His joy comes with the morning…

His joy comes with the morning…

13 men posted at Kevlar this morning…but before I get to that…..

I nearly forgot all about writing backblasts then after seeing some new FNGs recently I remembered how much I loved reading them when I first started F3. I would wait check often to see when they were posted and loved remembering the humor that comes out of each workout. So, here’s my first one in a long time and I’ll plan to keep making time for them going forward because at one point they were pretty important to me….

Psalm 30:5

“…sorrow may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning”

This verse kept popping in my head the past year….

Thanks to my F3 brothers

I was out of F3 for the past 12 months and made it back out about a month and a half ago. I’ve shared the story too many times recently but I was getting terrible hives all over my body whenever I worked out or got hot (even 5 mins in the sun) until the hives spread to my throat and cut off my breathing (seen Hitch? yea that). After a couple of ER visits and a dozen doctor appointments it was determined that I had mold toxins in my body. Once it was diagnosed I was able to take medicine and slowly I was able to work out again. I was told things by traditional doctors like “This is a lifelong thing” and “it’s going to take at least  3-5 years to run it’s course”. If anyone knows anyone dealing with this let me know because it’s debilitating and I’d love to help them. P.S. you need a naturopathic doctor to help you.

I could go to the air conditioned Y to lift but had to take it really slow. That’s often where I saw other F3 guys. I’d see them running in to the Y together, see guys running on the street early in the morning. I almost hit the Sparta runners in a crosswalk one morning. It was really hard to see guys working out because a big part of my life was taken away. I did not have cancer or a terminal illness but taking F3 away from me (and many other things I love to do) was just depressing. My wife couldn’t handle it because I would sit on the couch on a Saturday and just sit…I couldn’t exert myself at all or I would be miserable.

One amazing thing about being away of F3 were the brothers who reached out over the year to check in. I even had guys drop by my house just to see how I was doing. I know I’ll miss someone here but I’m extremely grateful to the following guys who took time out to see how I was doing:  Squid, Joker, Spackler (after 5 whiskeys at a party he heard the full emotional story and maybe a weird hug), Hops, Alf, Tolkien, Horsehead, Purell, Gypsy, FaultLine, Manziel, Hopper, Witch Doctor, Funky Cold, Cheese Curd, Rhapsody & Wormwood (and many more). You have NO IDEA what it meant to have you all touch base and see how things were going. It was very lonely year and it helped to know that I wasn’t forgotten. So, THANK YOU

I started running again slowly before coming back to F3 and one particular morning I was running through Kevlar AO and past the rock pile that we use and the sun was coming up over the trees and I was just so happy to be running. I raised my hands to the sky and praised God and remembered  “though sorrow may last through the night, His joy comes with the morning”. His mercies are new each morning and He has promised that if we believe in Him, no matter how sorrowful our lives may get, He will deliver us.

He taught me a lot in the past year about pride, selfishness, anger and so many other things that were sinful in my life. It was a long year but I grew in other ways outside of the firm quads I used to have from all the Monkey Humpers. Now I’m back and I’ll just say to you all, please don’t take it for granted. Wake up early and push hard because it can all be taken away…

On to Kevlar:

13 guys came out this morning including 3 pre-runners (Horsehead, Rhapsody and myself)

Not sure how far we ran but Horsehead explained to me the beauty of being able to make fun of people to their face at F3 (instead of social media) and the risk of getting punched in the face is what makes is so much fun. That’s all I remember about the run.

The Thang:

• SSH, Merkin warmup
• Run to Reid Hall hill – 20 sit ups at bottom, 20 merkins at top x3
• Grass hill – P1 runs hill & 5 merkins at top – P2 does LBCs x3
• Merkin Parking Lot Space Death Crawl – that name sounds good to me….
• Long loop – P1 runs loop, P2 lunch walks – catch me if you can (once)
• Rock pile to field – 3 sets
• 40 shoulder press (30, then 20), 3 burpees at midfield, 20 merkins at the end x3
• Rock work – shoulders, bicep and el stomache
• Line up and race back home and we were done.

Ye Mole:

• Chubbs (6 week FNG) has been pushing extremely hard since joining the PAX and has shown some speed and competitiveness already after spilling merlot a few weeks back. His posse bailed on him this morning but he’s been the most consistent of the newbies that keep posting.
• Rhapsody texted me at 10 last night telling me that Stinger and Ice 9 were going to check out Kevlar. Not sure why but for some reason it felt like when the principal comes to “observe” the English class to make sure things are going okay. Anyway, I tweaked my Weinke to get some more running in because they are beasts.
• Some discussing ensued about Ice 9 Q’ing Kevlar in a few weeks and the horror stories of his Qs started coming back into my brain. When it happens, I’m warning you – at 5:29 his eyes start glossing over and it seems as though he’s about to enter into the abyss – and he’s going to take you with him. It’s a dreadful 45 minutes.
• I hadn’t worked out with Stinger in a while but quickly remembered, after he questioned my sit up number, that he likes to keep the PAX “accountable”.  He patronized Rhapsody almost the entire workout, but he was strangely used to it – like a big brother punching him in the head while he is trying to go to bed and just taking it in stride.
• Horsehead tested his theory on getting punched in the face and asked if I had been to the tanning bed because of my really really ridiculously good looking tan arms and the tank top I chose to wear. My theory: never waste a good tank top.
• It was awesome seeing  Run Stopper for the first time in like two years, two days in a row. Dude is 50 and absolutely destroying it.
• Numbers have been good lately at Kevlar and other sites. Keep it up, invite a friend and let’s try to get our region motivated again.

July 3rd CONVERGENCE at Kevlar (with Joust). 6am launch time for a 1hr long workout. Hops & Ductwork will lead. 

-Orange Whip