Thunderdome and 20 seconds of courage

5 Pax made it out for a warm and muggy, but not uncomfortable Tuesday throwdown at Thunderdome…

YHC didn’t have much enlightening words to start out (tried to save that to the end)…we got to it:

The Warmup:

No FNGs present, all veteran Pax in attendance — started with the F3 Mission and Core Principles (as YHC remembers them)

• SSH — IC x15
• Reacher — IC x10
• Imperial Walkers — IC x12
• Michael Phelps — IC x15
• Good Morning Stretch — OYO x5
• Burpees — OYO x5

The Thang:

Mosey to parking lot

Suicides:

20 Monkey Humpers run to 1st island — 20 Merkins — run back, plank for the six

20 Monkey Humpers run to 2nd island — 20 Diamond Merkins — run back, plank for the six

20 Monkey Humpers run to 3rd island — 20 Wide Merkins — run back, plank for the six

Mosey to playground area

Circuit of: Inverted Rows on Swings/Dry Docks/Sumo Squats

Sets of 20 — 15 — 10 — 5

then 10 Hanging knee raises + 25 BBSUs

Mosey to turf football field

stop near end zone, circle up — Bat Wings

All exercises IC and 4 count — no rest/recovery in between:

Arm Circles FWD IC x 20 — hold — Arm Circles BWD IC x20 — hold — SEAL Jacks IC x20 — hold — Overhead Claps IC x20 — recover

On sidelines for Lt. Dans (hoping to make the pax feel like they didn’t have legs anymore!):

1:4 ratio of Squats + Iron Mikes, up to 10:40 — run sideline in between

(1 Squat:4 Iron Mikes — run to opposite sideline — 2 Squats:8 Iron Mikes — run back to sideline…)

Mosey to Flag

YHC tried to get a little tabata abs in but quickly ran out of time

COT:

FiftyCent asked for prayers for his colleague Lamar who is battling cancer for the 5th time

YHC gave thanks for a friend’s daughter, Hanna, who at 4 years old has beaten cancer twice

2nd F opportunity at 4 Rivers on Wednesday for JaxPax

Close with Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance

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Piggybacking off of Twister’s message last week about taking risks and putting yourself out there, YHC discussed needing only “20 Seconds of Courage” — this message was from an email newsletter (these are not my own words):

“In 2006, Benjamin Mee bought a zoo. Literally a zoo. It was broken down and in desperate need of a caring owner. Mee and his family were struggling too. Things hadn’t been going well for them either. But in one scene—immortalized by Matt Damon in the movie version of the story—Mee explains to his son that our lives are defined by the moments when we put ourselves out there. When we take a risk that, if we had thought about too much or been too deliberate about, we’d never have been capable of taking.

“You know,” he said, “sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”

This idea of breaking courage down into little pieces is a very good one. A person isn’t brave, generally. We can only be brave, specifically. In the moment. This is as true for you or me or Benjamin Mee’s son as it is for the hardest, most decorated soldiers who have ever served in the military.

The two highest honors in the U.S. military are the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross. The criteria for being worthy of either of these medals is virtually identical, but what distinguishes the former from the latter is this phrase in the description: “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.” And if you read the citations for many Medal of Honor recipients, particularly in more recent conflicts, they are choked with heroism and selflessness like those for Distinguished Service Cross recipients, but the moment in the action that changes everything, that rises to the level of gallantry and intrepidity, is almost always just a moment. It’s not the fighting off of 12 insurgents for 5 hours— it’s the sprinting across an open plain for 20 seconds, exposed to enemy gunfire on three sides, to come to the aid of a fallen comrade, while you fight.

Just literally twenty seconds of insane, embarrassing bravery. That’s what courage is.

Marcus Aurelius wrote that we shouldn’t be intimidated by life as a whole. We should just look at what’s immediately in front of us. Assemble yourself step by step, he said, no one can stop you from that. That’s the brilliance of this twenty seconds of insane courage too. Even your own fears and your own weaknesses take longer than that to kick in.

Think about that today as you consider whether to get up and approach that attractive person across the room. As you’re mulling over that big decision. As you’re questioning whether you should speak up or just go along with something you disagree with. Don’t get intimidated by all of it as a whole. Just take that single step. Give yourself a few seconds of courage.”

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