Story time…
4:45am, Monday, August 3, 2015: an alarm goes off at my bedside, immediately followed by my wife's hand smacking my face; "turn that off before you wake the baby!". Turns out I bought a house the prior summer and my next-door neighbor is this guy Brad (Tantrum). He's casually dropped the community men's workout group thing to me a few times. Then I started to spend more time with another neighbor, Dan (Jingle Bells), who has been dropping the same EH on me. Guess I better go since the whole damn neighborhood is part of this cult.
5:18am, Monday, August 3, 2015: I arrive at Hopewell High School far earlier than required. I have no idea what I'm doing and it's dark out. This pre-dawn world is a strange place, I'm not sure I like it. And how the hell is it nearly 80 degrees at this hour!?
5:29am, Monday, August 3, 2015: Big group of guys, oh and we're just doing a straight run today… that sounds OK. I'm sure I won't be the slowest guy in a group this large.
5:32am, Monday, August 3, 2015: I am the slowest guy. It's not even close.
5:49am, Monday, August 3, 2015: I think we're lost. Brady and Jingle seem to have no clue where we are. Is this normal?
6:01am, Monday, August 3, 2015: I want to die. My shirt is completely soaked. Why didn't anyone tell me cotton does this when you don't workout in a nice air-conditioned gym?
6:15am, Monday, August 3, 2015: You people are nuts. Why are they calling me an "effing G", is that like a gangster thing? Do all the red strobe lights mean I'm a blood now?
9:21am, Monday, August 3, 2015: I fall asleep at work.
11:21am, Monday, August 3, 2015: Why am I so hungry? This is a normal hour for lunch, right?
7:15pm, Monday, August 3, 2015: "Honey, I'm kinda tired, can you put the kids to bed? I'm gonna go lie down…"
…
5:00am, Monday, August 10, 2015: an alarm goes off at my bedside, this is going to be AWESOME.
And just like that, I was doing F3. By the way, today (Monday, August 6th, 2018) we did the same five-mile run, same route and all, that we did my very first post (full disclosure: I may have gotten lost and trimmed some distance that first time). But we do this same run the first Monday of every month… and it's always a special reminder for me of that very first post, I think of it EVERY time we run the route. And while that story may be about me, it's really a story about all of you reading this. I was NEVER going to be the kind of guy who could do what we do without some peer-accountability. Some people are wired like that, not me – I need to feel like I'm expected, like I'm going to let someone down if I'm not at the workout. I need the push. A lot of mornings I wake up and I'm not my best self – it's hard, life is a battle sometimes. I may not always be the man I know I want to be, but I know that I'm at least a better version of myself because of the fitness, the faith, and the fellowship you all bring to F3.
It's an honor and a privilege to be part of such a fine collection of men. Thank you all for the push, the companionship… keep doing what you're doing, I know I will.