Today YHC chose one of my 3 favorite HeroWODs. It’s a real crowd pleaser, except that the only reason for the workout is a man chose the harder thing and died protecting our rights and freedoms. A man died leaving behind his wife and 3 children. That’s the reality of REDFriday. That’s the focus, that’s the point, not some silly workout.
Sergeant First Class Riley Stephens was a 19 year Army veteran that chose the harder thing on a daily basis. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. You can read more about Riley here:
The Workout is as follows:
1.5 mile run
150 Burpees
1.5 mile run
(1 RFT)
Only Southern Belle was able to finish today. YHC could tell it was a kick in the nuts when I dropped it that this was the WOD. As a group we suffered dearly at the hands of the Quit Monster. Everyone knows exactly what the Quit Monster is. Maybe they refer to him in another way or call him by another name, but he’s in us all. He grabs at us heavily during this workout. Some hear him on the first run, some don’t hear him till the last run, but we all hear him during the burpees. One of the lesser spoken truths about F3 is that defeating the Quit Monster is vital to the success of a person. Every morning a pax’s first thoughts deal with how they respond to the QM. Do I get out of bed or just roll over and go back to sleep. It’s an innocent interaction. The gloom time is where we learn to tell the QM to FUCK OFF! I know it’s rough language for some, but for him it’s necessary. You see, the QM grabs a guy at work and has him questioning whether he’s good enough to do what he’s being paid to do. The QM ever so quietly has a guy questioning whether he’s worthy of that promotion or that project, or whether everyone in the room is thinking negative thoughts against him. He sneaks into our subconscious and has us wanting to take the easy out, wanting to just quit or go home or give up. The QM sneaks into a persons relationships with family and has him asking whether its really worth all the effort to stay married, or to reprimand his kids, or apologize to his estranged parents. The QM is the Devil’s right hand man and seeks to degrade your confidence, destroy your self worth, and prevent you from overcoming your vulnerabilities to be the best person that you can be. That insignificant decision lying in bed of whether to post or go back to sleep leads to soooo much more. The Gloom is where we can hone our skills of quieting the QM. It’s where we gain confidence that we can overcome the difficult trials and tribulations. That we can build off of simple successes and prepare ourselves for the tougher battles in the daylight, the times where we are most exposed, where it would be easier to quit than to deal with the embarrassment of being wrong or late or sorry. Getting comfortable at being uncomfortable strengthens our will to defy the Quit Monster the ability to control us. It’s not just a workout, it’s a way to practice fending off the Devil’s fiends and the doubt that they sow. This morning we learned that with others we can more easily defeat the Quit Monster just like Riley Stephens did. We can persevere through some measly burpees and honor one of our nations heroes. So I send a hearty FU Quit Monster to all of my Brothers of the Gloom and hope that tomorrow you start your day the right way practicing being comfortable in the uncomfortable.
JKS – Alpo