THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Mountain Climbers (four count), 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Rockettes, 10 Baby Arm Circles Forward and 10 Backward
THA-THANG:
Get Bricks out of Truck. Mosey Across Street to Trail that meanders to gate at Lyons Bend. We will run with bricks for five lights then do 5 Mini-Man-Makers, 10 Jump Squats, 20 Squats and 25 Wings Up (still holding bricks). Those getting finished first run in place with bricks. We will then run for five more lights doing same exercises when stopping but with 25 Wings Out (instead of Wings up). We will then run five more lights doing same exercises but with 25 Wings Down. Next, five more but with 25 Overhead Presses. Finally we will run for five more lights and do same exercises but with 25 Rows. We will then mosey on roadway back toward AO. However, we will stop in lowest parking lot on way back to bear crawls to inlets with bricks. Finally, mosey back to AO and drop off bricks.
Mosey through entrance way of northern ball fields and go to northernmost ball field. We will number off into two teams. One team starts at home plate and the other team starts at second base. We will do relay race with each man running around bases before next man starts.
Mosey to striped field in outfield. We will do suicides running to each line and back to start but doing 15 Baby
Crunches each time we come back. Those who finish suicides first will alternate between 10 Big Boys and 10 Merkins until everyone is back.
Mosey to pavilion. We will alternate between 25 Picnic Table Pull-ups and 25 Bench Dips. Next we will do 20 of each, then 15 of each, then 10 of each, and, finally, 5 of each.
Mosey past pitching cages at Northern Ball Fields to Cardiac Hill. We will run up the hill stopping to the following exercises at the following locations:
- Curve 1: 25 American Hammers (four count)
- Curve 2: 25 Hello Dollies (four count)
- Curve 3: 25 Decline Merkins
- Benches: 25 Bench Dips
Mosey to CMU Pile. We will break into teams of two each for Doras. While one man Bernie’s to curb and sprints back, the other works on the exercises, then each man switches. Teams will do the following exercises:
- 100 Overhead Presses
- 100 Curls
- 100 Bell Ringers
- 100 Rows
Mosey back to AO.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
10 men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
2 Corinthians 4:8-11
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.”
As the year of 2019 comes to a close, I have been thinking about our brother, Pinto. This has not been an easy year for him. As you know, he had a major heart attack at the start of the year. His mother died later in the year. He began to cope with exhaustion and significant weight loss and weakening of the bones that led to a break in his back and tear in his rib cage. He found out that multiple myeloma, a disease that causes cancer cells to accumulate in the bone marrow, was causing his bone weakness, weight loss and exhaustion. Pinto is now undergoing chemotherapy and may have to receive stem cell therapy. All of this has certainly given him pause to think about life in ways that we usually do not slow down to do. As he told me at UT Hospital after he was diagnosed, “Lily, don’t take the chance to exercise with your F3 brothers for granted. It is a blessing to be able to do so.”
Pinto was willing to admit anxiety in facing his treatment for multiple myeloma. He is not only facing difficult treatment that can lead to sickness and exhaustion – he is facing his own mortality. That can be a horrifying task. But, as I think of our brother, I also think about the armor he has for his fight.
Pinto has the knowledge that he has loved his family strongly. He is a wonderful father. I remember the time he wanted to make sure who the hell my wife, Jan, and I were when we invited his daughter, Molly, to a Children’s Hospital Event where families stayed at a local hotel. Fortunately, his wife already knew Jan well (and had met me a number of times) and after finding out we were alright people, he allowed Molly to go with us. But Pinto was going to make doggone sure his little girl was going to be safe. I think of Pinto’s relationship with Hooker, the strong bond between father and son, how much pride he takes in Hooker and who Hooker has become (as well as in Molly and who she has become) And, I think of the powerful love Pinto has for his wife, Tessa. That love was particularly poignant that day I saw them both in the hospital. Both of them were exhausted, Lee from recent back surgery and Tessa from the sleepless nights by his side in the hospital. The power of their love was tangible.
Pinto also has the armor of his relationship with God. He believes in God and knows that God will be with him no matter where the journey with multiple myeloma takes him. Gents, how many of us have truly faced death square in the face? When we do, will we have what Pinto has? I know that Lee Gentry wants to beat this cancer, to live on to enjoy life with his granddaughter (Hooker’s future child) that is due in May. I think he will. Yet, even if that were not the case, Pinto knows where he will go when he breathes his last breath here on earth. That has to be comforting. He knows that life goes beyond these fragile moments here. He has a Father in Heaven who will never abandon him and will take him Home when his days here are gone.
Finally, when I consider my friend, Lee Gentry, I know that whenever his final day comes (which will probably be after mine since I am older than he is), Christ’s life will be revealed in Lee’s mortal body. Because Pinto, Lee Gentry, though hard pressed by cancer and persecuted from every side is living the kind of life that God wants him to live. He will be the first to tell you that he has had and will continue to have his human moments of doubt and anger. But, he strives for more and seeks God in doing so. And, in so doing, he reveals the love of Christ.
So, as 2019 comes to a close, I not only pray for Pinto’s health but I give thanks for his presence in our lives.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for our brother, Pinto, and his family. Prayers for Ed, cousin of Curveball, who died yesterday. Prayers for Ed’s family.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s Day and 2nd F party (wives or partners only, no children) at Tank’s home on Friday, January 3.
