Wednesday, March 24 | Paradise Island | Regency | Feels like 36 with wind & rain
PAX (22): Waterboy, Stink Bait, Blue Chip, Icy Hot, Wait Time, Convoy, Vandelay (Respect), Black Jack, Grease Fire, Tater tot, Khakis (Respect), Tony the Tiger, Slow Pitch, Jean Claude, Mac’n Cheese (Hate), Cataracts, Skipper, Biff, Swiper, Vanilla Ice, Ice-T, Sparty
QIC: Sparty
YHC was excited to be on the Q with rain in the forecast. As I arrived early to the AO, I wanted to take a quick drive as I had a new route planned and wanted to quickly check out some terrain. Along the way, I drove by several Pre-Runners that were getting after some miles. Shout Out to Roadhouse who had a 6am meeting this morning but still planned and showed up at 4:45am to get some work in. As YHC pulled into Lamp Park’s parking lot, I quickly recognized that the parking lot was a disaster with gravel and puddles. Rather than panicking, I couldn’t ignore the beautiful green building across the way and an audible was made. I arrived to the shovel flags as the pre-runners returned and the PAX started to make their way in.
At 0515, YHC greeted the PAX with, “Welcome to Paradise Island! This is F3 which stands for Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith. We exist to Plant, Grow, and Serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership. Our 5 core principles are: we are free, Open to All men, always held outdoors, we lead in a rotating fashion, and we always end in a circle of trust. We will be doing two things today, running and doing burpees.” There was no Warm-a-rama or Pre-Thang, we just jumped right into it.
The Thang: We will run to a specific spot which is approximately a mile run at a time. When you get to the destination, you have 2 options: 1. Turn around and go pick up the 6, or 2. Start in on your 30 Burpees. Every man was responsible for their burpees and if they finished early, they needed to help take on some burpees from the HIM that may have been a little behind. This was intended to help with guys not standing around, men leaning in and accepting help, HIM recognizing their brother may need some help, and to help keep the group moving as we were going to be covering more ground than what we typically do at Paradise.
While this was the plan I had in mind, I was unaware how well this would play out. We took off on our first mosey and ran all the way around the lake to the Pacific St. entrance (roughly a mile) and the men jumped right into their burpees. Not 1 complaint or sound of frustration. As the men that led the run finished their 30 burpees, without hesitation, they walked over to their brothers and took burpees off their plates from the ones that were behind in running. As the PAX all finished together, YHC threw a curveball at them and told them we are running over to the path and down to TD Ameritrade. This could not have been a more perfect situation for the purpose of today’s workout which the theme was “Mental battle.” We all just finished a mile run and 30 some burpees and got right back on it. As we headed north, we were met with 15mph winds with rain. This was without a doubt a challenge for everyone and a nice kick in the teeth. As Triple T finished his run strong, he got us all started on our burpees. Once again, the PAX picked up their brothers with the burpees. The HIM then got back on the trail and went south to the previous parking lot. At this time, the quads were heavy, but we had a tailwind. As YHC arrived with Jean Claude, he quickly audibled as he noticed we were running out of time, 20 burpees this time around. The running in the back was slowed down, nonetheless, we all got through the burpees together. We then made our way back the shovel flags and covered around 4 miles for the morning. The 6 was picked up by everyone!
Observations to the workout as it relates to Mental Battle
- This sucked and no one complained or quit.
- While the men had the option to go back and pick up the 6 each run, they recognized right away that they knew it would be better to get their burpees done quickly, then help the 6 with their burpees to lighten their load.
- The burpees themselves were a mental block and the PAX all powered through them without a rest or complaining about them. The mumblechatter at this time was all positive and supportive. It was beautiful.
- While pride gets in the way a lot of times for men, we often struggle at knowing we need help and accepting it. The men that were the 6 leaned in this morning and let their brothers carry them today.
- Sometimes we face headwinds, and sometimes we get tailwinds. This is part of the rollercoaster we experience and the HIM accepted what was presented to them and powered through it together.
- When we started it was raining, cold, and windy. But we weathered the storm and arrived to the shovel flags merely unscathed as the rains had passed, and we were all better for going through it, together!
- There are several different ways to lead, and certainly there were some men that were leading out front setting the pace and paving the way. They were also the ones responsible for helping take on more burpees. Another way to lead is something we’ve recently been discussing in Q Source which is stepping back at times. There were a handful of men like Mac’n Cheese that very easily could have been up front leading the charge, ran in back to support the 6.
After all of the men returned with the 6, we quickly did a count off and jumped right into Name-o-rama.
Name-o-rama: Black Jack almost forgot his age, big Wooooosh for Grease Fire, Khakis looked very satisfied, the length of Slow Pitch pronouncing his name continues to get longer with each day, Vanilla Ice & Ice-T being next to each other just makes sense.
No FNGs
Announcements: New AO pop-up starting next Wednesday at Papio South. “On that note…” communication will be coming out soon on our expansion plans for April as we have several planned. As Brazilian and Roadhouse made the phrase popular, “More to come on that.” Hop-a-lujah Run & 2nd F is April 10, check Slack and connect with Lucky Charms on the details. Cataracts is heading down to support our brothers in Lincoln on Friday, April 2, let him know if you want to jump in his Clown Car.
Prayers: Continue to pray for those that are out with injuries that are recovering!
COT: Today’s theme was all based on the Mental Battle we are acknowledging this month with F3. While the Q was designed for this, God also graced us with perfect weather to align with this theme (36-degree wind chill with rain and 15mph winds). Great job everyone for pushing through and working hard for 45 minutes. I have shared in the past some of the mental battles I have dealt with in my past and its no secret that F3 has changed my life and put me on a new path in life. For me, the reason I kept coming back out and why it has been so important for me is the Fellowship piece. While being a husband, father of 4 children, and having a “successful” career, I found myself very lonely and lost. F3 helped get me right. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I definitely felt like a much different person. It wasn’t until yesterday when I was listening to the “Roundtable” podcast when I was able to define specifically what I felt or what changed. Earhart is out of Greensboro and was on the episode as they were discussing “Mental Battle,” and as he talked through his story, it felt like he was sharing my story. When he described how he felt, it hit home. He explained that before F3 he was Numb all the time.
I was stopped in my tracks! I 100% could relate to that feeling and I felt relief and gratification that I could finally put a name to it or put a finger on it. This then led me to the next piece. I decided in November to choose sobriety. As I was on this path of “Getting Right,” it just felt like the right thing to do and at the right time. I had a really hard time explaining to my M and my friends “why,” but I just knew in my heart it was what I needed. It was clear now; alcohol was my numbing device. While the previous year and a half my life had dramatically changed, I still was holding onto the one thing that always helped numb me. I have never felt freer and thought more clearly in my life than I have over the last 4-6 months, and it’s because I no longer was numb!
I share this with you all today because Earhart’s story resonated with me and it helped me out. I imagine this may resonate with you, and if it doesn’t, good for you. But I bet there are men out there that you know that are feeling numb and walking around as Sad Clowns that you could help by bringing them in. So, as we continually push through the Mental Battle, lean in, don’t hesitate to ask for help, and be proactive in helping other men. Our community needs us more than ever.
Sparty,
Aye!