny

FNGs:none
Warm Up:SSH, imperial walkers, SSH, hillbillies, SSH, mountain climbers, leg stretch he’s, arm stretches, fazio arm circles
The Workout:Fedex led 4 pax while 4 stayed at red October. 10- hot potato IC, 10-around the body IC, 10-Figure 8 IC, 10 Swings, 10-triceps IC, 20 -presses, 10- standing be rows and 10- bent over rows. 10- tricep rows. 10-go let squats, 10- each side suitcase deadlifts, 10- each leg single leg deadlifts, 10-squat curls IC. 10-sit-up press, 10- merkin/squat /curl combos, 10 American hammers, 10 side bends.  Rinse and repeat
Mary: derkins, irkins , LSF, LBCs, homer to marge, pickle pounders
Announcements: shield lock, throw back week next week. Possum trot closed Christmas unless a volunteer to q. Oak wood 24 donations and auction
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer: injured pax, Fumunga, unspoken.

Who picked this route?

FNGs: None

Warm Up:     Light jog to the back end of the parking lot, butt kickers back. Switched to Carioca L\R, R\L back to other end of the lot. Frankensteins with a set of Lunge Walks and circled up for Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies, Fazio Arm Circles IC all with a 12 count. Michael Phelps to close out the warm up.

The Workout:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary: Ran out of time today.

Announcements: Check Slack and Facebook

T-Claps (Recognition): PAX that showed up this chilly morning for some miles.

Prayer:  Oboe’s Father in Law, unspoken

YHC took us out. Always an honor to lead.

Wet Starsky at U-Turn

FNGs:

None today
Warm Up:

SSH x10

Warm up lap around parking lot

Good morning x10

Warm up lap of kareokees
The Workout:

Standard 5 mile loop with a 2 mile out and back option
Mary:

Missing today
Announcements:

Christmas party. U-Turn moves to Panera in 2020.
T-Claps (Recognition):

Everyone who posted on this rainy morning.
U.T.I. with the Starsky – per the lexicon that’s fartsacking the workout but showing up for coffeeteria. Must say I hadn’t heard this term before – thanks Slide Rule.

Prayer:

Wallaby. Crab legs.

F3 365

2019 was the first year that YHC has tracked workouts consisently. Early in the year the goal was F3 250 (250 workouts throughout the year – half marathons count as 1, marathons count as 2, 4+ hour CSAUPs count as 4, black ops runs with F3 brothers also count, nothing else does though) but fairly early on I gave myself an additional stretch goal of F3 365. I’m fortunate enough to have lots of time to work out based on where I’m at in life, and double downs could be a freuent occurence on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The only concern was work travel – a long trip to Europe in the spring put me behind early and I didn’t really catch back up until sometime over the summer. It was in the fall that I became confident that I would hit the goal, but I didn’t actually verbalize it to anyone outside of my M until sometime in the past week.

It made for a heck of a year. The biggest thing I’ll say is that we have a ton of amazing pax down here in South Wake – if you’re one of them then thank you for an awesome year. If you haven’t been out to some of the more niche AOs (looking at you Tea Time, Thunder, and Ground Pounder) then I would highly recommend it – not all of the fun happens at 0530 on a weekday morning!

I don’t know what my goals will be for 2020, but I know that repeating this will not be one of them. I’m sure I’ll come up with something stupid though.

Based on all of that – I elected to Q Cletus knowing that I would be really close to 365 (ended up being 364 because of a fart sack at Paradise City that I got so excellently called out for) but we were still committed to 365 reps for the workout.

FNGs: None today
Warm Up:

SSH x10

Half lap over to old Ivan lot

The Workout:

Rep count = 10

 

Four corners on soccer field

 

At each corner – 5x double merkin burpees

10x Turkish getups

10x Breakdancers

10x Star jumps

When passing pull-up bars – 10x pull ups

 

After lap 1 rep count = 160

 

Between laps we did 10x IC balls to the wall at the amphitheater. We also modified the 2nd lap swapping out star jumps for merkins for the sake of Shamwow’s ankle.

 

After 2nd lap rep count = 320

 

Mosey back to tennis courts, line up on near line. Bear crawl across, crawl bear back, with exercises at each end:

 

Breakdancer x10

Diamond Merkin x10

Scorpion dry dock x10

LBC x10

 

Rep count = 360

Mary:

5 double merkin burpees OYO to get us to 365 reps total
Announcements:

Christmas party
T-Claps (Recognition):

Hardy – no way I would’ve been getting after it at 5 something in the morning at his age.
Prayer:

Wallaby. Holiday season. Oboe’s father in law.

Sheepdog 12/13/19

FNGs: none
Warm Up: Gump had our warm up with some of our F3 favorites
The Workout: mosied to the circle at the front of the school for some erkins, derkins, striking, and wedging. Mosied to the side for some stations. One pax set the pace by running from end to end, under the overhang, while the remaining pax cycled through weighted squats/lunges, lateral pulls and buss-drivers (25lb dumbbell), striking/blocking, burpees and no-hand merkin burpees.
Mary: LSF, Fertilizers, crab cakes, and capoeira push-ups.
Announcements: F3 Christmas Party
T-Claps (Recognition): Beater showing up for early EC. Also EC, Mr. Terrific, Dovetail, Shredder.
Prayer: a lot of people dealing with health issues, loss, etc.

The sun did not shine…


FNGs
: None
Warm Up: SSH, Sir Fazio Arm Circles, Overhead Claps, Imperial Walkers
The Workout: The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play….so we did lots of reps of difficult exercises that cold cold wet day.

Unfortunately the weather had me handcuffed with respect to exercises this Q. So kept us out of the grass today. Full disclosure: going in I had no idea what we were going to be doing as this was also mostly an unfamiliar AO for me. That being the situation, probably going to leave out some stuff in this BB.

After warmups, moseyed over to the rings on the playground for some pull-ups, 10…modify as needed and squat hold for the six.

Mosey over to the covered picnic tables for merkins, derkins, and dips. 15 of each.

Back to the rings for another round of pull-ups (this was going to be the trend for today)

Back to the picnic tables for 30 Freddie Mercuries.

Mosey over to the parking spaces perpendicular to the creek bridge. Bear crawl to the end of the spaces, then bear crawl back. YHC instructed PAX to grab a rock. DOA and Forceps grab asteroids while I get a smaller one. We did a bear crawl rock push the length of the spaces. Halfway through, YHC is gets rock envy and switches up for a much larger one to complete the excercise.

20 Wonderbras and then we placed the rocks back in the creek so they could be with their family.

Mosey over to the wall. Balls to the wall 20 count for each PAX.

Stayed on the wall for some people’s chairs, 20 count and then hallelujahs counted off by each PAX.

Back to the picnic tables for 10 homer to marges (exicon).

Mosey over to the circle sidewalk for some bunny hops. Do a lap, try to hit the middle of each square. Modify with step ups if needed. Did 2 laps.

Back to the picnic tables for 30 LBCs.

Back to the rings for one more round of pull ups.

Back to the picnic tables for box cutters x20, standard merkin x20, windshield wipers x10

Have a nice day. YHC took us out

Mary: Did plenty of core throughout the workout, so not really
Announcements: Christmas Party (already happened at the time of this writing.
T-Claps (Recognition): PAX that came out in the nasty weather
Prayer: YHCs father-in-law whose having a heart procedure this week, Wallaby’s family, Slide Rules family as they prepare to welcome a new life into the world while also mourning the loss of a dear family member. All unspoken. Apologies for any omissions.

MAKING TRACKS ON THE TRACK AT TB

This BB was posted on behalf of Tetanus.  He was QIC and this was his VQ!!!  Way to be Tetanus

Getting the Backblast up late!!! Momma always said I was a procrastinator. I didn’t get a birthmark until I was 3.  VQ at TB barely slept last night like a kid on Christmas Eve. A little Winter chill didn’t stop 11 HIMS from getting better today. -Tetanus

FNGs: None

Warm Up:  Frankensteins x 12 IC, Fazio Arm Circles front/back x 12 IC, then we mosey to get the blood flowing
..Behind the school and circle up for a couple more warm up exercises

.SSH x 15 IC, The Hillbilly (in honor of VQ motherland, WV) x 15 IC

The Workout:

Mosey to the track and partner up

.

Round 1 – Bear crawl/zombie walk the track
..PAX 1 runs the track while PAX 2 follows behind in a bear crawl, PAX 1 laps around and tags PAX 2 and PAX 2 begins the run while PAX 1 picks up the bear crawl. Rotate back and forth until 1 lap is complete by the bear crawl/zombie walk combo. RECOVER

Round 2: PAX 1 runs a lap while PAX 2 does mountain climber Merkins AMRAP, then recover for a 10 count, then AMRAP again until PAX 1 finishes his lap, then switch it up.

Round 3: Same as Round 2 with overhead claps

Round 4: Same as Round 2 but holding plank

Time flies when you’re havin fun

PAX mosey back to the flag

Mary: Pretzel crunches x 12 IC, Freddy Mercury x 14 IC, LBC x 20, Homer to Marge x 25,  have a nice day

Announcements:  Christmas party this weekend – auction items – proceeds go to Healing Transitions, 24 hr run for Healing Transitions, 3rd F vision meeting next Wednesday @5:30AM @Dunkin Donuts.

T-Claps (Recognition):  Yogurt and Da Business for picking up the 6

Prayer:

Wallaby, Pikachu/POTS for those PAX MIA (check in on them and see how they are doing), Quiver’s family, Kosher’s family, Oboe’s dad, Florence’s friend and family

High Quality H2O

Aquaman left the dark side and came to the hood to Q R4TJ this week and with him came the rain. 5 HIM showed up to get some wet miles in.

FNGs: I thought we had one when I stepped out of my car, but then I realized it was Travis….you know that guy “Lipsync”

Warm Up: 12 X SSH, 12 X Frankensteins, 12 X Hillbillies all exercises in cadence

The Workout:

The rain was coming down pretty good when we arrived and Aquaman had a great route planned for this morning. The route included a run by kiss to his M (hello to the FIA group for the rest of us) at Womble, mild heckling of the “not so determined boys” (hiding under the picnic shelter) as we ran by and proceeded around the soccer fields. We then moseyed on over to the newly constructed parking deck to exchange some friendly banter with the 5 Onnit group. By this time the rain had let up and everyone picked up the pace and headed back to Ting for CoT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary: Still M.I.A.

Announcements: Christmas Party this weekend. Rumor has it they will playing a fun game called…where’s midget?

T-Claps (Recognition): Everyone for picking up the 6 all throughout the route.

Prayer:  Jenn and her recovery from surgery, Wallaby and his family, Unspoken

Aquaman took us out.