THE SCENE: Insert info about the weather, etc.
F3 WELCOME & DISCLAIMER
WARM-O-RAMA:
25 Side Straddle Hops, 10 Mountain Climbers, 10 Windmills, 5 Baby Arm Circles Forward and 5 Wide Arm Circles Forward, 5 Baby Arm Circles and 5 Wide Arm Circles Backward, 10 Twisties.
THA-THANG:
Mosey to the Pavilion. We will do a Pyramid of Bench Pull Ups and Decline Merkins, starting with 10 of each, then 15 of each, then 20 of each, then back to 15 of each and finally 10 of each.
Mosey towards by the pitching cages near the ball fields and down to the start of the Cardiac. We will do 20 American Hammers. Next we will run to the second curve of Cardiac. There will be a cone farther up cardiac as the trail approaches the benches. We will go on the grass to that cone by alternating between 10 Count Bear Crawls and 10 Count Lunges until we reach the cone. Then we will do 25 Bench Dips at the benches.
Mosey on the trail towards Lyons Bend. We will stop on the trail as it turns towards Lyons Bend and do 20 Flutter Kicks and 20 Hello Dollies in the grass. We will then run on the trail as it approaches the entrance to the park on Lyons Bend. Before we get there we will see a cone in the grassy field. We will go to that.
Men will split into teams of two. We will do Doras. While one team member runs uphill toward the roadway and touches the tree by the roadway, the other team member will do exercises. When one partner comes back, the other does the exercises. Each team will do the following exercises:
- 100 Merkins
- 100 Squat Jumps
- 100 Big Boy Sit-ups
- 100 Iron Mikes (both feet forward = 1)
- 100 Raised Legs Toe Touches
Mosey back to trail and then go to the beginning of Roadshow Run. We will stop to do 25 Dead Bugs (four count) and 50 Baby Crunches. We will then run up Roadshow Run and stop at the bat cave. However, we will do 3 Burpees after climbing each set of steps to the bat cave (there are three sets). Those getting to the bat cave will do Baby Crunches until the six arrives.
Mosey to the front porch of the Admin Bldg. We will run around the sidewalk loop stopping at each quarter of the loop to do exercises. Here are the exercises at each quarter:
- South quarter: 25 Carolina Dry Docks
- Benches at Coliseum: 25 Bench Dips
- North Quarter: 25 Bobby Hurleys
- Steps of Admin Bldg.: 25 Calve Raises
- Rinse and Repeat.
Mosey to Haslam Boulder. We will do 20 Squats.
Mosey to AO.
MARY:
We will line up along the curb of one end of the parking lot. We will Sprint to the other end and sprint back. We will then Bernie Sanders to the other end and back. We will then Skip to the other end and back. We will then Sprint there and back.
COUNT-OFF & NAME-O-RAMA
13 Men, no FNGs.
CIRCLE OF TRUST/BOM:
We Chose What We Think
Since this is the end of May, a time of graduations and commencement addresses, I thought I would examine a commencement address that might teach me some lessons about life. I had heard of a famous commencement address by the American writer David Foster Wallace that was given to the 2005 graduating class of Kenyon College. I listened to the speech, found it to be a very good one, and indeed learned some valuable life lessons. I then found out that David Foster Wallace committed suicide three years after he gave the commencement address. And, I thought, how much credence can my brothers and I give to life lessons taught by someone who has committed suicide? I talked to my wife, Jan, about it. She reminded me of a wonderful phrase by Bryan Stevenson in his book, Just Mercy: “A man is so much more than the worst thing he has ever done.” Another thing Jan said to me, and this is also very true: “People often write about what they aspire to be versus what they are”. With those proclamations in mind, here are some of the lessons I learned from David Foster Wallace’s commencement address to Kenyon College:
- We have the freedom to think and what we chose to think about is of the utmost importance. How we interpret data is important. Two men can hear the same truth, yet have very different interpretations of it. Wallace, who I do not believe was a fan of any particular denomination of faith, used the example of a religious person and an atheist speaking to one another. In explaining his disbelief in God, the atheist commented that he put faith to the test one time in a snowstorm and what happened showed there is no God. It was such a bad snowstorm that he yelled out, “God, if you are truly there, save me from this snowstorm”. He said God did not come to him. The religious man replied, “now wait a minute, you lived through the snowstorm, your being here is proof. Doesn’t that show God exists?” The atheist said, “I lived but it was because of a man on a snow sled led by a pack of dogs that found me.” Brothers, we choose how to think. We chose how to interpret the truths before us.
- What we choose to think about, what we choose to focus on applies to the mundane portions of everyday life. Wallace talked about the long drive home from work. You can get upset about the traffic jam, the noise, and the pollution. You can scream at the guy who just cut you off as you were trying to shift your car into a faster moving lane. You can be annoyed by the massive gas guzzling car in front of you, spitting out fumes and eating up precious fuel resources. Yet, you can also contemplate what you want to do for your family when you get home. You can think that maybe the guy who cut in front of you is just as anxious to get home to his family as you are to yours. You can think about the possibility that the guy in the massive car perhaps wanted to get a larger car to carry his kids around in and keep them safe. You can even see the roadway as a beautiful picture of fellow humans, making their way home after a hard day at work. You have the choice.
- With our freedom to think we can choose what we worship. We can worship money and never have enough. We can worship power and continually drive to have more. We can worship the intellect and castigate those not as brilliant as we are while somehow wondering if we, with our college educations, are actually frauds. We chose what we worship.
David Foster Wallace, I don’t know the reasons for your suicide. Perhaps some of the life lessons you spoke of in your commencement speech were not embedded enough in your psyche. You aspired for what you wrote about but you were not yet there. But, this fellow here in Knoxville thanks you for those lessons. I have the freedom to think and I will choose to try to follow those lessons. I choose to think about good and purposeful things. I will try to remember to do so even during the mundane moments of life. And, I will choose what to worship . . . and what I choose to worship is God, the God of love, the God of mercy, the God of all existence.
MOLESKIN:
Prayers for the families and people impacted by the school shootings in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, TX. Prayers for those planting flags at the Veterans and for all Veterans who have served our country. Prayers for F6 in his search for a new job.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Flag planting this morning at the grave sites of all Veterans buried at the Veterans Cemetary across the street from the Asylum. Rampart Launch this Monday at 7 am. Some of us are meeting at the Starbucks at Northshore near Pellisippi Parkway at 6 am on Monday and will Clown Car to the Rampart AO shortly thereafter.