CONDITIONS/FORESKIN
Jimmy Buffett once wisely said “It’s 5 o’Clock somewhere”. Turns out that margarita sippin, Hawaiian shirt wearin’, sage was right. It was 5 o’clock, 0500, 5 AM, when we kicked off our Q this morning at Foxhole (if 0530 is the “butt crack of dawn”, perhaps 0500 is the “taint of dawn”???, can I get a ruling F3 Lexicon Committee?).
YHC thought that only Jocko, hoot owls, and raccoons were out and about at this early hour, but it turns out the #MenOfFoxhole (well at least some of them – Plan B, Tory, Lunch Lady) like to start early, so that’s what we did.
From a weather perspective…37 degrees, light winds out of the south, crystal clear skies, with that legendary Grecian hunk of a man Orion gazing upon us with that come hither look…his long dagger hung gently from his low slung belt…….
DISCLAIMER/WARM UP
….after a quick disclaimer and some #mumblechatter about the pros and cons of steroids by Plan B (and you thought that body of his was au naturel) we did a quick mosey around the parking lot. We were soon joined by F3 Lake Murray’s own legendary Grecian hunk of a man, Brother Si and we circled up for a proper warm up consisting of:
LAC x 10 IC Forward/Reverse
Welcome Gerrymander to the party. He was also very happy about the 5 AM start time.
TTT x 10 IC
IW x 10 IC
Motivators (aka the Penthouse/Bellhop/Naperville Shuffle) starting at 5 and down to zero. As a side note, the #MenOfFoxhole were in remarkable synchronicity during the Motivators. While we had no music today, YHC suspects this level of coordination has something to do with the varied musical selections (probably tops at F3 Lake Murray) one can see in their backblasts.
#TeamTaylor
Another quick mosey around the parking lot and we headed in the general direction of the stairs.
Before we got to the main part of the agenda, we made a pit stop by the school, in full view of the cameras, to do a new exercise made “popular” by #ManOfDepot STD…I mean STH, called the “Dirty Hookup”.
It goes like this – plank next to a wall, head facing the wall and IC put right hand, then left hand on the wall, then right hand and left hand down and back to the plank position.
Dirty Hookups x 10 IC
The #mumblechatter was high for this one as it has been at Depot. It’s not fun, but it is a good way to bend your wrists in new and interesting ways.
THE THANG
Everyone was warmed up and ready to get onto the main thing so we continued down the road towards the stadium and paused briefly (by briefly I mean we’d spend the rest of the workout here) by the stairs for The Thang.
Partner up (Partner 1 = P1; Partner 2 = P2) and do the following:
- P1 Bear Crawls up the stairs (YHC forgot, but there are a shitload of stairs here) and runs down them while P2 starts on Merkins, flapjack when P1 returns – 100 Merkins total
- P1 runs up and down the stairs, while P2 starts on Big Boy Sit Ups, flapjack, 200 BBSU total
- P1 runs to the entrance gate and back, while P2 starts on Squats, 300 reps total
- P1 runs to the entrance gate and back, while P2 starts on single count (each leg is one) Mountain Climbers, 200 reps total
- P1 runs to the entrance gate and back, while P2 starts on double count (every other leg is one) Flutter Kicks, 100 reps total (or 120 if Brother Si)
- P1 Bear Crawls up the stairs (still a shitload of stairs) and runs down them while P2 starts on Burpees, flapjack when P1 returns – 50 Burpees total
I hope the #MenOfFoxhole enjoyed this little diddy, which I dubbed the “Bearway to Heaving”.
Robert Plant is proud of each and every one of you. #WholeLottaLove
All outta love (see what I did there?) and all outta time, we moseyed back to the parking lot for BOM, COT, conclude BC.
MOLESKIN
A little moleskin has been sprinkled throughout this little tome, but on my mind this morning is the importance of stepping up to Q. In particular the opportunity before us to Q at other AOs.
I’m almost ashamed to say that my journey to arrive at Foxhole this morning started over a year ago #CommitmentIssues. I noted then how often Bellhop (Depot’s resident troubadour) took the Q at various AO’s across the region, but didn’t do much about it meself.
Fast forward to the last month or so and I noticed Enos doing the same as he Q’ed at Foxhole and nabbed a spot on the Depot sheet.
I’m sure there are others I’m missing that spread the love around…..Neck Brace comes to mind as he flops back and forth between GOAT (easier commute, respectable dialogue, fresh smelling pax) and Depot (farther commute, but new and improved cinderblocks, plus he secretly likes slumming it up with all the guttery #mumblechatter).
I’m likely preaching to the choir here (if they are in fact still reading this instead of singing a soulful tune), but why Q?
1. Do it for your brothers – there is no one else who has the exact same skill set and perspective as you, presenting you with a unique opportunity to help a brother get better in the gloom. They will love you for it.
2. Do it for the Nation – this thing we do is all volunteer lead and 100% free (except all the CSAUPs, runs, etc. you will invariably get pulled into kicking and screaming and generally be glad you did when they are done), so the way we “pay” is by Qing. It’s not for me to tell another pax what their obligation is, but I do feel obligated to get on that Q sheet every now and again and deliver the weird and awkward beatdown that only I can do.
3. Do it for yourself – there are a lot of life skills in being the Q…time management, dealing with conflict, herding cats, having your authority questioned, counting (this is especially hard for some of us), holding a clipboard and judging form while the pax do the exercises, etc.
Bottom line is it’s a great way to improve your own leadership skills by leading other men. It’s also in a controlled environment where if you screw up, no one will ever, ever, criticize you or make fun of you….it’s just not in our nature.
So why Q at another AO?
All the reasons above, plus it’s a good way to get to know your brothers and reuse all those tired-ass jokes and exercises that are now getting stale at your current AO. Plus, these guys are funny as hell no matter where you go. Good times! Sign up, you won’t regret it!
TClaps to Plan B, Tory, Lunch Lady, Brother Si, and Gerrymander for slaying the #fartsack this morning and humoring YHC with a little Dirty Hookup action!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Reminder here, if you want to accelerate your 2nd and 3rd F, make sure to give the new 2nd F @F3Locktite and 3rd F @F3TwoTil twitter handles a follow for information on news and events.
Lunch Lady’s daughter who is a singer and keyboard player will be performing this weekend. Check with him for details on this.
Reminder – Based on a pretty unfavorable weather forecast for the weekend, we are in a holding pattern for our Sassafras Mountain backpacking trip. We’ll be making the yea or nea call tomorrow. Stay tuned to @F3Locktite for details. If it’s a no go for this weekend, we’ll come up with an alternative date soon. Preblast below:
12/4/19 – F3 Lunch at Steve’s Burgers in Irmo at Noon
12/5/19 – December TTHH. 6 PM Chapala Mexican Restaurant in Irmo. Chips and Salsa on Fiji.
1/11/20 – F3 Lake Murray Celebration – we’ll kick off 2020 with an F3 Party for us and the M’s. Will be held at Portrait Hill Clubhouse. More details and a preblast to follow so keep your eyes on twitter.
Note that in the next few weeks your AOQ’s will be pulling together some surveys for you to vote on things like – hardest Q, most creative Q, etc., be on the lookout for these. Awards will be presented at the 1/11/20 party.
2/29/20 – The return of the Cottonmouth CSAUP!!!
Ongoing – The F3 Lake Murray 150 @F3LM150 and Back to School 50 post Challenges are well underway. TClaps to the 26 PAX that are participating in this. While the numbers keep rolling in and the HIM keep #accelerating, there is still time to join up if the #FOMO is getting the best of you. Just tweet your weekly number of posts to @f3LM150 each Saturday to join in on the fun. This is a great way to get some accountability from your brothers and get in the habit of recording your posts (what gets measured gets managed, after all).
Preblast below:
As we approach Thanksgiving, and the end of the year, the Foxhole Q sheet has some usual studs on it but it could use a little love as well. This was YHC’s first time Q’ing at Foxhole and YHC was surprised at all of the benefits. YHC knew they had a nice track, good lighting, little to no threat of being run over by a garbage truck, and natural colored cinderblocks. YHC was not aware of all of the perks; however, …the cappuccino machine, free facials, and the eye candy…..oh the eye candy.
I’m of course talking about Tory’s attire for the 37 degree weather.
Here’s the Foxhole Q sheet for the balance of year. Lots of open dates so let’s get some fresh meat on there…
- 11/26 – Plory (love child of Plan B and Tory?)
- 11/28 – Metermaid (sleeping in from his usual Twilight 0430 start time)
- 12/3 – OPEN
- 12/5 – Return of Enos world tour
- 12/10 – OPEN
- 12/12 – OPEN
- 12/17 – OPEN
- 12/19 – OPEN
- 12/24 – OPEN
- 12/26 – OPEN
- 12/30 – OPEN
Let’s fill those open dates men. Link below to sign up to Q:
Reminder – the Ocho on Sunday’s at 8 PM, @F3depot.
Reminder – coffeeteria following Boot Camp/Handball on Saturdays at Depot, 0630. Chick-Fil-A is the usual spot for this.
Run groups – Options galore for the PAX!
- Swagger – Monday at Little Caesar’s on St. Andrews (0530 am), and Wednesday behind Starbucks on Harbison (0530 am), @f3swagger,
- Twilight – Tues/Thurs behind Spring Hill High School (0430 am…no, that’s not a typo), @f3twilight
- Stagger – Mondays and Wednesdays at the CATE center, 0515 (sometimes 0530) am start time
- Donut Run – Friday at Lake Murray Blvd behind Dunkin Donuts (0515 am),
- 401k Run – After a brief respite due to SC Summer Weather, the 401k run is back and better than ever. Current BOM is 7 PM on Sundays from Lowman Home in Bethel Lutheran parking lot. Follow – @f3_401k_run for details as BOM and location can change
- Preakness – Join the #Clydesdales on Wednesday’s (and sometimes other days) at 0530 at DFHS track.
- Saturdays – Just run at handball OR someone is always training for something somewhere on Saturday mornings, DM me or @F3LakeMurray and we’ll hook you up!
PRAYER REQUESTS
Apologies for these not coming up during the COT, but a few I recalled later on.
Milkman’s Hand – this legendary Grecian (maybe not, but lets go with it) handballer was one of a number of pax to sustain an injury at that F3 lady of the night known as Handball. If you haven’t seen the photo or X-ray, reach out to Milkman and he’ll gladly show it to you and ruin your lunch.
Light Bill’s Family – they continue to recover from their car accident a few weeks back.
Roommate’s Sister – she’s bravely battling colon cancer with her brother by her side.
Brother Si – he prepares to head back to Greece on mission trip next year. In speaking with him this AM, more refugees continue to pour into the Greek isles and much help is needed.
Unspoken
TL:DR
Doing F3 at any hour>F3 at 0630>F3 at 0530>F3 at 0500>Not Doing F3 at all
SYITG!