That Special Something…Let's Do This

by | Oct 30, 2016 | Houston, The Hogg

Did you see it? Hear it? Feel it?

Did you see all of the looks we got from the people, as we moseyed along El Camino Royale, F3 swag on display?

Did you hear the catcalls and hoots of encouragement from them, as we pushed the Coupons around, working on our 3S2T?

Did you feel that Special Something, that certain pride of in being part of the Pax, standing out like we did?

Emotionally Erect, YHC took it all in and relished every bit of it. Because It is happening. Right there in front of you. Staring back at you from the mirror. Visible in the other Pax at the BC. On the faces of the people along our parade route. The Solution is taking hold. It has come to Houston and Sad Clowns are being transformed. And we’re just getting started. The 1stF and 2ndF have only just begun to kick in. Just you wait. YHC has said it before, but will say it again, it’s time to buckle up, because we’re going to be taking one helluva ride!

*****

It was a 72° F, blue sky morning; the kind that makes you appreciate being outdoors in Houston. Despite several Pax being OOT, we still managed to count 17 strong, including 4 FNGs, for a Saturday morning String of Pearls with Coupons. Homegrown FNGs are starting to become a regular thing, and YHC suspects that we’ll easily top the 20 mark for the Count-O-Rama next weekend. Just keep EHing and it will happen.

The following is YHC’s best attempt to recall the BC. The fact is, YHC had attended a work-related golf outing in NOLA on Friday, where they started offering adult beverages at ~0730, before it began, and then kept at it for each of the 18 holes. YHC had booked a flight back to Houston for the sole purpose of being able to Q on Saturday, and in thinking about the workout plan, YHC took inspiration from a common malody affecting most people departing NOLA. So, YHC’s plan had been to run a String of Pearls workout, using the acronym H.U.N.G.O.V.E.R. to remember the exercises. Arriving at the AO, YHC decided to can that plan and improvise. So, this is what ensued.

Warm Up

  • Mosey to St. Theresa’s front parking lot for some High Knees, Butt Kickers, and Karaoke
  • Grab coupons from the back of YHC’s SUV and circle up at SF
  • Side Straddle Hops (SSH) x 25 IC
  • Windmills x 15 IC
  • Merkins x 10 IC
  • Low Slow Squats x 15 IC

TheThang

  • A String of Pearls with Coupons, stopping for:
    • Jack Webbs w/ Coupons 1-5 X on 1:4 ratio
    • Lunge Curls x 10 each leg
    • People’s Chair at the Great Wall ~1 min
    • Donkey Kicks at the Great Wall x 10 OYO
    • Lunge Twist Walk  ~20 yards
    • 21s IC
    • Lunge Triceps Extension x 10 IC
    • Balls to the Wall with 5 shoulder taps each side
  • Black Snake back to SF
  • Flutter Kicks x 25
  • Hello Dollys  x 25 IC
  • Heals to Heaven x 10 IC

Count-O-Rama

  • 17 Pax, including 4 FNGs

Name-O-Rama

  • Comrade (Chris Van Reit) – 20 years of doing in business in Russia explains it all
  • Brexit (Charlie Boardman) – Left the UK to pursue the American dream
  • Lip Sync (Simon Haidamous) – An F.O.B. = Friend of Britney’s
  • Grunge (Brent Grundberg) – Been rocking it ever since he left his hometown of Seattle. Still has a collection of flannel shirts, but has to really crank the AC to ever wear them in Houston.

BoM (Ball of Man)

  • TAPs for Bublé’s friend, who was being laid to rest, having lost a brief, yet intense fight with esophageal cancer.
  • TAPs for Bublé’s uncle, who undergoes surgery on Tuesday
  • TAPs for F3 Rocky from Greenwood, struggling against pancreatic cancer.
  • Thanks to learn that the surgery to repair the diaphragm of the newborn of Spewer’s/Inferno’s colleague seemed to have gone well.
  • Thanks for the opportunity to gather together to test our minds, bodies, and spirits.

NakedManMoleskin

  • Turns out there are lots of ways to ask the “Are we there yet?” question, and all of them were tried out by the Pax, as they wondered if there was ever going to be an end to the String of Pearls
  • Spewer gets a nod for doing what we’ve probably all considered doing at some point, but never have…ordering a beer at Beck’s Prime right after the BC. Have to say, it looked way more inviting than the coffee or lemonade!
  • Thanks to Beta, who with Bishop OOT, stepped up his mumblechatter game to take YHC to task about all sorts of infractions, not the least of which was YHC’s inability to count during several exercises including the 21s
  • Tclaps to Britney and Cruiser, both of whom were sporting fresh F3 Swag! All Pax are encouraged to pick up some gear here: http://f3.mudgear.com/

In the BoM, Britney asked about plans to start additional mid-week workouts down towards West U/Bellaire. We are all excited about F3 and look forward to seeing it spread all throughout Houston, but before that can happen, even at just one more AO, we need to get to grow our ranks and for additional Pax to step up to Q. The Bishop wrote an excellent piece last week about why we need to EH constantly, but what about Qing? Why is it important for the Pax to Q?

F3’s mission is to Plant, Grow, and Serve small workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership. To accomplish that mission, the workouts are meant to be peer-led. There are two major reasons for this. First, by rotating who is Q, the workouts will constantly change, and thus remain both challenging and interesting to the Pax, ensuring that they’ll see results and want to come back. Second, by having to step up and lead the group as the Q, the Pax will gain confidence in their ability to Lead, not just specifically at the AO, but in the Community overall. That may sound like a stretch, but it’s not. Give men the experience of standing before his peers and driving them forward through the tough stretches of a workout, and he’ll become very comfortable with standing up and providing leadership at the office, at the local town council, in the neighborhood association meeting, etc. One step begets the other.

So, what’s needed, before we can begin to expand locally and to really have the Impact F3 is capable of, are for guys to be EHing Sad Clowns, so that we can introduce them to the Solution, and for the Pax to step up for their VQs and to get into the rotation. If we do those two things, we’ll have AOs all over this city in no time, and the Impact that we’ll have on Houston will be nothing short of mindblowing.

Let’s do this!

SYITG

Duggar