Greenhouse Build @ HSFC

PAX of 9, including 3 2.0s, assisted aspiring Eagle Scout Griffin assemble a greenhouse for the Holly Springs Food Cupboard. Great work out there men! This wouldn’t have happened today without F3 (we were the only builders besides Griffin’s father).

What we did today matters. What we did today will have far reaching impact in our community. I can’t begin to imagine how much food will be grown to feed our neighbors over the life of this structure. We also had very productive conversations with volunteers at the HSFC about additional ways we can continue to support our neighbors.

We will be designating one Saturday a month this year for a project at the HSFC. We are also exploring the option to host a golf tournament as a fundraiser. We will continue to make a difference in this community because we are an organization of selfless leaders poised to serve those who need it. Remember – it’s more than a workout…just show up!

Jan, 22 2020: 3rd F Leadership Meeting

PAX – I know this is long but please read and look for things you may want to support as we progress through the year.  This leadership team is not exclusive, and we welcome everyone to the table.  If you think you can help with one of these initiatives below please jump in.  If you want to help but dont know where you fit, let us know.

EC:  ShamWow!, SlideRule, YHC

I must have done something to upset ShamWow!, Ended up on my butt less than a mile into the run on a dark uncharted portion of the greenway.  I survived this ordeal and finished up 4.3 miles with these HIM before moving inside for coffee.

FNGs: No

Warm Up:  We all got our coffee and assorted food items and buckled in for the meeting.  YHC started off with some general administrative stuff

  • CALENDAR We have a calendar for South Wake now https://f3southwake.com/schedule/calendar/. We’ll use this to centralize all of our 3rd F events so that PAX know what’s coming in advance.
  • CONTACT INFO Our Gmail account F3southwake@gmail.com has been updated with PAX contact information to make it easier to tag events with specific PAX that may be leading them.
  • PHOTOS The same account has had any/all Google Photos albums from Slack that are still discoverable tied to it. Should help with any future media and archival needs.  Feel free to share your photos with f3southwake@gmail.com to keep the albums there up-to-date.

The Workout:

For the meeting we welcomed Zombie Bride, she is the South Wake FiA Philanthropy Q.  You may also know her as Crosby’s wife.  Some may ask… “Who’s Crosby?”  Zombie Bride listened in to see where FiA and F3 may be able to find some common ground in the 3rd F space.  We hope to continue having a delegate at our future leadership meetings so we can plan accordingly and perhaps steal some ideas from one another.  We also hope to have some co-branded events in the near future so we can invite entire families out to 3rd F with us and introduce them to F3 and/or FiA.  Stay Tuned.

AO Updates

Heart (YHC) – More detail below but TL;DR? – Monarch School (Event), Food Cupboard Volunteer (Volunteer Reoccurring), Mama’s House (Volunteer Reoccurring), Town of Holly Springs (Volunteer Reoccurring)

Mind (Shredder) – Will aim to assess the needs of our PAX (Survey Monkey early February), expect to introduce facilitated and pointed discussions based on feedback.  Will look to do the work to keep Shield Locks supported and introduced to new PAX.  Will also introduce an MIA program to pull Kotters back out.  Be it the gloom, 2nd F or 3rd F.

Cloud (ShamWow!) – Looking to get together some promo materials in terms of flyers, Videos, and to get more engaged with the social medias.  Meeting in the works with Comms and our Nantan to coordinate.

Accelerator (Abe) – See themselves working closely with Cloud.  #Acceleration channel is moving again.  YHC added that he has put all of his races on the South Wake calendar.  Could show an opportunity for those not racing to provide race support instead.

 

TL;DR Content

Cause:  Monarch – Fundraising for a new High School for kids battling/overcoming drug addiction

Q: Dahmer

References:

https://www.wakemonarchacademy.org/

https://youtu.be/iHNztoBkEv8

Update:

Met with Monarch.  Looking into ways to help with their fundraising.  Golf Tournament, Race, Luncheon, etc.  Currently targeting the race and looking for potential partners.  Working with Monarch and their connections to facilitate where possible.  Future meeting TBD

 

Cause:  Holly Spring Food Cupboard

Q: Dumbo

References:

http://hsfoodcupboard.org/

Update:

  • People that use them sometime come with asks that go beyond food (home repairs)
  • Are in the most need for food in the Spring and Fall, expect F3 Food Drives
  • Expect F3 to get involved in the Garden Club
  • Golf Tournament?  Q will be SlideRule if this one comes to pass
  • Feb 1st, looking for 4ish PAX to support Eagle Scout greenhouse build following our $600 donation for supplies (THANK YOU SOUTH WAKE) – https://www.gofundme.com/f/greenhouse-and-shelving-for-hs-food-cupboard

 

Cause:  Mama’s House

Q: LED

References:

http://mamashouseofthrift.org/

Update:

 

Cause:  Town of Holly Springs Parks and Rec

Q: UTI

References:

https://hollyspringsnc.us/214/Parks-Recreation

Update:

  • Looking to give back to the town that hosts our shenanigans.
  • We will look to get involved in the 4th of July and HollyFest events
  • Help clean-up post event, get a tent during the event as well.

 

More HEART items being worked on and discussed – Truth In Nature, Hope on the Homefront, Meg’s Smile.  Keep an eye on the calendar https://f3southwake.com/schedule/calendar/.

 

View our master “plan” – https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14rcT2XZDKsv2jIorN85W474V0xJVa9p-V8wzzSx7ijw/edit#slide=id.gc9374547a79f840_0

Mary: I believe Zombie Bride’s hospital name is Beth…  So…  Nope….
Announcements: Did I mention we have a calendar!? – https://f3southwake.com/schedule/calendar/
T-Claps (Recognition):  3rd F leadership is on point.  Some really exciting stuff happening in 2020 and these guys are really passionate which makes it even easier!
Prayer:  Silence

Planning on Livin’ 3rd in 2020

You saw the 2020 Leadership update from Pikachu, the 3rd F job desciptions, the pre-blasts about a meeting for 3rd F 2020 planning.  So… what happened?

TL;DR

  • We are going to make 3rd F work like 1st F – Site Qs, Q sheets, AOs, schedules, backblasts, flags, trackers, and shirts
  • We are going to create more opportunities to lead and serve
  • Our goal is to make F3 South Wake synonymous with community outreach and support
  • We aim to rival Fitness as the hook, EHing HIM along the way
  • Site Qs named for our 4 new AOs The Heart, The Mind, The Cloud, and The Accelerator
  • Site Qs are (in order of AOs) YHC, Shredder\Tetanus, ShamWow!\Dovetail, and Dhamer\Abe
  • Next Meeting January 17th, 5:30AM @ Dunkin’ Donuts – feel free to join us!

The Meeting – 12/18/19

Dahmer, Shredder, and Dumbo were the very first to answer the job ads for new 3rd F Site Qs.  We started chatting and figured out that the best time to meet was going to be during the normal operating hours of the gloom.  We set the date, the time, and the place.  I opened the meeting up to the rest of the PAX so that we could get as much brain power and muscle on this as possible.

10 HIM answered the call to sacrifice 1st F and help kick-off 3rd F for 2020.  The same names tagged in this BackBlast.  Others sent their regrets and since the meeting more HIM have approached me with ideas and an eagerness to get involved. :heart warmed:  This crew is astounding!

During the meeting, I threw down the vision that I prepared for the South Wake Leadership team for all in attendance to hear.  I wanted their feedback and to start us off.  This wasn’t a plan set in stone and for us to launch 2020 I needed everyone at the table.  You can page through this awesome and ever-changing PowerPoint OYO – It has changed a bit since the meeting and will likely continue to change as we continue building this thing.  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14rcT2XZDKsv2jIorN85W474V0xJVa9p-V8wzzSx7ijw/edit?usp=sharing

At the conclusion of the slideshow, the conversation started and everyone talked about their ideas.  It became pretty clear where everyone fit in terms of their AOs.  If you don’t recall from the job descriptions there is a slide called “AOs High Level” and one called “Site Q job descriptions” that go into detail.  For this post the quick and dirty is that there are 4 AOs to start.  The Heart (Community Outreach), The Mind (Q Source and Small-group internal reflection), The Cloud (tools of the trade and the media front-end to this operation), and The Accelerator (This group will be finding new ways to push us all in 3rd F and driving focus to things we already do for race support)

New 3rd F Site Qs

These are the guys to look to in key areas of focus as described above and in the slide deck.  I will be supporting all of these efforts but these leaders will own their AOs and drive the agendas as they see fit.  Like any site Q, they won’t do it all.  They will be EHing South Wake PAX to take Q through the course of the year at specific dates and times.  They will be creating the schedules and looking for HIM to help.

  • The Heart – YHC will lead this effort for now but technically the position is still open for someone to come on “full-time”.  I think there are a few interested parties and Dumbo has already said he wants to lead up our efforts around the Food Pantry.
  • The Mind – Shredder and Tetanus will be taking point as Co-Qs.  Good ideas already flowing from these guys and I cant wait to find out more at our next meeting.
  • The Cloud – ShamWow! and Dovetail, ShamWow! is very excited to bring the sales skills that you can’t see on TV to 3rd F.  Dovetail knows his way around the a Cloud and is ready to bring those skills to the 3rd F cause.  Updates will definitely be headed to the website and expect our Social Medias to get a bit more attention.
  • The Accelerator – Dahmer and Abe, Dahmer and Abe are already collaborating and putting up ideas on this one.  One of which includes a charity running event.  Nothing is baked but this is another exciting area of focus for 3rd F in 2020 and one to watch with anticipation.

What’s Next

Everyone is hard at work thinking through what 2020 should look like.  A list is being generated of past and new 3rd F efforts.  We are making an effort to focus on South Wake exclusively but some exceptions will be made.  We’ll aim to build a pre-arranged schedule that will include weekly activities (AO Mind Group Meetings perhaps), monthly activities (service outreach), quarterly (not sure yet) and yearly (race support stuff like CSAUPs or Wrightsville).

We’re going to bring all of that back to Dunkin’ on January 17th and aim to get it on the website around that time.  Our meetings will be open so please join us if you would like to listen-in or contribute.  We’ll be happy to have you.

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

2020 Shield Lock Challenge!

Let’s start off 2020 right with a little #3rdF challenge.  1 month long, all you have to do to win is spend time with your Shield Lock.  Winners announced first week in Feb.

First things first,

What is a shield lock?

I think it’s easier to illustrate this with a conversation I had on a run the other day (no, not the one where Skidmark tried to kill me):  Paraphrase here —

Me: “I’ve not seen you in a while, you been posting a lot?”
Him: “Not really, trying to get back into it.”
Me: “Oh, what’s been going on?”
Him: “You know the normal stuff, work got busy, fell into some bad habits, gotta get back into it and get some accountability
Me: You have a clown car or group of guys who can help out?
Him: “Kind of, but not really.  Work means I have to be punctual so I can’t ride with them, so I just try to show up on my own”

I’m sure we’ve all gone through something like that — life gets busy, things get in the way, good habits start to get replaced with bad ones, and suddenly it’s been a few weeks since you’ve posted in the gloom and a lot of that progress you’ve been making starts to slip away.  It starts with fitness, but quickly bleeds into losing ground on the intentionality and dedication you’d been working on elsewhere in life.

Here’s the thing: we all know that if we reached out and said “Hey man, I need some help, I’m struggling here”, every single guy in F3 would be there in a heartbeat to support.  A shield lock is more than that, though.  Your shield lock are the guys who call you first  They are the ones who notice you’re slipping and reach out a hand before you’ve slid down to the bottom and realize you need help.

On a more personal note: back when my 2.0 was born, I struggled hard getting back to work.  If I would have picked up a phone and called any number of my golf buddies and said “Hey guys, I’m drowning here, I can’t focus at all and my work is slipping” I know a bunch of guys would have loved to help me out.  But there was no one Proximate to me to notice the issue, no one I met with Periodically to have opportunity to address the issue and certainly no one who felt they had the Purpose or role to step up and say something.  And let me tell you, when your head is barely above water and you don’t know how to handle it, it’s next to impossible to articulate the need for help.  There’s a small group explicitly tasked with that role this time around, and for that I’m extremely thankful.

That’s the shield lock: the small group of guys with whom you are Proximate, Periodic, and Purposeful.

For Dredd & Helmet’s Take on this (which is where I got the above info), See Q1.7 from QSource or listen here: Skip to 28 Minutes

So what’s the Challenge?

Pretty easy!

  1. Get 3-5 guys to commit to complete the challenge for the month of January & come up with a team name
  2. Work out together during the week.  Bonus points if you all EC or one/some/all of you Q the workout!
  3. Hang out!
    (note: “coffeeteria” after workouts doesn’t count.  Need to make an intentional #2ndF effort)
  4. Serve
    “Serve” can be a wide array of things.  A book study, a service project, serve together at church etc.  But, do it *together* (so, don’t count all of you happen to go to the same church on Sunday and nodded to each other in the atrium).
    I’m not going to go “Slack-Cop” on this, so if you mark down “We served”, it’s good enough for me.

That’s it.  Basically, spend the month of January intentionally being with a smaller group of guys.  You’re literally #winning every time you go grab a drink together.

Please note, all of these can be completed in larger groups.  If someone organizes a big service project in January, would love to see ALL the shield locks there.  LEAD something together!

How do we do it?

Let me (Slide Rule) know your team name and who’s in the Shield Lock.

I’ll make a tab for your team on the Shield Lock tracker, found here: Shield Lock Challenge

At least weekly, log your time together.

The Details

  • 1stF (max 18 pts / week)
    1 point / pax at a workout (max of 3 pts)
    +1 point if the entire shield lock posts (this balances scoring for 3, 4, 5 person groups)
    +1 point if all who posted from shield lock also ran EC
    +1 point if someone from shield lock Q’d (might want to start filling up that Q Sheet now!)
    Top 3 workouts / week count toward total (Max of 6*3 = 18 pts)
  • 2ndF (7 pts / week)
    7 Points if the entire shield lock does anything 2ndF during the week.
    Can not be associated with a workout (Panera after U-Turn doesn’t count, for instance)
  • 3rdF (15 pts total)
    15 points if the shield lock does something service related over the month.

Most points wins! Ties broken by 3rdF, then 2ndF, then most Q, then most EC points, then week 4/3/2/1.  Winners announced first week in February.

Important Note:

There was an F3 podcast recently about guys who are “cheating on their family” with F3.  They’re running away from problems at home and use F3 as a way to do it.  The shield lock better be the guys who are helping you address those problems, not run away from them.

Any questions?  Feel free to ask!

Thankful for “More than a Workout”

Around this time last year, Deadbolt reached out and said that SouthWake was becoming a “Real Region” in 2019 (we’d previously just been a part of F3 Raleigh); part of that process was having 1/2/3F Q’s (as well as a Nantan / Weasel Shaker / Comz) and would I be willing to step into the 3rdF leadership role.  Without a doubt I accepted.  So now, with 2019 winding down and in the process of bringing along a Co-Q for 2020, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the year…

In December 2018, a small group of us met together to try and answer the question: “What does a healthy 3rdF look like for SouthWake”.  A year later, I feel like we’ve realized that vision in a lot of ways (and in many ways, we have a *long* way to go).

Primarily: We wanted the men of F3 to be better people (not just faster, stronger, leaner: better) because they were involved in F3.  We also wanted to see Holly Springs / Fuquay-Varina / JoCo be a different place because F3 is here.

One of the first things we did was the “Slack is Back” campaign.  For those who don’t want to hear it again, skip ahead.  But I think it’s worth saying one last time.  Facebook (aside from being a scourge on society and just the worst) is like going to a huge festival or stadium.  Yeah, *everybody’s there*, but it’s tough to see the people you really want to see unless you make a lot of effort (and tune out an epic amount of noise from all the other people).  Slack was a solution that was like going to a dorm or apartment complex — it’s a little more out of the way, but you know the people you see when you’re there are the people you *meant* to see.  I think we’re finally over it (gif wars notwithstanding) and most of the region knows that, if they want to be involved and informed, Slack is where we can find each other.

Next up, Breathtaker.  I’ve written at length on this already: (Why Breathtaker?  ) so will skip it.

We also had QSource.  This was 52 weeks of leadership training.  We started with 3 groups and 1 is still kind of limping along to the finish.  But, despite not making it all 52 weeks, I saw some awesome relationships being strengthened and I hear a lot of people using the “lingo” of QSource.  So, while we may not have finished the race, I think our region got better because of this.  (I hear it recently got released in book form — I found the content to be extremely valuable in case anyone is looking for holiday reading).

But success went beyond those — our goal was to #accelerate our region, and I think some things over the last few months have demonstrated how far we’ve come.  The organic, immediate, and significant outflow of support for food kitchens for Thanksgiving is awesome — that’s the kind of thing F3 is *meant* for:  A PAX recognized a need, reached out, and we stepped up and supported in a big way.  I know we’re going to come through for the Oakwood 24 in December as well.

Last, I want to talk about Shield Locks.  There’s another post on this coming soon (and a stupid challenge to boot!), but what makes me the most excited about looking at 2019 is the number of small groups of guys who have banded together for a common purpose.  A shield lock might start out as the guys who make sure you’re there at 5:30, but the goal goes way beyond that —- it’s the guys who call you out when you’re not #accelerating across the spectrum of your life.  #IronSharpensIron, but it takes a real commitment to let someone else have that role in your life.

Next Year

I’m very happy to announce that our very own UTI will be taking on 3rdF Q responsibilities in 2020.  We will officially change over in July, but he will be Co-Q for the first part of the year as I step away from the role.  I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with him this year and he’s got a great perspective on who we are and who we can be (and really, you guys deserve someone who measures his meat consumption in miles).

I truly appreciate the opportunity to lead in 2019.  It’s been a growing experience for me.  I’ve learned a lot personally about leadership and believe me when I say the challenges of this year have been humbling, frustrating, but ultimately very worthwhile.  I know I’ve frustrated the hell out of some of you this year and I am very sorry that my “leadership” has been a source of irritation over the course of the year.

I can’t say it well enough, often enough, or loud enough, but: I truly thank you guys for F3.  Our group is doing great things.  I’m proud to be a part of it and can’t wait to see where we go next year.

Why Breathtaker?

Breathtaker Challenge:

For those who don’t know, this is the Breathtaker Challenge:

  • Wear a 20# weighted vest to 5 F3 workouts in a week
    • Workouts can be in any region; can be a ruck, a run, a boot camp.  If it’s an F3 workout (5 core principles!) it counts
    • A week generally spans Friday-Friday.  Pick up the vest after Cletus COT and return it the next week.
  • There’s only one vest, so the opportunity to wear the vest will be auctioned off at COT.  All the money raised by the auction will go to the charity of the month.
  • The guy who wins the vest the first Friday of the month gets to pick the charity that month.

At the end of the year, all successful Breathtaker challengers will get a shirt that has their name and everyone else’s name who finished.  If you do the challenge more than once, your name will be bigger.

Cool?  Cool.  Everyone understand how that works?  Great.  So, some more insight/ details.

Why Breathtaker?  What was the Vision?

F3 stands for Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith.  Faith being acknowledgement of a higher power and the connection/responsibility we have to those around us.  Our region (SouthWake) kicks ass at Fitness.  We’re so-so at Fellowship.  But historically, we’ve had very little emphasis on the 3rdF.  Guys were more than willing to chip in and help if someone needed it, but after several years, I don’t think we’d made a meaningful difference or impact on Holly Springs / Fuquay-Varina as an organization.  (important note: I think the transformation each one of us has undergone has had a great impact on our families and our individual circles.  But as a group, we have not come together to leverage that in an intentional and ongoing fashion)

So, back in December, a group of us discussed a vision of what a “Healthy 3rd F” would look like in SouthWake.  Some of that sounded like this:

  • The towns in which we lived would know that F3 was there to help if they needed it.  Whether a charity, a church, a family, a school, whatever, when work needed to get done, the men of F3 would be there to help.
  • The Pax of our region would have opportunity and inspiration to reach out to their brothers to get involved in projects about which they are passionate.  If someone wants to make a difference, they would know they could say something and the rest of F3SW would show up in force.
  • There would be a constant stream of opportunities available for men to get involved and make a difference (while doing our best to not overwhelm guys with too much!)  Men come to F3 to get in shape.  They stay because they are making a difference.

So how does Breathtaker Achieve that Vision?

F3 is, by definition, a starfish organization.  There’s not a lot of “top down” leadership.  So while we could have formed a small group that picked some charities to support, inevitably we would have missed something.  So instead, we thought Breathtaker would allow men to pick an organization 12 times through the year.  If someone felt strongly, they could step up and lead (which is what we’re all about!)

Our hope was that, of those 12, a few would really resonate and then next year we would organize the year around 3-5 “big” charity efforts — leaving more room for a lot of “one-off” efforts.  One thing we recognized was that the “smaller” efforts would get swallowed up in the 12 “big” efforts.  We decided it was worth it to get off the ground this year, but next year we would need to be more intentional about giving guys room to organize more opportunities.

We hoped that, by pairing something we were weak at (3rdF) with something we’re quite good at (1stF), guys would be motivated to think about how they could lead a 3rdF effort through wanting to achieve the Breathtaker Challenge.

So did it work?

By and large, yes.  Through 3/4 of the year, we’ve done some great work.  We’ve raised boat loads of money, but we’ve also had opportunities to become closer to guys through charities that are meaningful to them.  While the $7500+ we raised for Meg’s in a month is incredible, I think the month where guys supported Skidmark and his mom’s battle with Ocular Melanoma to be very cool example of what 3rdF could be.  Having a guy wear an eye patch at each workout was a great way for us to participate in a burden Skidmark carries that we probably weren’t all aware of.  I think serving at the Food Cupboard was another highlight of the year for us —next year we will likely focus quite a bit of time there and would love to see us out with our 2.0’s a few times serving that community!  I also hope guys are still getting together with their accountability partner to check deez nutz as per Banana Seat’s suggestion…

But, it wasn’t an unmitigated success.  I’ve heard a few pieces of feedback that are worth highlighting and addressing.

The money flying around at auction is a little … much.  Not a big fan. – A. Nonymous

So, on the one hand, part of what we’re trying to do is raise money.  Raising money via auction has been a pretty solid way to do that.  But, there’s something to be said about “Why should those who can donate a lot get to pick the charity?”  (also, I don’t know what the 3rdF equivalent is to “bat flipping” in 1stF, but the auction is it, for sure).  I’ll tackle the issue in 2 parts:

  1.  Our initial vision included guys pooling their money to support a big effort.  We saw that a few times when the FV / Fritter / 12 Oaks / Woodcreek guys pooled together and won the vest in a given week to let one guy wear it.  Our hope was that if someone was passionate about something, they’d get a few guys behind it to support and make sure the money got raised.  It happened one week organically when Bullseye threw his hat in the ring and we all chipped in a few bucks to make sure he could out-bid anyone else.  So this was a feature, not a bug.
  2. The “bat flipping” at auction can be off putting.  There’s no doubt about it and I won’t minimize this in the least.  F3 is open to all men, regardless of everything and that includes economics.  Some guys are scraping pennies to get by.  Some guys are rolling in that BitCoin bubble.  We are all here for a common purpose.  I recognize the Biblical parable of the Widow’s Mite and that for some, giving $25 is heck of a lot more meaningful than another guy giving $100.  I also recognize that, as much as I want to trip guys like Pikachu when they run effortlessly past me up a hill, if he didn’t run that fast, he’d be cheating himself.  So to with donating money — some guys are learning to give sacrificially and that means they need to dig into their pockets and the auction is motivating them to do that.

With that said, it’s something we’ve tried to be sensitive toward at auction time and have not done the best job with.  We’ll keep trying, but hopefully everyone understands we’re trying to raise money for good causes.

I can’t post 5x / week, let alone wear a vest!

I get it.  I also have seen some guys step up and challenge themselves to post with Breathtaker who I never thought would want to take the challenge (Abe!!!   You killed it man!)  If you have a charity you want to support but can’t rock the vest — see the point above.  Get a champion who’s willing to wear it for you!  Share the load, brother!

So what’s next?

We’ve got 4 months of Breathtaker left.  My hope is October/November guys will rally in support of meaningful holiday charities (keep in mind, if you want do do something for Christmas, it should be done before Christmas…)  I hope guys are thinking about ways they want us to shoulder in and support the community.

Next year, we aren’t going to “run it back”.  This was a 1-year experiment.  There might be a vest to wear, but it’ll be a 1stF challenge, not 3rdF.  We’ll probably take a few of the highlights of this year and dive deeper on them as organized 3rdF, but also give more space for things like the school mulching that 187 / Foghorn organized or the efforts Breach is putting together on 9/11.  My worry is some of those got swallowed up in the bigger month-long efforts and we didn’t support them as well as we could have.

Most importantly, we’re Freed to Lead — we get together at stupid hours of the morning to do stupid fitness things, not just to get in shape, but because we want to be better men.  Giving back and making a difference is a key component of that growth.  So, how can you take this idea (Breathtaker) and use it to do something that you care about?

 

As always, hit me up with any questions.  I’ll do my best to listen and address any concerns you might have.

~ Slide Rule

We Gave All The F’s

FNGs: None

Warm Up: There was some stretching and some sick burns being batted about between Peeping Tom and Lipstick.  These two…

The Workout: AKA 1st F – A 3.5 mile fellowship run that had been piloted by Peeping Tom (or PT as some like to call him).  People that live along this route may want to consider their current security and window covering situation as Tom has repeated this path a few times now 🙂  We proceeded along the red line in the image.  For the first mile there was some continued back and forth between PT and Lipstick followed by some mumblechatter about how much we were all suffering.  All of our food choices were poor leading up to this 7:15pm run.  With heavy stomachs and some cautious moments we pressed on.

About a quarter of the way down to Crossway portion of our run Lipstick happened upon a favorite hill of his – Creekvista Dr I believe it’s called.  You may remember it from a previous R4TJ that he Q’d.  He lead the charge off the red lined path down said hill, Pikachu followed, PT, Cupid, and YHC shrugged and proceeded down the pre-agreed course.  There were still 2 Fs to tackle this evening and we have plenty hills awaiting us for BRR.  As we neared HomeGrown Pizza, Pikachu caught us and soon after that Lipstick.  And now, a word from our sponsor…  HomeGrown Pizza, Official Sponsor of the F3 SouthWake BRR 6-man team

Image result for homegrown pizza

Mary: Let’s steal this section for the 2nd F portion of our evening.  The runners returned from their 1st F to commence 2nd F which started in the Parking Lot as we discussed the merits of running/not running the week leading up to BRR.  As we cooled off and YHC stopped sweating (sort of) we moved the conversation indoors and ordered some drinks.  The 2nd F continued on until we transitioned into 3rd F.  Which admittedly didn’t happen right at 8pm with the scheduled start of Q-Source.  Pablo and our 3rd F Q Dumbo arrived and with the we extended 2nd F as we welcomed them to the table.

At some point we managed to get “serious” and start our 3rd F through Q-Source.  The content this week was definitely conversation provoking and the PAX on-hand did a great job of teasing out the nuance of Exhortation.  You see exhortation looks and feels alot like any other form of encouragement but there are some specific differences in terms of having experienced a challenge (or something pretty similar) before pushing someone else to overcome it or move through it.  Empathy is key and avoiding the role of dictator is a must.  Great leadership by Dumbo through the content.  This guy is always on point.

If you guys arent Q-Sourcing, give it a shot one of these weeks.  Dont worry about being behind or even if you havent read the current weeks content, it doesn’t matter.  It’s worth-while just being in the room and thinking through these concepts week on week.

Announcements: Oct 12th Picnic, 9/11 stair climb

T-Claps (Recognition):  Dumbo – moving us through QSource every week.  Staying on top of the content and always keeping the conversation spirited and collaborative.

Prayer:  Those in the path of the hurricane.  BRR participants.  Noah’s Ark and his wife Michelle

Keep Pushing the Rock Men

There once was a man who lived in a cabin next to a field. In the middle of the field was a huge rock – an enormous boulder. One night, God came to the man in a dream and said “I want you to go out in the morning and every morning after that and push the rock with all your heart and all your might.” So, the next morning and every morning after that the man did exactly as God instructed. Every morning, day after day, week after week, month after month – no matter the weather – the man woke up and pushed the rock until he could no longer push it anymore. And day after day, week after week, month after month, the rock never budged a single inch. Some days, he did not feel like pushing the rock, but he did it anyway.

Some days, he did not push the rock with all his heart and all his might, giving just a partial effort until he realized this was not God’s command. His task was to push the rock with all his heart and all his might, every morning. He grew frustrated and prayed, “God, why am I pushing this rock? Day after day, week after week, month after month I have pushed this rock. I have never moved it, and never will!”

God replied, “I did not ask you to MOVE the rock, I asked you to PUSH the rock with all your heart and all your might. You have been an obedient and faithful servant; now look how you have transformed yourself: your shoulders are broad, your arms are strong, your legs are powerful. You are now ready for me to use you for a greater purpose!”

What are you pushing the rock for?  We may not know yet!

Deadbolt

 

Image result for pushing the rock

2019 Southwake – an official region with official “roles”

F3 Southwake Pax:

Aye – as I have mentioned in a few COTs as we closed out last week, we are moving into becoming an official “Region” of F3.  In order to be an official region, we have to have a few leadership positions in place to ensure smooth operations in all three Fs and other areas.  These leadership positions are:

  • 3F Qs: We need a Q for each of the three 3F:
    • 1st F – Fitness
    • 2nd F – Fellowship
    • 3rd F – Faith
  • COMZ: We will need a COMZ person for communications, social media and a website presence.
  • Weasel Shaker: We also need a position called the Weasel Shaker – he basically makes sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to be – a rule follower.

Since we have been in the incubation stage of an official Region for over a year now. I am going to stay on as Nantan but I think these roles should be renewed with new leaders every year.  Each year, around Thanksgiving, we will nominate new positions.  I have given this a lot of thought – consulted with a few others and I would like to announce our 2019 Southwake roles.  Below is a description of the general duties of each role and the 2019 Pax that will fill the role:

Each of the #HIM below will be reaching out to Pax to form committees for all of these roles – please let one know if you are interested in helping!

1st F Q:  Pikachu

  • The 1st F guy ensures the smooth running of the AOs.
  • He makes sure that SiteQs are doing their jobs, and often will hold regular meetings to do so.
  • 1st F Q also helps to plan and execute CSAUPs
  • He works with the Nant’an and WS to look at growth of 1st F AO plants.
  • He holds regular Q Schools for new(er) Pax, for PHT.

2nd F Q:  Emeril

  • Party Pants. Whether it be happy hours, family picnics, Christmas Parties, or Coffeeteria, this is the guy who makes the donuts.
  • The ComzQ is his best friend, as he attempts to get Pax motivated and excited about Fellowshipping together.

3RD F Q:  Slide Rule

This job is one of the tougher ones… the 3rd F Q really needs to understand the needs and wants of his Pax.

  • He can plant anything from a weekly Bible Study to an open discussion group to a regular community service opportunity for Pax.
  • His role is the essence of the real mission of F3.
  • Male COMMUNITY Leadership. It’s ambiguous on purpose, but it needs to make IMPACT.

COMZ Q :  Gump

It may be obvious, but… This man is the Q for making sure the Pax stay connected to one another.

  • He understands very clearly that 2nd F does not end at the AO or at the Happy Hour. Part of what makes F3 work is a dedicated man to keep the drum beating so that Pax have community one with another.
  • He manages the content of the website
  • He can explore other opportunities for communications: Twitter, Slack, GroupMe, Newsletters, etc. are the tools he uses.
  • Should be reasonably tech-savvy.

Weasel Shaker – Skid Mark

The man which “shakes the weasels” and makes sure they are all doing what they are supposed to do.

  • He is a spreadsheet loving, rule embracing, detail-oriented sort that helps to give the Nant’an the information he needs to effectively guide and make decisions on how to empower Pax to become the leaders they have been called to be.
  • He keeps his ear to the ground, and his finger on the pulse of the Pax with the Nant’an
    • For example: Wednesday numbers are really high, might be time to split the workout; or, I’ve plotted all the Pax houses on this map and it looks like we could use an AO on the other side of town

I would like to begin these “official roles” at the beginning of the year.  I have talked this over with a few others and we feel that the ideal term for one of these positions is 1 year with new leadership coming in every January 1.

I am very excited with Southwakes growth over the past 6 months and that now we are an official region.   You #HIM have made such a positive impact on my life that it is hard to put into words.  I love you all like brothers and I look forward to 2019 and beyond.

Iron Sharpens Iron

Deadbolt