12/28/13 is actually the date Pledge Brothers Stage Coach, Good Hands, and YHC started our F3 journey. It’s been quite a ride. Thanks to Depot for getting so many current F3 Lexington men started (much more on that in the moleskin). And thanks for having YHC back this AM to celebrate 7-years a little early.
Here’s what we did this AM:
Conditions: mid-40s
The Thang:
Warm up mosey and grab a block
COP
SSH x 10 IC
Merkins x 10 IC
IW x 10 IC
EMOM #1
Block presses x 12, Block curls x 12, Blockees x 2
x 10
Mosey to big soccer field
Sprints x 9
EMOM #2
Merkins on block x 10, Thrusters x 6, Blockees x 2
Mosey to big soccer field
Sprints x 3
Return blocks and back to flag
High plank x 1 minute
COT & BOM
Devo from Stage Coach: Phil 4:13
Prayer Requests:
-Roommates’ Sister, Notebook, No Show
Announcements:
-Cottonmouth. Preblast coming soon.
Moleskin:
Please indulge me. I am feeling nostalgic this AM.
To say I am grateful for F3 Depot is an understatement. (Almost) 7 years ago, I responded to my friend Nathan being EH’d by setting my alarm on a Friday night. I called two of my closest friends to join Nathan and I. Soon to be named Good Hands showed up.
It was 28 degrees the morning of December 28, 2013. I stood nervously in the parking lot of Ballentine Park. I immediately recognized Luke Boatright from CC of Lexington. He soon became Uno to me. Some guy named R2D2 started talking at 7am that morning. He started with reciting Isaiah 40:31. I thought that was cool. I had heard Faith was a piece of F3. I liked that. The only other piece I knew was the Fitness part and I knew it was supposed to be tough.
We soon started running around the soccer field and then stopped and formed a circle around R2D2. He started calling out exercises with funny names. I was advised to wear gloves for grip so I wore weight-lifting gloves with no fingertips. I recall FNG Good Hands didn’t wear gloves. As soon as our hands hit the frozen ground during the circle of exercises (remember, it was 28 degrees), the remainder of the hour was miserable. We were also miserably out of shape. I remember R2D2 and C3PO stood out as guys that we were really in good shape. They ran laps around us. I also recall me trying to Fireman’s Carry Good Hands. The rest of the hour was a blur. I was relieved when it was over. I tried it. I could move on with the rest of my life.
But, then I discovered another F.
We circled up at the end. The FNGs had to introduce ourselves. Nate was first. He worked for Wells Fargo at the time and was pretty quickly named Stage Coach. Elkins was 2nd and was pretty quickly named Good Hands because he worked for AllState. I realized what was going on so I wanted a cool nickname. I wanted to share I was from Marion so maybe they would name me Swamp Fox. I said “My name is Travis Price. I have a beautiful wife, and 2 kids.” As soon as I said “beautiful wife” one of the guys (either Uno or Futon) started yelling out Barbie. They finally settled on Ken Doll. Not as cool as Swamp Fox but, whatever. I wasn’t likely to return.
Here’s where the discovery of the other F happened: Uno, whom I had known previously as a golf pro at CC of Lexington, invited us to breakfast. I was freezing and coffee and bacon sounded amazing. Good Hands, Stage Coach, and I followed him to a place called Cletus.’ Somewhere in the middle of breakfast at this marginally decent restaurant a light bulb went off. Kind of like the Grinch’s heart growing, I guess my sad clown died. That brief breakfast with friends was THAT instrumental in my life. I had no idea I needed that kind of thing. I could not wait to get back to Ballentine for the next workout.
Within 2 weeks, I started asking Sway and Napalm (Sway was the Nantan of F3 Columbia…at that time, it was only F3 Columbia, F3 Lake Murray had not been launched yet…Napalm seemed to be 2nd in command though I didn’t know the leadership structure) if we could start a workout in Lexington. After all, I was driving 40 minutes round-trip on Tues, Thurs, and Sat mornings. They told me to spread the word in Lexington. I did. By the end of January, we had at least 10 guys from Lexington driving from Lexington to Ballentine for bootcamps and run groups (we had also started running with Swagger). I’m going to leave out some guys so forgive me: Floppy Disk, Bulldog, Harp, Grout, Scooper, Lobo, PYT, Clipboard, Toe Ring and so many others that don’t post much anymore all worked out or were named at Depot. We had become an undeniable force.
Sway made the call to launch F3 in Lexington on March 1, 2014.
103 men showed up that morning.
It was nothing short of a revival. And, it’s still going.
So, thank you, Depot. I looked up to so many guys there in the beginning: Crash, Mungo, Major Pain, Alter Boy, Napalm, Chernobyl, Neckbrace, R2D2, C3PO, Rudy, A1A, Brother Si to name a few.
Thank you, Uno, for inviting us to #coffeteria that morning.
Thank you, Sway and Chaser, for EHing Stage Coach on Facebook which led to my #FirstBell.
Thank you to SubPrime whom I reached out the Friday evening before my #FirstBell to because he was the only F3 guy I knew. He gave me great advice…except the gloves…he didn’t tell me the ground would be cold.
Thank you to all the Lexington pax who have made our region successful beyond words. Too many to name so I’m not even going to try.
Anyway, thanks for indulging me. It’s been life-altering.
All because I was cold and I wanted coffee and bacon…
Here’s to many more years…
Aye!