Besides the obvious passions like being with my wife and children and hanging with my friends, my real hobby is working out with another band of brothers in a group called F3.
I have been married for 17 years to my wife Deann. We met at Ohio University working at Buffalo Wild Wings. We have two kids, Kyle and Riley aged 12 and 9. I am a high school math teacher for 19 years. I enjoy vacations with family and friends. I like to play video games, mostly in the Super Mario and Legend of Zelda genre. I am too old to keep up with anything else. Hahaha. I love amusement parks and roller coasters. We are season pass holders to Cedar Point and have been to many other theme parks.
I have been sober for over five years now and am proud of this as my sister was too for almost the same amount of time before she died in a car crash back in 2012. I never had to go to meetings or anything like she did, but I was amazed to see how many people she touched in the program. I stay strong for her. Hoplark has played a big role for me being able to still find the joys in life. I was very anxious when I first stopped drinking and didn’t know if I would be able to do it. I was excited to find out that drinking alcohol did not define who I was as person. When I discovered HopTea I was ecstatic that there was a drink that was not beer but yet enjoy the hoppiness of the beers that I loved so much. Perhaps my story could help others who are thinking of becoming sober that they don’t have to sacrifice everything to be healthy and happy. Or should I say healthy and Hoppy?!!
Around the same time as I discovered Hoplark in my journey to sobriety, I was asked to come to a workout on a Saturday morning at 7am and immediately thought yeah right. But I did. And the rest is history. I have been attending F3 workouts for going on 5 years now. It is a peer-lead work out group. I am proud to say that I have become one of the regular leaders within our group. It brings me such joy to get the men together and have a great time working out, gathering for coffee afterwards, and even hanging out in the evenings or at family parties and events. It truly is a blessing getting to know all these men who share similar interests.
A little about the F3 Nation:
F3 started in 2011 in Charlotte, North Carolina and has grown to more than 46 states and 3,400+ scheduled workouts each week through the efforts of men whose lives have been changed by their involvement with F3. The three Fs in our name stand for Fitness, Fellowship and Faith — the last of which we define as simply a belief in something bigger than yourself. The Mission of F3 is to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for men for the invigoration of male community leadership. “Leave no man behind, but leave no man where you find him.”
F3 has five core principals:
Free of charge (Zero cost! Never a charge to workout, ever)
Open to all men (No matter the man, you are welcome here)
Held outdoors (Rain or Shine, Hot or Cold, we are out there)
Peer led (Led in a rotating fashion by the men who attend)
Ends with COT (Always ends with a Circle of Trust)
To learn more check out:https://f3nation.com/ or their sister organization: https://fianation.com/