My Pleasure My New Friend
At the end of January I made a trip out to Phoenix, AZ. While I would love to tell you that my sole intention was to run the Battlefrog AZ race and test my injuries. Frankly, that would be a lie. I went out there to have a “Say Anything” moment and tell someone my true feelings that I would regret if I never did. Well I said what I had to say and to no avail, I left AZ a changed man in more ways than one.
When I arrived to the Battlefrog, I had a heavy heart and I felt like I had been kicked in the head all night. Besides going through my personal issues, I was sick and instead of getting better after I arrived, I was progressively getting worse. Having a horrible case of bronchitis, nursing an injury and basically feeling like a worthless piece of crap, I toed the line and set off on my AZ adventure.
Do you know that phrase “everything happens for a reason?” Sometimes I wonder what that reason usually is. On this day I actually found a couple of reasons for why things turned out the way they did. So while this trip seemed to be a burnout in the desert, it actually turned into a life altering experience that brought joy to my heart and made me realize why I started doing these races to begin with.
Just exactly at the 1-mile mark of this race, I ran into a fellow runner as we both were coming off an obstacle and our watches both beeped the first mile was over. We struck up a conversation and he asked me if I minded if he ran with me. I usually run alone or I am racing others and we never speak during a race, but today was not about racing, truth be told, I was just there to play on the obstacles and get out of the house and try and have fun.
So this is where my life will be forever changed. I don’t consider myself to be this great “Elite” type of runner, in fact, I am just happy most days to hold my own in the “Masters” division. While talking with my new running buddy Jamie, he told me this was his first race ever. I mean seriously, this was his first race ever, not first Battlefrog or OCR, this was his first race of any kind by way of running…EVER! I remember telling him he picked one hell of a race to start running. He told me he had initially signed up with a group of guys who wanted to prove to themselves that they could complete this race. Unfortunately for him, everyone bailed on him. He was faced with not going or going and running alone. So of course he did what anyone would do, he set off by himself.
During the next 5-miles together I learned a lot about my new friend. He is a Youth Pastor for starters, which is why this adventure we had made a huge impact on my life. You see, when we started running, walking and talking, I told him I wasn’t going fast but if he wanted to hang with me, I would show him all the tricks to beat the obstacles. So that is exactly what we did. I showed him feet techniques for the rope climbs, monkey bar techniques, Tip of the spear and more. This was honestly the best part of the race for me. I am a coach at heart and having someone who wants to learn and try without question was a great experience. We didn’t exactly get everything as planned, but it was a blast trying!
During our Walkabout as I like to call it, we spoke about a lot of things, mostly me and my personal relationships and what was bothering me. He posed one question to me and try as I might to answer that question, in the end he simply said he still had not heard the answer. That made me think even harder about everything. For miles we talked about life, we played like kids on obstacles and we finished the race. While I also listened to his story of bad luck and relationship woes, he left me by saying he was praying that I would clearly know which direction to go.
In the end, while he thinks I was a blessing from God, he told me God sent me to guide him and help him on this day. He told me I was a great coach and motivator and he didn’t understand why God wanted him to run alone, but now he does. I don’t see it that way, I see it as he saved me. He showed me why I got in this sport to begin with. Why I love this sport of OCR so much, the people you meet, having fun on the obstacles and helping others. For me this was not an OCR but an adventure. I fell in love with everything all over again, just like I did with my first race in 2010.
Thank you my friend, when I was feeling doom and gloom, you actually made me see some light and helped me understand the path I was on. When I returned home, I returned to a friend who was waiting with open arms to start my healing process. Someone who despite my flaws and this odyssey I went on, understood and was there to comfort me.
I am now on a new path, a path with no ending in sight. I am not sure if God is leading the way as Jamie would say, but I’m pretty happy none the less.
Footnote: I heard from Jamie a few weeks later and his text was simple:
“I am going to talk about you in chapel today and tell them how you were a blessing to me on the obstacle course. Hope things are going well”
Thank you my friend, you showed me what I was not seeing because my judgement was cloudy and in the end I found happiness where I wasn’t really looking!
So many of you do this and it drives me insane. As someone who is involved in social media daily (as a job), for the love of God, stop posting on Instagram and pushing it to Facebook. On occasion it is okay, but every single time is just annoying. Okay, I’ll explain, here’s why:
Speaking of IG and FB, please, please, please stop sponsor tagging on every post. Seriously!! Again, I get it, we all do. You are either giving us a buyer discount (which you get a kickback) or you are sponsored by them. I understand you might get paid or have to post a quota on social media and I get race pics, I’m okay with that…but come on man, every picture? Really? It kind of goes back to showing me you are more than an athlete and seriously none of you are Amelia freaking Boone or Ryan Atkins and they don’t do it that often. Plus YOU ARE NOT A PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE! There I said it, you are a weekend warrior at best and it pays for this expensive hobby. Stop looking like a NASCAR add, it’s honestly annoying. So if you take my advice and start posting more life pics, please don’t post a pic of your kids school play or your dinner/movie date night and also tell me how I can get 10% off of ORAL IV.
Which leads me to the “Professional athlete pages”…seriously stop it. OCR has more pro athlete pages than any other sport ever. Okay I made that up, but seriously only about 10% of the people in this sport actually need them. Plus, nobody cares, I can’t speak for everyone, but I am pretty sure most of your friends will tell you – we don’t like looking at two different locations about your life. What is really funny is when you have to share what you said on your Athlete Page on your personal timeline just so people will see it…isn’t that the reason you created your AP, so you could keep your private life and athlete life separate? Facebook changed the Algorhythms within the past couple of years and fan pages are basically obsolete these days. Even for big brands, unless you are paying Facebook to advertise, less than 5% of your actual fans will see your posts unless they physically click on your page and look. The fan page is useless and again, you really are not a professional athlete or brand and who wants to update in two places all of the time?
So you want some advice on how to use Facebook and Instagram? Well for starters, stop living in the past. It all started with Throwback Thursday, then it was Flashback Friday, now I see Way back Wednesday & Memory Monday. People please stop it! Start living in the present and future, stop living in the past and showing me the same stuff you already did. Plus there are rules to Throwback Thursday, the first being that your pics need to be at least 4-years old! Yes those are the rules! Not last week or last month or last year. 4-years people! This was started as a way to show great pictures of your youth, those pics which some of us have still on real actual photographs, and Polaroids. Those pictures before everything went digital. Come on get creative, there are 52 weeks this year, pick past holidays, birthdays or when you lost your first tooth! (Yes I have that one)
To some of my friends, please put your shirt on! Yes, to all my bromance bro’s, for all that you hold sacred in this world, put your shirt on. Don’t get me wrong, your abs look great, your pecs are on point but COME ON MAN! I understand all the race pics, but then you add in your workout pics (even the staged ones where it’s so obvious you took off your shirt for a picture), and your running pics and any other pic you take where your shirt is off! If people like you, they will like you with a shirt on, trust me, we all love you for your personality! I liked your running picture yesterday without a shirt on and the day before that and the week before that. It’s snowing outside and you have no shirt on…seriously? Maybe it’s because I’m uncomfortable posting pics without mine on, but come on, not every pic.
Blydawg's Blog 
The obvious symbols in this song are stars, constellations, astrological signs (Aries and Leo). I think this is a story between a sheep and lion representing two lovers. Their love seemed ideal, as compatible together as Aries and Leo in horoscopes, but this song is more about separation of two lovers when they were young (“I thought I heard you out there crying”). The singer now wonders if there can be reconciliation, as he is also feeling regretful (“Just the same”).
The song poses a question: No matter the differences between two people, can it ever be that they can still love each other? As it alludes to the Bible, that a lion lie down with a lamb? (“Lion kiss a deer”) There is a similarity here.
The answer: Young love can have partners that are selfish, too idealistic, and believing in fate without compromising. Partners break off their relationship then and there.
Now when he is older, the singer realizes that the relationship he had before was great, and that a truly ideal lover is rare to find. If fate comes once in a million years, the YOUNG lambs who are “searching for meaning” are wasting their youth trying to find it. They are running from the differences (running from lions in the “hunting season”) when they should actually not run away, and make compromises.
In conclusion: Have a little give or compromise in love. Otherwise, it is the common mistake that people make, and become like lost stars. Only a few people will click 100%, like lucky stars in the sky belonging together in a constellation, and who have met fate. The numerous rest of us are just shining.
And does it really matter? You can barely tell apart a constellation from the rest of the stars. The lesson is that there is happiness in love even when it’s not perfect.