Saturday, March 18, 2023 |The Canyon|Gene Leahy Mall (kind of), Omaha, NE | 12 degrees, 11.8 mi/h NW Wind, feels like -3, 73% humidity.

 “Hickory”

9 Pax: Stranglehold, Joe Buck, Black Lung, Buns of Steel, Rancid, Cyclone, TC, FDIC, Swiper

QIC:  Swiper

6:30 am Pre Run: TC, Swiper                           

7:00am Its St. Patrick’s Day, I have had this workout planned for while, basically since I picked up the Q from Gunner.  I was hanging out with some friends, including Slideshow and Call Sign and all of our M’s.  Guinness was flowing, Creighton won.  There was Schrute like night activities.  It was a late one.  

KOA and Stranglehold had both committed to coming to the Canyon, when I told them about the workout.  As St. Patty’s day went on and concluded, Crickets.  My alarm went off around 5:15am, and I immediate texted Stranglehold who I had talk to at the Bell Tower the day before and said I would not make 6:00 – I probably would not get down until 6:15 or so.  I started getting ready and then KOA sent a message that he had to make rounds at the hospital and would not make it.  Sad, but I get it.

I arrived at 6:14 and parked by the bathrooms, where I thought they met.  I decided to run around the park for 10 mins or so and got a mile + in.  No cars, I saw one set of parking lights down to the west, but the shelter and ran down that way, saw a guy bundled up look to run.  It was dark.  I said, are you running?  It was TC.  Sweet.   He said he had a path he normally goes, I said, do you mind if we run my route?  I want to check out the beatdown path. We were off. 

We ran to Little Italy and then up Hickory, all the way to the top, not just the school.  Then we Hit the Dallman Park Stairs and headed towards Grace University.  That’s when I realized Grace University is gone! We headed back to the flags, great pre run.  TC then realized that was going to be my beatdown, and said, “Oh!” And then said, I will let you know if I think it might be an issue for any of the Pax.  Veteran move.

I went around and introduced myself to everyone.  I knew them all.  Awesome.  I kicked off the workout and welcomed the Pax to F3 – Fitness, Fellowship and Faith.   – I reminding them of the mission to Plant, Serve and Grow small workout groups for the Re-invigoration (or first time Invigoration) of male community leadership.   

Then I covered the 5 core principles of F3.  1) Open to ALL men. 2.  Always Free.  3) Always held outdoors, 4) Lead in a rotating fashion and 5) Ends with a Circle of Trust (COT).

I then mentioned our Credo: Leave no man behind, but leave no man where you found him.  If you come to my workouts, I like to move and I like to surpass 2 miles, so we always pick up the six!  I ended with a reminder to the PAX that I am not a professional.  Modify as necessary.  Workouts are all a suggestion.  From this point forward there is a real risk of injury. 

I mentioned we would be going to one of my least favorite places to run when I worked down here.  I said we would mosey, but we will start with a brief warm up.

7:02 am  Warm-a-rama

We stayed put and did the following exercises:

• 10 Tappy Taps IC (at about #7 – a passer by was running and I yelled, “Hey you should join us!”  HE DID!!!!  I looked up and I recognized the yellow jacket, it was Black Lung.  I smiled, the workout I planned was perfect for this guy, the stairs running animal.  We laugh and finished the Tappy Taps
• 10 Toy Soldiers IC (At #4, another car door opens, another great guy and friend of mine jumps out, Rancid)
• 10 count hip stretch, each side
• Let’s mosey.  I said let’s head to 10th and take a right.  

5:25 am Pre Thang – Let’s get there

We ran down 10th and as we hit the Embassy, I remember the Pre Run, where TC said, we could cut through here (ConAgra), I said, no, I want to run up 10th….but this time around, I modified, let’s run through ConAgra, its flat and faster.  We turned around at the tunnel and picked up the six.  Our first break.

• 10 ATMs
  • 10 Alternating Shoulder Taps IC
  • 10 Tempo Merkins IC
  • 10 Merkins

Back to running.  We got down by the river and run the dirt road 3rd to 2nd street and avoided the frozen pot holes.  We got to Hickory and turned around and picked up the six.  Once they all arrived we would do:

• 12 ATMs
  • 12 Alternating Shoulder Taps IC – which I blew through in a haze and the pax reminded me to stop
  • 12 Tempo Merkins IC
  • 12 Merkins

That concluded the pre thang.

5:42 am The Thang – Hickory

I explained how I ran downtown a lot when I worked here and ran all over downtown and this hill was the worst, I hated running the most.  For my money, this is the toughest hill in Omaha to run.

We would do 11’s.  1 Burpee at the bottom and 10 Gas Pumpers IC at the top and so on.  I said I was fairly confident no one would get 11 in.  I checked my watch, it was 7:25, I said we would do this for 15 minutes and then head back at 7:40.  EXERCISE!

TC had already started cheating up the hill. Black Lung exploded up the hill. When I got the top, Black Lung was there, and Stranglehold came up after me and FDIC wasn’t too far behind. A lady was getting into her car at the top of the hill. She looked at me, smiled and said, “You Mother F#$!ers are CRAZY!” RESPECT.

Some Pax ran, some walked, some ran and it looked like a walk.  Hickory is a monster.  It is .20 Miles with 153 ft of gain.  To compare to Shirley, Shirley is .25 Miles and 100 ft of gain at Cornhusker, and Kasper at the Bell Tower is .31 miles and 105 ft.  The hill on the the south side of The Battlefield is .13 miles and 46 ft.  

Each Pax pushed to his own limits and and at 7:40 Omaha was called. I had Black Lung give us a 10 count and we moseyed.  TC said one more hill to go guys, I said we are skipping this top hill, knowing I wanted to run the Dallman stairs on the way back.  We did. 

7:56 am 6MOM

• 27 Sarpy Slammers IC, Rancid Style.  It’s always run when we do them Rancid Style and Rancid is actually at the workout. 

5:54am The Name-a-rama was completed  – see above for list of those who posted.   

Announcements:

• Halfway House – Farva Q – Sun Valley Park.  5:00am ½ Marathon, 5:30 10 miles.  6:00 10k, 6:30 5k.
• 5 year F3 Omaha Convergence, 4/22
• Nugent Flag Pass – Stranglehold ran to his car and grabbed the flag….he said how he was Nugent’s best friend in high school and Nugent had been EH’ing Stranglehold for a long time before his untimely death. Then he said he had to chase this guy down to the Canyon today :)……The he talked about his first day as an FNG and this guy was the site Q and was just really welcoming and made me want to come back to F3. He passed the flag to me, Swiper! I thanked Stranglehold and said it means a lot coming from you.

• I prayed for us, and our recovery!

Prayer Requests:  

COT COT

We were short on time and cold, so TC said let’s huddle up and I said, “WAIT!” I HAVE my COT.  At this point everyone was tired and delirious and Joe Buck said, “Oh yeah….”  But being in a circle was perfect, as my COT was about the Circle of Trust.  I talked briefly about how we become like those we associate ourselves with.  F3 is a great living example of this.  If we hang around men who get up early, get after it, exercise their bodies, thier minds, give make, work on leadership, forgive, raise up others, and have fellowships with HIMs, you will also begin to look at act like those.  If you hang around folks that sleep in, Get drunk, are dark, negative and bring others down, you will sink into that shallow.

But as we squeeze our circle tighter, the amount of folks shrinks.  In F3, we use the term Shieldlock, which is a fantastic concept of choosing 1-5 men, to “Lock” Shields with, or form a tight bond with, where they will surround you when you are down, and likewise you will be next to them in the trenches.  Highs and lows.  You can be intimate, and open.

Then I asked the Pax to thing about who is in their “Circle of Trust”……..Are their folks bring light, and positivity? Or do you have someone inserting negativity and darkness? Are they bringing you up or pulling you down? Is anyone in your circle challenging you to be better? Do you have Iron sharpening Iron? Self evaluate today!

I led us out in prayer.

Aye! Swiper

PS – We had 100% participation in Coffeteria!