Six.

All I could think Saturday morning while car after car pulled into the lot: Six years and I can still draw a crowd. Let’s get it.

23 gloomwarriors joined YHC on a beautiful Saturday morning at Fred G. Bond Park in the heart of Cary, NC. Temp was right around 65 degrees, humidity was maxed out. One minute prior to setting off, I scanned the crowd for an unfamiliar face. Nada. That’s fine, but a part of me was disappointed I wouldn’t have a chance to make a new guy merlot. I suppose I ought to Q more often to increase my chances.

Speaking of Q’ing more often, I tried to remember the last time I Q’d. Turns out, it was about 2 weeks prior. But before that, it’d been close to six months, I’d bet. The night before, our miserable Nant’an was making jokes about HC’ing to my VQ. Hardy har har.

(He stays being the worst)

I introduced myself, thanked everyone for coming out to my VQ (which got a couple laughs), and took off. The PAX followed YHC out to High House and down the hill to the parking lot near Jersey Mike’s for…

WARM UP:

Good Mornings
Homer to Marge
Supermans
Merkins
Squats

THANG ONE:

Well, it’s been six years of F3 for me, so I gotta start thinking about how I’m going to get to seven. Huzzuh! An idea!

Stairway to Seven up a gnarly hill – increasing burpees at the top (up to 7), 20 LBCs at the bottom.

This thoroughly sucked and I almost audibled out of it. Watching Hello Kitty trudge up the hill after slamming a Natty Light in the parking lot beforehand gave me the strength I needed to keep on going. If nothing else, maybe I’d get him to merlot. He didn’t, however. A truly heroic effort by the Nation’s favorite feline.

THANG TWO:

Head over to the community center lot and line up for a beast – 6 rounds, 6 stops, 6 exercise reps.

Merkins
Squats
LBCs
Diamond Merkins (wherein the worst Nant’an in the history of Carpex made fun of my disability)
Star Jumps
Hello Dolly (hey gurrrrl)

Not a whole lot of talking going on during the first thang, but the chatter ramped up considerably during the beast. YHC picked a pretty short distance between stops due to running low on time, so that kept everyone in fairly close proximity. I may or may not have started yelling at the guys who were walking (but didn’t have an excuse to). It’s my VQ, though, so I’ll get better next time.

Time to boogie back to the flag for…

MARY:

LBCs
Goodbye Dolly (hate to see you go, but…)
Dying Cockroaches

COT:

Count-o-rama: 24 gloomfighters
Name-o-rama: Still 24 (mostly mehs and respects, only 1 HATE to my knowledge)
Announcements: You think I remember these?
Prayers/Praises: Check slack…

NMS:

Okay, so six years is a long time. Each year I’ve Q’d around my anniversary and have spilled thousands of words about what F3 means to me. I don’t think I need to rehash that again, it’s been well-documented. Instead, something struck me this morning that I didn’t expect.

After COT, the PAX mingled around for a few minutes, some guys headed toward their cars, some stayed to chat for a few minutes. One guy, HGTV, came up and thanked me for my leadership (paraphrasing here). He asked if it really was my VQ, to which I laughed and came clean. If I’d been coming to F3 workouts for six years and hadn’t yet Q’d…F3 would be failing its mission. Happy to report, not the case. I mentioned I hadn’t been Q’ing as much over the past couple of years, pointing to the fact that we have so many newer guys stepping up to lead, which is awesome. HGTV said he’d only been doing F3 for about 6 months (is that true, though? I feel like he’s been here for at least a year. Maybe he means he’s only been Q’ing for the past 6 months? I need someone to clarify and get back to me. My listening comprehension has taken a hit since becoming a father). Anyway, he said (maybe?) that he’d been doing F3 for about 6 months and even in that short amount of time, he’d seen newer guys starting to lead more. Another beautiful thing!

The thing that struck me was my six years against his six months. We’re in different stages of experiencing F3 and while we have a lot of experiences in common, I have to think my bank of really powerful, impactful experiences from F3 over the past six years probably dwarf his right now. And I got really excited for him. This dude, too, will get a chance to have some truly awesome things happen through F3 that he’ll never expect. And that goes for everyone, really.

Yes, the exercise is great. Yes, the friendships are fulfilling. Yes, the Bible studies push me to grow deeper in my faith. But the thing I think I’ve noticed most over this past year is this: There is so much love in F3.

It doesn’t even feel weird to type that. The amount of love I feel emanating from this group of knuckleheads (especially the Nant’an of Carpex, as angry as he is) is absolutely incredible. Love for each other. Love for families. Love for neighbors, for communities, for complete strangers. Love for their higher power.

In my experience, finding a group of people that love as well as these guys do is incredibly difficult. I’m really proud to be one small part of that. The Nation’s Q of Culture and his handsome cohost on the COT podcast always sign off by telling each other that they love one another. In Carpex, we have adopted that catchphrase and recite it fairly regularly. “If another man doesn’t tell you this today, I love you.”

It’s really hokey. C’mon! It is!! But it’s not bullshit. These guys mean it. And I’m really thankful for that.

The catch, however, is that you have to be open to it. Like I said before, any and every man who shows up to an F3 workout has the chance to have something truly impactful happen in their life through F3 if they stick with it. It’s bound to happen. But it won’t happen if a guy wants to hang out in the periphery, putting in the physical work, but remaining isolated in the crowd, never having a conversation deeper than work, weather, and sports.

So, if you’re reading this and you’re sorta new to this whole F3 thing and are still figuring it all out (or maybe your buddy has been begging you to come for the first time and your excuse tank is getting low), take it from a guy who has been coming back day after day for six years:

You owe it to yourself to truly give this a shot. When was the last time you stuck with an exercise routine for six years? And moreover, what do you have to lose?

I love you guys. Thanks for picking me up for the last 6.

 

(by the way, the header photo? totally random photo from the pexels library…the first one that popped up when I typed in my name. You’re welcome.)