The Back Blast. Ever so important. It lets us know what we did. It reminds us of who was there. It’s a Q’s representation of the CSAUP (completely stupid and utterly pointless) stuff that one would translate from the wienke to real life. (Pause a second to take this next one in…) And sometimes it allows us to look back and reflect on who our forefathers are that brought something so spectacular into our big, small city. The link below offers the first back blast following the very 1st F3 Louisville workout at…The Derby??
F3 Louisville – Soggy Track at the Derby
It started out as one guy who knew another guy that knew something about it. That guy had friends who had friends who told their friends. A whole lot of substance in the middle but the at present result would now be 11 different AO’s (areas of operation), 32 weekly workout options 7 days a week, Black Ops choices all over the place from Rucks to countless side challenges and whatever anyone else feels compeled to be Freed to Lead. It’s been a game changer for Your Humble Correspondent and if you’re reading this you likely feel the same way.
ANYWAY…..I have been waiting to be called up for the big dance for a while and when Jewel reached out asking if I would take one of the 4 Q’s my excitement level went from flaccid to chubby PDQ! As the weeks leading up went on I would learn who my co Q’s were and I was overwhelmed with exuberant confidence that even though we wouldn’t have Johnny Lawrence Cobra Kai skeleton outfits, ours was sure to be one you wouldn’t soon forget.
Co Q’s: Worm, Lambeau, Harry Caray.
We chatted a bit on Slack and all agreed that a meet up pow wow was in order. The Blind Squirrel would be our 2rdF location. Harry Carry would be the first to arrive sitting at center table looking very Marlon Brando-esque. He would be flanked to the left and to the right by Worm and Lambeau. And per the norm, your Fredo Corleone would be the last to show.
This was a true spitballing, meeting of the minds. Wings and apps were eaten, libations were consumed and many things were discussed. It was good that Worm was there to keep us on task or we might have closed the place down. At the end of the day we agreed that: 1) and most importantly… “It Pays to Be a Winner!” 2) Harry Caray would take charge of researching the most awesome of shirts for our hard worker recipients. 3) Lambeau volunteered himself to organize coupons and patches. 3) Bird was slated with the simple task of finding the National Anthem song. 4) And Worm would continue to oversee it all, making sure we were all in tip top shape on all of our responsibilities. At the close of our meeting one thing was absolutely certain: Your 4 Q’s would each hold themselves accountable to ensure this 5 year anniversary convergence would be the best, most memorable one to date. Pretty sure Lambeau has the meeting minutes so you can double check me for accuracy if you feel so inclined.
We would exchange more good ideas on Slack in the next couple of weeks and decided a recon mission would be appropriate so that we could plan out the space. We would meet up on Tuesday the week of. Lambeau envisioned a coupon line of pain. Worm would utilize the half pipe. Your Bird would have about 50 yards next to where Harry Caray would harness his inner Cubbies broadcaster (who, fun fact, actually started out in St. Louis) to utilize the baseball Diamond and would incorporate some water balloons for any grown children and 2.0’s. By the end of the hour we were all feeling good to go and excited for what we had to share with all of our F3 brethren.
As 0700 on 23 APR 22 approached, the sun was rising; Runners we’re wrapping up a Captain Crunchberry Q’d, pre post run and Ruckers Q’d by Handbook were putting the finishing touches on some solid mumble chatter. Diablo and Snowman were out helping to set up the 2rdF post beat down situation. One by one PAX continue to roll in greeted by hugs, fist bumps and the 15 or so flags that let men know they were in right place as a member of our F3 brotherhood.
As a man that knows how project his voice and wrangle up 96 dudes, Worm threw out our disclaimer and let PAX know that they were in for a treat. With that, your Q’s shed our top layer shirts to reveal our “It Pays to be a Winner” tanks while our National Anthem began to play on the Tailgater. I don’t know if anyone shared my feeling but the hairs on my arms began to stand up and it wasn’t because of the slight chill in the early morning air.
At the conclusion of our Nations song we would circle up at the main startex and count off into fours.
The PAX: Iceman (R), Sewanee, Brown Water, Subprime, Husky (R), Sump Pump (R), Hush Puppy, Frosty, Nice and Slow, Meatball, Tony Malito, Nino, Captain Insane-o, BUSCHHHHH, Pope, Old Bay, Bacon, Tron, Vincent (R), Loco (R), PK, Glowsticks, Minnow, Sadie, Flexseal, Huggies, Aerobie (R), Mountain Momma, Soups, Bombay, F-Stop, Sliderule, Huey, Shyster, Sputnik, Hightower, Balsa (FNG), Handbook, Kilo, Diane Dukes, YNot, McAfee, Focker, Captain Cruchberry, Dracula, InstaDoodle, Jolly Rancher, Swag, Goosebumps (FNG), Tureen, LaMarvelous (2.0), Mannequin, Misty, Corningstone, Johnny Tsunami (2.0), Plumb Bob, Yankovic (R), Fall Guy (R), Shade Tree, Kitty Litter, Dot (R), Motor Boat, Wide Right, Edward Scissorhands, Patty, Swingset, Ruby (R), Wet Bandit, Crosstrack (2.0), Honeycomb, Double Down (R), Chili Pepper, Holy Roller (R), Katniss, Russdiculous, Big Papi (2.0), Charolais, Glen Ross, Rip Van Winkle, Windshield, Fridge, Diablo, Hot Wheels, Virginia Slims, Dauber, Bulletin, Cousin Eddie, Snowman, Jewel, Stick Up , Jitterbug, Sonic (2.0), Harry Caray (Q), Worm (Q), Lambeau (Q), Big Bird (Q)
A few noteworthy items. 1) We had representatives form every AO in F3 Louisville. 2) It was good to see the Mutters traveling with at least 13 PAX in attendance. 3) It was awesome to have true OG’s Frosty (first post: 5.6.17) & Captain Insane-O (first post: 5.20.17) still out posting and still pushing the PAX as part of our 96!
Before you know it Snowman sounds the air horn letting PAX know the warm and fuzzies are over and it’s time to put in some work. Now seeing as where YHC is over 2 months late on this blast I can’t recall what Q belonged to what number and as a matter of fact if you would’ve asked me day of what station I was…I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell you then either. Any way, I digress because it didn’t matter what station you were in. You made the decision to not get up for easy and your 4 Q’s would see to it that you were questioning that decision.
What I can tell you though is Lambeau did the Patriot justice building upon the cornerstones that Holy Roller has laid down by doing man makers and all sorts of coupon awfulness.
Your Bird did what Bird does best and cheated by incorporating some pump you up music making you think that you were in a Jazzecise video.
Harry Caray put his ever so creative spin on a beatdown having a theme, promoting fun and putting in hard work making 11.30 minutes go by in a flash.
And Worm…well you were just happy his station was over. There’s nothing that sucks more than a half pipe of running, merkins and other such nonsense while listening to Worm bark at you, hands on hips taking about getting better and pushing yourself for more.
Before your Bird knew it we had already gone through four stations with Snowman ending the face melters the same way it had begun (insert your own air horn sound effect).
Circle up for COR, NOR and COT. The first matter of business was to name our FNG’s. Welcome Balsa & Goosebumps.
The next matter of business was the part that your 4 Q’s were most excited for: To award our unsuspecting PAX who the winners of our “It Pays to be a Winner” contest would be. One of things that was decided at Blind Squirrel was that we would all choose a PAX member that we thought showed grit, determination, set the example and pushed through to the end. And to those PAX we would award public recognition and their very own 5 yr tank.
Worm: Charolais (R); Harry Caray: Bombay; Lambeau: Holy Roller (R); BigBird: Husky (R)
For one, this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone if you were in their group. For second, these men don’t step up for one or two big days a year. These guys are consistently out in The Gloom promoting their AO, putting in hard work and setting the example that we are not out there to check a box, but rather to accelerate themselves and to make those that are around them better. Go travel, you’ll see what I mean.
The final bit of recognition would be to award patches to those in attendance who completed the 3rd annual pull-up challenge wherein the PAX that participated had three months to complete the same number of pull-ups as the current number year. The challenge just keeps getting better and better every year and I hope I’ll be seeing your HC’s come January 2023!
Finally, we made some announcements and lifted up our intentions. Did a ginormous ball-o-man to go out with an Our Father.
Finished the day with the cherry on top. Some fantastic 2rdF fellowship that went by entirely too fast. But when it’s Saturday and you got family at home you gotta be a good husband to your M and a good father to your 2.0’s
In closing I just want to say, on behalf myself and my 3 Co Q brothers it was an honor to lead! It was so special to be a part of a landmark moment celebrating the 5 year anniversary in Louisville where we all got to play a part in planting, growing and serving small workout groups for men (sometimes not so small…) for the invigoration of male community leadership. We hope we did you boys proud!!
Until next time…
BigBird
F3 Louisville 
Gr8 bb @hillnergr
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