Rafiki headlocked YHC to Q #WestSideStory a few weeks back – not sure how I made his New Year’s Resolutions list but none the less ;) At first YHC was a bit hesitant since I’m still fairly new to F3 – figuring out the proper lingo and not being familiar with West Side Story made me really question stepping up to the plate. But after talking to Mayhem a bit and posting at West Side a few weeks prior to this morning, I let Rafiki know that I would be willing and ready. After committing, I thought to myself, no better place for this West Coast kid and Raiders fan to get his first VQ at than West Side! After committing to Q, I had two main goals;

1. Not to look like a complete idiot while leading the PAX
2. From my previous time spent in the gloom at West Side, I learned that this location has some seriously large and pissed-off fire ants which attack no matter the weather and/or season. The pain from these ants last time was real so I wanted to make it a point to try to stay off the ground as much as possible to ensure the PAX would be safe from the “People’s Ants”

YHC arrived around 5:20 to make sure I was there to greet folks. Doubtfire was the first to arrive so YHC was relieved to know that he was not riding solo during his VQ. TClaps to Mayhem for actually showing up a bit early and offering his shovel flag for YHC to use. 11 Pax in total for the gloom and at 5:30, we’re off…

Warm Up

Side Straddle Hops x 11 IC

Good Mornings x 11 IC

Mountain Climbers x 11 IC

1 Burpee in honor of Moses

Stretch your legs OYO

The Thang

Moseyed over to the covered carport area between the two church buildings. Partner up for 3 laps (partners run in opposite directions) around the back building with 10 Partner Derkins each, every time you met.

The PAX stayed under the carport area and grabbed a new partner for the next beatdown. One partner would hold Peoples Chair while the other ran around the building again and back.. but for a change of scenery, the PAX ran around the front building (which was a bit shorter and worked out well given the exercises)… partners flapjack. When the second partner returned, they held Balls to the Wall, partners flapjack. Rinse and Repeat.

Moseyed over to the soccer field, partner up for a little Dora 1-2-3 action

100 Merkins

200 LBCs

300 Squats

While the partner who was doing the 1-2-3, the other partner ran from the goal to the midfield line, then bear crawled back to the goal… partners flapjacked. PAX rotated between bear crawls and lunges each time they had to run. This looked good on paper but definitely sucked actually doing! Not much mumble chatter during the bearcrawl/merkin combo and the lunge/squat combo!

Moseyed back to the flag

• Ended the workout with 2.58 miles and 772 calories burned

BOM (prayer requests)

• King Pin’s sister and father-in-law
• Praise for Brandon Hodges. Found a donor for his kidney transplant. Prayers for all those involved, the surgery and recovery
• Yukon
• Duff’s Broken Finger
• John Hollison (friend of Rafiki) battling kidney stones
• Big praise for San Fran’s wife (watch the video they posted to Twitter)
• Mayhem’s GF, Sharon, surgery schedule for 2/5

COT (announcements)

• EC Ruck/Run coming soon. Be on the lookout for that and all other Ruck opportunities
• Farmville Middle tomorrow at 7am. Bench has the Q
• F3 Camporee is going to be May 4^th-5^th. Be on the lookout for a registration link coming out later today or tomorrow
• New AO beginning Feb 7^th at Elm Street Park. Spinal Tap has the first Q
• Frank The Tank VQ next Friday at #WestSideStory. Bartman has the VQ the following week. Props to Rafiki for all the VQ headlocks!

Moleskin

Being a Q took me out of my comfort zone big time today. I am an extremely confident person in situations that I’m comfortable to being in. This was not one of those situations, but I appreciate all the PAX that came out this morning to be in the gloom with me. Your support helped me tremendously and it was truly appreciated. And from what I gathered, we only got a beatdown from the workout and not the ants!

Over the past month or so, I’ve seen and heard a lot of chatter about choosing a word for 2018. I chose the word “dedicated.” I feel that I have always been a dedicated person but I think at times, maybe too dedicated in the wrong areas. First and foremost, I’m really going to focus to be a more dedicated husband, father and friend. But I’m also going to be more dedicated to myself as well; dedicated to get in better shape, dedicated to improve my spiritual and emotional health. Many PAX tried to headlock me in the past to join F3, but I was too dedicated in many different areas to make that commitment. I feel at times, many of us are too dedicated in so many different things that we ignore to take care of ourselves, without realizing that if we dedicated time to make those personal improvements, that those would benefit others as well. Joining F3 last month was the best decision that I could have made to help me put a big focus on my 2018 word and I thank all the PAX because with out the support and accountability that you all provide, I do not believe I would have made this commitment. Until next time…

Stabler Out!