FNGs: Not today
Warm Up: Discussed the route and headed out.
The Workout:
We ran 5 miles.
Mary: MIA
Announcements: Blood Drives in the area-check Slack and FB. Volunteer opportunity at Spring Classic Race.
T-Claps (Recognition): All HIM for showing up today.
Prayer: Lipstick and his family, 3 Alarm and his recovery, Ruth M., injured PAX, unspoken, those who are struggling.
YHC took us out. Thank you for the opportunity to lead.
FNGs: Â None but a Welcome Back Kotter – Lipsync (running) stopped by to add to
Warm Up: Â So excited to see 10 PAX (Crosby joined later) for the warm-up. Â SSH, Seal Claps, O/H claps, Sir Fazios (F+B), Frankensteins
The Workout: Â PAX helped me bring dumbbells and kettlebells to the covered picnic tables. Â The idea was simple: Â grab something, do as many reps as possible of an exercise with a coupon until the timer is done. Â What was our timer? Â Rather – who? Â One pax ran to the playground and hung out for 30 seconds or knocked out 5-10 pull-ups and ran back to shelter. Â ROTATE. Â Special thanks for John Deere and Cancun for bringing their (wicked heavy) ruck sacks and Gump for setting up a TRX band. Â Exercises included, curls for the girls, flies, lawnmowers, overhead press, tricep curls, swings, cross arm curls, etc. Â YHC tried spicing things up with a poorly executed Indian run with a kettlebell around the pitch. Â Disaster. Â Got things straightened out after pausing for some plank jacks along the way. Â Returned to the shelter for some peopleâs chair and BTTW. Â YHC led 10c, 15c and 20c rinse and repeats. Â Finished with more work with the coupons using a 30 cc LBC Pax timer. Â All 11 pax rotated through.
Mary: Â Stretching. Â Mumble chatter. R-rated.
Announcements: Â Couch to 5K at Cletus.
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer: Â Gump led us out – Â injured PAX, UNSPOKEN.
2nd F at Tapline. Meatballs and Beer.
Honored to lead. Â -Dauber
âHow did these runs with 3-Alarm get started?â âWhat are 3-Alarmâ conditions?â âWhy does it burn when I pee?â Hereâs the answers to your burning questions.
First of all, shout out to everyone who posted in 2021!!! As you know, 3-Alarm wants to meet everyone in F3 SouthWake. Hereâs our start: 16-Bit, Banana Seat, Bobby Bouche, Bobby Dall, Bondo, Cancun, Cash Roll, Cupid, Dawgpound, Dumbo, Emeril, Fanny Pack, Forceps, Full House, Gillette, Go-Gurt, Gump, Lipstick, Martini, Maybelline, Midget, Pikachu, Slide Rule, Snooze, Sprinkler, Swisher Suites, TomTom, U.T.I., Wild Turkey, Woody, Yogurt, Yoshi and 2.0s 3rd Down, 4th Down, Flower, Isabella, Slash, Sketch, Vader. That is an awesome start! Good times are in the attached photos. Who did I miss?
How did all this begin? My daughter (F3 Slow Pitch) and her boyfriend (F3 Go-Gurt) were friends with 3-Alarm from high school. One night in the fall of 2019, they were Facetiming with 3-Alarm and he got wind that I was in F3. I had never met 3-Alarm before. They handed me the phone, introduced me, and 3-Alarm immediately said his classic, âHeeeeeey!â and âLetâs go run!â Thatâs all it took.
Pure Joy – 2019 November 1st Run. I invited Pikachu and Go-Gurt on that first run. It was cold and dark and drizzly and I was definitely overdressed. See photo. I knew nothing about pushing a running chair and barely knew 3-Alarm. But I quickly learned, this kid is excited about running! He would yell out, âWeeeeeeeeee!â and âIâm happy!â What a blast! Pikachu remembers: âMy just overwhelming memory from the first run, and really all the runs, is just pure joy. Every time I run with 3-Alarm it doesn’t matter what kind of day I’ve had or what mood I’m in – he has a contagious joy that has the ability to just completely turn my day around!â Wild Turkey has expressed this same sentiment. He looks forward to leaving the work behind and enjoying 3-Alarmâ enthusiasm for life.
Time Lapse – 2021 Spring. Covid had been around for a year or so. I hadnât seen or heard from 3-Alarm in a looooong time. While dropping off my 2.0 Zumba at Holly Springs School of Dance (HSSOD), I pulled into a parking spot, looked to my left, and lo and behold, thereâs 3-Alarm. âDavis!â I shouted. We were both glad to see each other. I asked Davis is he had been running lately. His joy quickly turned to dejection, as he answered NO. Sensing this urgent need, I said, âLetâs go run!â Thatâs all it took.
2021 Tuesday Runs – Pure Joy. Since early June 2021, F3 has been running with 3-Alarm every Tuesday. Why do we do this? Pure Joy! So much fun. I asked 3-Alarm what he likes most about our Tuesdays together. He says: F3 feels like family. Everyone welcomes me with open arms.
3-Alarm has impressed me in so many ways on these Tuesdays. He has an infectious enthusiasm that resonates with everyone. He literally has fans everywhere. During our runs, weâve had fans stop their cars, shout out from their porches, stop us on their dog walksâjust to say hello. In the summer, this happened over and over. What do you remember about your first meeting with 3-Alarm?
Tuesday Splashes. We were settling in on Tuesdays and more and more PAX kept trickling in. Early supporters included Bobby Bouche, Cancun, Dawgpound, Fanny Pack, Go-Gurt, Martini, Maybelline, Pikachu, Wild Turkey, and more. To sweeten the draw and to make things more fun for 3-Alarm, we added a splash down at the end of the run. By the time we reached August, we had a record turnout in the record heat. See photos.
FNGs. 3-Alarm has a keen ability to make friends and did his own recruiting for the Fun Run. While out walking with Mama Hope, one of his nurses, he met people and got busy. He texted me and was so excited to announce that he had an FNG coming. The following Tuesday, we dropped by Coleâs house. Cole wasnât completely ready, but joined us for his first F3 workout. He was wearing very thick sweatpants in the August heat and I know he was roasting! We named him Snooze because he loves to chill and sleep. 3-Alarm also recruited Charlie, a 7th grader, who lives in Holly Glen and rides BMX and MTBs. We named him Cash Roll after a BMX trick created by BMX champion Daniel Dhers
911. Things were not always peachy on our runs. 3-Alarm has several conditions (Polymicrogyria, Dandy-Walker Syndrome, and seizures). In late September, the seizures were serious enough that Pikachu, Wild Turkey, and I followed our procedures for this situation. We timed the seizures and called Davisâs mom, then 911. Davis spent a few days in the hospital undergoing extensive diagnostic tests. For the next 3-4 weeks, we had second F instead of running. If we ever have to call 911 again, 3-Alarm wanted to request the specific medics who he had befriended on his ride to the hospital đ.
âOut of the Goodness of His Heart?â In October, Bondo organized a special treat for 3-Alarm and all of usâA visit from Mr. and Ms. Wuf. See photos and separate backblast Wuf Sighting on Acorn Falls, October 26, 2021. Davisâ mom asked me this question during the October visit from Mr. and Ms.Wuf. The answer of course, was YES, Bondo did this out of the goodness of his heart. Certainly a highlight for 3-Alarm and all of us. Woody: Donât take that picture without me!
âThatâs a big catâ In October the Halloween lights and yard decorations were in full bloom. Wild Turkey did not wear his glasses on these runs or was hallucinating. A giant Rudolf looked like a cat đ This was followed by many Christmas light runs through Hilly Glen. Again, lots of fun, see photos. Wild Turkey says the neighborhood lights runs were among his favorites of the year. See my favorite in the BONUS FOOTAGE below. What your favorite 3-Alarm memory of 2021? Reply below.
Christmas Party 2021. Mr. Ambitious requested an F3 Christmas party at his house. I explained that it would be a little challenging to organize given the short notice, Covid surge, and busy schedules. But, all the F3 brothers came through. We had a party of at least a dozen PAX and 2.0s. Pikachu brought the magic hot cocoa maker and we showered 3-Alarm with some additional F3 swag and coffee gift cards (like he didnât have enough!). See photos.
Whatâs next? 2022 brings another 52 opportunities to experience the Pure Joy for yourself. Are you ready?
BONUS FOOTAGE
2019 HS Half Midget, Pikachu, Snap. Midget lined up Pikachu and Snap to push 3-Alarm. Pikachu remembers:Â I remember hearing I was recruited with Snap and knew we were gonna have fun flying through the springs! The joy that Davis has on race day is on a whole other level. And at Holly Springs Half that day the grit that he showed was on a whole other level too – the bumpy course definitely didn’t do him any favors but he persevered and definitely gave me one of my best HS Half memories (and there are plenty of great ones over the years!). Note that Pikachu also ran 3-Alarm in The Quay, where many of you met 3-Alarm on his way to the finish line.
2021 HS Half Banana Seat, Wild Turkey, Yogurt, and 3-Alarm plus Midget, Matt, and Wolfie. 3-Alarm called out this event as one of favorites in 2021. Banana Seat helped Matt push Wolfie. Wild Turkey ran 9 miles EC. I was feeling good but did not push 3-Alarm until around mile 7 of the race, which was mile 16 for Wild Turkey! Forceps, Cancun, Wild Turkey, Mama Hopeâs son, YHC, and others joined 3-Alarm and his dad for Second F at 3-Alarmâs favorite coffee shop, Our Moments in Time.
âErin, Erin, Erin!â A chance meeting at the FV Christmas parade. This is probably my favorite outing with Davis in 2021, maybe because it was completely unplanned and unexpected.
Davisâs sister and my 2.0 F3 Zumba were among the hundreds of dancers from the Holly Springs School of Dance performing in the parade. We had both dropped off our dancers early and by chance walked up the hill together to select a prime spot to watch. Davisâ dad (Dan), Davis, and I joined a woman who was sitting on one of the built-in benches in front of town hall, poised to see her kids and grandkids pass by in their 4-WD Jeeps and such. âKathyâ shared her bench with Dan and I while Davis positioned himself front and center on the curb to wait. I must admit, sitting on that bench had a real Forrest Gump feel to it. I had a blast just sitting there hanging with Dan, who I had only met once or twice. Kathy watched and listened to our interactions with Davis and was intrigued. By the time it was over, our new friend Kathy was a big fan.
Watching Davis interact with the parade was amazing. For once, I grabbed his phone and took photos from there. Everyone was friends with Davis.
âIâll email you!â About halfway through the parade, a convertible rolls up among the elected officials waving to the crowd. Suddenly, 3-Alarm sounds the alarm. He starts bobbing up and down and yelling, âErin, Erin, Erin!â over and over again. Dan and I looked at each other like, What? Davis kept yelling. Finally, the legislature representative Erin turned our way and saw Davis. She was so excited! Davis, how are you? Great to see you! And as she is rolling away, sheâs pointing at Davis, twiddles her thumbs like sheâs texting, and exclaims, âIâll email you!â It was the craziest thing I had ever seen. Dan and I were flabbergasted. And I was so impressed. This just showed the range of Davisâ influence. All the way to the Legislature in downtown Raleigh!
After running 2 miles in the sideways rain and lightning with MadDog, shoes filled with water, and a crew of fellas who said they would take exception to any outdoor ground work, YHC opted to bring the crew of 10 Pax to the parking garage. In addition, it’s not a good idea to have wet gloves, cement residue on your hands, then to rub the sweat from your eyes. Hasselhoff noted that about YHC after a couple rounds of the ME.
FNG’s:Â None
Warm Up: Quick mosey to parking lot for SSH, Irkins x 20, Imperial Walkers, another quick mosey, Some quick back n out bear crawls and crawl bears, then some hillbillies.
The Workout: A 4 corner pyramid stack suicide. Every corner hit every time. Corner 1: 5 burpees, Corner 2: 10 Shoulder Taps IC, Corner 3: Star Jumps x 15, Corner 4: Dips x 20. We stacked…then de-stacked. Next up was a DORA. Partener runs up stairs to the gangway and does 10 dips, then returns. Team were to complete 100 Dying Cockroach, 200 LSF’s IC, 300 Squats.
Mary: finished off with 2 rounds of indian runs in the garage. 10 American Hammer’s IC.
Announcements: Move of Tiger Blood, new 2022 post challenge sheet is up.
T-Claps (Recognition): MadDog for accountability in running in the absolute madness for EC.
Prayer: Quiver sister in law, recovering. Deadbolt and recovery from the vid. YHC took us out. Glad you men showed up!
Whereas YHC has been still steady on the Q opportunities, I have been terribly lax in doing BB’s probably since late October. It’s a new year. 5 dudes showed up on a balmy New Year’s Day to begin new challenges and have new laughs. Something about backaches…and the possible escapades of the night before. Nothing like the GroundPounder mumblechatter.
FNG’s:Â no.
Warm Up: SSH, Good Mornings, Seal/Overhead Claps, Standard Merkins x 22, Prisoner Squats x 22
The Workout: Mosey to the playground for a series of 30/20/10 Step-Ups/Dips. Mosey to the wall of pain. Considered trying to do deadlifts on the defunct soda pop machine, but decided to do 15 ct. per Pax BTTW and People’s Chair. Repeato.
A quick mosey over by the ball field bleachers for a 15/10/5 ct. Bleacher merkins/irkins routine. Now to the rocks. The group did a rock DORA where 1 Pax bearcrawled up and down the parking lot, while others performed 100 Ground Pounders, 200 Curls for the Girls, 300 Tricep Press. The group rotated left to the various size rocks throughout the routine.
Mary: Mosey back to the flag for 20 ct. Homer to Marge, LBC’s. Have a nice day!
Announcements:
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer: Sprinkler and family, those affected with COVID. YHC took us out! Proud to lead men!
YHC first Q at Disney, after a challenge laid down by UTI. Always good to spread out the misery. I’m in!
FNGs: none
Warm Up: warm-o-rama, the usual stretching and arm waving
The Workout: Fellowship mosey to the high school parking lot. Start with a means of travel and exercises at each parking row to the end of the lot. Then suicide mosey back. The rounds included: lunge walk and lunge hop, suicides, Frankensteins and squats, suicides, crab walk and crab cakes, suicides, duck walk and star jumps. Indian run back to the parking lot.
Mary: Wheel of misfortune, one PAX in the middle doing 10 burpees as the timer. Other PAX rotate around the circle doing core stations. 3 rounds. Finished with some light stretching of the inner man meat. Too much groaning in the dark for my taste.
Announcements: no big events coming up. Merry Christmas!
T-Claps (Recognition): All PAX for getting out of your warm bed.
Prayer: Reach out to friends and family, school violence prayers for students, Gamecocks wife and her exam
FNGs:Â None
PAX:Â Tom Tom, Wild Turkey, Cupid, Kosher, Warbucks, Hazmat
Warm Up:Â Good mornings, frankensteins, sir fazio, seal claps, overhead claps
The Workout: Merkins, merkins, merkins. I really enjoyed my Q at DT a few weeks ago, hammering upper body, so I took the lazy route by copying/pasting that whole thing, with a few tweaks here and there. Started out with 11’s on the hill, merkins and star jumps. That’s enough legs for the day. Mosey to rock pile, curls for the girls (hindsight, those little rocks aren’t great for curls, I should’ve done shoulder raises instead), mosey somewhere for merkins, mosey to the rail for dips, mosey to merkins then back to the rock pile. Here we ditched curls and did Carolina Dry Docks instead – repeato, repeato, repeato, with variations on the merkins along the way – wide grip, diamonds, etc.
Mosey back to starting point, stopped again for merkins, then jailbreak to the flag.
Shoulders, chest and arms sufficiently toasted.
Mary:Â Started to call a classic P90X core move, realized we were over time, audibled for one last set of merkins, instead – lol.
Announcements: Not so much, but YHC shared a story of what happened to me the night before. A guy I’ve known for 12-14 years, an acquaintance, lacrosse parent (his 2 sons, my 1), never knew him past pleasantries and getting drunk at travel lacrosse tournaments, he battled bladder cancer last year. Nasty stuff, took a toll on him. Last time I saw him, maybe 8 months ago, he was frail, shuffle-walking, wife steadying him, due to chemo.
A couple weeks ago, saw him out for a run on the street and was genuinely excited for him! I mean, I clapped and pumped my fist as I drove past. Happened to see him last week at a lacrosse tournament in Wilmington, he told me he’s clear of chemo and has some fitness goals, getting back to where he used to be, and beyond. Very uncharacteristically for me (before F3), I hunted down his number, reached out and offered to go running with him any time. He accepted and we met the next night for a 3 mile run/walk.
It turned out to be a pretty terrific moment, for both of us. We immediately dove into a deep, meaningful conversation – far beyond what we’d been limited to previously – he shared his struggles, I shared mine – life moments, kids, work, faith, 2nd chances; all of it. He thanked me 2 or 3 times for reaching out, it was clearly as meaningful to him as it was for me.
The point of the story – I don’t think I would’ve made that move had I not been in the F3 state of mind. Life changing stuff, this is. Keep it going, Gents. Small gestures can make huge impacts.
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer:
Warm Up: Moseyed to indoor Basketball gym.
Stood on Baseline for the Pledge of All Allegiance
Workout: We had exactly 20 so we divided up into 4 groups and played 2 separate games of full court 5 on 5. We rotated after halfway. I donât think our ball skills were very sharp in the beginning. Most of the PAX got better as time progressed except for Guatemalan. He pretty much stood in the same place every time and asked for the ball.
I know sometimes we do a lot of the same things every week. Thought this would be fun to mix it up a bit. Those that shined like @pumps because he has skills and @Fram the rest made up for it in fouls and large bodies pushing and shoving. Thank God we did not call fouls today. I would have fouled out before the second gameâŠBTW I am pretty sure my Team won both games @bobby bouche @deadbolt @mookie @maddog. Next time we play @banannaseat will be on a 3-man team due to his speed!
Mary: No Time
T Claps: Bosshog and the new addition to the Family! Congratulations
Prayers: Thanks for the prayer support for my Mom. Our Country, Injured PAX, 3rd cousin who took a dive OTW back. Hope he is okay!
Announcements: CSAUP 6-10 Saturday
Decided to do something a little different at Mutiny. I had scoped out the greenway and found out that there was plenty of things to do along the way.
FNG: None
Warm Up: Dauber warmed us up with several exercises.
Workout: Moseyed to the end of the soccer field where the Greenway begins. Started out with Carolina Dry Docks IC. Headed down the Greenway and stopped at the bridge for Dips, and Derkins. Moseyed to Hwy 55 crosswalk and ended up in the PVA.
Lined up on the car bumper stop and from one side of the PVA to the other we did the following:
In between we Bear Crawls, Crawl Bears, Lunges
On each side we did exercises: All Ab related. Moseyed back for Mary but not before BTW and wall sits.
Mary: Various exercises
Announcements: CSAUP 6:00 am Hilltop Needmore Park
Prayers: PAX injured, Unspoken
Honor to Lead!!
I had been eyeing this workout from David Goggins for some time and finally pulled it out at TBD. 6 PAX put in the work and we finished in about 38 minutes, just in time for Mary.
FNGs: Nope
Warm Up: 10 minutes of SSH
The Workout:
https://youtu.be/SaiiLzTNVmo?t=89
(10 sets) 10 SSH /10 merkins
100 Alternating lunges
110 WWIIs
55 Catalina Wine Mixer
55 WWIIs
55 Catalina Wine Mixer
(3 sets) 10 SSH /10 merkins
Mary:
Homer to Marge, LSF, Downward dog, runners pose, pigeon
Announcements: See Slack for races and Holly Fest sign up.
T-Claps (Recognition): All PAX for finishing that workout.
Prayer: Unspoken and for our calves.