Saturday morning came bright, warm, and humid at Macy Island’s Twin Oaks Conservation Area. Fifteen military veterans and family members, assisted by an equal number of volunteers, completed a multi-event Red, White, & Blue Trifecta Mission in recognition of St. Cloud-based 501(c)(19) veteran fitness and support organization Team BLUFOR’s second anniversary.
For the participants, the Trifecta was a graduation exercise after completing an ambitious 21-day fitness program, consisting of running, biking, and CrossFit-type workouts at various locations in St. Cloud, especially at the Lakefront. Each participant was drawn to the program to improve their fitness, nutrition, and general health. Starting in early August, the participants engaged in physical activity and completed a Veterans Affairs-based health and wellness assessment by a certified Behavioral Health counselor. Chef Miguel of Gorito’s Kitchen provided pre-packaged meals to the veterans for the 21day challenge.
“I really feel much better after completing the challenge,” said Philip, who got out of the Navy in 1980 and has been facing some health issues over the last few years.
At the final workout of the 21-day challenge, participants heard a report on the wellness surveys completed at the start and just before the end of the challenge. Across the board, benefits were reported, including better sleep, mood, and positive outlook.
Saturday’s event combined an initial 3K run and an obstacle course of widely-spaced stations with a particular obstacle or physical challenge, such as a sandbag or Atlas stone carry or running with a large hollow “slosh pipe” partially filled with water. These events simulated moving rapidly while carrying bulky and cumbersome military equipment, ammo, or casualties. The challenges were very familiar to the Army and Marine veterans in the group, but mostly unfamiliar to the Navy, Coast Guard, and family members participating. Calisthenics were performed as a penalty for not successfully completing an obstacle.
Youth volunteers from local Trail Guides and American Heritage Girls staffed the obstacle stations to explain the requirements and observe performance. Finally, a daunting “DEKA” of 13 zones, including “sprints’ on stationary bikes and rowing machines, had to be completed to finish. All fifteen starting participants completed the Trifecta, most receiving assistance from fellow participants at one point, and frequent encouragement from volunteers and each other. No individual awards were given, keeping with the proverbial military spirit of “there is no ‘I’ in TEAM.”
The next scheduled event for BLUFOR is a Spartan race in Orlando in November; however, it is likely that some type of organized workout will be planned before then.
For more information on Team BLUFOR, go to http://bit.ly/4ph8Ppa.
