Three Years of Pain

Event Date

Aug 06, 2018

AO


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.