In January 2015 I read the following Backblast by a PAX member named Diopter and posted on his behalf by Gnarley Goat. I have never met either of these men:

http://f3nation.com/2015/01/09/ditches-and-the-white-picket-fence/

I reread the backblast over and over. I shared it with my wife. Then I read it some more. I now keep a copy of it in a drawer at work. It sits alone with one other backblast titled “Pushing the Rock,” which was written in response to the Columbia support effort showed by the PAX last fall. I read them on days that are really hard depending on what support I need.

This Q was built on the backblast listed above and dedicated to all PAX in the 3rd 500 who dug themselves a hole in search of white picket fences…

I made sure we completed the workout as a group, didn’t leave the six behind and shared the message of the backblast above. This is what has got me through the last year!

The Thang:

-Mosey around parking lot

-COP
-Windmill (10)
-L. Slow Squat (10)
-Side Stretch to the L (8)
-Side Stretch to the R (8)
-MaRockin’ Nightclub (10)
-Windmill (10)
-Merkins (10)
-Drop Hips – Stretch

Mosey – Line up shoulder to shoulder

-Side shuffle from building to breezeway (and back)
-Toy Soldier to BB Hoops & Jog it out (and back)
-Karaoke from building to breezeway (and back)

Dirty McDeuce (4 rounds of 3 exercises – 12 reps each)
Merkin Wide-Arm Merkin Staggered Merkin (R) Staggered Merkin (L)
LBC Freddie Mercury Russian Twist Low slow Flutter
Squat Monkey Humper Lunge Calf Raises

Deck of Cards
Hearts – Dips
Diamonds – Carolina Dry Docks
Clubs – Squats
Spades – Over Shoulder Claps
Jokers – 10 LBC

20 Merockin Nighclubs

COT

2015 sucked… I mean really sucked. I won’t go into the details because it isn’t the purpose of this backlist. Let’s just say I had dug a ditch, a deep ditch, and found myself alone. I mean really alone.

My 30’s were a mixed bag of positive and ehhhh. I moved to SC at age 29 after living in Seattle my entire life. I am a cancer survivor, which occurred in my late 20’s, just after my first son was born. I am mostly estranged from my parents and only sister (my twin). During my 30s we had two beautiful boys and a home we loved. In addition, my career advanced positively. I wouldn’t change a thing, but by age 38 … (with the exception of F3) I was alone… New city, new culture, new role (husband and father), no blood family support, … alone. However, I wouldn’t change a thing. I love it here … I just needed to find myself again. Or as Curly says in City Slickers … I needed to find my “One thing!”

In trying to find myself I sunk deep into my career. I had dug in deep with all my focus and energy to chase my professional dreams. When I met my goals I was left standing in that 3rd 500 … Without focus, without a plan, without a new goal, having lost myself in the process of getting there. The ditch is safe, but as Diopter stated … “it is cold and lonely.”

I have often looked out of our front door to our yard. There I envision my personal and professional dreams. A metaphoric white picket fence sourounded my yard as I dreamt of what my mariage would look like and what my boys would become. However, those dreams caused me to lose sight of who I was as a man, a husband, and as a father. And in the process, the ditch got deeper and deeper.

Yet it is at this time in life (mid 30s – mid 50s) we are called to be a #HIM. Kind of Ironic that the time we are called to be a #HIM is when we (as men) are often the most lost. It is in the 3rd 500 when we are called to be mentors, heads of household, business leaders, political leaders, and the ones sought for advice.

This is why F3 is important to me. Every day that I couldn’t get out of bed I had members of the PAX dragging me out of the fartsack for a run/bootcamp. Repeatedly different PAX would talk about being a #HIM, about being a good father, about being a good husband. The PAX reiterated that there are standards by which men should live to be a #HIM.

And so …. I have slowly began filling in my ditch. Iron does sharpen iron and inspiration comes in many forms. It can come from Package at Mushroom Pool, from Pusher in the car talking by my mailbox, from a summer run in the #Gloom with Santini, it comes from Menthol and WWL challenging me to be physically better than I have ever been, or a conversation with Jekyl, sitting on our luggage, after P200 2015 outside of the hotel.

Inpiration came to me when I stared at my sleeping boys’ faces at 11 P.M. and then fell to my knees in prayer with tears in my eyes. And it came from a moment in a condo, in Murels Inlet, when I remembered why I started this crazy adventure with my wife called marriage.

Finally, inspiration can come from a backblast written by men like you, that you have never met, but whose words literally change your life.

So … What is your dream? … What is your white picket fence? … Where are you in the past 5 to 10 years? … Do you like where you are today? … Are you in a ditch? If you are in a ditch then how deep is it?

I am still filling in my ditch everyday. With the support of the PAX I continue to push myself out of my comfort zone. Recently, I signed up for an Ultra team for BRR and I’m flying out to Kirkland next weekend to support F3 in the community where I grew up. More importantly, I want to give back to F3 which has given me my life back.

So PAX … Keep posting in the Gloom, keep writing those Backblasts, keep be a #HIM. You never know when your words/actions will change the lives of another! I will probably always be working on my ditch, but I have a nation of F3 brothers to help!

Aye!