F3 Knoxville

Clark Higgins Debut

AO: asylum-daybreak
Q: Crawdad (Robbi Dickens)
PAX: Crawdad (Robbi Dickens), High Heels (Henry Ritchie), lebowski, Lulu (Greg Huddy), Snitch (Cory Beilharz ), Swimmies (Nathan Chesney), Veggie (Rylen Huddy), Waffle House (Brady Greene), Suds,
FNGs: None
COUNT: 10
Wafflehouse led the PAX in a warmup of Shoulder Blasters and some other classics then took us to the main event!

The Main Event (Stone in hand)
– 20, 25, 30 count circuit of
– Curls (then overhead presses, shoulder raises), Box Jumps (or step ups), Picnic table pull ups, and dips.
– A diagonal dash up a Pickett’s Charge
– Completed by some shenanigans at the Coliseum before turning it over to Crawdad for the back half,

The Yoga Studio
– nuf said

A trip down Everest (lunges at the bottom) and back up the Summit to the Space Station.

We recovered during our mosey back to the AO where we finished with:
– 15 yard dashes
– ATMs

Crawdad closed it out with a basic message: be where your feet are. Be present and content during the holidays.

Wave

AO: asylum-pm
Q: Lilydipper
PAX: Glamper, Crash Dummy, Tenderfoot, CRISPR, Pusher, Pele (Jon Lindberg), Brick, Swimmies (Nathan Chesney), Cheetah Boy, Heart Stop
FNGs: None
COUNT: 11
WARMUP: 20 Side-Straddle-Hops, Run Around Parking Lot, 10 Burpees, 10 Windmills, 10 Rockettes, 10 Tennessee Rocking Chairs, 6 Baby Arm Circles Forward and 4 Pterodactyls Forward, 6 Baby Arm Circles Backward and 4 Pterodactyls Backward.

THE THANG: Mosey up Mini Cardiac and stop at left of crosswalk. We will do 10 Imperial Walkers.
Mosey on trail and part of Dragon Tail then on grass up to Haslam’s Rock. We will stop to do 20 American Hammers.
Mosey to Coliseum. We will stop to do 20 Flutter Kicks
Mosey to Circle where main road converges with main park roadway. We will stop to do 20 Rocky Balboas.
Mosey to parking lot at entry of park at Northshore. We will stop to 20 Hello Dollies
Mosey to the large pavilion and go to section with picnic tables. We will divide into teams of two for Doras. While one partner runs completely around the pavilion, the other will do exercises at the picnic tables. Partners then switch. Here are the exercises that each team does at the picnic tables:
100 Picnic Table Pull-ups

100 Incline Merkins

100 Bench Dips

Mosey past playground area to soccer fields’ parking lot. We will do suicide run to end of parking lot, stopping at each crosswalk to come back and do 15 Baby Crunches before running to the next crosswalk.
Mosey to Muscle Beach. Each man will do 25 reps on two exercises of choice.
Mosey to the Bros Bowl. We will stop to do 10 Tempo Squats.
Mosey to the west end of the Caribbean parking lot. We will run to the east end of the parking lot stopping at every island to do 5 Big Boy Sit-Ups
Mosey back to the AO.

MARY: Stretches

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Convergence at Roco this Saturday. Polar Bear Plunge on January 1.

COT: Waving Goodbye

Deanna Dikeman is a photographer who lives in Columbia, Missouri. Her parents lived in Sioux City, Iowa and Dikeman visited her parents every year, frequently more than once each year. What do loved ones do when you leave their home after a visit? They often stand outside the house and wave good bye. In 1991, Dikeman decided she would take a photograph of her parents each time they waved good bye. Her father died in 2009 at the age of 91. Her mother continued to wave goodbye until she passed in 2017. What remains are beautiful memories and a very moving series of photographs that were featured in an article in The New Yorker in March of 2020. I encourage you to look it up. If you don’t remember Deanne Dikeman, just Google “woman who took pictures of parents waving goodbye.”

If you had photographs of your loved ones waving goodbye to you each time you left then, what would that look like? I think of those waves goodbye from my parents and grandparents as well as my wife’s parents. I don’t have a history of photographs but I do have a history of wonderful and touching memories. I hope that those of you who are fathers will create such memories for your own children when they are old enough to live away from you.

I like how, in F3, we spend some time after a workout chatting with our brothers and then telling them goodbye when they leave from the workout or leave from our Board Meeting. I couldn’t help but think of Colonel’s young son, Fist Bump, when I thought of waving goodbye . . . all of us waving good bye and him enjoying that so much and waving back to us. Gents, there is something special in knowing, whether it be family or brothers in F3, that we mean something to someone, that they are sad to see us go if it is going to be a while before they come back (like when Switchgrass has had to leave us for months to go off for service in the National Guard), and that they look forward to seeing us again. So . . . thank you, Lord, for good byes.

Buscuit

AO: asylum-pm
Q: High Heels (Henry Ritchie)
PAX: Hard Stop (Jake), Pusher, Swimmies (Nathan Chesney), Doubtfire (Nick Bond), Crash Dummy, Lilydipper, Rooney (Carl Whipple), Tenderfoot, Drum Major, Pele (Jon Lindberg)
FNGs: None
COUNT: 14
WARMUP: Burpees, SSH, IW, Tempo Squat

THE THANG: The Buscuit requested by Pele

MARY: Not much

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Look on the announcement page in Slack.

COT: It’s great to have been part of F3 for nine years. There have been many ups and downs, and there are more to come, but having the back of the pack sure makes all the difference. Here’s to many more posts.

For the Stats

AO: asylum-daybreak
Q: Choir Boy , Crawdad (Robbi Dickens)
PAX: Snaggletooth (Elijah Tafao), Honeydew, Farley, Pac-man, Wanderer, Butterknife, Choir Boy, Crawdad (Robbi Dickens), Dain Bramage (Will Olson), lebowski, Lulu (Greg Huddy), Mermaid, Mr Jinxy, Pele (Jon Lindberg), Pusher, Snitch (Cory Beilharz ), Steam, Swimmies (Nathan Chesney), Veggie (Rylen Huddy), Waffle House (Brady Greene), Right Said from Nashville and Chum Bucket from Illinois
FNGs: None
COUNT: 22
Stuff was done. See post by Crawdad above :point_up_2: because apparently Crawdad has not learned how to do a formal backblast in slack. First half by me, and the second have by Crawdad, who delivered two messages in the COT:

1. You can’t change your life without changing something that you do everyday.
2. If you come out and enjoy the BSIA, then you should be Qing 1-2 times per year, at a minimum.

Convergence next week, or, as Crawdad called it, a “Brovergence.” Crawdad will be there as a “Brovirgin.” I will not be there because my kids have a swim meet. Enjoy and don’t get hurt. It should help that the sun will be up at 7:00 since it is after the time change.

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.