YHC embarked on a solo 5k at 0500, out and back to Baldwin Auditorium via Main, and 10 PAX Assembled at Bullpen today for a classic tour of the surrounding offerings.  YHC wasn’t looking to get too complicated with today’s workout.  Justice had made mention of it being cold outside and how he needed a little more of a blood flow-ing warm up as a way to kick his a** in gear.  So YHC answered the call and the challenge commenced to see how many burpees we could all do together as we made various stops around town.  But before that,

WARMUP:

SSH x 20

Good Mornings x 12

Chinooks x 10

Chinooks x 10 reverse

20 Burpees OYO

Willie Mays Hays x 10

THE THANG:

And we moseyed to our favorite arch rival group of fellow aspiring do betters, although, I’d like to think that we in F3 have a good thing going.  I mean, for example, YHC is typically sipping on a hot cup of coffee at 6:45, when most guys are trying to get out the door to get to their paid workout.  That’s after the enjoyment of being smoked by one of the various workouts we are able participate in improving body, mind, and soul by getting to a workout at 5:00 or 5:30AM.  Usually, there is someone to join in on an EC workout, and ME is filled with willing and able brethren who are inspirational in their own rights.

Anyways, we made our way to the Crossfit pull up bar and each PAX partnered up to do:

2 sets of 10 Pull Ups.  PAX did unassisted or assisted, depending on how things were going.  Everyone crushed it!  We were all feeling the burn.

Next, we crossed Geer Street and grabbed some wall at MotorCo.  Balls to the Wall, 10 count down the line.

Mosey to corner of Geer and Foster, 10 BURPEES OYO in front of Geer St Garden

Mosey to playground across from Farmers Market, 10 BURPEES OYO

Mosey across to Farmer’s Market:

Crab Walk from Foster to shelter

Bear Crawl down one side of shelter

Sideway Bear Crawl down other side to Foster Street

10 BURPEES OYO

Mosey across the the circular path below skate park:

Partner Dora – One PAX did BURPEES while other ran around path

Goal was to collectively hammer out 100 more BURPEES, and everyone crushed it.

MARY:

Mosey back to the ReCity parking lot

Circle up and listen to Highwayman by The Highwaymen:

SLOOWWLY, we kept in cadence with the song, broken into 4 parts and we did —

Slow LBC’s

Slow Heels to Heaven

Slow Box Cutters

Slow V UPS

COT:

Justice recommended the podcast 43Feet (https://soundcloud.com/f3nation/the-daily-disciplines-prayer-episode-18-43feet-a-leadership-podcast) link to current week’s episode.  Dredd (co-founder of F3) and Dark Helmet out of Fort Mill discuss leadership and F3.  YHC really enjoys this podcast.  They can ramble a little bit, but they are enjoying doing this and there is some great content for discussion here.  Dredd is an attorney in Charlotte, and actually was recently honored with a 2018 Lawyer of the Year award by NC Lawyers Weekly.  Pretty cool.

YHC continues to be thankful for the community within F3.  I set a goal last December to do a GoRuck Tough event.  And then I got a nudge from Tater Tot, and next thing you know I was doing a Tough, then did a Heavy in May.  Then I got into running for the first time ever in 35 years, started going to some runs that F3 guys were doing, and signed up for Blue Ridge Relay and Bull City Race Fest Half Marathon last weekend.  I’ll say this: regardless of what “it” is, these CSAUP events (crazy stupid and utterly pointless) are what guys can get a little extra motivation from as they work together towards accomplishing new goals for themselves.  I’m not trying to boast about accomplishments this year, I’m basically saying that if I can do some of these things, anyone can do some of these things if you put your mind to it.  I had no vision around fitness a year ago today.  I basically spent my time going to the Y every once in a while, feeling like I was painfully trying to do something just to say I did.  I never enjoyed a run, a treadmill run, a bike ride…..it always felt like work.  That was the pattern for pretty much as far back as I can remember.  Hopefully, this year with F3 has helped me develop new patterns that I can place towards other areas of my life.  I TRULY would not have been motivated to accomplish new goals without the inspiration I’ve gleaned from so many guys in Churham.

So my word of encouragement to us today is this: it’s not about what we accomplish, it’s about being present with the guys we’re with.  Accomplishing things within fitness typically leaves us encouraged and built up, ready for new challenges.  You just may be the inspiration that another guy needs.  It’s also not about being the fastest, fittest, or what have you…it’s about striving to be the best version of ourselves that we can be… SO THAT we can be more present in relationship with our Maker (if you believe in a Creator), wives, loved ones, children, family, and friends.  Keep posting!  I’ve always been glad that I did.