October 7th, 2019 By 4wide

Caution…Story Telling Black blast.

After working all day Sunday, YHC really didn’t have any new routes in mind for our Monday cruise. My plan…just do the normal route and keep it easy. As I got to the parking lot I saw that Big Blue already arrived and was ready to go. Pretty normal so far until we saw a vehicle we didn’t recognize pull in. I was thinking great a FNG to come join us and how right I was…but instead of a “Friendly New Guy” it was a “Friendly New Girl.” She walked right up to us (probably because I was bending over and stretching my hamstrings) and asked if we were part of the Monday run group. Since Dorton hosts 2 run groups on Monday, we kindly said “We were not the one you are looking for and from the looks of it the group you are looking for are not here today”.

And this is when the “What to do?” moment arrived. She enthusiastically asked if her and her friend would be able to join us on our run. Should I say “no” and explain F3 is an all-men workout group or should I say “yes” and not look like an a-hole…I went with the not looking like an a-hole. And how my judgement was rewarded.

By this time, the rest of our F3 brothers and the FNG’s friend arrived. Looking at the faces of the PAX I could sense confusion, but they were willing to roll with it anyways. As we started our journey, it didn’t take 1 min before questions started rolling in on how the FNGs came to join us. After mile 2 I started to hear some rumbles of the constant chatter from our new guests. One brother was overheard saying “I am so glad we do not talk this much during our runs.” I guess it was so bad that Booter ended up cutting the route short and headed back to the cars. Then we lost Terrible Towel. (In fairness it wasn’t because of the FNGs, but I felt it just goes well with this story.)

During the entire run I was questioning myself…Did I just break the F3 code book? Should I have told them not to join us? Well, the question if I did the right thing was answered…As we made our way past the YMCA and into the neighborhood…I heard our FNGs screaming as a loose dog went to attack them. Since I was bringing up the rear I really couldn’t see what was happening. Then all of a sudden I see a tall skinny silhouette waving his soccer arms and shouting “Stop!, Stop!, Stop!”. It was of course Hop Hunter to come to our guests rescue. The dog ran away and our guests were safe. Like Wyatt Earp, Hop Hunter tipped his hat to the ladies and we continued back to the cars.

In the end the group did between 4-6.6 miles. Our FNGs thanked us for allowing them to run with us and of course for Hop Hunter’s heroics. As Hop Hunter says “I was at the right place at the right time…I’m no hero.”

Backblast

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