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!
