February 6th, 2020 By Talladega

Wednesday night check of Thursday’s 530a forecast- rain, lots of it, chance of thunderstorms.  Ugh.  Honest thoughts swirled in my head about I’m not going, this is stupid, no one will show, why run in the rain, just sleep.  Problem is I’m the Q.  Maybe this is just a test of my commitment to the program or my fellow man.  Maybe it is just a test of my sanity.  Whatever, doesn’t matter.  I’m the Q, I show up, I’m accountable to the greater cause of F3.

I fully expected to see Porto since he said as much on Slack.  When the mention of sloshing through the rain was thrown out, he said he was game.  Perfect (insert sarcastic face grimace here)!  There would be no chance of showing up to an empty parking lot and easily retreating to my dry bed by 540a.  Of course I should have known that Love Boat would be there too- he hasn’t missed a day since he started F3.  Youthful enthusiasm I guess, or he hasn’t gained the wisdom yet that tells him to get out of the rain.

530a on the watch, and yes I can confirm, it does rain at the Dawg House at this time of day.  There would be no break in the clouds.  The only break we got was in the intensity but it still rained nonetheless.  Praise God that at least the temps were warm and the winds were low and we had paved streets to run down.  The suck part though was all the water running across said streets- no need to tip toe or try to high step, just commit to splashing through them like a 3 year old.

We got in around 3.5 miles before we stopped under cover for some much needed stretching.  Love Boat did his best yoga instructor impersonation while I winced in pain at the reality of how stiff I am.  Porto suggested that I couldn’t touch my toes because I have long legs.  I say it’s more like I have normal length legs, just short arms.  Or maybe it’s all the muscle I’ve accumulated that won’t allow me to bend- that sounds much better, I’m swole!  Regardless of the reason, the stretch was much needed.  Good suggestion Love Boat.

Count off 1-2-3, names said and prayers requested for traveling safety and a hope-my-wife-isn’t-getting-sick husband.  This time of year I think we could all use both.  Pray it out, amen!

Moral of the story- I would not have shown up had I not committed to being the Q.  Even then I would not have stayed and ran alone- I stayed because I was held accountable by other men.  Today’s challenge is to show up even when it sucks, even when we don’t want to, and don’t leave someone else to fight alone.  Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Peace out homeys!

The Dawg House

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