THE SCENE: High 80s, humid as all get out.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
– 20 SSH (IC), 10 Windmills (4 ct, IC) 20 baby to big arm circles, forward and backward (IC), 20 Imperial Squat Walkers (4-ct, IC). Almost had to repeat this last exercise because the PAX forgot how to count.
THA-THANG:
Moseyed to the new field below the Admin Building where the Ring of Fire was set up. The 8 stations were as follows:
- Little Baby Crunches
- Bobby Hurleys
- Captain Thors
- Mountain Climbers
- Diamond Merkins
- Iron Mikes
- E2Ks
- Hand-release Merkins
Break up into pairs, start at different stations. 60 seconds at each station with 20 second break in between. The twist was that we also played Duck Duck Goose around the ring. Each pair, in turns, would run up the hill to a set of trees and return back to the circle, counting off “Duck Duck GOOSE” to designate the next pair to run. (There was a burpee penalty for not doing this that was poorly enforced.) After all groups ran the hill, brief recovery, then rinse and repeat. We planned for a third circuit but ran out of time.
MARY:
Moseyed to AO and did the following exercises.
– Homer/Marge, pickle pounders, box cutters, Hello Dollies, Squats
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
9 strong!
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM
In a recent Sports Illustrated article, Clayton Kershaw, the best pitcher of the modern era, feels that every time he fails, he views it as a tiny affront to the God who gave him so much talent. He thinks often of his favorite verse, Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” The heaviest load he carries isn’t the weight of fans’ expectations, it’s that he believes he has been given a gift that he doesn’t deserve, and that if he doesn’t succeed he is squandering God’s gift. Some other relevant verses include:
PROVERBS 16:3 : Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.
EPHESIANS 6:7 Rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man.
I’ve felt this same way to some degree. If I failed, which I did often, I was letting down my team, myself, and God. Why do we work hard? Many times it’s to please someone else. Yes, we all need to make sure our bosses are happy with our performance, our companions (teammates, family members, etc.) are taken care of and satisfied with us… But we shouldn’t forget that there is virtue in doing something to the best of your ability for the Lord. But what happens when we fail? Are we failing God? There is nothing in those Bible passages above that mentions failing. To fail is human, and to accept our imperfections and thank the Lord for the opportunity to succeed through hard work is what is important. F3 is a good example. We are out here working hard, there are no human masters here judging us or forcing us to go through 45 minutes of hell. We do it for ourselves, and our brothers, and I believe, for our Lord, to celebrate our life and health and to improve the tool that is our body that was given to us by his loving hand.
MOLESKIN:
The Q lost his phone during the workout, and even though they were told to go on home, every single member of the group stayed late to help him find it, even climbing up and down more hills to the Ring of Fire course. I’m not sure if they were tears of gratitude or rivulets of sweat on my cheeks at this act of brotherhood, but I’ll go with the latter. Yeah. It was SWEAT, dang it!! Many thanks s to Swimmies for running ahead and finding it at one of the stations.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
F3 anniversary Olympics coming up! And Happy Birthday Jinxy!