September 15th, 2019 By Christopher Smith

10 men, knowing we would need each of them to make it a double-digit Saturday, showed to find out what ol’ Mighty Mouse had up his swoll sleeve and to name a new Pax should he make it through the 1 hour beatdown!

 

Warm-Up:

Mosey to the Power Plant

SSH x 20

Cotton Pickers x 10

Arm Circles

10 Slow Mercs

The THANG:

THANG #1:

Lt. Dans up the road from the powerplant to the top lot. Quick mosey over to the grass hill…it had been too long.  Q assured the Pax we would not stay here all day.  Top of the hill was chest, bottom was core, start running up and down.

Top of the Hill:

20 Mercs

15 DownDog Mercs

10 Walk-Out Mercs

Bottom of the Hill:

20 LBCs

15 WWII

10 Core Killers (IC)

Plank when finished and wait for our brothers.

Thang #2

Mosey to the bridge, rotate through the following

20 Dips, 20 Incline Mercs

15 Dips, 15 Incline Mercs

10 Dips, 10 Incline Mercs

Lt. Dans to the end of the bridge

Thang #3

Mosey to the doctor office parking lot and partner up

One partner would use the parking line while the other made a lap and then switch through 3 exercises.

Defensive Slides, Lunges, Bunny Hops –

Q called a quick audible as I knew our legs were fading fast…

Thang #4

Core Circle

Each person called out a core exercise and a cadence.  I truly cannot remember the exact order or exact exercises but I know there were Brazillians (Trick Daddys), LBC, Superman/IronMan, 6 inches, Deerticks, Crunchy Frogs, Deerticks, Freddy Mercs, and a few others

Thang #5

Mosey back up to AO rock pile and stop on the way for round #3 of Lt. Dans

Grab a rock or block and complete the following:

20 curls

15 overhead presses

10 rows

and then reverse

20 rows, 15 presses, 10 curls

and then choose which order of exercise but stick with the 20,15,10 sets. Most started with rows and ALL finished strong

MARY:

Broga and Breathing

MOLESKIN:

This was a great morning for a number of reasons. I woke up early and knew the day was going to be great.

#1 – I arrived to see one of my longest friends (actually I used to be his youth pastor when I first moved to Kannapolis, but I still called him a friend then and now) standing there since I arrived in this area 20 years ago. He was looking nervous, excited, and a hinted a tinge of crazy in his eye as he knew something amazing was in store.  It was kind of like that look he gave the first time he saw a teenage girl in a bikini when he was 12, but he knew it was something special.

#2 – I had watched Forest Gump the night before with my family and just the sight of good ol’ Lt. Dan made me call a great audible in my mind and I knew the PAX was in for an amazing time.  There’s not a better character in all of cinema and not a better exercise in our F3 lexicon.  And I knew our PAX would feel the same, so we had to do it between every rotation to make sure everyone felt the love, way down deep.

#3 – Catfish and Grover showed up on a Saturday for me? It’s rare that either show up on a Tuesday together, but a Saturday, a Saturday when I’m the Q!  What???!!!  It’s like a Harvest Moon on Friday the 13th, it just doesn’t happen, except, it does!

The whole workout was basically a blur.  It was an amazing blend of lighter humidity, a little more intensity than originally planned, some light dry heaving but still not sure about the actual merlot spillage, a splash of testosterone, a bit of chatter and chuckles, and a whole lot of awesomeness!

The culmination of the day was naming our new PAX mate ,Travis,  While many of us get cool F3 nicknames, others have a less fortunate fate.  While I knew it was not his fault that his wife and kids are much cuter than him, nevertheless, Travis accepted the contract to be a Rack Room shoe model with his family.  Once you cross that line, there is no going back…ever.  So, while there were some cool F3 names thrown around, the choice was obvious.  Travis, thank you for joining us and allowing us to forevermore call you, “Sketchers.”

I’m always humbled to lead and am constantly reminded of how far I’ve come.  It’s much like our journey of faith and walk with Christ.  I am pretty sure I will never be where I want to be on this journey, but I praise God that I’m not where I was.  It’s the same with F3.  I’ll never be a dominate runner and I’ll never lead all the PAX (thanks Grover!) and I’ll probably always be a little chubby, but I’m a much better man physically and in many other ways than I was before F3.  Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians that, “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.”  My prayer for us all is that we trust Him to do it and keep walking in grace and faith.

in His service,

Mighty Mouse

 

 

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