F3 Knoxville

Tag: Lillydipper

World Cup Redux

THE SCENE: Warm and muggy, 92 degrees, but thankfully not much sun!
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
Cherry Pickers x 10 (4-ct), Slow Windmills x10 (4-ct), Tempo Merkins x10 (4-ct), Motivators 5 reps decreasing, baby arm circles forward x10 (4-ct) and backward x10 (4-ct)

THA-THANG:
We recreated the World Cup Quaterfinals at the Asylum! Run the loop road around the administration 3 times.  8 Stations are located throughout the circuit, each station representing a team from the WC Quarterfinals.  We will do an exercise at each station named after the country represented for the first lap (quarterfinals), second lap (semi finals), and third lap (Finals).  The teams that were eliminated in each round of the playoffs will have their exercises replaced with 10 squats.

FIRST ROUND QUARTERFINALS

  1. French Flutter Kicks (x20, 4-ct) @ Bat house
  2. Brazilian Burpees (10 OYO) @ Big Tree
  3. Belgian Box Cutters (20, 4-ct) @ Corner
  4. Croatian Carolina Dry Docks (x 15) @ Circle Drive Split
  5. Russian Rocky Balboa (10, 4-ct) – then run up to top of stairs and do the victory dance @ Stairs
  6. Swedish Mountain Climbers (x 10, 4-ct) @Circle Drive Split
  7. English E2K oblique crunches (x 10 each knee) @ Turn on to Hilltop
  8. Uruguayan Upright Rows (need rocks, x30) @Rock Pile

SECOND ROUND  SEMIFINALS – Brazil, Russia, Sweden, Uruguay eliminated

  1. French Flutter Kicks (x20, 4-ct)
  2. Brazil Burpees (10 OYO)
  3. Belgian Box Cutters (20, 4-ct)
  4. Croatian Carolina Dry Docks (x 15)
  5. Russian Rocky Balboa (10, 4-ct) – then run up to top of stairs and do the victory dance
  6. Swedish Mountain Climbers (x 10, 4-ct)
  7. English E2K oblique crunches (x 10 each knee)
  8. Uruguay Upright Rows (need rocks, x30)

THIRD ROUND – Belgium and England eliminated

  1. French Flutter Kicks (x20, 4-ct)
  2. Brazil Burpees (10 OYO)
  3. Belgian Box Cutters (20, 4-ct)
  4. Croatian Carolina Dry Docks (x 15)
  5. Russian Rocky Balboa (10, 4-ct) – then run up to top of stairs and do the victory dance
  6. Swedish Mountain Climbers (x 10, 4-ct))
  7. English E2K oblique crunches (x 10 each knee)
  8. Uruguay Upright Rows (need rocks, x30)

FINAL ROUND CHAMPIONSHIP– Croatia eliminated

  1. French Flutter Kicks (x20, 4-ct)
  2. Brazil Burpees (10 OYO)
  3. Belgian Box Cutters (20, 4-ct)
  4. Russian Rocky Balboa (10, 4-ct) – then run up to top of stairs and do the victory dance
  5. Croatian Carolina Dry Docks (x 15)
  6. Swedish Mountain Climbers (x 10, 4-ct)
  7. English E2K oblique crunches (x 10 each knee)
  8. Uruguay Upright Rows (need rocks, x30)

MARY:
We did a mini-competition to determine who got the World Cup Trophy (which just so happened to be an F3 Pint Glass!).  Everyone did Imperial Walkers while each man in turn took a turn kicking a soccer ball as close as possible to the F3 Flag.  Congratulations to Bearcat for taking home the hardware!!

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA

CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

RECOGNIZING GOD, a Personal story about recognizing God in my life.  A few years ago my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away 5 months later. She was only 75, and it was just 2 years after my father passed.  Everyone loves their mom, but she truly was a special person… Never had a harsh word to say about anyone, generous to a fault, loved her friends and family and church community, humble but talented, gregarious and kind.  When she became ill, I authored her Caring Bridge website which kept friends and family up to date on her situation.  I raced home to Chicago when I heard she had taken a downturn, and missed being able to say goodbye to her by about a half an hour.  I knew it was my responsibility to pass on the news.  As I was sitting at the computer, trembling with unbearable grief, trying to find the words to put into the final entry, I stared out the window and my anger turned towards God. Where was He?  Where was He for my mother?  Why did she have to get sick and suffer as she did? I sat there for a while, tears pouring down my face, my heart broken and hurting, and I felt a tingle run through my body. And I saw these images so clearly…

  • Her neighbor across the street who brought her over hot dinners twice a week
  • Her friend from her college days who drove 6 hours to visit with her when she heard she was sick
  • The waitress at a restaurant where we went to eat shortly before she passed away that brought her a bowl of chicken broth and vegetables when she learned my mom was sick and the original soup order was too spicy for her. The manager also picked up her bill.
  • The friends who kept our freezer stocked with more ice cream than an Army could eat because they knew that was her favorite treat.
  • The widow at church who drove her to several of her doctor’s appointments and was good company for her.
  • The surgeon who performed a near-perfect surgery in the early stages to give her a fighting chance and whose optimism and encouragement was so needed for all of us.
  • Her caregiver who lifted her spirits and was such a warm and comforting presence in the house.
  • Some friends of mine who drove 600 miles (!!) from Knoxville to attend her funeral.

Where was God? God was EVERYWHERE.  I was too blind and ignorant and selfish to see it.  He was all around me, I saw Him in these friends and neighbors, in the love these people showed my mother.

I encourage everyone to look for God in the kind acts of friends or strangers, and to be a vehicle for God’s love for others in the way you conduct your own lives.

MOLESKIN:
We prayed for the health and well being of several family members of the F3 community that have fallen sick or have been injured.

It was an incredible honor to lead my first Q for the Asylum PM group.  I was humbled and thankful by the opportunity.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Kickball tournament on Saturday.

Kicking It

THE SCENE:  Partly cloudy, mid to upper 80’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
25 Squats, 20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Bottle Openers, 10 Windmills
THA-THANG:
Mosey to other side of Admin Bldg.  We will do 25 Squats by steps up to Admin Bldg.  Then we will run up steps to top.  We will do 20 Merkins on porch.  Run back down stairs.  Bernie Sanders to street.  Lunge across street and run down stairs to grassy area.  10 Burpees.  Run back up stairs.  Lunge back across street.  Run back to stairs of admin bldg.  Rinse and repeat.  Those who finish first do baby crunches at top of stairs.

Mosey to northeast corner of admin bldg.  20 American Hammers in cadence.

Mosey to northern parking lot and trail leading north of that that gradually turns towards park entrance on Lyons Bend Road.  We will do Route 66 with the following exercises.  Whoever finishes first sweeps others back to start.

  • Big Boy Situps
  • Star Jumps
  • Dive Bombers

We will do 14’s to where trail hits roadway coming from Lyons Bend gateway entrance.  We will bear crawl to first light, sprint the next four lights, bear crawl one more light, sprint another four, etc. until roadway.

Mosey to Bottom of Roadshow Run.  Do 25 Squats in cadence.  Run to top of Roadshow Run.  Those who get to street first do plank until everyone arrives.

Mosey to AO.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eleven men, one who was a Flying EH, a great guy named Sam Harward whom we have given the F3 name of Samsung.  Samsung is a competitor of the group he works for.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM 

John Donne’s poem, A Hymn to God the Father is a powerful and beautiful reminder of how much God loves us, despite are continuing sin.  In the first stanza, Donne asks God whether he will love him despite the fact that he continues to commit the same sins again and again, despite the fact that he himself deplores those very sins.  How could a just God continue to love him despite the fact that, given so many chances, he doesn’t ever get it right?  And yet, God still loves him.

In the second stanza Donne admits to being even worse.  He asks if God will forgive and love him despite the fact that he wins others to the very sins he has committed.  He asks whether God will love him despite the fact that he escapes from some sins, only to commit them years later – and may even wallow in those sins.  How could God forgive him.  And yet, God does.

In the final stanza, Donne, a great man of faith, admits the sin of his own lack of faith.  He fears that when he dies that he shall perish alone, devoid of anything – that death is only the end.  So he asks for God’s promise that at his death, God’s son shall shine as he shines now.  And, realizing Jesus’ love for us, he sees God, he sees his love, and in that he fears no more.

A Hymn to God the Father

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
         Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
         And do run still, though still I do deplore?
                When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
                        For I have more.
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
         Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
         A year or two, but wallow’d in, a score?
                When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
                        For I have more.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
         My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
         Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
                And, having done that, thou hast done;
                        I fear no more.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Kickball tournament this Saturday!

Plan A or Plan B?

THE SCENE: Rainy will some thunderstorms
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
25 Squats, 20 Seconds of Squat Pulses, 20 Merkin Jacks (Abrupt Ending Due to Thunderstorms)
THA-THANG:

Pick up bricks in my car (each man gets one set of two bricks) before we mosey.  Mosey to Pavillion.  We will start off with doing 25 Squats while holding bricks in front of our chests.  We will then do Totem Poles with 30 seconds of each exercise as we symbolically climb up and down the totem pole.  Thus we will do each exercise for five thirty second segments by the end of the totem pole.  The following are the exercises.

  • Burpees
  • Squats
  • Picnic Table Pull Ups
  • Imperial Walkers
  • Bench Butt Raises

Note:  some ladies were having a gathering at the pavilion so we had to shift pavilions in the middle of the exercises.  We moseyed to the pavilion at the south ball fields.

After the totem pole exercises we did the following exercises with bricks:

  • With back on ground, 25 bench presses
  • Back on ground, 25 wings up
  • Back on ground, 25 overhead to knees
  • Back on ground, 25 overhead to back of head.

Next we did the following calve raises only going half way down after each raise up so as always to be on toes:

  • 25 calve raises with toes pointing straight
  • 25 calve raises with toes pointing at outward angle
  • 25 calve raises with toes pointing at inward angle

Mosey with bricks to outdoor shelter that is close to outdoor chapel.  25 Squats while holding bricks forward in front of chest.

Pickets charge with bricks to Admin Bldg and AO.  Drop off bricks.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eight men and one dog (Woodshack’s dog named “Chevy” was an incredible addition to our crew).
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
Cherish your relationships.  Pray for those you love.  Today is may daughter’s birthday and I cherish the 23 wonderful years that Faith has been my child.  She recently made a difficult decision NOT to go to graduate school after being accepted back in the spring and planning to start in the fall.  As a father, my initial thoughts and emotions, after she decided not to go to grad school, were mixed with disbelief, doubt and anger.  I thought to myself, “You are blowing an opportunity to have a masters degree by the age of 25.”  I was thinking her decision was impractical.  But it wasn’t my decision.  It was Faith’s and after four years of majoring in a very difficult program of English at her university, she just wasn’t ready for more classes, more studies, more reading.  She wants to work now and get a masters later.  I am glad that God told my wife and I to be patient, to consider her viewpoint, to look at her dreams, and to remember times in our own lives when we made important heart-felt decisions that were not the “practical thing” but which were right for us at that particular time in our life journeys.  Faith has been busy since making her decision not to attend grad school and has been applying for various America Corp positions in various parts of the United States.  She has already been offered one position and is still interviewing with a few others.

Be patient with those you love.  We can influence and we can give advice, but we should not control their life decisions.  We can show them we love them and want the best for them.  We can pray for them.  And, we can pray to God for direction before we choose what to say to them when they do make difficult life decisions.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
3rd F this Saturday.  Kickball next Saturday.

Images

THE SCENE: Sunny and nice, high 60’s to low 70’s
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 10 Rockettes, 10 Cherry Pickers
THA-THANG:
Mosey to Playground.  All my benches.  We will do elevens starting with 10 bench jumps and 1 decline merkin, working our way to 1 bench jump and 10 decline merkins.

Mosey to Pavillion.  We will do elevens starting with 10 picnic table pull-ups and 1 bench lift working our way to 1 picnic table pull-up and 10 bench lifts.  Afterward, we will do a 60 second squat with backs on wall.

Mosey on roadway south until it starts heading west.  We will stop to do 20 American Hammers.

Mosey to area close to stop sign as round heads west.  20 Box Cutters.

Mosey on roadway to front of Admin Bldg.  Stop at Cone 1 which is in front of sidewalk going to stairs of admin bldg.  We will be running clockwise on roadway going around admin bldg, stopping at each cone to do the listed exercises that will be written be each cone.

  • Cone 1 (located by sidewalk to Admin Bldg):  Deon Sanders to flagpole and sprint back, staying on right sidewalk going and left sidewalk coming back.
  • Cone 2 (located on inlet by road as it heads west on south side of admin bldg):  20 Carolina DryDocks
  • Cone 3 (located at boulder pile):  Pick up appropriate size boulder and do 20 overhead presses, 20 curls 20 rows and 20 squats.
  • Cone 4 (located past parking lot and on west side of admin bldg.)  Hop to Cone 5.
  • Cone 5 (located about 25 yards past Cone 4):  Bear Crawl to Cone 6.
  • Cone 6 (located about 25 yards past Cone 5):  20 Star Jumps
  • Cone 7 (located near stop sign on northeast side of Admin Bldg):  20 Hello Dollies
  • Cone 8 (located on right of roadway as it heads past Admin Bldg.  20 Dive Bombers
  • Cone 9 (located opposite of second set of stairs to left of roadway that is east of admin bldg):  Run up and down stairs three times.

Rinse and repeat after completing the nine cones.

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
20 Pickle Pounders, Boat Canoe
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
16 men.  We had Honcho from the Johnson City AO join us.  We also had an FNG, friend of Punch List named Nate Moore.  He is an attorney and we gave him the F3 name of Jail Bait.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
We are made in God’s image.  The Bible says it.  If this is true, there is greatness within us.  We are created to do powerful things, wonderful things.

We usually don’t think that way.  We often think of ourselves as poorly made creatures who need to be molded into something completely new.  Kathleen Norris states in her book, Cloister Walk “These days when someone commits an atrocity, we tend to sigh and say, “That’s human nature”  And certainly, we humans are sinners.  But as Norris remarks, “our attitude would seem wrong-headed to the desert monks, who understood human beings to be part of the creation that God called good, special in that they were made in the image of God. . . This is why Gregory of Nyssa speaks so often of ‘returning to the grace of that image which was established in you from the beginning”

We usually seek God outside of ourselves.  This can be when we go to church, when we take a nature walk, when we read the Bible, when we see God reflected in our fellow humans.  But, because we are made in God’s image, we are also capable of seeing God within ourselves.  As Bob Benson says in his book, See You at the House, “I must listen to the voice that is within me.  For that voice, too, is the purposeful, calling voice of God to us.”

When in my twenties, I had difficulty listening to the voice of God within me.  I was in a career field that others had encouraged me into but I struggled with it and did not have a great love for it.  My heart, my soul, the voice of God within me, was telling me to try psychology, but it seemed impossible – I would have to leave a job and go back to school.  Yet, that voice kept calling to me and with the help of God’s voice through conversations with friends and those who loved me, I finally listened fully to God’s voice within me.  It has made all the difference to me.

I encourage you to start listening closely to the voice of God within you.  What is your heart saying to you?  Can you hear God’s voice within you?  Start listening to that voice for direction.  And in your prayers, listen to that voice within you.  Certainly, continue to listen to others and look outside of yourself for God’s directions to you.  But also listen within yourselves for God’s directions to you – because you are made in the image of God.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
3rd F on Saturday, August 11.

Kickball tournament on Saturday, August 18.

Farva’s Highway Trooper Sendoff

THE SCENE: Partly cloudy, low 80’s.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
20 Side-straddle Hops, 10 Imperial Walkers, 10 Bottle Openers, 10 Cherry Pickers, 10 Baby to Wide Arm Circles Forward, 10 Baby to Wide Arm Circles Backward
THA-THANG:
Mosey toward stop sign on northeast side of Admin Bldg.  Stop at brick wall on left of road.  25 Bench raises.

Mosey to big coniferous tree just north of stop sign.  20 American Hammers.

Mosey on perimeter trail to area north of Roadshow Run.  20 Hello Dollies.  Then run to top of Roadshow Run and back.  Those who arrive back first do Baby Crunches until everyone is back.

Mosey to bottom of Mt. Everest.  20 Flutter Kicks.  Run to large tree half way up Mt. Everest and run back.  Those arriving first do baby crunches until everyone is back.

Mosey on perimeter trail to shaded area north of utilities bldg.  25 Carolina Dry Docks.

Mosey on perimeter trail to Northshore Entryway Gate.  Mosey east up road to shady area south of utilities building.  15 Tempo Merkins.

Mosey east on roadway to where there is downhill slope toward soccer fields.  Go down hill.  We will do sevens with Bicycle Kicks at bottom of hill and Burpees on top.

Mosey to stop sign on Southeast Corner of Admin Bldg.  25 Diamond Merkins.

Mosey to boulder pile.  Do 20 each of the following exercises:

  • Overhead Presses
  • Curls
  • Triceps
  • Rows
  • Squats

Mosey to AO.

MARY:
Standing stretches with legs together and legs apart; leg raises while lying down on six; arm and leg raises from plank position; Boat canoe.

COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
Eleven men, no FNG’s.pi
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:

THE DESCENDING GOD

In Philippians, Chapter 2: 6-8 we read about:  “Christ Jesus,a 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,b 7but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,c being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”

As Henri Nouwen states, our God is a descending God.  Jesus, who was born in a manger, chose the descending way continually.  He lived with his parents up to his 30th year in an disrespected town of Nazareth.  Although full of divine power, he equated power and popularity with temptation.  His disciples were simple men, not popular, wealthy, or religious leaders of the day.  His miracles were performed out of compassion, not to impress.  Often he even tells those whom he has cured not to tell others about it.  And, as he his life continues he becomes increasingly aware that he must fulfill his mission by sacrificing himself on a cross.  God is spat on and tortured, not lifted up in greatness.

Quoting Henri Nouwen in his “Letters to Mark” he states “God has willed to show his love for the world by descending more and more deeply into human frailty.”  And when Jesus reaches the utmost in poverty, pain lowliness and loneliness, nailed as a criminal to a cross, it is then that “we know how far God has gone to show us his love.  For it is then that Jesus has not only reached his utmost poverty, but also has shown God’s utmost love.”

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
3rd F at Outlook on August 11 at 8:30 am.  Talk to Pele or Lillydipper about signing up for the Fake Gloom Kickball team for a great tourney on Saturday, August 18.