The Year Of Wes - In Conclusion

2014 has almost passed us by, and I must come full circle, with thanksgiving and give a final report on the Year Of Wes.

As mentioned in an earlier post, at the start of the this year my friend and former trainer Jason had challenged me to take on 2014 as the Year of Wes.

What started with hope, turned into success, and then some.

As you can clearly see in the graphic, a lot happened for me this year and more is hoped for next year.

Before I jump into talking more about myself than I probably should, I would be remiss to not mention the passing of my mother two weeks before Christmas this year.  Mom had a rough year, and it took a nosedive in the summer when she was first hospitalized.

After a courageous battle and decision to face death head-on, Mom went to be with the Lord two weeks to the day before Christmas. 

As you can imagine this was very hard for me, and many tears were shed even though I believe that she is in a much better place.

I am grateful, among many things, that Mom got to see me drop so much weight this year.  Being a retired nurse, she was always concerned about my weight.

With the love, support and prayers of many, including my F3 brothers I am making it through these days of grief and reflection.

It would be easy to get down during the Christmas season with Mom's passing, and there have been rough days, but there is still Hope for me in this life and the next and that includes taking care of my health.

I won't rattle off the accomplishments of the year, you can read them above.  I will however say that this year has been one of the most transformative ones in my 42 years on this planet.

You're like sure Wes, you dropped 56 lbs., that's transformative.  Well, sure.  But like anything it starts deeper than skin-deep.

I had no idea what I was missing coming into 2014, and it was true male leadership in my life. 

The guys in F3 and SPEARHEAD have challenged me, and encouraged me all along the way to keep pushing and keep changing.

Many mornings at F3, not much is said, but I'm deeply inspired by these guys who are my brothers now, and amazed not only at their physical fitness levels, but the size of the hearts.

Our society has reduced male society to some macho, drinking, sexist community when true male society is so far removed from all that.

True men lead by example, and inspire by doing what many refuse to do.  Namely get up before the crack of dawn to work their bodies to the point of exhaustion.

I've met men more than thirty years my senior who can run laps around me, and can still kick serious butt in life and in a workout.

The gym lie (I don't hate gyms, just not a fan anymore) tells you that you can do it all -- alone.  Well I couldn't.  I had a gym membership and hated it.

I never laughed. I never talked to anyone there.  There was no community there as the sales rep had told me there would be.  Strangely enough that gym has since gone out of business. Coincidence?

But at F3 we're laughing and cutting up, and sweating and sucking wind, and pushing each other and then when it's all said and done we go eat!  Well, at least on Saturdays.

People have told me that F3 sounds too intense.  It sounds too hard.  It's just as hard as you want to make it.  Honestly the hardest thing about F3 is showing up the first time.  Many of the workouts you set your own pace.  If you're a slow runner, run slow.  You'll get faster in time.

Then after a few times, you find you don't hate it quite as bad.  Then suddenly you miss it when you are sick, or out of town or whatever.

Soon you find yourself doing races and doing things like GORUCK that you thought were physically impossible for you to do.  But there you are, doing them.

So don't believe the lies you've been told.  It's too hard, it's too long, you'll get bored, you'll get injured, you won't find any friends, on and on. 

Step out and try F3 or FIA (for ladies) and you may just have your own Year Of (Insert Name Here).

I'm amazed, humbled, shocked, inspired and challenged by all that 2014 has brought me and excited to see even more goals crushed with a little help from my friends next year.

Best wishes for a wonderful new year, and here's to the Year Of Wes 2.0!

2014 - A Different Kind of Year

The other day I was updating accomplishments and achievements on my Facebook page and realized that all of mine for 2014 were health related!  Nothing I've done for the year was really amusement park or roller coaster related this year, it was all about races, weight loss, rucks, etc.  Wow, what a shift for me.

Now first I'll say that, no, I'm not giving up roller coasters, this year was just a down year for me financially and I wasn't able to travel.  2015 though I plan to hit the road for more coasters!

But it's pretty crazy for a guy that couldn't run 1/4 mile the start of 2013, to have completed three 5k's, one 10k and a GORUCK event is pretty wild.

While it would be easy to pat myself on the back and tell myself I did all this, it's simply not true.  Friends, family, F3 brothers, GORUCK brothers and sisters and others have all been part of this journey.

Some didn't even really say anything to me, but their character, toughness, fitness, or whatever inspired me to keep plugging on.

Several went through major physical ailments and still kept their heads up and kept moving forward.

One I know inspired me by his failure.  We are all human, and we need each other to make it through this life. 

If you need help, ask for it.  Pride is useless, humble yourself and ask for help.  Most people are more than happy to help if you simply ask.

Until next time...

Amazing What A Few Inches Can Do

Greetings friends and followers of my little blog, back with an update that is about a month late.  Not a lot has happened on the scale, but a lot has happened in other areas of my weight loss journey.

Still sticking with the 5:2 Diet and working out at F3, and it continues to pay off.

On September 20, I attended ACE Southeast's SCarolina Coaster Classic, coaster event at Carowinds.

This was my first opportunity to visit Carowinds in a few months and wow did I see a big difference on the coasters.

The coaster shown is Afterburn (some may remember it as Top Gun: The Jet Coaster) and for the longest time it has been a battle for me to fit on the coaster.  But not on the 20th!

My favorite place to ride on Afterburn is in the back row, the forces are the strongest there and I really love it.  But the back row has been a struggle for a long, long time because the belts would many times be too short for me because I was so overweight.

There were times I would barely fit, with the ride attendants struggling to get the belt locked. There were times I was turned away or given the option of the big-boy-seats, which have longer seat belts but are in the middle of the train and don't offer the same G forces.

On the 20th I sat down in the seat and pulled my seat belt and locked it and low and behold it was loose!  I can't remember the last time I had an inch or two of slack on my seatbelt for any B&M inverted coaster.

As you may know my whole reason, besides my health, to lose weight began when I was denied riding El Toro in New Jersey.   Today I think I would fit!  Of course I'm not stopping, I'm going for the gold and while I'm already thinner than I've been in over a decade, I want to go about 30 or 40 more pounds down and then find a way to maintain that weight the rest of my life.

For years I've had roller coaster t-shirts hanging in my closet that no longer fit.  I obviously bought them when I was thinner, but I just held on to them hoping some day I could fit in them again.  Well they all fit now!  I'm actually wearing a Millennium Force shirt today that hasn't been loose on me since probably I bought it in 2003.

I'm running a 5k Sunday (my third since June 2013) and I'm hoping to best my last race time.  I'm also planning to do my first mud run in April!  I always seem to be scared before the next challenge, but I also know that I'll get through it.

If you're thinking about doing a mud run in the future, F3 has a new men's mud run workout!   The Brave (the name of the workout) meets at The Vine at 5:15 on Fridays.

2015 will also hold my second GORUCK Light, my first 24 Hours of Booty, and possibly a GORUCK Challenge. 

Lots of stuff to keep me excited and motivated as I continue the Year of Wes with v2.0.

El Toro I'm coming to conquer you!  Ole!

Thanks for reading along and until next time please sit on your sandals!

Now That's Better

Tonight I had the strangest feeling, I felt sort of like... Homer Simpson! Let me explain.

Back when I used to actually watch The Simpsons, there was an episode where Homer went on a diet.  What resulted was utter chaos.

The doughnut company was all in a panic because they weren't selling doughnuts anymore, Homer was their biggest customer.

The convenience store was hurting because Homer wasn't coming in to buy those doughnuts from them.  Those two facts may be blurred a bit by time but that was what I took from the episode.

That all leads me to the reason I've made Wendy frown on the classic version of Wendy's logo.

Tonight for only I believe the second time in about three or four months I went through the drive through at my local Wendy's.

The first time they said something to the affect of "Where have you been? We've missed you!".   The second time, tonight, they basically were like "Um, why aren't you coming by and eating here anymore?"  When I told them that it was due to my dietary changes, they basically blew me off and didn't even offer a "Great job, or good luck with that!".  I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Most businesses are all about making money, and when their customers tell them they aren't going to be coming by much anymore I guess their reaction is to kick you to the curb and keep it moving.  Sad to say I thought the guy was actually pretty nice to me, but I guess he was just buttering me up all along to get some money out of me.  Maybe I'm being harsh, but that's the way it feels.

I don't hate Wendy's, obviously I still like the place or I wouldn't have patronized them tonight.  But it was kind of one of those lines in the sand.

Sure I enjoy a splurge every now and then on the diet, but I refuse to go back to the guy I used to be who went to Wendy's almost weekly and got cheese fries, oh yeah and another order of them too.  Yes, that's right I would get two orders of cheese fries each time.

We've all got our weaknesses, mine has never been alcohol or drugs, but mine has always been food.  Food isn't evil, food can't be demonized like alcohol or drugs and you need it to survive.

But finding a balance in what I consume is still a struggle some days.

It's easy to tell myself I can make up the difference on my two fasting days, but that's the exact thing that got me to three hundred pounds - compromise.  Compromise once in a while is fine, but when its every day, every week, month after month it all starts to add pounds and add up.

I know very few people read this blog and that is fine, but if anyone does actually read along I hope that you'll be encouraged by my struggles.

Yes I've had great success this year, but I'm still very human and can easily fall off the wagon.  I hope that doesn't happen, I'm very focused and determined that I will not go back where I've came from.

But as I was reminded watching the first season of House of Cards, it only takes one step in the wrong direction and your whole world can fall apart.

Thank the Lord for his grace and mercy, he keeps me from many blunders, but I also have a big part in this transformation.  I've got to reach out for help when I need it, I've got to kick my butt when I need to and I've also got to really celebrate and be content with how far I've come.

Wherever this post finds you, I hope it finds you well.  If it doesn't I hope you'll come along with me on this journey and we'll both be better for it.  Now that's better!

Until next time...

Shops At A Premium

I normally don't talk about much besides my weight loss journey but I thought it would a nice change of pace to talk about the new Charlotte Premium Outlets.  Yesterday I was afforded the time to go check out Charlotte's first new mall in 10 years.

CATS Route 55 Westinghouse actually goes straight from the LYNX light rail station at Sharon Road West to the mall.  To save gas by having to drive all the way from my house in east Charlotte, I just caught the bus after work.  The route takes about 30 minutes from the light rail station.

After arriving at the mall, I walked up the hill to the shops and immediately noticed that the place is one of the nicest outlet malls I've been to.  I've traveled a good bit over the years and usually end up checking out outlet malls in whatever town I'm in.  Most are usually just glorified strip malls, and not much glory to boot.
The Charlotte Premium Outlets, while small at this point, are certainly a cut above most that I've visited.

One of the amenities I noticed is the amount of cover you have for an outdoor mall.  While the Gaffney, SC outlet has covered walkways, it always just feels like a strip mall to me.

The Charlotte outlet feels much more like you're walking the streets of your favorite town and just popping into shops, and you do have places to run to if the bottom falls out and we get one of those Carolina heat-of-the-day thunderstorms.

The main reason I wanted to visit the new mall was for the Under Armour Outlet.  I'm a big fan of Under Armour's products, but not such a fan of their retail prices. The only other UA Outlet I've visited was in Pigeon Forge where I got a new workout shirt for a great price.

I thought the Charlotte UA store had a pretty good selection. The store was having a Labor Day sale which helped, but not quite sure if the prices were quite as good as Pigeon Forge.  With the distance this store is from me, I'll probably just buy from their online outlet in the future.  Still I wasn't disappointed to visit my second UA store.

As I made my way around the mall, I noticed lots of nice courtyards with fountains, places to sit both under cover and out in the open.

The mall only has two restaurants in their food court open so far, but there is a new Bojangles located across the street (you would have to drive) from the mall and a new McDonald's is coming soon across from the Bojangles.

The stores in the outlet didn't really strike me as true outlets.  Kind of in the middle as far as price.  I guess they are at a premium.  A good example is the Old Navy Outlet.

The Old Navy Outlet at Potomac Mills, near D.C. had truly great prices.  I remember buying a t-shirt for $4 there.  The outlet in Charlotte might have had only slightly better prices than a regular Old Navy store.

I had to chuckle a bit as I passed the Crocs store.  Is this store considered the tackiest store in the world?  I personally don't get the hatred for Crocs.  I've got a pair of their flip flops and they have lasted forever and are super comfortable.  I don't own a regular pair of Crocs, but I really don't find them that ugly.  Our society really cares too much about what's on the outside of the body and not what's on the inside of the soul.

In summary, the outlets are very nice, but nothing that I'd say make a special trip far out of your way for unless you just have to visit them.  Pretty much everything that I found at the Charlotte Premium Outlets I can find at Concord Mills and Concord Mills has big box stores like Bass Pro.

One issue, just like when Northlake Mall was built is that the area has nothing around it, but I'm sure that will change in the next decade.  It looked like a strip mall of some sort was being built behind the new Bojangles by the highway entrance to the mall.

Overall, very nice, but small and in need of more stuff to do.  Thanks for reading and until next time, please sit on your sandals!

Just Do It!

I love my time on the bicycle, I always seem to come up with my best ideas pedaling the country roads of Mecklenburg and Union counties.

This morning Nike ad Just Do It, popped into my brain while out on my Sunday morning ride.

First I'll say this is not an ad for Nike, I'm more of an Under Armour guy myself.  But the campaign that Nike launched all those years ago was brilliant in its simplicity.

How could three little words sum up so much. But another famous phrase I Love You is only three words and says so much.  Good things sometimes come in small packages, which should be encouraging to all my vertically-challenged friends out there.

Just Do It popped up in my brain this morning and it got me thinking, how many times should we just say to ourselves, not even out loud Just do it!  Just do it Wes! Just do it when it hurts, just do it when you want to be lazy, just do it when you'd rather sit in the recliner and veg out, just do it!

The strange thing I've found over the past 5 months of F3, is that at some point I don't have to tell myself to just do it.  I want to do it.

What in the world has happened to me of late?

In the past two days I've been called an Iron Man (the athletic version, not the metallic clad billionaire variety) and an athlete. An athlete? Me?  It boggles the mind.  But as I look at the definition above, I realize I am an athlete now and I'm loving every minute.  My friend Jason many times called us athletes at boot camp, but it's really sinking in.

As I sit here writing, my legs are in a state of serious repair.  They are very sore from a hard boot camp, I helped partly lead yesterday, and two days of cycling.  This is all being done by a guy that at the start of 2013 couldn't even run one-quarter of a mile. Which brings me back to my point, and I have one.

I'm frankly tired of hearing my fellow Americans tell me that they can't do this, or they can't do that.  Yes you can!  I'm not anything special, I wasn't born on Krypton.  I'm an American, born in the South: home to fried chicken, sweet tea and Krispy Kreme's!  Mmm...somewhere the hot donut sign just came on.

As I've advanced in my transformation this year, I've heard so many people say "I could never do that!".  Lies!  You can do this stuff!  You can get off the couch and take better care of yourself.

Am I saying that you all need to run out and do a ruck, certainly not.  But you can take better care of yourself, you can eat better, you can stop smoking or whatever your hangup is.  We all have them.
Sometimes they manifest in the strangest ways.

People tend to go to extremes.  They either workout too much, or not at all.  They either eat like a health nut, or they eat fast food until they are bloated, sickly creatures who hate life.  We need to find balance in our country and world.

There are people, by the thousands if not millions that struggle to provide one meal a day for themselves in our world.  Sometimes you may pass them on the street as you drive to Starbucks to buy your $5 mocha latte whatever-they-are-call-it.

I'm not here to guilt trip anyone, and I'm not here to say its wrong to be able to afford Starbucks every day. But I am here to say in my own small way, that you and I need to find balance in our lives.

This doesn't mean just health, but if your health is lacking then eventually you will have to stop life in general just to try and survive.  How many people do you hear of that don't take care of themselves and one day they have a heart attack or stroke?  Many of them could have prevented a lot of pain, suffering and financial woes if they'd only found balance in their lives.

I heard one of the best quotes recently, and sadly I can't recall the source:  When people are young, they spend all their health to make money.  When people are old, they spend all their money to make themselves healthy.  It's so true, and it's so sad.

Our society seems to be on the brink of a major shift.  The gap in the upper, middle and lower classes seems to be broadening in every respect.  It seems many in the middle class do think of others but many are struggling to achieve success in this world and make it to the upper class and therefore they lose focus on others. In many cases some of the most giving people in our country are the poor, the ones that can least afford to give.

I'm not here to bash the 1%, I'm saying we are all the 1%.  I heard in a sermon recently that if you own a refrigerator, you are in the top 5% wealthiest people in the world.  Read it again, in the world.

I am going to point (in a very nice way) a finger though at the rich.  What are you doing!?  I don't care if you have millions, but what are you doing with those millions?

Why do you need a new luxury car every 3 years, or 2, or 1?  That luxury car is a lie.  It tells you that you've succeeded, that you're better than your neighbor, or the guy at the office.

That car will one day rust and rot in some landfill, and your body will rot and decay in a grave.  What did you do with your money that helped anyone else?  I'm not trying to bash the rich.  If you have money and you help others with a portion of it, and give of your time to help others I applaud you.  You are certainly in the minority it seems.  Writing a check is all well and good, but what did you do that got you down in the trenches with the rest of us that are struggling to keep a roof over ourselves?

I come back in conclusion to this really long post to say this, Just Do It.  Whatever your battle is in life, whether its greed, obesity, depression, laziness, drugs, alcohol, apathy, whatever it is, just take today and just do something about it!

Battles are rarely won in an instant, they take planning and many times patience.  I challenge you to get in the battle for your life.  Make your life a better one, then you'll be able to improve someone else's life and when we all start to do that, what a wonderful world this place could be.

Until next time... please sit on your sandals!

Yes You Can!

Hey everyone, back for another post and some more progress reports.

This one is going to be a bit different though, I want to focus on you this time and not really about me.  I will use my own story of course, but if this blog is going to make any difference at all it has to become more about you than me.

Yesterday I did something that I literally thought was crazy just a year ago.  I did a GoRuck custom event!  Turns out it was the biggest custom GoRuck event in history!  How cool is that?  So you're already thinking, what is GoRuck?  Glad you asked!

GoRuck, or rucking is a civilian's best chance without enlisting to find out what a Special Operations' or Special Forces training regiment is like. The event I participated in was called a Light.  Light doesn't mean easy, no way.  Light refers to the fact that you're doing the event during the day.  Many of the other GoRuck events take place mostly at night.

GoRuck: Red Light & Blue took place in Charlotte and supported Charlotte Bridge Home, an amazing organization that supports our troops in the Charlotte area and assists them in so many ways like helping them with their job search after leaving the military.

OK so I have to give a bit of background on myself to give you a picture of where this is going.

December 2013 after many months of frustration in finding a diet (in the best sense of that word) that would help me to lose the weight I'd been carrying around for years I came across the 5:2 Diet, as I've mentioned several times.  To date I'm down 40 lbs.!

In March 2014 I joined F3 and took the fitness part of the puzzle to a new level.  I was working out before, but F3 certainly kicked my rear into another gear.  Hey, that rhymed.

One of my friends at the time joked that I would be doing a ruck event before I knew it.  I laughed because I never really dreamed he would be right.

Yesterday's ruck was an amazing way to celebrate 9 months of weight loss and life transformation, but again this isn't about me, it's about you.

You are facing a battle every day I have no idea what it is.  You may be battling financial hardship, I've been there.  I didn't know where money was going to come from at one point in 2013.  But I got through it by the grace of God, prayer of good friends and determination to not give up.  You can too.

You may be struggling with your weight, I was obviously there too.  At least twice in my life I weighed around 300 lbs., probably over 300.  I can tell you that you CAN do something about your health.

You could be immobile, but you can still do something about your health!  You can eat better, drink water, make food choices that boost your body, soul and mind and not tear them down.  I've seen so much lately that when the body is in balance, the mind, soul and spirit are all lifted.  This all has to start in your spirit and you have to dig down and find that fire in the belly, but once that desire finds its way out to the body, the body can then end up lifting the spirit as well.

You may have major drama in your family that rips apart your soul on a daily basis.  You may turn to food, drugs, alcohol or abuse of your body to deal with the pain.  You MUST understand that you are so precious, YOU are worthy of respect.  Every human being of this planet regardless of their outward appearance or attitude is still worthy of respect and that includes YOU.

For so many years I put myself down.  In my head I was my worst critic.  No matter what I did, it wasn't good enough.  No matter how I looked, it wasn't good enough.  If this is you, STOP.  Stop right there and learn to love yourself, right where you are no matter what mess your life is in.  If you can never love yourself, you will never have any love to share with another in this life.  And if you can't share love, then you are going to have a very lonely existence.

And this brings me back to the ruck.  The ruck events, even the Light (which again isn't easy), but is the easiest of the options to choose from will push you to a point where you have to choose what you are going to do.  Are you going to quit?  Or are you going to dig down inside yourself to the pit of your being and keep going.  This applies not just in doing a fitness challenge like I did, but in life.

Our society at one point celebrates winners, and at the same time tells us it's OK to quit.  No problem at all, everybody quits.  Well you aren't everybody, and I hope when times get tough in life that you won't quit but keep going.  Sometimes you just have to stand still in life when the hurricane rages around you, and just be still.

I hope this post reaches you and you will be encouraged by the humble story of a guy that has gone farther than he could ever imagine and hasn't arrived yet.  I'm still pushing, still have struggles and bad days.  But Lord willing I will continue to grow, get stronger and continue to push myself until I drop dead or the Lord calls His children home.  Wouldn't you rather live that way?  Why just settle?  So many people do and rarely look back on their lives with much joy.

Love to you all, and until next time "Please sit on your sandals!".

Aye!

Oh The Places I've Gone!

Wow has it been a crazy 4 months! 

 

Back in March after much harassment, I mean emotional headlocking from friends in F3, I finally submitted and posted for my first workout at Ascent, one of the many F3 boot camp workouts in the Charlotte area.

 

I had been doing a boot camp Tuesday and Thursday evenings, but I had just been stuck for a very long time in the weight loss arena and even was gaining weight back after getting some off in the past few years.

 

After searching and trying some different F3 sites, I finally settled on Outland in Indian Trail. 

I honestly can say that 4 months ago I would never say that I looked forward to working out this hard, but I honestly look forward to it each week!  As I told my former trainer, F3 is one of the best things to ever happen to me in my life.  You're probably wondering why someone would even bother getting up early on a Saturday morning for a workout.  Well then you don't know F3!

F3 is so much more than a Christian/faith-based/non-faith men's workout group.  It's about fitness, fellowship AND faith.   F3 is open to anyone, whether they are a believer or not.

I didn't even realize the gap in my life I was missing: fellowship and true inspiration from other men who were down in the trenches of life just like me and were working their butts off each and every week to make themselves, their community and their world better.

I've made relationships with my brothers at Outland that I know will last for years to come if not for a lifetime.

Our society has turned its back on true masculinity, and as a result our whole world has suffered.  I'm not talking of bravado or being macho.  I'm talking about a servant with strength of will, body, mind and heart.  Look no further than the divorce rate and the many fatherless children in our own back yard and you'll see we have a crisis of true masculinity.  I'm happy to say that I'm a part of the solution now and not a part of the problem.

In addition to the crazy workouts, and other #CSAUP stuff we do, F3 works in many various ways to promote leadership and reach out to people of every walk of life and make their lives better.

As you can see, F3 is a great thing.  After 4 months in F3, I'm down almost 40 lbs. and hope to hit 60 by Christmas!  I've already run my first 10k last month, and will be doing my first GoRuck Challenge August 9.  I'm still in shock I just ran a 10k train run.  This guy couldn't even run a 1/4 mile at the start of 2013.

I'm as excited about my life as I can remember being since my 20's.  I'm also feeling and looking better than I ever did in my 30's.  It was in my 30's I hit my highest weight, around 300 lbs.  Thankfully I'm a long way down from there, and will never go back again.

At 42, I'm stronger, faster and overall happier and fuller of the joy of life (the Joy of the Lord is our strength after all) than I've been in a very, very long time.

My only regret is that I took so long to join F3.  But the past is past, and I'm gonna keep digging in and seeing how far I can push this old body, mind and heart.  It's been a great first half of the #yearofwes.  Can't wait to see where the rest of the year takes me.

Shout out to all my F3 brothers.  Aye!








 

 

 

 

 

Thank You Doesn't Do It Justice

Somehow I knew this day would come, but it still doesn't make me any happier about it.

You see this crazy guy pictured here is and will always be my trainer, even if not officially any more after next week.

Due to very exciting developments in Jason's life, he will no longer be able to host his boot camp at Mt. Harmony Baptist where I have been one of the dirty dozen (well not quite a dozen most nights) most of its 4 year run.  I took a year to join the fun for some reason.  I thought I could get a better workout in the gym.  Lies.

I have to, even though I know it will bring tears to both of us sit down and say a formal thanks to my brother in Christ.

Jason came into my life when I was going through a lot of junk.  I had lost my job at Bank of America after 17 years and I was working a job I hated, yes I said I hated it! Anyone that can work a job in a call center and enjoy it, my hats are off to you.  It wasn't for me.

Doing sit-down jobs for 20 years had taken its tole and the last few years of my time at Bank of America I had really let myself go.  By 2005 I was topping out well over 300 lbs.  I don't know if I've ever actually made that public, but I might as well.  It's the truth.

After much encouragement from Mitch Duncan, I finally came one night to boot camp at Mt. Harmony.  Now you have to understand I thought I was still pretty strong from the years I used to work out at home.  I wasn't.  The first night I sucked wind like I'd never sucked wind in all my life.  I barely made it home and crawled into the recliner and almost immediately passed out.  I am in no way exaggerating, I was that worn out from just one workout!   I used to joke that boot camp was like P90X on crack, cause some nights it seemed that way.  But I kept coming, and I started to notice small changes in stamina, strength and just feeling better in my every day life.

Flash forward a bit and 2014 rolls around and after much ribbing I finally give in to Jason and a few other friends who had invited me to join F3.

F3 would certainly be the next step in my transformation in more ways than one.  Without a lot of details of F3, it is a participant led, free workout for men that will kick your rear end!  You do your best, that's all they ask.  It's not a competition, but being competitive even a little as I am, I certainly push myself even more now especially during F3.

And finally I sit here and tell you that I'm signing up for my first ruck!  This is getting a bit scary now.

I'm taking on challenges I never in a million years would've even considered 3 years ago when I met Jason and started down this road and now to be doing a new event WITH Jason is just even crazier.  This will also be Jason's first ruck, and I'm honored I get to be there for his first one.

As you can tell from the photo, Jason is in great shape as you would hope a trainer would be, but I've even seen him have to dig in for some workouts at F3.  It's fun realizing your mentors are human sometimes and have to kick their own butts from time to time.

So as I try to bring this around to a close, thank you is so lame to tell a person that has made such a deep impact on your life in just 3 short years, and I know will influence me for years to come.

Jason you never judged me, always encouraged me to dig deeper, watch the nutrition and keep on challenging myself.  Much like the classical hero story line, the hero always has to let go of their mentor at some point and learn to stand on their own.  I guess my time has come.

I know you'll always be around, and just a text away brother but I'm so excited to see what God does in your life and mine in the coming years.  Massive props and love to you, and love and respect to your family and church family.  Keep living with strength brother!  Aye!

The Year Of Wes

In my never ending blathering on about my weight loss and strength- gaining journey I come at you with another post about a few milestones I hit over the weekend.

First up I played a round of disc golf Sunday afternoon and that alone isn't anything to talk about, but the fact that I RAN (cue Flock of Seagulls?)several of of the holes was!

A while back some friends and I had joked about Speed Disc Golf being an option.  Well at that time I could barely even walk the courses without being out of breath and having major back pain.

So yesterday I'm just jogging along and it hit me that I've made some major progress!

I currently do 3 boot camps a week (45 minutes - 1 hour of intense workouts) and then run or bike one day a week.  Still planning to do my first 10k next month.

Then today on a whim I sat down at the store and checked my blood pressure.  It was 123 over 80!  That's as close to normal as its been in YEARS!  My blood pressure has run around 138 over 85 for quite a few years and the doctors always said it should be lower.

Well I guess all this output has finally caught up with the old ticker and my blood pressure is finally down where it should be.

I have a long way to go, in both weight loss and endurance in running, but I've also made huge strides the past few years and I can't imagine ever going back to where I was.  Honestly that guy is dead, and I'm not digging him up again!

Jason Rhymer, my fitness mentor and friend pointed at me during one of his boot camps and said "This is going to be your year!" and I took him at his word.  I keep reminding myself of his words and slowly but surely I keep seeing new sign posts that the old Wes is dead and gone, and the new Wes is here to stay.

Well that's all for now, until next time...

St. Peter Is That You?

I'm back from my second 5k trail run!  Just wanted to share a short report of how it went.

First a little background: last August, on a strangely cool morning I set out running not only first 5k, but my first trail run too.

As one who has never run since high school, and even then not any great distances this was certainly a challenge.

I started off o.k. but then my back started to hurt and we had to stop for a minute and try and stretch it out.  Still I kept going and I finished at around 54:30.  Not terrible I guess for my first time out and considering the back problems.

2014 came along and I had my sights set on doing the 10k option and in the meantime some friends told me about East Side Church's new Queen City Trail Run 5k.

Being my second 5k of course I wanted to finish faster than the last time, I didn't know however that Reedy Creek Park's trails would be even harder than the Charlotte White Water Center's.

I knew the park was hilly as I play disc golf there pretty regularly.

I didn't know that one of those hills would be waiting for me and brother was it a tough one.  Jokingly I posted later that I expected to see St. Peter waiting at the top of that hill.

But I kept going and the hill eventually was in my rear view and down another hill and up some more I made it to the finish line.  As I turned the last corner I saw the clock was just over 48:00 and I all of a sudden found more energy to run than I had all morning.  I picked up the pace and finished strong beating my last time by nearly 6:00!

Now I'm not here to tell you I'm a fast runner, far from it.  But I honestly never thought I'd be able to run 1 mile, much less over 3.

I'm living proof that anyone can do this stuff.  It's not rocket science.  It just takes some hard work, time and effort and you will see results.

Until next time...please sit on your sandals!

Heather

When our eyes first met,

my heart skipped a beat.

 

When I saw the first smile,

my heart took a leap.

 

When I saw the first tear,

I wanted to weep.

 

This gift is too glorious,

this joy from on High.

 

This grand gift of God,

in a package so small.

 

Though we only just met,

I see through God's eyes,

why He would die

for a sinner such as I.

 

I can't explain, or contain

my love for you dear,

and neither could God

when with nails

He was pierced.

 

His love my example.

I'll try my best to follow,

as I show you His love,

and as we reach for tomorrow.

What Is A Friend?

Not someone who likes you all the time,
but loves you all the time.

 

Not someone who gives you their wealth,
but gives you their time.

 

Not someone who ignores your faults,
but loves you despite them.

 

Someone who laughs at all your jokes,
even when they're not that funny.

 

Someone who takes the time to see your potential, not your reflection in the mirror.

 

Someone who talks about you behind your back, but only tells others how much you mean to them.

 

Not someone who places obligations on you, but places you first.

 

Not someone who is perfect, and always shows you how much you mean to them, but feels it deeply in their heart.

 

You are a friend of mine.

Imperfect

I'm not perfect.

 

Are you surprised?

 

My skin is flesh toned, but inside it's gang green, like moss growing on a tree: except the tree stuck to the ground is me.

 

I'm not perfect. Do you think you're better?

 

We all dig and scratch. Searching for a spiritual crumb.

 

When the Bread of Life, Jesus is offered we say, "Oh I'm full."

 

I'm not perfect, neither are you.
       

But a cross was carried by a man who was, perfect that is.

 

Oh that's just religion!

 

Well if it is, why do you fight it? Why not give in? Do you want to carry that sin all the way to your grave?

 

Hell is no party! It's not the bar down the street. Didn't you think the devil would trick you with lies and deceit?

 

He wants to trick you into forfeiting       

 

Heaven, a Life without ending.

 

Listen to God, His love He is sending.

Super Man

Oh little man

you struggle and toil, but no amount of money

can ransom your soul.

What can a man give for his soul that one day,

will stand before God, so that God will repay:

the choices and courses of your winding life,

He loves you, He grieves you would put down the knife;

You're digging and grinding into your heart.

You say you'd love to be saved, but it's too late to start.

Idiotic! That's a lie! Don't believe everything you hear!

 

But this promise, you can count on sincere:

It came from On High, when God sent His Son,

only Son to die.

If you believe and trust on His name,

He will become your Lord and Saviour, Oh my!

Jesus Christ is God, one and the same.

Do you feel it? Deep down inside?

That gapping hole, accept Him or...

I almost want to cry.

Please don't wait another day, saying tomorrow I'll say o.k. to Jesus Christ.

He is the only way to Heaven, the only Saviour alive!

 

He's listening and watching, for your reply.

Empty Me Out

A broken vessel, unworthy of Grace, yet on Calvary's Hill, you took my place.

 

Salvation unfounded for a retch such as I, since all I pursued was the apple of my eye.

 

But mercy intervened and God came to live, in a broken old vessel, but what can I give?

 

Lord empty me out, cleanse all for your use.

 

Through your Holy Spirit's power, please take off the noose.

 

Fill me up only with your presence clear, 'till all that they see, is a reflection of God here.

 

Shape me and mold me, let no stone go un-turned, for your reflection Lord Jesus is ALL they should see.

Cycling

I travel down this road, and many people I pass by

Sometimes they join me, and sometimes they just stand by.

 

It's their decision to have life on the mountain road or

just in complacency, a long valley with no way home.

 

I beg them, "Join me, come with me on a trip that never ends. Come join me and meet my truest friend."

 

He rode this journey long ago, but He was not like I.
You see, this man was also God. His name is Jesus Christ.

 

He loved us so much then, as now.

 

He gave His life to ransom you, with thorns upon His brow. He prayed while on the cross:

 

"Forgive them, they don't know what they do"

 

And on that day, that prayer He spoke was said for me and you.

True Love

God is Love.

 

Since God is the center of your marriage,
love is the center of your marriage.

Love is sacrifice.

You will have to sacrifice for your spouse.

God's love sacrificed on the Cross.

 

Love is a warrior.
Stepping out in the arrows for the other.

 

When arrows made of words fly,
you step out and shield your mate.

 

You protect and love.

 

Love is the little,
love is the big,
hard times, good.

Love, true love is there because,

 

God is Love.

Paint Me

Paint me Blue, because your love is

deeper than the oceans, higher than the sky.

 

Paint me Green, to show growth and life in you.

 

Paint me Orange, a color of fall and let your Grace and Mercy fall on me.

 

Paint me Red, to cleanse me by your blood shed on the Cross.

 

Paint me Yellow, for the Son that shines on me.

 

Paint me Silver, to reflect your glory back to you.

 

Paint me Purple, because you have made me a child of the King.

 

Paint me White, because you are Holy and I should be as you.

 

Erase the Grey's of complacency, fear and doubt.

 

Erase the Black's of sin and rebellion.

 

Erase the Dark tones and hues that hide the reflection of your image, which I am being Painted to resemble in this life and in Eternity ever new.

Thank You

 

Thank you for not calling it quits,

even though I'm not worth giving the time of day to.

 

Least among your children, surely am I.

 

You shed your Son's blood, so that I could be a millionaire.

 

And if that weren't enough, you daily show you care.

 

Please use this vessel, broken though it may be.

 

Let the world see you through me.

Blue Jeans

 

If Jesus had lived, His earthly days in the middle of this crazy haze,

would He have worn blue jeans?

 

Would He have been a homeless man on the street?

 

Or would have hung around Congress or maybe Wall Street?

 

Possibly He would be in some of the "Sin Cities" reaching out to those deceived by the tricks of the world.

 

Would He have worn the latest fashions?

 

Or listened to the coolest CDs?

 

We could ponder these thoughts until Jesus came back, but why bother?

 

Jesus IS living in these days and times.

 

He also lives through believers in the things we do and say.

 

He's not just a favorite teacher that we remember by His words.

 

He is actually living in Heaven and pleading for all souls.

 

So would Jesus wear blue jeans?

 

You know the answer.

The Judge's Chamber

Wash-up, reject, they all laugh and say.

I turn the other cheek, only to have the price to pay.

 

Mock me, scorn, hatred, lies, but I'm never out of somebody's eyes.

Wash-up, reject, they all laugh and say.

 

I pray for death, but they're kept at bay...

When I think it too great, my power too small, I call on His name and He silences them all.

 

Wash-up, reject, they cannot say. For they realize like I, we have NOTHING to say.

We are not judges, we didn't purchase God's judgment throne.

Who can sit in that seat, but Jesus alone!

 

Wash-up, reject we expect to hear HIM say, but if our life is in Christ, here's what He'll proclaim:

 

"Welcome In !!! I've forgotten your sins!"

 

For eternity we'll walk in awe beside Him.

Wash-up, reject, forever no more, because our sins, on THAT tree, He bore.

A Truly White Christmas

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, a childhood dream that never came true.

I grew up in the South, so my Christmases had skies of blue.
 

'Till God showed me how to have a "White Christmas" without a flake. When we ask for forgiveness, for our sins and mistakes.
 

He cleanses and washes our hearts, 'till they're pure. And He returns our hearts, as white as the snow.
 

So, this year I'd love to have some icy white flakes, but with Jesus' forgiveness when He died for our sake,

this Christmas can be white if His hand you will take.

Drop Thrill In The House

One month ago a goal was finally fulfilled when I posted (showed up) for my first boot camp workout by F3.

F3 stands for Fitness, Fellowship & Faith.

 I have been doing boot camps with Rhymer Fitness for several years, but at Jason Rhymer and a few other's encouragement I posted for a F3 beat down, and was it a beat down.

The guys at Ascent  were super nice, but they were there to get busy and so was I. Jason (Byron), John (Schedule C) and Tony (Big League Chew) all showed up to encourage me at my first post and I appreciate it more than they know!

Ascent featured one of their more intense workouts they had done in a while, lucky me.  I felt my legs and arms in strange new ways for about 4 days afterwards.  But as I know from my regular workouts with Jason, that's just your body telling you it's growing.

The workouts are certainly intense, my second post was led by a demonic little being known as Run Stopper.  That man is pure evil.  That is all.

What I wasn't really expecting was the 2nd F (Fellowship).  I really felt from the first week encouragement and community in a way I've never felt before working out with a group.  No offense to my normal boot camp, but I guess there's just something totally in the male psyche about a bunch of guys grunting through a hard workout, sounding like an episode of Home Improvement.

Each workout ends with a short announcement section, prayer request time and then prayer. Then for those that can we meet up at a local Starbucks or other eatery we continue the fellowship, with less grunting, but probably some is still involved.

I really am impressed by everything I've seen with F3 so far: outstanding tough-skinned, soft-hearted guys who love God, show their love for their fellow man and apparently love giving and receiving a proper beat down.

If you're wondering who Drop Thrill is, that would be me.  In F3 each man is given their nickname the first time they post and since I'm such a coaster junkie, as most of you know, they dubbed me Drop Thrill.  I like it.

So if you're a guy and looking for a great, free workout where you will immediately be welcomed, challenged and encouraged, then F3 is for you!   If you think "This is a Christian boot camp workout, it can't be that hard." I dare you, yes I said I dare you to show up for one!

And ladies you aren't left out either, Females In Action  is your option!

So I say all this to put down in a formal way some of my thoughts about my first month in F3 Nation.  Here's to many, many more.

Until next time...Please sit on your sandals!

Rock Of Ages - Forgotten Christian Bands

The 80's came along and as with the 70's and somewhat the 60's, Christian bands tried to be relevant musically and share the Good News of the Bible with their world in song.

Sad to say many of them were put down by the church and many TV evangelists went on and on about how their music was devil worship music or just plain wrong.

My youth group at church like many at conservative churches of the day had meetings about the evils of rock and roll, about backmasking, and on and on.  Surprisingly I can't ever remember them putting down Christian rock during those meetings.  I guess they weren't as conservative as I thought.

But I say all that to come to my point, there were quite a few really good Christian bands and artists that came out in that era, that if they had gone a secular route would've surely been touted as some of the best bands of the era.  But because they chose the Christian niche, most of them are forgotten by the general populous.   Here are a few of my favorite artists of the era and genre and a few thoughts.  Certainly I could have included, Stryper, Whiteheart and Mylon & Broken Heart, which were some of my favorites of the era, bu they (Stryper at least) are somewhat known.  I want to spotlight four bands that really aren't known by many unless they really know the era well.

Pray Naked... yes that was one of the albums from The 77's.  Can you believe they even got it sold in Christian book stores?  As you can see from the album cover, the album title is nowhere to be seen.  Just three naked guys with a well-placed picture.

In an age where Amy Grant and Michael W Smith were producing super-safe Contemporary Christian music, The 77's debuted in 1982 with Ping Pong Over the Abyss, frankly one of the best album names out there from the era.

Ping Pong is hard to peg, you hear Bowie and The Cars, Jackson Browne and even Led Zeppelin. The band's follow up to Ping Pong was All Fall Down, where they seem to give in to the electronic rock mode of the day.  Opening licks remind one of modern day band Arcade Fire. My first exposure to the band was 1994's Drowning With Land In Sight.

Steve Taylor, where to begin.  If the Christian community has ever produced a true Renaissance-man, it would be Steve Taylor.

I also discovered Taylor after what many would consider his prime after buying his brilliant album Squint, pictured right.

Taylor can do it all, and pretty much has done it all over the years.  Not only did he record a half dozen of the best albums to come out of Christian music in the 80's and early 90's, but he retired from music and went on to become a film director!  His film Blue Like Jazz is actually available to view on Netflix.

Never being afraid of controversy, Taylor recorded songs like "I blew up the clinic real good" (a song against violence and against killing abortion clinic doctors), "Lifeboat" (a song against the devaluation of human life in some elitist circles) and his first real splash "I want to be a clone".  "Clone" is a song about the early 80's church view that Christians should only dress in certain way at church, things like jeans in church, etc. were thought unholy and wrong.  Ideas that would never be found in all but the most extremely conservative churches today.  Taylor has a wry sense of humor and at the same time is very intelligent and while he's trying to get a serious point across, he always seems to have a good time with the twist of a line.

Songs like "Clinic" certainly stirred the pot,but that didn't really translate into huge records sales which Taylor certainly deserved based on his talent and writing.  I can't help but think that bands like Relient K would never have seen the light of day in the Christian market if it weren't for Steve Taylor.

The Call - One of the few bands on this list that actually saw some commercial success with 1989's Let The Day Begin which went #1 on the U.S. singles chart.

Like The 77's, The Call released their debut album in 1982 and over the 80's became a favorite on college radio.

The band was led by the late Michael Been, whose raspy voice was a trademark and you could hear his passion in his performances.

Certainly one of the bands of the era I wish I'd have caught live, and now with the untimely passing of Been, that will never happen.

My last selection is not quite as serious a choice - Jacob's Trouble but they did have a huge influence on a certain Contemporary Christian band called Third Day.

The Atlanta-based band had their share of controversy, in particular a track called About Sex, which has an amazing lyric and certainly promoted the conservative Christian view but was deemed too controversial to even be released on the band's second album.

I became aware of the band in 1994 at Atlanta Fest which used to be held at Six Flags Over Georgia until moved to Stone Mountain Park.

The band was just a fun blend with influences fromthe The Beatles, The Monkees and others of their own era.  Even the album cover looks like it came straight out of the 60's.

I just share a few bands that I discovered in the early 90's that really were ahead of their time.  Taking thoughts of faith, life and love and sharing them in the package of music where in so many ways they were ignored at best and condemned at worst. Great song writing and musicianship shouldn't be ignored, just because it happens to come from the Christian music genre.  None of these bands wrote in a preachy way, unless they were railing against hypocrisy in the church or in society.

Great thing is these days online streaming has brought back all of these artists back from the brink of total obscurity.  Spotify actually features most if not all of the albums from each of these artists.  They are certainly worth a listen. You may just discover a band you didn't even know you were missing.

Take care and until next time... Please sit on your sandals!

Life Lessons From Blobsledding: CHARGE!

The 2014 Sochi games are behind us now, but some of the sports are still swirling around my brain and still inspiring me days later. One sport is the subject of this post - Bobsledding.

For those that find the pursuit of the fastest time down an ice chute rather boring, I'll give you my take on the sport in a nutshell.

You take 2 or 4 human beings, put them in super tight spandex-type material, clad their feet with shoes that allow them to run on ice, a helmet on their head and then tell them to push a sled as fast as they can, jump in the sled and then try to be the fastest to the bottom at speeds around 80 mph.

What I didn't mention though is the subject of this post - the start.  At the start the men or women get each other pumped up by slapping each other on the back and grunting or yelling at the top of their lungs as if they are the most excited they can possibly be to hurtle their bodies down a slick icy surface at speeds that would make most roller coasters jealous.

After they yell, close the visor on their helmets and grab the sled, they push with all their might and then the driver (the athlete in the lead) jumps into the sled and in what seems like one smooth motion they slide their body into the sled and start steering.

The other athlete(s) then do the same but they don't keep their heads up, in fact they bury their heads in the back(s) of the lead athlete(s) and only help the cause of speed by shifting their weight and by keeping themselves as aerodynamic as possible.

In many ways what I described could apply for my daily walk with God.  I should push off with as much enthusiasm as possible, but instead of being the driver, I let God drive the sled for the day and every day.

God, like the drivers of bobsleds knows the course.  He knows the turns, he know when things are going to get crazy, when the speed will seem unsafe, when the curves sling you the opposite way you thought you were going.

We should all push off each day with enthusiasm as if this may be our last run down this course, do our part, but then let God lead and do His part.  One day we will be right, and it will be our last run.  It may be tomorrow, or it may be 70 years from now.  One day every one of us will breathe our last.

Now that's easier said than done to live this way, and life never seems to come without a few crashes and without us trying to take over the Driver's seat from the driver that knows the course.

We can also refuse to even get on board, and that's in many ways is so much worse than even trying to take over the driver's seat.  At least the one who wrestles to take control, is at least on the ride.

I challenge you and I to always take the ride of life, but let God lead because He knows the way.

Until next time... Please sit on your sandals!