• When: 5/19/15
  • QIC: JJ & Gravedigger
  • The PAX: Meatball, Scooper, Watson, Weezie, Bearded Lady, Ponzi, Giblet (Respect), Hot Spot, Field Goal, Mayhem, Half Empty, Geenie, Pew, Coon Dog, Lego, Baby Daddy, Banana Boat, Muggy Tape, Grave Digger, JJ


Hard to Believe It’s Been 1 Year

20 pax posted on a rather muggy morning to help Gravedigger & YHC celebrate their 1 year anniversary with F3. As YHC pulled up in the parking lot at about 5:15, it seemed very weird to only see one car (We gotta get Stridelite back up and running….pun intended), but in true Shawshank fashion the headlights started pouring into the parking lot and Gravedigger and YHC had a plan that hopefully made the early morning trip into the gloom worthwhile.

Weather: 68° and humid

Disclaimer & Prayer

The Thang

Mosey over bridge…..check that…..let’s bear crawl over the bridge to the lower soccer field

COP

SSH X12IC

Burpees x12

Thru the tunnel x12IC

Burpees x12

Imperial Walkers x12IC

Burpees x12

Windmills x12IC

Burpees x12

LBAC x12 forward, x12 backerds, OH Claps x12IC

Burpees x12

Mosey over to the hill for some BLIMPS (all trips up the hill backwards)

  • Burpees x5
  • Lunges x10 (this made for an interesting trip back up the hill)
  • Imperial Walkers x15
  • Merkins x20
  • Plankjacks x25
  • SSH x30

Mosey to the brickpile and get yourself a block. This may have been the wettest run in the history of Shawshank. Based on the amount of water we ran through YHC estimates the sprinklers had been running non stop for the last 72 hours.

  • Line up on the goal line and run to 1st pole with block overhead. 15 incline merkins on block
  • Run to 2nd lightpole with block overhead. 15 decline merkins on block (those with good timing remained dry, others did not fair as well. Love those Shawshank sprinklers)
  • Run to 3rd lightpole with block overhead. 15 incline merkins on block
  • Rinse and repeat same cadence back to the original goal line.

Partner up

Set 1

  • P1 sprint across field to top of hill, sprint back
  • P2 LBCs
  • Flapjack

Set 2

  • P1 karaoke across field to top of hill, karaoke back (quite possibly the longest karaoke in history)
  • P2 Russian Twist
  • Flapjack

Retun blocks & mosey to Shelter – Field Goal mentioned something about wet grass on the way back, and wet grass always makes me think of bear crawls, so let’s do that back across the bridge

  • Dealer’s Choice Mary for anyone who hasn’t Q’d……or Gravedigger had the next exercise (hint: it rhymed with slurpies)
    • Ponzi – Flutter Kicks x24
    • Baby Daddy – Merkins x12
    • Hot Spot – Boat/Canoe
    • Watson – SSH x12
    • Genie – LBCs x12

COT

BOM

Moleskin

What I’m going to type here is nothing that hasn’t been said hundreds of times about F3 and what it means. The 1st F is the lure, but YHC quickly realized that the 2nd F had so much more meaning. Like many others I had done the gym, ran, bought the latest workout from a Sunday morning infomercial, but none of that stuck. Was it because I didn’t want to be in better shape physically….nope,  but there was no one there to hold me accountable and I was well versed at this point in life making excuses. Each of my attempts started strong but inevitably led to me stopping what I was doing and having some great excuses (in my mind). When I first came out I struggled mightily and was already starting to formulate my exit strategy (it’s too hard, I need to get in shape first, it’s too early, blah, blah, blah). I think when it really clicked for me was when Ken Doll floated out a Tweet to see if there were some people interested in running before bootcamp. Against all rational thinking (I was only about a month into F3 & was barely surviving bootcamp) I HC’d and showed up the next morning at 4:55a. I think we only knocked out about 2.5 miles, but this was when the 2ndF  kicked in and I got to know these guys as more than just a guy beside me doing exercises. From that point, friendships emerged and I was hooked.

In less than a year I have gone from struggling to complete a 45 minute bootcamp & almost dying at Stride (that may be a slight exageration, but it wasn’t pretty) to completing 2 Mud Runs, the P200 and probably being in the best shape of my life since high school. Although I have reaped the benefits from the 1stF, the 2ndF by far means more to me. It keeps me coming back and filled a void that I didn’t even know existed. I encourage each of you to continue pushing yourself, and getting better, with the 1stF; but focus that same effort on the 2ndF, it will reward you 10 fold.

Thank you to all of the pax, especially those at Shawshank, for pushing me and helping me #getbetter at all 3Fs. I look forward to seeing what year 2 brings.

Announcements

  • Jailbreak 5k 5.23.15
    • Test run tomorrow (5/20) at 5a. Meet in the parking lot at Sheriff’s Dept.
  •  Gauntlet continues
  • Sweet Baby O 5k 8.1.15
  • Stomp The Swamp 8.29.15
  • Shawshank start @ 6:45a this Saturday (5/23/15)

Prayer Requests

  • Ponzi – Friend passed away last night
  • Walker travelling back to Duke
  • Gravedigger – Wayne and David

0 thoughts on “Hard to Believe It’s Been 1 Year”

  1. Brother JJ nails it as usual. I’ll add that some of my most memorable moments over the last 12 months included JJ. We posted together for the first #Stridelite and nearly died together. I remember running the “Sweet Baby O 5k” with him in the rain, with both of us pushing each other to a sub-26 minute finish. That happened to be my very first 5k and it certainly helped to have a battle buddy running with me. Then there was the “Tunnel To Towers 5k”. This one was particularly special because we ran the whole thing stride for stride, and during the last 1/2 mile up the hill we both looked like we were going to drop. We had set a goal of sub-24 minutes so we gave all we had on that final stretch. In the end we finished at 24’02”, just short of the goal. Didn’t matter one bit to me because I had just witnessed a man give more than he thought he was capable of and that told me a lot about what the guy was made of. We make up 50% of the “Brudders From Anudder Mudder” (BFAM) MudRun team that competed last Fall and this Spring. Always a good time there. The story that sticks out to me the most is what the guy did during the P200. He had signed up and trained for this thing but a work commitment called him to Vegas (Yeah, I know… poor thing) and his flight back was going to cut it insanely close to get to the start line the morning of the race. Well an untimely chain of events led to JJ basically being awake and traveling all night, and then having his wife drive out to the middle of nowhere to deliver him to the start point of his first leg in the race with only minutes to spare. Less than ideal, right? No problem for JJ… He proceeded to not only finish, but CRUSH every leg assigned to him. Our team was better because of JJ. He chose the #HardThang.

    I say all that to say this… Memories like these I hold near and dear. JJ is just one example of the type of man that F3 creates. These attributes are not unique to JJ. I could sit here and tell story after story about many others that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing over the last year. When I think of how fast the year went by, I also think of how “full” it’s been because of F3. What I would refer to as a “quality” year. We owe it to our brothers, sons, neighbors, coworkers and acquaintances to be able to give them what we’ve found. Get out there and make a conscious effort to introduce other men to what they’ll inevitably refer to as “the best decision they ever made”. A community made up of strong leaders is one to be reckoned with. Aye!

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