Disclaimer: Everything i’m about to say I’m saying to myself and I don’t think I know everything or have an answer for everything, these are just my thoughts, crazy as they might be.
I’ve come to the realization that at almost 40 years old my days of working out and not having pain, tenderness, nagging injuries in some part of my body are long gone.
That being said I’ve been on 2 week running break due to what I thought might be a stress fracture but turned out to be either a stress reaction (learned this one form Cold Feet) or a sprained ligament (my doctor friend diagnosed me with this one).
Sunday was my 1st run and the foot felt good. So being eager to run and being challenged by a couple of 12 & 13 year old at soccer last night to a race, I obliged. I smoked those fools big time, so much so that I pulled up at the end and let them pass me (partly because I had told them if I won everyone had to run suicides and partly because I pulled my groin). Practice went on and they bragged about beating me so I asked if they wanted to run again and they did and this time I smoked them and beat them across the line. They tried to say they won but they were delusional. Once I beat them I immediately regretted several things:
1. That I wasn’t representing in my F3 shirt.
2. That I didn’t have participation trophies to give them.
3. That I had sprinted again on a hurt groin.
I say the above to be humorous and reiterate a point that my days of working out and excising pain free are over. My groin is super tender but I had the Q and I’ve been out of action several weeks (I’ve already missed more workouts this year than I’ve missed since we started F3 Greenwood in May of 2015) and I wanted to post.
Conditions: Cold
Disclaimer Given
Off everyone, all 14 of us crazy fools went. You have to admit we do seem crazy to most everyone else who is not posting. It’s 5:15am and 28 degrees and we are outside running 3 to 5 miles. That’s not normal, it’s our normal but it’s not everyone else’s normal. It takes time for it to become your normal and get adjusted to the early mornings, unknown weather, the soreness (constant soreness at times), the posting even when you are sore (it actually helps, again this seems crazy but it does, we do things like recovery runs, listen to the oxymoron recover run, that’s just not normal, but to us its normal). It takes time, effort and a different mindset to make the shift to posting anyway, posting for your brothers, thinking about who is going to be looking for you for encouragement at 5:15am. Giving someone encouragement at 5:15am sounds crazy too doesn’t it, the encouragement most people want at 5:15am is knowing they’ve got a couple more hours to sleep.
Most of us have forgotten how crazy we thought this idea was when we began our F3 journey. It’s ingrained in us and our new normal that we think everyone else is crazy for not joining us. We forget we are the minority. We’ve forgotten where we came from and who we were. We need to think back, not to fall back into old habits but to help us relate and realize that this F3 thing is crazy in a lot of ways. First hearing about it sounds crazy but once you begin posting, seeing results, building friendships, creating bonds, helping others it becomes crazy good.
So what does all this rambling mean. It means different things to different people. We are all motivated differently and receive and process information differently. I can’t make a guy or give a guy what I refer to as “want to”. We are all grown men and are going to make our own decisions about working out and everything else for that matter. Everyone has different priorities, convictions and beliefs. The only way to know how to help encourage and motivate a man is to get to know him. Unless a guy has “want to” he is not going to get up in time to be at a 5:15am workout held outside regardless of the weather conditions (lightening excluded, though I’ve only witnessed heat lightening at workouts that have been cancelled). He’s just not going to do it because that’s crazy and you have to agree with him as it seemed crazy to you as well when you began. You have to get to know him and explain your story but don’t use all the crazy lingo we use or he’s not going to understand that and think its even crazier. Baby steps, explain your journey, explain and admit it is crazy but explain the good crazy as well, get participation, follow-up with encouragement, get more participation and let it take off like it did with you.
Oh yea everyone returned before 6am, well before 6am (Pothole so much before 6am that he took a nap in his car and set an alarm for 6am). Crazy to see how far some guys have come, this 3.2 mile run used to take them right up to or past 6am, now they are finishing well before 6am. #tclaps guys, great work.
Countorama 14 ran, 1 showed up for a few burpees and coffee and Judge Judy, doing his best Bagger Vance look alike came for just coffee (he’s on the IR and been there a while, take a minute to shoot him some encouragement and we appreciate you staying engaged with the group, especially since your the 2nd F Q, but JJ will never read this because he can’t bring himself to read long BB’s.)
Nameorama
Prayer Request
Rocky, Refugee, Kobyoshai, Juggernaut, some else I’m sorry I forgot but God knows the need and will meet according to His will.
YHC Closed in Prayer
Meatloaf Out