You've got a friend in me

Community. That was my Hyrox story in March.

My blood family and gym family showed up in force and cheered me to that finish line. Every time I wondered if I could make it, someone screaming my name cut through the fog. If I was alone… I don’t know if I would have crossed that finish line. (I Cheated post)

And when I finished, my wife said she was proud of me… then asked why I wasn’t smiling in any of the pictures.

Today’s story is a story of friendship.

Mike Poffel actually was the first to invite me to my gym, ISI Elite Training in White Marsh. I was looking for a home and some accountability. Someone to get in my face and make me sweat harder. Someone to encourage me to pick up heavier weights, and someone to push me to lose some weight… because while I was working out and stretching each day it was NOT moving the needle on the scale in the right direction.

I have known Poffel since high school. He drove a Vintage Jeep Wrangler that everyone recognized everywhere he went. He would have these big bonfires at his house. I went to a few. We’d high five in school halls sometimes. (had we started fist bumping by then?) I saw him play a few lacrosse games… and honestly that was about the extent of our friendship. We knew each other. We hung out together sometimes…

And then he invited me to be a part of the torture. Two reasonably old dudes dripping sweat all over the gym each morning at 5 and/or 6am. I went from curling the 25s in my basement and within a couple months at ISI he was handing me the 50 lb dumbbells for my 50th session for chest presses and rows.

He also dripped sweat in my mouth as he was spotting my shaky wrists. I mean if that’s not bonding…

He wasn’t the only one handing me the bigger weights. This community continues to encourage me to do more than my head wants to at that moment. I return the favor by doing the same for others. This community really does well in that aspect. And the shared pain from the sessions begins to create friendships, and again this is a story of friendship.

Friends that push others to do hard things.

I finished my first Hyrox race. By then I was 500 sessions deep at ISI.. and Poffel walks up to me and says. “You did it, buddy! I’m so proud of you. Look at how far you’ve come!”

“You know, I saw a video the other day, and it made me look this up… did you know that to sign up and finish a Hyrox competition, that puts you in the top 10% on fitness in the world?”

“I want to be in the top 10%. Would you be my partner?”

Two thoughts immediately entered my head.

Mike continued, “I mean, I’m a slow runner. You aren’t a fast runner. We’ve got the same weakness. I think that would make us good partners.”

Yup that was one of them.

“Well, I had the exact OPPOSITE thought. Haha. That meant we were likely both going to struggle at the same places in the race… and usually you want a partner to balance strengths and weaknesses.” I answered back… and then I said “and Yes, I’ll be your partner.”

The next DC dates had been announced. Hyrox was coming back in September. I had not planned on doing another Hyrox this year. So if I could do one with a partner, and a friend, even better.

So I shifted my mindset… I said if Mike and I are weak at running, we should get better. And I began to run a lot more than I’ve ever run in my life. I thought I ran a lot before the first Hyrox. The two months before this one I was running 6-8 miles a week…which for a guy could not run half a mile without walking less than a year ago… let me tell you, those are words I never thought I would say. And I’m getting ahead of myself.

The day before tickets went on sale, Poffel texted me. “I’ve been thinking through it, and I’m just not feeling it. I’m sorry I brought it up. Lol”

What?! I’m off the hook?

“No need to be sorry. I’m not sure I am either. I would have done a double with you, and definitely not gonna do another solo this soon”

My calf muscle was still sore from 6 weeks before. Did I want that torture in my life? Nope.

Ain’t got nothing to prove. I’ve done this. I can wait until next year… and then ya know just do a sim at a local gym if need be.

I hear those are Famous Last Words from anyone who finished one Hyrox.

When I showed up to the gym the next morning and told the rest of the crew I was out.. They went to work.

Friends push friends to do hard things.

“Sounds like you're running solo with us. We signed up for solo because of you. We are not letting you out of this race.”

And by the end of that morning I was texting Poffel back. I didn’t want him to be butt hurt that I signed up with out him. He was a friend and asked me first.

“Side Note - just so you aren’t surprised. Brian and James convinced me to run solo again. So…”

And 3 minutes later

“Well, I’ll do it with you damn it.”

“DOUBLES. lol”

Friends push friends to do hard things.

Over the next few months, through gym sessions, Hyrox workouts, and runs… we got into a good groove. And our running was still our weakness, and my legs still hurt every lap.

I just run more. (One More Lap post) One day… maybe.

Hyrox Race Day shows up. Poffel shows up to pick me up to drive to DC. He jumps out of the car with flowers. Kidding. That would have been funny though. He did come to the door. My 16 year old thought that was hysterical.

Friends.

We showed up to cheer on the crew. More than a dozen people we knew were competing that day.

We put on our team shirts, made sure to get our six packs on, literally, laced those shoes tight and stepped into the warm up area.

We stretched, did a few warm up reps on all the equipment, and got some running warm up in…

“As far as pace goes, that was fast” Poffel said.

And we made a rule. We can break as often as we need to… but only for five steps. Trick our brain into thinking we gave it rest… then keep going.

“Okay, I can live with that,” He said.

We got into the start tunnel, the hype man calls us out for our shirts. Haha. This was going to be good.

The start clocks sounds, we start to run. Knowing we were slower we held back and let the speedy shoot in front, giving us room to breathe. About a lap in, Poffel says “I need to rest.I think we started too hot” We walked our five steps, and then ran again.

Friends push friends to do hard things.

16 total laps in this race. Two and then a workout movement. At this point I let Mike know I would start every exercise so he could catch his breath after each run. I thought that might be how it went, and that’s okay. I like to set the pace.

We made good time in each workout. Made our way through Skierg, barely slowed down for Sleds. Sled push tapped the brakes a little.

8 laps in. Halfway there.

Each lap we would walk a little… and then say “lets go.” and start the run together.

Friends push friends to do more than they think they can do.

And we were approaching burpee broad jumps. Our plan was to do 5 each and switch. Don’t get gassed. No heroes. 5 and switch. These BBJs get in my head. They beat me up on solo 6 months before. I was excited to have a partner. And I was not excited to start this.

Took a deep breath

Poffel says “Just go when you’re ready”

and I dropped and rolled out my 5. Poffel steps in.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12…

“You can stop whenever you need” I said out loud

Inside my head I’m thinking thank God! Longer rest.

13… 14… 15… Poffel steps to the side.

I roll out my 5. I see he is still a bit winded. I do 5 more… I am not getting to 15 without gasping for air so I step aside.

Mike steps back in and puts another 10 on. We’re nearly done. Only about a third left. I put up another 6 or 7. He comes back and lands another 8. I do 3 more and we are finished.

4 minutes. Less than half the time it took me on my own. This partner thing is GREAT!

Later Mike would tell me he was just in the flow. All the burpees he had done at the gym over the years just made this one muscle memory and easy for him… and he wanted to put in that extra for me.

Friends lift each other up when they need a hand.

By now, our shirts were the talk of the convention center. 8 Laps left and every lap we were getting cheers. Others running near us commenting. Judges telling us how awesome they were. Guys on the bridge flashing us.

Every little bit, borrowed energy, a laugh, a nudge to keep going. We were having fun out there together. High fives after the workouts. Hand on the shoulder to let each other know "I've got you." "I'm here when you need me."

We were pausing more, 5 steps and run… Our run times were getting longer.

I let Mike know I was going to run the Farmer Carry. We had to make up a little time. I couldn’t afford to let us walk those 200 yards.

Mike had told me his goal was to beat my solo time. 2:27. My goal was to beat 2 hours. He knew that. I really wanted a 1 at the beginning of that time… and I’m watching the clock

Poffel “How we doing?”

“We’re doing okay. We’re on track” I would reply. “Just 6 laps left”

A woman on the side yelled at us “why are you walking? Run let’s go.” We ran and ran every time we passed her the rest of the race. TBH - That time may have been more than 5 steps (Thanks Daron)

We got to Farmers Carry and I ran the first lap.

Mike muscled through the second FC lap and were back onto running the laps.

"I didn't really believe you were gonna run it," he said with a laugh

Lunges were next

4 laps left

A lap judge made sure I danced with her, as she had every lap before… “you aren’t going by me without dancing. You have this, not much longer”

Counting them down at loud. “See that Wall Ball in, Mike? Only gotta pass that 2 more times. The 3rd time we are going in it.”

Lunges beat me up last time too. Today I had Mike. Mike had let me know his hamstring was sore from a few weeks before when he had pulled it… So it was my intent to return the favor in Lunges that he gave me in burpees.

Friends lift each other up. We had passed competitors in burpees, and in farmers carry, and now we were passing them in lunges. Our gym practice on the movements showing up.

I would do 10 - 12, Mike would do 5 - 8. One length I saw a team in front of us, so I went nearly the whole way to not lose time on passing the weight. And then the next length another team was slowing down.

Their friends were cheering to not let us pass. We did… and I handed Mike the bag. He stepped over the line one second before the team next to us, and we were off to wall balls.

2 laps left…

More cheers for our shirts. I was feeling good. Last lap. I pulled my shirt up for the guys on the bridge, and then the cheerers on the side line. Handed some high fives to people lining the walls… Last workout coming up. I was getting some oomph… whoa hold up… my legs started to wobble.

As I attempted to correct, my calves started to seize. I took a couple steps. First time this race I had started us walking. Mike didn’t miss this fact. Just in time, I prevented the cramp. This put Mike in the lead as we rounded the last curve and into the Wall Balls…

And Mike started the workout.

Friends lift each other up. We hadn’t discussed this. He saw me wobble. He took lead.

“No ego, no heroes. Let’s finish strong. 10 and switch, 10 and switch.” And that’s what we did

Between the two of us we only had like 5 missed targets and 3 no reps for our 100 wall balls. A friend of ours, Heather, said later “You both looked like you could have done more.”

At that point we could have. We were hyped.

We walked off the stage.

Mike was ecstatic “1:56!!! We beat 2 hours!”

“I knew we would. I’d been watching the clock. I was kinda hoping you weren’t. Haha” I replied.

“Thanks man. I’m never doing this again.”

As we watched friends competing for the next few hours,

“So, if we had run a couple minutes faster each run, we could shave like half an hour off our time?” Poffel asked

“Haha, yeah man.”

At the end of the race it’s always the last thing you ever want to do again.

And you don’t run one Hyrox with a friend and not run another.

Friends push friends to do hard things.

And once you've accomplished hard things together, you know you can do the hard thing again.

No matter your goal. If you want some friends to push you to do hard things. Show up to our call. Leadership, Sales, physical fitness goals, anything. Come tell us your goal. We’ll keep you on track.

Friends lifting friends up each day. bmoredaily.com

Oh... yeah... And Hey Babe. I smiled.