Everyday I’m shufflin’

Bono, Noonan, Ma Bell, The Closed Hand, and BJ took a shuffle around Greenville during the EC ruck.
We returned back to the flag and waited for the Pax worthy of a 116 ruck.

We’ve had a regular trickle of FNR’s at ruck ready, and I’ve noticed that when we rotate coupons, we’ve been sloppy and losing time. So, today’s focus was three fold; 1. coupon rotation, 2. time spent under coupons, 3. shuffling to increase time.

With no warm up, YHC gave a quick tutorial on transferring coupons and we headed off, single file, 1-1 coupon-ghost man, order.

Ruck towards the parking deck. We shuffled all the declines, and YHC called for coupon rotations infrequently.

At the parking deck, we lined up, hand on the sack in front of you, and rotated coupons quickly at every turn until we reached the top of the deck. At the top, we circled up for 5 4-count merkins.
Grabbing the coupons, we shuffled down the deck, transferring coupons at each turn until we reached the bottom.
Ruck to the stairs behind the new student center.

YHC had hoped to rinse and repeat the previous exercise at the ECU parking structure, but the PAX was in awe of the stairs, so we climbed up and shuffled down 5x’s.

Coupons up and back to 116.

COT
Praise. Noonan’s mother’s surgery went well. Rafiki saw the prayer request on another backblast and reached out to Noonan.

Prayers. Ma Bell’s student’s grandmother.

Announcements. PAX lunch Tuesday’s. The Plank and The Plank 2.0. Post so you can have the privilege to sign!!! Ma Bell Q’s ruck ready on Tuesday. Convergence next Saturday to celebrate 4 years of F3ENC! EC ruck/run and breakfast!

MOLESKIN: Today at 116 was great. Our EC was spent improving our pace. We pushed hard and we shuffled often, the intent wasn’t to beat each other, it was to get better. It helps having brothers in the gloom, they help set a bar that you wouldn’t set for yourself.
Last summer at the sasquatch, Ma Bell gave me some advice, “shuffle the decline” I began to put that in practice, I pushed myself to shuffle more, and have noticed significant improvements in my rucking.
Today as we shuffled, once I started to notice the decline leveling out, I would begin to slow down, but Noonan would keep shuffling, and often called out a stopping point a bit further down the road. It may have been a distance of 10 or 20 yards, but it was still further than I would have shuffled on my own.
That is the spirit of F3, leading others to push themselves. I have men who push me a little further, who help me improve one step at a time. I encourage all Pax, remember that others are watching. They are pushing themselves as they follow your lead. You may not realize it, but what you say and what you do, not matter how small, affects those around you.
At today’s COT, the challenge was put forth to read the prayer requests at the end of any backblast, choose a prayer request and follow up with the pax who requested it. You don’t realize how much it means to let someone know that you’re thinking about them and praying for them in their time of need.
We may be men, but that doesn’t mean we’re void of emotion. We can be strong for each other and support each other, and keep pushing ourselves and each other.