F3 Knoxville

Fake Doras

THE SCENE: Humid, very humid
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER: Additional disclaimer:  the Q went to a concert last night and is now deaf (and tired)
WARM-O-RAMA:

SSH x 20 IC; 10 burpees OYO; Tie Fighter baby arm circles F&B IC; high knees and butt kickers across parking lot; karaoke across and back.
THA-THANG:
Mosey up the hill toward Everest Base Camp.  Stop at each stop sign and go up the ladder.  Add one of the following with each stop:  10 BBS; 20 Merkins; 30 squats (4 ct)

From Base Camp, sprint to midway tree for more BBS, Merkins and Squats; back down to base camp

All the way up Everest, continuing on to the top of the space station. At the base of the base station, hold plank while waiting for the 6.

Mosey past the old rock pile (short moment of silence) down the west side of the drive about midway.  Find a battle buddy and do fake Doras.  One partner runs, the other does sets of 10 man makers and then LBCs until the partner returns.  Swap out.  Rinse, repeat x3.

Run back up to top of Everest, over to other side.  Real Doras:  100 merkins and 100 LBCs (4ct) while partner runs to stop sign and back up.

Start back down the ladder with BBS, Merkins and Squats

Realize we’re about out of time and quick mosey back to AO

MARY:
Cat Gut led in a little Boat/Canoe
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Followed up on Cap’n Crunch’s 3rd F message:  Find a Paul, Barnabus and Timothy in your life.  Have to reach out to do it.  I need to do a better job of intentionally mentoring those in my life.
MOLESKIN:
Lift up Timber’s M and family for some surgery this week.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
CSUP – Trucking to the Pound plug.

A Lesson in Humility

THE SCENE: High 80s, more humid than the past few days, light breeze and some clouds made it almost bearable
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER Check.
WARM-O-RAMA:

The initial plan of 40 burpees was scratched by the PAX’s generosity in donating to a certain cause.

20 Side Straddle Hops (4-ct), in cadence, 10 Copperhead lunges/ 10 Copperhead squats/ 10 Steve Earles/ 10 Copperhead Merkins (all 4-ct, IC), 10 Windmills

THA-THANG:

Mosey to Stop sign at northeast corner of circle drive, 20 Rocky Balboas on the curb (4-ct).  Mosey to CMU pile

  • Battle buddy up.  Grab CMU, 1 per pair
    • Partner does modified suicide (HOP to first cone, run back, BEAR CRAWL to second cone, run back, BERNIE SANDERS to third cone, run back), while partner does the following (additive between partners) with CMU:
      • 100 of each: SQUATS, ROWS, CURLS, OVERHEAD PRESS, TRICEPS PRESS

Mosey to base of Cardiac

  • Cardiac PYRAMID :
    • Run to first turn of Cardiac and back
      • 10 Copperhead Squats
      • 10 Copperhead Squats, 10 Mountain Climbers (2-ct)
      • 10 Copperhead Squats, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Shoulder Taps (2-ct)
      • 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Shoulder Taps
      • 10 Shoulder Taps
    • Lunges until 6 catches up.
    • Run up Cardiac, at each turn do 5 Burpees. At Top, do 5 Burpees and 20 bench dips.

Mosey to where path intersects parking lot:

  • 20 BBS/20 LBCs/20 American Hammers (2-ct) (OYO)

Mosey to tree/shaded area at stop sign where we did the Rocky Balboas

  • 20 BBS/20 LBCs/20 American Hammers (2-ct) (OYO)

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
No time for good ol’ Mary.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
15 strong, including Gobbler (untagged) and FNG Deuce.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

I’ve always been a bit of a perfectionist, but particularly when it comes to sports.  Everyone says “I like to win” or the reverse, “I hate losing”, but I tend to take that to another level.  It’s gotten a bit better as I’ve gotten older, but I still have an incredibly hard time moving on when I lose or fail at something competitive.  I was playing in Steam’s kickball charity tournament last week, and we lost a tight game that I felt we could have won if I had just sold out and dove for a ball in the outfield and made the catch, or gotten a “hit” when I was up with two outs and the bases loaded.  It bothered me the rest of the day and all night.  Had a hard time sleeping.  Now, this was not the Super Bowl, the World Series, or an important match in any way, shape or form… This was a CHARITY. KICKBALL. TOURNAMENT., but I still thought I let the team down.  When I was in college, I seriously considered going to a sports psychologist, because if my team lost at anything, whether it was soccer, basketball, or even if it was just playing darts at the bar, I felt it was my fault, and would go into a deep, intense funk.  And when this happens, I try to tell myself, “It’s just a game”, but that never works for me.  Almost nothing does.

The only thing that helps is if I take a deep breath, I consider how lucky and fortunate I am to have the gifts that God has given to me in my life, and to consider how %^&*$!! ARROGANT it is to get mad when things don’t go my way.  We’re human.  We’re flawed.  We fail. Grow up and deal with it.

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I’ve failed over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed.” Michael Jordan

Philippians 2:3-10 – (Writings from the apostle Paul, who is asking his readers to turn the focus from themselves to others.  Humbling, self-sacrificing lives leads to exaltation from God).

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth

Paul frequently addressed Jesus as divine.  Paul is pointing out that Jesus could have pulled out the “God Card” and demanded that every person grovel at his feet, but instead of treating others as his servants, he himself becomes a servant to the people.  He lived among us, suffered our mortal pains, came to this world in a humble way, and left it suffering a horrible, humiliating death on the cross. We have no right to wallow in self pity when we fail, or when we fall short in how we perform.  We try our best, we give every effort to succeed, but when we fail, we must accept it with grace, learn from it, and move on.  I will continue to try to take this lesson to heart.

MOLESKIN:
Insert any personal comments, notes, devotion content, etc.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Third F this Saturday, with the convergence at Big Ball at 7:00 AM and 3rd F afterwards at 8:30 AM.

Asylum Treebiscuit Run to win

THE SCENE: Misty mountain madness makes for some awesome light-pole shadows and views through-out the park.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER  
Surprised and grateful they let me lead these unsuspecting HIM’s through the gloom today.

WARM-O-RAMA:
SSH, Tennessee Rockin Chairs, High Knees, Burpees, Windmills, Cherry Pickers

THA-THANG: TREE-BISCUIT

The Short Version:

As a group, Run to an un-slapped tree, slap it, everyone call out the running burpee total,  do A single burpee, repeat.

The Long Version:
  • Scaling:
    • We travel as a pack, if you find yourself falling behind, skip a tree and burpee and keep moseying to catch up.  It’s more fun and less confusing to have the group stay together, especially when we alternate taggers.
    • Scaling is NOT cheating, it’s just scaling, no judgment here. You made it here and that’s enough.
    • We’re going to be zig-zagging all over the park so the better we can stay together the more we’ll be able to keep an accurate count and not leave people behind.  Plus it feels bad to tag a tree without everyone there doing it together.
  • Taggers
    • The tagger is the person closest to the nearest tree. They slap the tree and call out what the burpee running total is about to be. Similar to our cadence exercise routines, the whole group calls out the number and does a burpee.
    • The tagger is typically in the front of the pack, however since we are traveling in a mob fashion that’s not always true.
  • Alternate Taggers
    • Similar to an indian run, each person should take turns being in front and tagging a tree. This makes the workout much more fun.  If you have already tagged several trees then just slowly fade back and let someone else tag the next one.
  • What is a Tree:
    • We don’t do burpees for any old shrub.  Trees should be about 6 inches around and 10 feet tall.  Those pesky crape mertyles were very questionable this am.  #wanna-be-trees
  • No Poison Ivy:
    • In an attempt to to get too dirty and get poison ivy, we’ll pass trees that are surrounded by shrubs and tall grass. Luckily we are in a very well manicured park where most of the trees have nicely mowed grass leading up to them.
  • Cross Country Baby!!
    • We are going off road for sure.  The ground is very un-even around many of the trees. Be careful when running not to twist and ankle.  And don’t hit your face on a rock or root when doing a burpee in the dirt.
  • Be Loud
    • The louder you call out the number, the more you inspire your fellow brothers!
  • Milestones
    • At 50, 100, 150, 200 make sure the group catches up and circles around the tree, wait a few seconds. Do the burpee.  Celebrating these milestones adds to the encouragement factor.

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

1 corinthians 9:24  Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Showing up at 5:30 am to do 200 running burpees is a task I never thought I would do in a million years.  But not only did we do it but we had fun doing it.  That’s a miracle.  Thank you F3 and everyone who does it.  In the verse above Paul uses a very fleshly easy to understand analogy of running races to encourage his readers.  It worked for me and so I wanted to encourage the group to yell to each other “So Run to win!”(we did this several times).  My head is very thick (dense & dunse) and some times I need volume in order to bypass my head and get the info into my heart.

Harkin back to times when you might have rose to an athletic challenge in your youth by not eating certain foods, going to bed early before a big meet,  skipping beer before a big game, memorizing plays weeks in advance,  showing up to “two a day” practices when your other friends were partying.

Yes it’s true that we all have a VERY high calling to lean on the Lord and the Holy Spirit to help us be ministers to those in need.  The Lord is an active participant in our walks. He leads us beside still waters. He tracks with us where-ever we are at.  But I love this verse because he’s also saying “So RUN TO WIN!”…..

Running to win for you might look like not drinking, not smoking, not swearing, not lusting, not yelling, no coarse jesting, no slandering,  helping the poor, helping anyone.

I think what I’m getting at is there is a self-discipline simple athletic aspect to our calling. As simple as running. As simple as showing up at 5:30am. As simple as praying with your brothers.  Sometimes we are overwhelmed with the spiritual and scriptural call to be perfect, but I believe it’s easier when you break it down into little acts.  One workout,  one tree, one act of kindness, one burpee.

In the end you might surprise yourself at what God gives you the strength to do.  200 Burpees or help a nation dig out of a pit of moral despair.

So, run to win gentlemen, run to win!

The CMU Tour

THE SCENE: 68 degrees at circle up Humidity at 91%…perfect for a CMU Tuesday
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

Warm up with 25 SSH on 4 count, Cherry Pickers x8, A little this and that, Thai fighters x10 each leg
THA-THANG:
Grab CMU’S and put them down to mosey the loop up baby hill and down dragon tail.

Objective: Mosey with CMU’s and stop at 5 stations along loop.  1) Curls 2) Row 3) Squats 4) Overhead Press 5) 4ct Flutters

Did loop 4xs then back to AO, put up CMU’S

MARY:
Bit of time left so hit burpee ladder add one burpee at each parking spot total of 50 burpees
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Challenge was to make public declarations of some sort and to thank, encourage, and make those who have helped you along your journey aware of such.  Most importantly, a declaration of faith.  If not in spoken word then in act.

Comfort of Judgement

THE SCENE: Sunny, hot but a breeze helped.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:

20 Side-straddle hops, 10 Plank Jacks, 10 Side Bend Stretches Left and 10 Right, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Tempo Merkins
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Stop Sign at southeast corner of Admin Bldg.  20 Hello Dollies.

Mosey to Outdoor Chapel.  Team up into pairs of two.  We will do Doras.  While one partner runs around building on the sidewalk the other partner does exercise.  These are the exercises:

  • 100 Decline Merkins off stage.
  • 100 Four Count Mountain Climbers
  • 100 Big Boys Sit Ups
  • 100 Bench Dips
  • 100 Four Count Hello Dollies

Mosey to Playground.  We will do elevens at benches starting with ten bench jumps and one decline merkin.

Mosey to Pavilion.  We will do sevens starting with six picnic table pull-ups and one bench dip.

Mosey to stop sign at northeastern corner of admin bldg.  20 American Hammers

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Nine men including one FNG:  Joe Salamanca whom we dubbed “Nature Boy.”
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Finding comfort in God’s Judgement

From Proverbs Chapter 1 (24-28) in ESV Bible:

Because I have called and you refused to listen,

have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,

25  because you have ignored all my counsel

and would have none of my reproof,

26  I also will laugh at your calamity;

I will mock when terror strikes you,

27  when terror strikes you like a storm

and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,

when distress and anguish come upon you.

28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;

they will seek me diligently but will not find me.

Those of us who read the Bible sometimes read about God’s wrath and judgment. It can be quite discomforting when we do so.  God seems quite upset, quite irate, when it comes to sin.  Sometimes I ask myself, “Do I want that kind of God?” when I read about his anger and vengeance toward sin.  God’s wrath is difficult to think about.  We tend to like the idea of a loving God but not of a judging God.

I particularly don’t like to think of his anger and judgment when thinking of my own sins.  I don’t want that burning fire coming after me!

While God’s wrath may seem “Ungodly” in our modern world of “tolerance for others”, do we really want a God who does not judge sin?  When we see the hatred and injustice that occur in this “tolerant” world, do we want a God who sits idly by, just watching it all happen while munching on brownies?  When we see children being abused, victims slaughtered by evil dictators, people losing their fortunes due to swindlers, do we want our Creator to do nothing in regard to it?

I want God’s judgment (just not against me!).

Think of yourself as a father or father to be.  You love you children.  You want great things for them.  But are you not going to be angry and passionate when you see someone hurt them?  No way!  Are you going to sit by and just let them get hurt?  I don’t think so.  You will tear doors down to get to the one who hurts them.  Also, are you indifferent when your children themselves do wrong?  Are you going to sit by idly if they purposefully pick a fight with a younger child?  Or, are you not going to feel embarrassment, anger, and shame if they steal from a store or friend?  You are going to take action!  You won’t like doing it but you will discipline them.  You will do that because you love them.  You want them to be morally straight, to be loving to others, to be of good character.

If we look at the issue more closely, we do want a God who gets angry about sin, who judges bad deeds.  We desire a just world where evil is punished.  And we do have a God who is just.

But what does our just God see when it comes to us humans?  We all sin, after all.  Well, our sin probably stirs his wrath.  Fortunately, we have a God who loves us.  He may hate our sins but He is slow to anger.  He is also willing to die on a cross in atonement for our sins.  He loves us so much that He sent His only son to die for us.  As the great song by Stuart Townend proclaims, “Tis the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us.”

God, thank you for judging my sins.  Also, thank you for sending your only son to die for my sins so that I might live for you.

MOLESKIN:

Prayers for Steam on his new adventure of traveling with his job.  Prayers for Thunderstruck’s mother.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Convergence and 3rd F this Saturday!