Normally I greet the Pax each morning with snarky remarks and a healthy dose of mumblechatter—not today. My heart is heavy and I’m deeply saddened by the events of the past two days. I’ve been on countless morning runs—my M used to run that exact same route in the mornings frequently—not once has it crossed my mind that I (or the M) might not come home. Cheech could have been any of us. So today, we honored him and his memory.
The word coming out of F3 Lexington for the Q’s today—post sleeveless and hurt’ em. So that’s what we did.
Disclaimer
Prayer
COT
- SSH (20 IC)
- Merkins (5 IC)
- Squats (10 IC)
- LBAC (10 each way, IC)
Mosey to the goal line for some additional warm-up.
To the 40 yard line and back
- Jog
- High knees
- Butt kicks
- Carioca
- Back pedal
- Power skips
Run to opposite goal line and back (50% effort to 20, accelerate to opposite 20, throttle down)
The Thang
Rotation 1—20 rounds w/15 second recovery between rounds:
- 20 yard shuttle runs (start on the 10, run to the 20, back to the goal line, back to the 10)
- 10 merkins
- 10 squats
Rotation 2—EMOM burpees over block (8 minutes total)
- Burpee, side jump over block, burpee (8 total for each round)
COT
- Countarama
- Namearama
Moleskin
I had a lot on my mind this morning. I’ll share a couple of those thoughts here. First, there’s no F3 Northeast Tennessee without F3 Lexington. That’s where I started, that’s how F3 made it’s way to Johnson City. I was with those guys for a year—the same amount of time I’ve been with the NETN Pax. GoRucks, MudRuns, P200s, BRR’s—I did a lot with these men. They hold a special place in my heart. When they are hurting, I’m hurting. I’ve seen F3 Lexington rally behind families experiencing unspeakable loss before, with Walker and the Phillips family. That left an impression on me I’ll never forget—the moments when you genuinely realize that F3 is about much more than a workout—it’s a community, a family. I’ve been very deliberate in trying to instill the same culture in NETN that I experienced while with F3 Lexington. I know that most of the NETN Pax don’t know the F3 Lexington guys—but Lexington knows us. I know they keep tabs on our progress and I know they are proud of what’s been accomplished in NETN—we are part of them and they are part of us. I wanted to make sure the NETN PAX honor our roots and grieve with F3 Lexington. We did that the way we always do—posting sleeveless and working hard.
Second. I’ve thought this internally for some time, but have not verbalized it until this morning. What I want most for F3 NETN is to build a brotherhood so strong that if something happened to me (or any of the PAX)—I know that my kids would not be without a earthly father. While a father can not be replaced, I know they will have a group of high integrity men who can step in and be a father figure—share stories about their father (hopefully nice) so those memories can live on. My heart is broken for Rebekah and her children. While I can’t fathom the magnitude of the loss experienced, I know without hesitation that those kids have 200+ dads in Lexington. It won’t be their father, he can never be replaced, but they will have dads—because that’s F3—that’s who we are and that’s what we do.
Finally—I need to be more intentional about investing in the lives of others and expressing my sincere appreciation and gratitude for the people the Almighty puts in my life—and not after they are gone.
Cheech could have been any of us, but he’s all of us.
Donatello
Strong words Brother. Strong.