F3 Knoxville

Gratitude

AO: asylum-daybreak
Q: Lilydipper
PAX: F3 Pluto ( Hugh Nystrom), Brick, High Heels, Veggie (Rylen Huddy), Proton, Swimmies (Nathan Chesney), Waffle House (Brady Greene), Dain Bramage (Will Olson), Cap’n Crunch (Ted Ancelet), Pele (Jon Lindberg), lebowski, Pusher, Lulu (Greg Huddy), Doubtfire (Nick Bond), Back Flow
FNGs: None
COUNT: 16
WARMUP: 20 Side Straddle Hops, 5 Burpees, 10 Imperial Walkers, 4 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 3 Burpees, 7 Twistees, 2 Burpees, 10 Tennessee Rocking Chairs, 1 Burpee, 5 Pterodactyls Forward and 5 Backward

THE THANG: Mosey to the Caribbean. We will do a Candy Cane run stopping at every other island to do 15 Merkins. Those finishing first sweep everyone back.
Mosey to the Bidet. We will run clockwise on the inner circle to the benches on top. We will stop to do 10 Incline Merkins and 10 Decline Merkins. Then we will run clockwise back to the bottom where men will do Baby Crunches until the six arrives.
Mosey to Muscle Beach. Each man will do 25 reps of two different exercise machines.
Mosey to parking lot above soccer fields. We will so suicides to crosswalks. Each time a man comes back he is to do 15 Baby Crunches then run to the next crosswalk.
Mosey on the walkway to the baseball fields and stop about halfway to the large pavilion by the baseball fields. We will do 20 Hello Dollies.
Mosey to the pavilion. We will stop by picnic tables in the pavilion. There, will break into teams of two men each for Doras. While one partner does exercises the other runs around the pavilion. Then team members switch places. This pattern continues until all exercises are completed by the team. Here are the exercises:
100 Bench Step Ups

100 Bench Dips

100 Picnic Table Pull-ups.

Next, we will mosey toward the road leading to the Admin Bldg. We will stop at the rounded garden at the fork where Admin Bldg road hits the Main Park road. We will do 15 Rocky Balboas.
Next, we will run past the lower parking area below the Admin Bldg and to the closest rock pile. Break into teams of two for Doras again. Each team grabs a CMU size rock. Go back to lower parking lot. While one partner runs upstairs, then south to the cul-de-sac and then back down to parking lot the other partner does exercises with rock. Then partners switch places. Here are the exercises each team will do with rocks:
100 Overhead Presses

100 Curls

100 Rows

Place rocks back and run up to Coliseum. We will take a 30 second gander at the Best Sunrise in America.
Mosey to Haslam’s Rock. We will do 15 Tempo Squats.
Mosey down to the dragon tail and back to the AO. We will line up on curb and Bernie Sanders to other curb in parking lot. We will then sprint back to the starting curb.
Gather in circle at AO.

MARY: Stretches.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Brolympics November 16 at Asylum

COT: Prayers
Prayers for all those impacted by the two recent hurricanes. Prayers for Ms. Jan who we often see at the Asylum. She has cancer and is most likely in her last year of living – she is a woman of faith who will be sitting by God in the future.
Message
My message is a reading of the following poem by Carrie Newcomer from her book entitled A Permeable Life: Poems and Essays. The poem speaks for itself and is my entire message.

Three Gratitudes

Every night before I go to sleep
I say out loud
Three things that I’m grateful for,
All the significant, insignificant
Extraordinary, ordinary stuff of my life.
It’s a small practice and humble,
And yet, I find I sleep better
Holding what lightens and softens my life
Ever so briefly at the end of the day.
Sunlight, and blueberries,
Good dogs and wool socks,
A fine rain,
A good friend,
Fresh basil and wild phlox,
My father’s good health,
My daughter’s new job,
The song that always makes me cry,
Always at the same part,
No matter how many times I hear it.
Decent coffee at the airport,
And your quiet breathing,
The stories you told me,
The frost patterns on the windows,
English horns and banjos,
Wood Thrush and June bugs,
The smooth glassy calm of the morning pond,
An old coat,
A new poem,
My library card,
And that my car keeps running
Despite all the miles.
And after three things,
More often than not,
I get on a roll and I just keep on going,
I keep naming and listing,
Until I lie grinning,
Blankets pulled up to my chin,
Awash with wonder
At the sweetness of it all.

Adventures of Little Spur

AO: asylum-pm
Q: Curveball
PAX: Drum Major, Pele (Jon Lindberg), SlideRule (Stephen Sloan), Steam, Brick, Glamper, CRISPR, MD Hammer, Pusher, Welches (Leland Murphy), Curveball, Lilydipper
FNGs: None
COUNT: 12
WARMUP:
SSHs
Baby Arm Circles
Tempo Squats
Cherry Pickers
2 Burpees

THE THANG:
At the rock pile.
15 – Colt 45s
15 – Overhead Press
15 – Triceps
RNR until Indians take over and you have to run away.

Charles Bronson with a few more activities.
Charles Bronson
Start with 3 shovel flags, cones or other distance markers with first two 100 yards apart in a line, the last another 10-30 yards past. At starting point, perform 50 SSH’s, sprint to 2nd point, then army crawl or bear crawl to 3rd point. Mosey back to start, 50 Merkins then rinse/repeat. 50 burpees, rinse/repeat. 50 LBC’s, rinse/repeat. Finish with 50 Jump Squats rinse/repeat. Also added 50 Curls, 50 Triceps, and 50 Overhead Claps

MARY:
Pickle Pounders
Monkey Humpers
Pickle Pointers
LBCs
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Bro Olympics in November.
COT:
What do you say to a one legged hitchhiker? Hop in.

As I’ve gone through this past couple years, it’s become really apparent that laughing is a great remedy for the stuff that ales you.

The person who has a sense of humor is not just more relaxed in the face of a potentially stressful situation, but is more flexible in his approach.
JOHN MORREALL

Laughter connects you with people. It’s almost impossible to maintain any kind of distance or any sense of social hierarchy when you’re just howling with laughter. Laughter is a force for democracy.
JOHN CLEESE

Travel through Time

AO: asylum-daybreak
Q: Waffle House (Brady Greene)
PAX: Dain Bramage (Will Olson), Veggie (Rylen Huddy), lebowski, High Heels (Henry Ritchie), High Heels, Pele (Jon Lindberg), Doubtfire (Nick Bond), Lizzy, Double Wide, F3 Pluto ( Hugh Nystrom), Proton, Pusher, Crawdad (Robbi Dickens), Lilydipper, Jason Sutton
FNGs: 1 Jason Sutton
COUNT: 15
Triple Q Fail, triple confessions:

1) I would like to say I was following in the footsteps of my predecessor Crawdad (Robbi Dickens) and I took the week to meditate on last week’s Q before posting the backblast. But the truth is I went home after the workout and immediately started working on the yard, which I do not care about. Spent all day on it and was too tired to post this.

2) I like to get a little chatter going when I’m Qing, you know? But we went up everest and were generally on the move so much that I was out of breath and couldn’t say a whole lot. And we didn’t even get to the Jack Webb I had planned 🙁

3) I forgot our FNG’s name. Little Roll? Double Wide his potential brother in law will have to remember if/when Jason Sutton comes back.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Proton! Great October surprise

COT: High Heels (Henry Ritchie) requested prayer for his write-in campaign to become Weasel Shaker

Birthday Q

AO: asylum-pm
Q: Lizzy
PAX: Tenderfoot, Lilydipper, Curveball, Pusher, Rooney (Carl Whipple), Windex, MD Hammer, High Heels, Crash Dummy
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
WARMUP:

Tempo squats
Arm circles
Indian run up Everett

THE THANG:
Manmakers x 5
Mosey to base of pickets ridge then 11s with burpees at the bottom monkey humpers with bear crawl up the hill.
Rabbits came over and finished the 11s with entire group. We mixed in 15 more man makers as well.
Mosey to the bottom of the hill. 10 more manmakers.
Mosey back up to Pickets Ridge then 10 more man makers. Reverse lunges up the hill. Then 10 more man makers. Bear crawl to the top then 5 more manmakers. Mosey back over to ao.

MARY:
None

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Bro olympics in November

COT:
I asked the question about why we wake up every day? A few folks said the alarm clock. By why are we waking up. Are we stumbling through the day checking boxes to just get to the end. Or are we having purpose in our days. Back in August I had a really bad health scare. Chaplains were called in at one point to talk with Adriane. I don’t remember at all from Tuesday through Saturday morning. After a couple of days I told Adriane the thing that worried me the most was I don’t remember telling you I love you before my last surgery. Keep in mind this is when I had no memory. She said I did in my weakest moment. So my underlying cognitive thought was I love you. I also asked Adriane if I was going to die. She responded if you quit doing stupid shit you won’t :joy: :joy: :joy: this year has been shit with the loss of my brother and now this health event. But, I refuse to live in sadness and unhappiness. I’m choosing to live each day with purpose

The Long and Winding Road

AO: asylum-pm
Q: Lilydipper
PAX: Lizzy, Brick, Rooney (Carl Whipple), Pusher, Curveball, Crash Dummy
FNGs: None
COUNT: 7
WARMUP: 20 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 5 Burpees, 10 Cherry Pickers, 3 Burpees, 7 Twistees, 2 Burpees, 10 Tempo Merkins, 1 Burpee, 6 Pterodactyls Forward, 6 Pterodactyls Backwards.

THE THANG: Mosey to Front Steps of Admin Bldg. We will do 20 Regular Calves Raises, 20 Calves Raises with right foot on higher step, and 20 Calves Raises with left foot on higher step.
Mosey past Cul-de-sac at southeast side of Admin Bldg and run to raised garden at intersection of roads. We will do 15 Rocky Balboas off garden curb.
Mosey to West Side of New Pavilion by ball fields. We will do 15 Merkins.
Mosey to the trails behind the Ball Fields area. We will then mosey to the pier area by Lake Inlet. We will break into groups of three. Each group will start at a different cone to do first exercise, then rotate clockwise to do first at next cone, then go to 3rd cone for first exercise, then back to cone the group started at. They will go through the same sequence with the second and third exercises. Here are the exercises at each cone:
Cone 1 at benches near pier: 20 Bench Dips, 20 Incline Merkins, 20 Decline Merkins

Cone 2 back on trail near ball field parking lot: 20 Star Jumps, 20 Smurf Jacks, 20 Squat Jumps

Cone 3 at Rocks Pile: with rocks 20 Overhead Presses, 20 Curls, 20 Rows

Mosey back to Ball Fields area and street. We will do sevens from outfield in small ball field area to street up the hill. Start with six plank jacks on field and one squat on street.
Mosey back to intersection with raised garden. We will do ten more Rocky Balboas off curb of garden
Mosey to Coliseum. We will do 10 Bench Jumps on steps.
Mosey to Stop Sign at Northeast Corner of Admin Bldg. We will stop to do 20 American Hammers.
Next, we will Bernie race toward first no parking sign toward the AO. Next, we will sprint race to the AO.

MARY: Stretches

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Brolympics November 16 at Asylum

COT:
Prayers
Prayers for all those impacted by Hurricane Helene.
Message
These words come from Wendell Berry in his book, Jayber Crow:
If I could do it, I suppose, it would be a good idea to live your life in a straight line – starting, say, in the Dark Wood of Error, and proceeding by logical steps through Hell and Purgatory and into Heaven . . . But that is not the way I have done it, so far. I am a pilgrim, but my pilgrimage has been wandering and unmarked. Often what has looked like a straight line to me has been a circle or doubling back. . . I have had my share of desires and goals, but my life has come to me or I have gone to it mainly by ways of mistakes and surprises. . . I am an ignorant pilgrim, crossing a dark valley And yet for a long time, looking back, I have been unable to shake off the feeling that I have been led – make of that what you will.

Guys, do you feel like Wendell Berry, like your life is anything but a straight path forward? So any of you feel like you are somehow being led?

These words come from Paul Tournier in his book, Reflections:
He leads us step by step, from event to event. Only afterwards, as we look back over the way we have come and reconsider certain important moments in our lives in the light of all that has followed them, or when we survey the whole progress of our lives, do we experience the feeling of having been led without knowing it, the feeling that God has mysteriously guided us.

Guys, I am 67-years-old. I am a psychologist and people often look to me for answers. I can tell you that when it comes to the difficult dips and turns in life – the conflicts where we just don’t know the way to turn – I generally don’t have “The Answer” whether that be for me or you. So I pray. I pray for guidance. And, that guidance often doesn’t come to me in crystal clear messages cut in stone. But, at age 67, I look back at me life and I see that God has been guiding me. He has provided beautiful answers for me without my recognizing it at the time, blessings that I am so thankful for. Those blessings often came after significant hardships.

Each one of you is on your own journey. Sometimes the path will seem clear. You know exactly what to pray to God for. At other times, the path will be unclear and arduous. You may not know what to pray for other than HELP. So, pray for help. Pray that God will direct you. God is mysterious, but he is powerful. And, although your prayers may seem unanswered, he is listening and he is guiding you.