Tag: DRP

  • Bear Crawl To Rips???

    Four PAX took the DRP (Daily Red Pill) and joined YHC at the Milestone Marsh For the first beatdown of the week yesterday. Yes, I’ve been listening to F3’s 43 feet podcast and this week’s episode was about the Daily Red Pill, which outlines a man’s first steps to getting right, or to accelerate fitness. Makes me wonder what’s wrong with me cuz I still aint right.

    YHC led the PAX through a brief warm up consisting of the following exercises (all IC x 10):

    Windmills, Imperial Walkers, High Knees, Butt Kicks, Arm Circles (forward and reverse), and Torso Twists.

    Thang:

    The theme of today’s beatdown was that the PAX would execute Bear Crawls instead of Moseying. The only exception was when we moseyed to and from the Lakefront.

    Bear Crawl to workout equipment:

    PAX does AMRAP timed set of merkins x 5 and pullups x 2 , alternating back and forth for 2 minutes.

    Next up, hang from overhead bars for 20 Leg Tucks OYO. Last, it was 5 jumping pullups. Bear Crawl out to the street.

    With Heart Rates near capacity, it was time for our only Mosey in the traditional sense–jog to the Lakefront.

    Wasting no time, the PAX quickly assembled on the Lakefront before we Bear Crawled to the seawall–20 Freak Nasties, 10 alternating step ups.

    Next the assembled PAX encountered the Bear himself…Bear Crawl to Rips!

    With Shoulders Burning and the collective posture of the PAX hunched over, each man worked through some up and overs at Rips, while the remaining group did 2 exercises: Rocky Balboas first, then, Squats.

    With 7 minutes to spare before the closing bell, it was time for a traditional Mosey back to the Milestone Marsh for some Mary: Freddy Mercuries X 25 IC.

    Thanks, Men of the Marsh, for following my lead (on all 4s)…Thanks for the camaraderie and for inspiring me to take the DRP more often than not over the last 13 months.

    Nameorama, COT. Thanks for Captain Core for praying us out!

    Pik

  • Operation Sweet Tooth- Time to make an IMPACT

    So today marks the 6 month anniversary of Sweet Tooth’s passing.  Let alone a difficult day but a difficult past week with Halloween, All Saints Day, All Souls Day and a special Mass for those lost with St. Marks Church.  But, as difficult as this road has been and will continue to be until the last breath I breath, there is a reason to keep on fighting…to live in all that is great with Christina; Operation Sweet Tooth.

    To us, only a short 6 months has felt like an eternity without having our precious baby by our side.  The countless moments we miss can never be replaced.  All we can do at this point is honor her by helping kids, who need our help.  I am calling on you, the Pax of F3 Nation and FiA Nation to aid in that support.  The purpose of Operation Sweet Tooth is to provide smiles, comfort, and peace to those kids who need it most and to let them know…that strangers care.  This I is something that is bigger than me…bigger than you…this is real life.  As awful my family feels, there are children, and their parents, (if they have any) that may feel worse and more sorrowful than we are.  And together, we can make a difference.  The decisions we make today can have a ripple effect that can last a life time. It’s time to roll up our sleeves, empty our pocket books and humble ourselves for the betterment of those less fortunate.

    My family and I are eternally grateful for all the support we have seen already.  You know who you are.  All the plans, establishments in consideration and willingness to support her, has made this family truly humbled.

    Now, as the first “official event” it is time to make a huge impact on children.  What started out as a concept has transformed into an entity.  Operation Sweet Tooth is officially a 501C3, a non for profit business.  The mission is to provide children hope, peace and comfort though toys, money or companionship and to let them know a stranger cares.  That was what Christina was all about.  Currently, DDP of Isotope and his business partner is working on our official website.  We intend to fulfill our lives for the benefit of children who need our help.  But I will be honest, we are using this platform to help with our mourning, and healing, and to give us hope and reason to survive, live and maybe one day, not anytime soon, thrive.

    Entities to benefit from our efforts are Levine’s Children Hospital, homeless shelters, orphanages, special needs establishments and anything else that caters to children.  Truthfully, any organization that supports children has our support.  I have been asked by the Pax about Jeff Gordon’s Children Hospital…this is where Christina passed away…and many mistakes were made.  Although maybe their intentions are good, for the purpose of this first drive, my wish is that this organization is not honored.  You want to know? Ask me and you will have no problem with my decision!  Other than that, you have our support if it supports children in need.

    That said, I want to make sure this is a complete success and gets the notoriety it deserves…not for me…but for the cause.  Please let me know how many toys or items you have collected so I can send the prayer cards that should accompany them.  I have two thousand! Wondering if we can beat that?  I also want pictures for our future website, OperationSweetTooth.org.  We will have current events/fundraisers to who the impact we are having on our communities.

    For my brothers is Isotope/NoCo, if you cannot make the Christmas party, please let me know.  I will be encouraging the Pax to bring items at their local Friday workouts.  MQ’s, please touch base to make arrangements for pickups etc.

    I will let everyone know when the website is fully operational.  As well as FB, Instagram etc.  As of now, only @OpSweetTooth on Twitter is functional. Of course any questions you have you can send there or @F3_Olive, operationsweettooth@yahoo.com or operationsweettooth@gmail.com

    I want to personally thank each and every one of you for supporting OST.  I will be honest, I hate that I am doing this.  I should not have to be.   But I will do anything to honor her, HIM and ensure that I get the opportunity to see her again.  This is our calling, whether welcomed or not to have an impact on lives that far reach above and beyond ours….and I believe, rather I know…this is what we are supposed to do, under our circumstances…and I am humbled by your support!

    Lastly, this is a movement to bring awareness to to myocarditis.  The heart condition that killed my daughter that was undiagnosed…and unrecognized.  The medical community failed her.  I don’t want that happen to anyone again, even if it does not bring my baby back!

    myocarditisfoundation.org

    -Olive, Jager and Happy Meal

  • Calling All Pax – Need High Impact Men and Women to Help Make a Difference and Keep a Spirit Alive. Operation Sweet Tooth!

    It was Friday, May 6th and we just finished a beat down at the Foundry.  During the CoT, I asked the Pax to say a prayer for my daughter, Christina, to feel better and to bless her for her Holy Communion which should have been that Saturday.  Sadly, those prayers were not answered.  12 hours later, our precious daughter, our Angel, was now in Heaven.  She died the day before her Holy Communion and two days before Mother’s Day.  Why? Why?!  My wife, son and I were in complete shock; filled with questions, sorrow and anger. We could not imagine how this could happen to her…to us.  To this day, we still feel that way.  We are devastated.  My M and I have endured many losses in our lives, but nothing, NOTHING compares to losing your child.  We question how we can live each day without her.  We question our faith.  Why would God take her when she had so many things to accomplish on this Earth with her family?  None of this makes sense to us…and probably never will.  I did not think we would ever survive a day.  However, as of today, it has been exactly two months.  Two months of Hell on Earth but we are still here, fighting, surviving and trying to live another day.  One of reasons we are here…is all of you.  The Pax of F3 and FiA Nation.

    Your support has been nothing short of amazing.  We have appreciated all the prayers, meals, donations and visits we have received.  But the real support has been through the 2nd F, the fellowship.  216 men inspired me to get out of the fart sack for a supportive convergence the Monday after her passing, many from different AO’s.  53 women helped Jager post to her first ever 5:30am work out to show their support.  Again, numerous AO’s represented.  Numerous Pax were sporting their colors and their shovel flags at my daughter’s wake and funeral in NC.  Mooch traveling from New Hampshire to NY just to show me support and to deliver a shovel flag in her honor.  Jimmy Olsen flew to NY to be there for the wake and funeral. Raffles.  Memory bricks and so on and so forth. And I can sit here and go on and on about each individual’s contribution to my healing or surviving rather but then my message would not get read.  All I can say is that I am truly humbled, and thankful that I/we have F3 and FiA Nation behind us because without you all, we may not be standing.

    Often times, on those rare occasions I make it into the gloom lately I get asked “what else can I do to help other than prayers?” My usual response is there is really nothing anyone can do…well; I am calling an audible today.  And I am calling on the Pax of F3 and FiA Nation countrywide to help us heal, and create a mission to honor our sweet daughter.  The M and I know we need some sort of motivation to continue to “live” but more importantly, have a positive impact in the lives of others.  In other words, take actions of Christ and of a #HIM.  Many of you don’t know our daughter or us for that matter.  But Christina (Sweet Tooth) was an amazing little girl.  Through all the outcries from friends, family, students, teachers, religious educators and strangers, one common theme that was always mentioned was that she had a big heart which is quite ironic since it was her heart that failed her two months ago.  She was the girl that when a new student came into the class, Christina would befriend her.  If a student was sad, she would act her goofy self and cheer them up.  She was everybody’s friend, seemed like everybody’s BFF from all the cards we received from her class mates…and enemies with no one.  She also loved animals, especially cats and often I was influenced to adopt another in need of a good home.  She was bright, sassy and had a smile that could light up a room.  She loved Minecraft, loved playing Star Wars with her Dad, getting mani/pedis with her Mom.  She also loved Spartan racing and F3.  She wore her jersey proudly many times when we would hit the trails.  She enjoyed F3 Kids workouts even though it interfered with her sleep.  She had so much fun at F3 Dads Camp and was so excited to go again this year.  I don’t know if we could ever do her enough justice but we are certainly going to try.

    To keep her memory living for years to come, we are creating an initiative called Operation Sweet Tooth.  Although there will be much bigger and more impactful things to come.  However, to begin this mission, I am calling, asking all the Pax throughout all the regions of F3 to have a toy drive in her honor during their respective Christmas parties.  I want to help support those children that are sick and scared lying in hospital beds not knowing their fate.  I want to provide some sort of peace and or comfort to children, who reside in orphanages without anyone to call Mom or Dad.  I want these children to know that a stranger cares about them and that they know there is an Angel looking down over them.  But I cannot do this alone…I need High Impact Men and Women to help…so I am asking all of you for that help.

    I would need a Q from each region/AO to identify an orphanage, children’s hospital etc that would benefit from our collection and to help coordinate delivery of the items and just share the message of F3, Sweet Tooth and how her parents just want to provide peace or comfort, even if just for a brief moment in time. Below is a link from our local children’s hospital here in Charlotte.  There is usually a donating list of items, toys, blankets, stuffed animals that are accepted.  You can get a sense of what is needed or wanted by looking at the “Donating to Levine’s Childrens Hopsital” Toys and Gifts.

    http://www.carolinashealthcare.org/medical-services/childrens-services/levine-childrens-hospital/give-back

    I have had custom designed shirts available through Mudgear.  The links are below.  I was informed that the board has decided to share the proceeds with the sales to help fund this initiative…again, truly humbled and honored.  I will be working on printed boxes for the collections and hopefully prayer cards to be distributed as well.

     

    http://f3.mudgear.com/products/f3-operation-sweet-tooth-shirt-pre-order

    http://fia.mudgear.com/products/fia-operation-sweet-tooth-shirt-pre-order

     

    This is just one small step, small part my family and I can do to honor our daughter.  Larger plans down the road include creating a non-profit organization, continued toy drives, hospital visits, animal rescue events, scholarships etc.  That will all be in the works sometime in the future, but we still need time to mourn our baby and don’t want to take too much on all at one time.

    “So what can you do to help me and my family other than pray?”  Help us help others is now what I will say.

    Humbly Yours,

    Olive, Jager and Happy Meal

    Aye!