On this day five years ago, I started down a path I never thought I needed to go down. My friend David asked me to come work out with him and I obliged. I figured it might be a good way to network, since I was looking to expand my career opportunities. However, 55 minutes into the work out, I found myself hanging over a railing, peering out at the serene little lake in front of me, wondering just how much longer I could possibly hold back from spilling my guts into said little lake.
I pushed myself way harder than I thought I was going to that day. I jogged a little bit here and there prior to trying out F3, but my fitness level was pretty sorry even then. So as I tried to discretely vomit the banana I’d eaten that morning into the lake, the other 15 guys had no idea what I was going through.
Oh, but they did. They’d all been there before. Maybe not to the level of feeding recycled banana to the fish, but they had certainly pushed themselves beyond their max at some point before that day.
Committing to something for five years is really rare. In fact, I tried to come up with a list of the things I’ve been committed to for five years, and this is it: My wife (9 years), my faith (~25 years), and my love for Oreos (lifespan). That’s all I can muster. Even college was a four-and-a-half year commitment for me. Not a job, not a girlfriend, not a car. Maybe some of my friends, but truth be told, I’m not a great long distance friend and all of my high school and college buddies – whom I love dearly – probably wouldn’t feel like I’m all that committed to them.
(Sorry boys. Miss you.)
But this F3 thing has kept me coming back for five years. It’s incredible. The most amazing part is what’s it’s done for me outside of the physical benefits. Confidence level. Leadership ability. Level of anxiety or depression caused by loneliness. Sense of purpose. All these things have been greatly affected by waking up early and driving to a workout. It all seems a little crazy.
But the men I’m seeing each morning are striving toward the same things I am. And my main advantage is that they’re mostly 5-20 years older than I am, meaning I get to learn from them. They’re trying to get stronger, faster, smarter, better. Just by being around them, I’m learning what is means to be a better husband, a better father, a better worker, a better man.
Five years have passed and I sorta have to smile at what the past half decade has looked like. I got in better physical shape, no doubt. But my mental health has never been better. My wife gave birth to our two children. I wrote a book while being unemployed. Then I started a blog (you ever heard of it? TheMuggo.com – it’s pretty great).
I make light of it, but honestly that might be the most unexpected thing to have happened. I love writing. I always thought writing for a career would be awesome, but I’m scared to death (and inaction) by rejection. But through the friendships I’ve developed in F3, I slowly started to understand how to “live 3rd” and how to use writing as a way to do so. I used to write because I liked to do it. It made me feel good to make others laugh, or cry, or whatever. But now I find myself being truly excited when another person takes away an important lesson from something I write and uses it to better their own life. A lot of times I don’t get that sort of feedback, but I know it’s happening. I found my D2X.
I didn’t know what my purpose was on this earth, but the men of F3 helped me find it. Matt. Dana. Tom. Carman. John. Brian. Jeff. Jim. Bill. The Other Matt. Chadwick. Keane. These guys (and like 70 others) are my brothers. Some of them are old enough to be my dad’s brothers (lol), but it doesn’t matter. The bond is unassailable. I’ve been blessed by the leadership, and friendship, of these men.
I guess I’m just really grateful for F3. May 24th, 2014, keeling over in the middle of Pullen Park – that was a truly life-altering morning. This morning, five years later, I looked around the circle and talked about what F3 has meant to me. I had to keep it short, partly because announcements took forever, but also because if I talked any longer I was going to burst into tears. The lump in my throat was growing by the millisecond.
Thinking about how my life has been changed gives me goosebumps. Where I was headed before, and where I’m headed now…two very different paths.
Speaking of paths, here’s what we did this morning…
WARM UP:
Red Ryder led the warm-up so I could fulfill my obligatory duty to cause penalty burpees for being two minutes late. SSH, Control Freak merkins, Good mornings, Moroccan Night Clubs, and of course, burpees (but only 5).
YHC was then given the green light for…
THE THANG
Thang 1: Jog down to the volleyball courts. Each guy bear crawls up the steps, doing a merkin for each step (about 25 total with a few landings between bottom and top) and other squat hold until it’s their turn. What goes up, must come down. Bear crawl down the steps (woof) and squat hold.
Thang 2: Jog down to the trail loop and partner up. Partner 1 backpedals up the hill to the trees over yonder, partner 2 does Capt Thor’s, then flipflop. Round 2, forward run. Round 3, backpedal. Round 4 regular run. All told, I got to 8/32 on the Capt Thor’s and I think others may have even gotten up to 10/40.
Thang 3:
Jog down to the best bridge in Carpex. Partner 1 bear crawls, partner 2 does stationary lunges. Flipflop. Then repeato.
Thang 4:
Heading back up toward the flag, we stopped for dips on the overlook wall, grabbed some rocks halfway up the trail for triceps extensions, then at Smurf Island did 5 burpees with increasing Star Jumps between each burpee. Finally, we made it back up to the flag where Red Ryder took back over for…
MARY:
Just a bevy of wonderful Mary exercises: Dying Cockroaches, LBCs, a couple other things, and of course, Hello Dolly.
(hey GURRRRRRRRRRRRRRL!!!)
COT:
Count-o-rama: 15
Name-o-rama: still 15. Welcome FNGs Boise (from Iowa) and Ozone (environmental scientist)
Announcements: like, all of em
Prayers/Praises: Red Ryder’s coworkers wife, Flacco’s extended family, One Direction’s move this saturday, travels for everyone over the holiday
NMS: Did that earlier… ^^^
Well done sir. Pleasure to have met you and looking forward to continuing to get to know you better.