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!