Category: Westeros

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The Scorpion – 03.23.19 – “Success”

In what was arguably perfect weather, 23 PAX conquered F3 Nashville’s inaugural “Wild West” CSAUP, The Scorpion, this weekend and celebrated with McDonald’s and a birthday song. Special appearances and support from three other PAX.

QIC: Crablegs, Porcelain, Princess Aurora, Pumpkin Spice, Vector

PAX: Bad Boy (Stonewaudible), Bagger Vance (30#), Big Bang (30#), Black Lung, Blue Mule, Brother-at-law (Stonewaudible), Crawlspace, Cunning Linguist, Floppy Disk, Hambone, Hi-Viz (Photography/Sag Wagon), Leatherneck (30#), Ludwig Von Oshkosh, Mystery Machine, Pop-A-Lock, Reveille, Right Said, T-Cell, Tampa Libra, Tiny Dancer (30#), Trapper Keeper

THE THANG:

Princess Aurora

Following a PAX count, the usual disclaimer, and some extra instructions for the undertaking at hand, YHC took the PAX on a medium mosey up and around the Hill of Sisyphus and back to the Great Lawn for a COP, all exercises IC:

  • SSH x 43 (HBD BV!)
  • Chinooks x 10
  • Overhead Press x 10
  • Reverse LBAC x 10
  • Peter Parker x 10
  • Imperial Walkers x 10
  • Overhead Squats x 10
  • Newton’s Cradle x 10

Porcelain (Titan)

In the epicenter of the Athens of the South, this Q was heavily inspired by famous Greek battles and the years in and means by which they occurred. PAX divide into three teams and grab a picnic table, their ship for the battle. Whilst making their way around the entirety of Lake Watauga, PAX must complete as a team the following exercises and reps, avoiding the enemies’ attempts to block them along the way:

  • 490 Carolina Dry Docks
  • 480 Exaggerated Leg Raises
  • 300 Box Jumps
  • 479 Merkins

Winning team gets fewer burpees. Called for time (Qvantage: YHC)

2.5 miles to Westeros with a quick detour around Love Circle (for about half the PAX. Instructions clear for several, but not clear enough for all. YHC will own it.)

Pumpkin Spice (Westeros)

Making up for lost time, Pumpkin Spice dished out this short doozie:

  • Burpee Broad Jump down the sidewalk ~50 yards to WEMS steps
  • Crawl Bear up stairs
  • Sideways Bear across
  • Bear Crawl down stairs
  • Burpee Broad Jump another ~30 yards

Flutter Kicks for six and mosey back to start.

2.1 miles to Bomber.

Vector (Bomber)

A HIM known for his musical Q’s (and cues), Vector started the PAX off with a buy-in of 19 Burpees and 27 Squats paying homage to the AO’s former life as an airport created in 1927. With that out of the way, PAX were instructed to do three sets of Sevens, holding People’s Chair between each set and enduring the promised cheesy 80s playlist:

  • Set 1: Bulgarian Split Squats/Overhead Squats
  • Set 2: Merkins/Big Boy Sit-ups
  • Set 3: Erkins (variant spelling on Irkins originating somewhere near 51st and Nevada)/Rows/Pull-ups

2.5 Miles to Atlantis

Crablegs (Atlantis)

Short on time, but not on spirit, Crablegs closed the CSAUP out with two Atlantis signature exercises and a tribute to birthday boy Bagger. Quick hop over to the swings for Steve Irwins x 43. When you’re not rowing, Moroccan Night Club like a boss.

All in, and the CSAUP is complete.

COT/BOM

MOLESKINE:

Thank you to everybody who posted for this event as it’s been a long time coming. Nashville’s last AO-to-AO CSAUP was the original Ironclad in 2015, an event that introduced to F3 a curious bystander walking with his kid through Centennial Park. That bystander was none other than the HIM we came to know as Crawfish. YHC likes to think at least one guy saw us out there and thought to himself, “I need to know more.”

Hearty tclaps to Hi-Viz for playing photographer/videographer/support vehicle/catering. It’s a committed man who wakes up at 6am on a Saturday to walk around snapping photos of guys doing stupid and hard things. Or maybe it’s just a sadist. I’m banking on the former, though.

By my numbers, we had almost 11 miles including the workouts. Not bad! Also, excellent job by all the Qs coming up with four very different workouts and being willing to adjust on the fly. The Scorpion next year will be the chance for some new HIM to show us what they’ve got!

BULLHORN:

  • Wed 3/27, Mental Health Day at all your Wednesday AOs. Qs will end about 5 minutes early to allow for an extended COT. The purpose of this will be for folks to discuss the topic of depression.
  • Fri 3/29, 12th Man Leadership Lunch with retired US Army Ranger, John Belman.  11:30 at Richland Country Club. Link to RSVP. See more details on the Slack #leadership channel or contact Bagger Vance.
  • Sat 4/13, Warpath CSAUP with the Franklin Boyz
  • Sat 5/4, The Gauntlet CSAUP with the Nolensville Nard Dogs

PA out.

 

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3/25/19: Westersoloing

Location: Westeros

Conditions: 50s and soggy

QIC: Pumpkin Spice

PAX:

Bad Boy, Bareback, Bicentennial Man, Blue Mule, Crablegs, Crawlspace, Harvey Updike, Hi Viz, Princess Aurora, Porcelain, Toothless

THE THANG

After a brief disclaimer, the PAX moseyed around to the back of the school for some Warmorama.

Warmorama :

  • SSH x 15
  • LBAC x 15
  • Chinook x 15
  • rLBAC x 15
  • Moroccan Night Clubs x 15
  • High Knees x 15

Seeing as YHC will be heading off to (what he thought was) an F3 desert for vacation (until Hi Viz kindly informed him otherwise) for the next 10 days, I organized a workout that someone can accomplish on their own when the unfortunate occasion arises where there are no PAX to be found. You can think of it as a solo Dora — Dora the Explorer? We started at the playground, doing one exercise and then running around the traffic circle in between each set:

  • 25 Pull-ups (run and repeat)
  • 50 Merkins (run and repeat)
  • 75 LBCs (run and repeat)
  • 100 Squats (run and repeat)

Between each different type of exercise, PAX waited for the Six. After completing the above exercises, we moseyed back to the shovelflag and it was all she wrote

MOLESKIN

  • The Merkin is the quintessential F3 Exercise. If we should be able to do anything right, it’s a Merkin. It’s always good to reflect on and be in tune with your own form throughout a  workout, and we should all do our best to prevent letting our form slip. Speed is not the goal — proper form is the goal. If you have to take a pause in order to avoid compromising your form, do that. We collectively paused for a refresher on perfect form for the Merkin with the help of none other than Blue Mule showing us how to get it done. Don’t cut corners just to finish faster or to finish first — do it right, and you’ll get better that way.

BULLHORN

  • Tclaps to PA for organizing The Scorpion (and whoever else worked behind the scenes in addition to Hi Viz) — it was a great event and we all got better!
  • PA’s family is headed back from Aspen today, prayers for safe travels!
  • Vector’s basketball team (the team which shall not be named) nearly lost in the Round of 32. He is sure to have had some palpitations during the game, let’s hope he’s alright.
  • On this Coming Friday we have the 12th Man lunch. Cadre Belman will be sharing his Leadership lessons from his time as an Army Ranger, which includes the Battle of Mogadishu aka Black Hawk Down. HC now if you haven’t done so already: http://evite.me/MBdjxuDw2H

– Pumpkin Spice

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Ultimate at Westeros 3/18/19

39 degrees and pretty gloomy.

 

PAX:

Crawlspace

Porcelain

TrapperKeeper

Havey Updyke

Carblegs

Pumpkin Spice

Toothless

Bareback

Blue Mule

Right Said

 

Warm-Up:

SSH

LBAC

Seal Claps

rLBAC

GM

Cherry Pickers

 

The Thang:

Ulimate Frisbee. Getting scored on costs 10 burpees. An incomplete pass gets you 5 Merkins (even if it was a perfect pass).

 

Mary

7 minute abs in 2 minutes – LBCs

 

Announcements:

Scorpion CSAUP this Saturday

Trivia at Edley’s Sylvan Park tomorrow night at 8pm

Leadership luncheon March 29th

Check your Ironclad standings. Time is running out.

 

-Right Said

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Westeros 3-4-19: Double QPs & 7s

A baker’s dozen didn’t let the cold win this morning.

GLOOM FACTOR: Moderate. 22 with a light wind.

PAX: Bad Boy, Trapper Keeper, Indecent Exposure, Princess Aurora, Bagger Vance, Porcelain, Turbo, Harvey Updyke, Vector, Crablegs, Pumpkin Spice, Bicentennial Man

QIC: Hi-Viz

DISCLAIMER

WOR
SSH X 20 IC
Slow & Low Squats X 20 IC
LBAC X 15
Reverse LBAC X 15
Air Presses X 15

THANG
Mosey to the tennis court for a Quarter Pounder with a animal walk of choice (Bear Crawl, Duck Walk, etc.) for the mode of travel to each corner of the court.

  • 25 Merkins
  • 50 Squats
  • 75 Carolina Dry Docks
  • 100 SSH

Mosey to the loop for 7s with Burpees on both sides.

Mosey to the tennis court for a 2nd go at the Quarter Pounder, with a Wheelbarrow for travel.

Mosey to the start.

MARY
20 X Flutters
20 X LBCs
20 X Boxcutters
Plank

Done.

COT/BOM

  • Mark your calendar: The Scorpion, our new west side CSAUP steps off at 0600. More details soon.
  • Friendly Friday is this week, with PA leading the charge at Bomber. Let’s see some FNGs in the mix.
  • Prayer requests shared for 2.0s on the way, along with Vector’s 2.0 picking a high school.

Great work this morning, gentlemen. Especially proud of those on the IR who still made a point to join. Pleasure to lead you. SYITG.

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Westeros 2-25-2019: Today’s Theme is No Theme

After a weekend on call, YHC didn’t have the mental sharpness to craft an overly complicated playlist and workout theme, but sometimes you just need to get out  into the gloom and get better.  Six HIM came out to join the fun.

PAX:  Hi_Viz, PA, Porcelain, Pumpkin Spice (FIFO), Right Said, Vector (QIC)

Conditions:    35 not-quite-Ironclad-credit degrees and perfect

Mosey to the back of WEMS for the

Warm-o-rama:  SSH x 20, WMH x 12,  LBAC x 15, Seal Claps x 15, Reverse LBAC x 15, Good Mornings x 12

Partner up for first round and mosey to the front of the school.

First Round: Pendulum DORA

Partner #1 starts — 100 incline merkins, 200 LBCs, 300 squats with Partner #2 running first to the right side of the school to perform 3 burpees, then run past the PAX to the left side of the school, perform 3 burpees, head to middle to tag partner.

Second Round:
At step risers by playground, PAX perform Dips as one-at-a-time each walk along the wall hands-to-elbows (a walking Makhtar N’Diayes – Ugh, UNC Sucks) and restart Dips on other end until PAX finished. Rinse & repeat.

Third Round:
7s: Pull-ups and Bavarian Split Squats.

With some time left, max-out pull-ups with partner to reach 40.

Mosey to parking lot for Mary of Flutter Kicks, Alabama Prom Dates, Hello Dolly, WWIs, 30-60-90 degrees, and Boxcutters.  Time called.

Playlist:
Move – Saint Motel
Take on Me – a-ha
Dangerous – Big Data
September – EWF (no, PA, this wasn’t played at my graduation)
My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark – Fall Out Boy
Out of my League – Fitz & the Tantrums
Here it Goes Again – OK Go
Ready to Go – Republica
Seven Nation Army – White Stripes

COT:

  • The Scorpion is coming – CSAUP on the Wild Westside, 4 AOs, plenty of fun.  HC today!  0600 on March 23.
  • Prayers for Bad Boy, his M, and impending 2.1 after an unexpected fall.
  • Discussed importance of having HIM out even if on IR — use time to do PT or modify but still part of the PAX.
  • Plenty of Q spots open for March!  Sign up today!
  • Closed out by noting that on some days, you may not have the energy to plan a theme/overcome fatigue, but important to keep moving forward.  I’m grateful with each post for the HIM who have made me better and keep pushing me to be a HIM.  ISI.  Was an honor to lead you men this morning. SYITG,

Vector

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Hotel workout style

PAX: Bagger Vance, Pumpkin Spice, Porcelin, TK, Hi-Viz, Crablegs, Boy band, Vector, Harvey updyke, FNG Big Pharm, Bad Boy.

Temp: 40 (ish) degrees.

COP:

SSH X 30

Running man x 10 (each leg)

Willy Mays Hayes x 15 IC

High Knees x 20

Little baby arm circles x 15 (Forward and Reverse)

The Thang:

Very short mosey the side of gym where instructions were given. Since I travel a lot, sometimes I have to get creative. Figured I would bring some pain

Workout stations (single and some partners based on number of PAX)

  1. Lunges with 25lb weights
  2. . Squats
  3. Merkins with rotating arms to the sky
  4. Shoulder raises with 15lb weights
  5. Jump squats
  6. Single arm kettle bells swings
  7. 30lb ruck plate shoulder raises

Timer: PAX not partaking in a station was bear crawling to the sidewalk (~20 yards), run up the sidewalk, bear craw down the other side of the hill. (THIS WAS A BEAST).

Complete one full round. Mosey back to the parking lot.

(Quick) MARY:

Flutter kicks x 30

Announcements: Welcome Big Pharm! Great EH, Bagger Vance.

 

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Not a Super Bowl Q

Gloom Factor: Low
Temp: 56
PAX:  Porcelin, Right_Said, Crawlspace, Princess Aurora, Hi-Viz, Crablegs, PumpkinSpice, Buttermilk, LandingStrip (from F3 New Orleans)

QIC: TheJeweler

Disclaimer:

600m mosey around the park to the lot by the side of the school.Circle Up:

  • 10 x Good Mornings
  • 10 x SSH
  • 10 x WMH
  • 10 x Air Presses
  • 10 x Seal Claps
  • 10 x Hillbillies
  • 10 x Imperial Walkers

Mosey over to the stairs in front of the school

  • The Thang:
  • The PAX spreads out cross the step
  • 30 seconds of quick alternating step-ups on one step.  15 sec rest
  • 30 seconds quick alternating step-ups two steps. 15 sec rest
  • 30 seconds hops up to the top of the stairs hitting each step (2 laps). 15 sec rest
  • 30 seconds alternating feet together then wide hops hitting each step (2 laps). 15 sec rest
  • 30 seconds run sideways up the stairs with high knees each foot hits each step.  15 sec rest (coordination requires)
  • 30 seconds reverse sideways run up.  15 sec rest.
  • 10 SLOW & LOW Merkins in cadence.  Hi-Viz decided that the PAX needed a lesson in recovering correctly so he went down to both knees after completing the set of Merkins.  In effort to reinforce the correct way to recover, the PAX did 5 Very Slow & Low Merkins on a 10 count in cadence.

REPEAT THE ROUND ON THE STAIRS

  • 30 Second count out by Crablegs
  • 200 x SSH in cadence… Remember when you think you’re done, you’re only at 40% effort… you’ve got much more in the tank.  For those of you counting that’s 400 total jumping jacks.  I heard they did 150 in Crieve Hall last week.

With everyone feeling extra bouncy now, we jogged over the field on the right side of the school for some partner work in pairs of two for a relay race.

  • First man sprints across the field and does 10 diamond Merkins while his partner does side crunches – gotta work those obliques!  Each man goes down and back twice.

Pumpkin Spice & Crablegs won the race and their reward was shared by the entire group.

  • 10 x Burpee Jacks
  • 6 x Yurippes

Rinse and Repeat but this time, we did star pushups and J-Lo’s

PAX did an additional 15 Merkins because 3 HIM (5 for each) did not recover correctly.

Mosey back to the main lot.

MARY:

  • 1 min of Slow Bikes on my call
  • 10 x Alabama Prom Dates
  • 20 x American Hammers
  • 10 x SSH
  • TIME!

 

Announcements:

Friendly Friday this Friday… bring a friend and get a snow cone (you have to get your own snow cone).  I saw this from Bagger’s BB this am… he has a friend John Wallace who will be sharing his story on Thursday night at Nashville Gun Club, free food and beer. Look for the link on Slack.  Don’t forget new running AO Tuesday mornings at West Park and new bootcamp AO at West Park on Thursday mornings.

 

Pleasure to lead all of you HIM again!

YHC ~ TheJeweler

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Westeros? More like Winterfell, amirite

PAX: APGAR (FNG), Autotune, Blue Mule, Crab Legs, Crawlspace, En Fuego, Harvey Updyke (QIC), Hi Viz, Porcelain, Pumpkin Spice, Right Said, T-Cell, Trapper Keeper, Vector

Conditions: 18° and still frozen-over after the weekend snow

14 pax braved the cold this morning to earn their IronClad stripes. Pumpkin Spice and Porcelain showed up early for the pre-party, and the rest of the crew rolled in just in time for a brief disclaimer before setting off. Quick mosey around the west side of the park, halting in front of the school’s main steps.

WOR: Comprised of the exercises that would follow in the Thang, so as to give the Pax a memory cue when the inevitable “wait, what does the second B stand for again?” question arose:

  • SSH x20
  • Burpee x5
  • Overhead Press x10
  • Merkin x10
  • Big Boy Sit Ups x10
  • Squat x10

The Thang: Stink B.O.M.B.S.

Take the traditional BOMBS model (like Dora, just different exercises) and add some complexity with a hub-and-spoke model. Pax would start at the end of spoke #1 with one partner performing Burpees, while the other ran to the center of the Hub (the school steps), performed 40 SSHs, and ran back. Flapjack until the required cumulative reps at spoke #1 were complete, then move to spoke #2, and so on. Spokes would be the traditional BOMBS selection, but ambitiously doubled:

  • Burpee x100 (small lit parking lot behind western wing of school)
  • Overhead Press x200 (2nd base on the baseball diamond)
  • Merkin x300 (playground)
  • Big Boy Sit Ups x400 (small lit parking lot behind the eastern wing of the school)
  • Squat x500 (front of gymnasium)

After YHC explained the routine and fielded several follow up questions, the pax collectively moseyed to spoke #1 and began. Mumblechatter ensued, primarily revolving around how far the pax would actually get in the ambitious scheme. Some shaky handoffs followed, with some pax completing their burpees and passing their returning partner in the dark. However, after a spoke or two, the pax found their rhythm, traded their mumblechatter for grunting, and ground out all of spokes 1-3, and varying degrees of spoke 4 (albeit in the wrong location, but all’s well that ends well). With three minutes to spare, YHC called it and led the pax in a mosey back to the starting point. All 14 participants cranked out a quick 35 reps on squats (Pumpkin Spice nobly took an extra 10), allowing us to at least collectively make good on our goal of 500.

COT:

  • West Park will officially make its AO debut this Thursday, after a one week delay. It will be given a fancy name, so don’t miss out!
  • Welcomed FNG APGAR, a fellow resident with Crab Legs and church-goer with Pumpkin Spice.
  • Today we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who struggled peacefully to bring racial equality and justice to this great country. More than 50 years after his untimely death, we’re still not fully there, but my hope is that the men of F3 will be a shining example to our communities for what true brotherhood and unity look like.

Much love,

Harvey

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Westeros 12.24.18: The 12 Tasks of F3-mas

5 HIM came out into the gloom to celebrate Christmas Eve (Pre-party with The Jeweler and Porcelain).

PAX:  T-cell, Crawl Space (LIFO), The Jeweler, Porcelain, Vector (QIC)

Conditions:   Freezing fog and 29 degrees – in other words, perfect

Warm-o-rama:  SSH x 12, Willy Mayes Hayes x 12,  LBAC x 12, Overhead Presses x 12, Reverse LBAC x 12, Good Mornin’s x 12.  Crawl Space pulling into parking lot necessitated an extra 12 Merkins so he could catch up to the PAX.

In celebration of the holidays (and perhaps to fondly recall PA’s recent Q at Bomber?) the PAX performed the 12 Tasks of F3-mas.  Increasing in reps, the PAX partnered up and could not move on to the next stage until all were finished (Keeping the F2 principle alive). Of course, all accompanied by the requisite Vector Cheesy Playlist (patent pending), holiday themed, of course.

Playlist:
Mr. Heat Miser – Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee
Last Christmas – Jimmy Eat World
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – U2
Christmas in Hollis – Run-DMC
Christmas in Sarajevo – Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Christmas Wrapping – The Waitresses
Feliz Navidad – Jose Feliciano
Santa Stole My Lady – Fitz and the Tantrums
Wonderful Christmastime – The Shins

The Tasks:  After completing each task, run with partner around the traffic circle (although once YHC realized that we’d only performed 3 tasks and had 25 minutes to go, we abandoned the laps – had nothing to do with my distaste for running, of course).

10        Burpees
20        V-Ups
30        Lt Dans
40        Pull Ups
50        Merkins
60        Dips
70        Incline Merkins
80        Jump Squats
90        Little Baby Crunches
100      Plank Jacks
110       SSH
120      Squats

Mosey back to flag to end the fun.

COT:   Prayers for my father-in-law (has early stage dementia) and thanks for the holiday season.  Especially thanks to the men today for the opportunity to lead and get better each day.

SYITG,

Vector

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Secret Santa & Reindeer Games

PAX: Porcelain, Pumpkin Spice, Crab Legs and En Fuego for the pre-party, then joined by Bicentennial Man, Bad Boy, Vector, Hi-Viz, Blue Mule, Right Said and Trapper Keeper

QIC: En Fuego

Conditions: Primed for Santa’s imminent arrival

11 PAX took the DRP and posted at Westeros this morning.  All left jollier, merrier and better for it, while mindful of the truth nugget given to us through the great Christmas classic Polar Express – “Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most  real things in the world are things we can’t see.” Namely, T-Cell’s presence this morning.

THE THANG:

0530 – light-headed disclaimer given due to the Porcelain pre-party and we jump right into the Christmas spirit.  What better way for YHC to say Merry Christmas to his fellow PAX than a little rendition of Feliz Navidad.  We hold plank during the song, merkin for every Feliz Navidad and mountain climb our way through the chorus.  Mumble chatter at the 2:40 mark as to whether this was an extended version.  Twenty seconds later, we’re up and we mosey, setting up COP at the base of the hill along the Bowling entrance.  PAX perform SSH, WMH, GMs and Scorpion Stretch, upon completion of which the day’s instructions are given.

Tucked in a Santa hat are 10 folded up pieces of paper, each one carrying the name of Santa or one of his reindeer.  Each also contains a corresponding exercise / reindeer game to be performed upon selection.   When a PAX is chosen for his turn as Secret Santa, he pulls a name out of the hat, and the PAX then gifts the others with an approximate 2-minute Q, only rule of Secret Santa being that the Q must minimally incorporate the corresponding exercise.  Upon completion of the Q, the PAX then picks the next Secret Santa and we repeat from there.  The reindeer games…

Dasher – 100 yard dash

Dancer – Lieutenant Dans

Prancer – Patty Cake merkins (PAX form two lines like reindeer on a sleigh, so patty cakes performed to your left or right vs in front of you)

Vixen – Vacuum Cleaner (popular M gift, so long as it comes from a grandparent)

Comet – Chilly Broad Jumps (of course reindeer love jumping over one another)

Cupid – Catch Me If You Can (because of course reindeer love playing chase too)

Donner – Diamond Merkins (another popular M gift, so long as it comes from said M’s PAX)

Blitzen – Big Boy Sit Ups (you think the Reindeer don’t need some abs to carry that sleigh?)

Rudolph – Rockette Dips, a PAX pleaser, and not TK’s first time

Santa – Squat Jumps, to help squatting in those chimneys all night long

Finish with a couple minutes of Mary, where we circle up for some Ho Ho Ho’s (PAX alternate between 25x Hammers with a coupon passed around and Outlaws).  Timer goes off and we mosey back to flag, huddle up for COT / BOM.

BULLHORN:

  • Bicentennial Man hosts F3 Libeery tomorrow night at Fat Bottom Brewery.  Freed to Lead will be the topic of conversations, among many good others
  • Tentative hold for the next 12th man leadership event, led by Bad Boy, on January 21st (?).  Early rumors Jerome Bettis may be in play, we’ll see…

Honored and appreciative of the opportunity to lead this morning, and appreciate each of you going all in on some Secret Santa.  Praying for a wonderful, rich and meaningful Christmas season for you and your families, and that we are reminded daily of His presence and goodness, and the real reason for the season.

En Fuego