A Simple Question Can Change Everything

A Simple Question Can Change Everything

9 PAX ran the PopTart route only 1 go lost and 1 decided to break the streak of not writing a backblast. 

It was a typical Devil’s Turn without Goonie there to keep me company.

The fast guys were way ahead and I was the 6. 

Yet during the run, I was able to catch up to Enron and El Guapo. Not that I’m fast but because I took the short cut up Carmel Rd.  We met somewhere on the Greenway.

In the gloom the 2 fast guys asked, what they thought, were innocuous questions: Hey PJ, looks like you’re running a little faster lately, have you noticed? Hey PJ, do you think you need to change the notarunner hashtag name?

Those questions made me think and I provided a response that they did not expect.

But for me, that is how it has been in my F3 running journey.

It started with simple questions I asked myself and that changed everything. 

How am I ever going to keep up with the Qs that Alf, Lobsta Roll, Mermaid, Haggis, Mic Check and other guys keep doing if I don’t improve my cardio endurance?

How can I post at a running workout? I am too fat, too slow, too old, hate running, not qualified.

Then in December of 2016 a challenge from my Pastor during one of his sermons forced me to face those questions. It was in the context of forgiveness, but it applied to me in running. He said, sometimes we have to do something we don’t feel like doing (forgiving someone) and if we do it often enough and consistently enough, we will gain an appreciation for that thing we didn’t like before and it will become our natural response. (Note: I am paraphrasing his sermon)

Fast forward to January 2017. I make the decision to improve my cardio vascular strength. I show up to Centurion, get out of my car to pre-run by myself, still thinking I am unqualified. There is only 1 other car in the parking lot. 

Van Pelt rolls down his window and asks: You running? Can I run with you? That question changed everything. I knew Van Pelt was a runner. I thought, maybe if this runner asked me to run, maybe I’m not unqualified. It provided the courage to start pre-running bootcamps.

So I would run with Madison before Matrix on Monday and Gumby on Wednesday. Run longer distances and time with my neighbor on Thursday.  So at the end of the summer of 2017, I was ready to post at a running workout.

There was this thing called Blakovery. It was a recovery workout. The fast guys will run slower, it’s flat, no hills. Just my speed. So I reach out to Bratwurst. He said that it was designed just for BRR training and he was not sure if it would continue.

Then the question that changed everything. Bratwurst, do you mind if I see who would like to join me to run Blakovery? The answer was yes. So there I was, the slow guy, an unofficial site Q of an unofficial running AO.

So every Monday I would show up. Other guys did too. I started posting other running workouts. With it came many questions.

Bunker and Tuck who questioned my resolve and encouraged me one Monday morning to get out of my comfort zone.

Gumbo, who asked me to just try Swift for 6 weeks and see if I liked it.

JRR Tolkein who asked me if I wanted a fancy watch, when he realized I didn’t have it in the budget to buy one.

Frasier who asked me to do Crane Relay and Bunker who signed me up (without asking). 

These are just some examples of the many questions posed to me over the years from other guys at F3.

Some questions were meant to challenge me, some were meant to check on and care for me, while some questions changed everything. 

So now my question to you.

What questions will you ask your F3 Brothers? 

Never know. It may change everything.