Costanza to OC on the 5K

Wow.

41 men came out to run a little 5K.

I was/am blown away. Thinking about that number even now makes me tear up.

I had thought about what I might say this morning for a long time. I was up at 4am, running through my mind what I would say. What these men have meant to me, and what it meant to me to hand this off to OC. The thing is, I’m terribly shy and I knew my emotions would take over and never allow me to get through want I wanted to say. So, I opted in the moment to cut it short and quickly hand the #Shovelflag off to OC. I hope that wasn’t an injustice, but I didn’t think I could make it though. Even in my short speech, I had to stop for a minute. Instead, I’ll put down my thoughts here. Hopefully this will suffice.

Prior to F3, I, like many of the men in this organization, had no real male companionship. It was something I knew I needed, but something I had no idea how do obtain. Where does a married 30 something year old with 3 kids find close friends? There were times I remember where I told my wife: I just want one friend, one, that I can go grab a beer with from time to time. I needed F3 so badly. Thank you, Kim Jung, for inviting me to join F3. It has truely been a life changing experience. Now, I have many friends with which to grab a beer… Hundreds of them, only a single tweet away.

It was May 23, 2014 when I took over the spot as the Ramble AO Q. I had inherited it from Fountainhead. Many of you may not know, but Fountainhead and I go all the way back to Freshman year in College. We had probably 75% of our classes together – F’Head – remember Freshman Statistics? What was with that guy? Leading up to F3, we would occasionally grab lunch and catch up on life. So, I thought nothing of it when he asked me out to lunch again in the spring of 2014. During this lunch, he asked me to take over Ramble. I was first confused, thinking he was dropping out or moving on. He assured me he wasn’t (he later became F3 Columbia Nan’tan) and he was so confident that I’d be a great person for the spot. Having no confidence in myself, I hesitated. F’head was patient and gave me time, assuring me that there was no one he’d rather have in this spot. Finally with much hesitation, I took the job. The first thing I did was organize a Ramble 5K and we ran it that first morning that I was AO Q, on May 23. Now today, some 17 months later I’ve ended my run as AO Q, but now with great excitement for the road(s) ahead.

I’ve handed Ramble off to my man, OC. There is one thing that is perfectly clear to me – Our life paths would had never crossed, had it not been for this organization. That is one thing that is so awesome about this free workout group we have. OC is one of those friends everyone wants. Dependable, Honest, Trustworthy, and he demands the same of me, now, that is friendship right there. He brings out the best in me and is always there when I need him. He has been such an outstanding friend to me. I learn to appreciate our friendship more everyday. OC knew I was looking to step down from Ramble and he offered to take over, naturally, while we were enjoying a beer together. He is the natural choice, but I didn’t know how to offer it to him. I’m so excited that he did and is willing. I have complete confidence that Ramble will grow to new heights and at this point unimaginable heights under his leadership. I am looking forward to many, many miles with OC as the AO Q. I know he will continue to push me to make sure I’m better – and I’m not really even talking about running. I love you man, looking forward to it.

There were many, many other men present this morning that showed up and share these same characteristics. They have been there for me in one way or another. I’m just absolutely blown away that you all showed up this morning – 41 of you – that is unreal. I’ve read your tweets and notes of support from my time at Ramble and I think you for them. You have all been my rock in one way or another. This is a very special group of men and I’m happy just to play a small part.

Ok, we ran a 5K this morning.

The Thang:
For the Halloween 5K, Pax came dressed as another pax. Warm up lap around the block, then, at the #ShovelFlag Starting line, 3.1 miles as fast as possible.

Here is the course:

Results available here: http://tiny.cc/ramble5k or below