The Boys of Fall and The Friday Night Lights

Some of my favorite memories are from late summer.  Football season looms in late summer, it was also time to cut wood and haul hay with my dad.  We used to chop and haul, and rent VHS tapes of the NFL Hall of Fame players to get motivated for the upcoming season.  I loved that time in my life.

 

*Friday Night Lights

 

I am having the time of my life every day, but if I had the option to go back and re-live one thing, the only thing I would pick would be to go back and live those 5th and 6th grade late summers with my dad and those little guy football teams.  Lucky for us, Uriah is quickly getting to that age of starting football if he desires. 

 

Let me ask you a question:  Who looks tougher?

 

Me as a rough and tough Senior...



* #55 in the program, #1 in your heart :)

 

...or me as a rad 5th Grader?! 

*...ha ha ha ha... ha, priceless

 

My football coach once told me, "No matter how old you get, you will never forget 'double session' workouts."  "Double session" is a fancy word for two-a-day workouts, one session in the a.m., and one in the p.m..  These were tough, it was a big time commitment, especially for a young kid, but I remember them fondly.  For whatever reason, one year I came into camp out of shape, I want to say it was when I was 12, maybe 13.  I suffered during the conditioning, and I vowed to myself that no one will ever work harder than me to prepare from here on out.  That was 16 years ago, and that lesson has been implemented in both life and sport every day since. 

 

*The colors of fall, always takes me back.

 

I may not be the best athlete,  but since I was 12 I have beaten and lot of "better athletes" because I have out-worked them.  I wasn't the strongest, fastest, or coolest, but when the 4th quarter came, I was in a position to "lay the wood" (football phrase for delivering a big hit) because of conditioning.  Conditioning, not size, was my strength and I developed it the best I could.  It's very simple, yet very complex. Vince Lombardi once said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all."  This is true in triathlon as it was in football.

 

*The tools to "out-work" people, I do my drills in cleats. 



 My favorite thing during two-a-days were the hard conditioning parts; in particular the grass drills out in the hot sun.  Every 2nd Monday in August my heart and mind reminisce about my numerous years of double sessions.  I am the type of athlete who loves to train unconventionally.  The great thing about triathlon is that you can be creative, and I like to implement football type training.  It takes me back.  

 

Once the 2nd Monday of August rolls around I implement my favorite football-style drills, just like I did way back when.  My coach was right [so far] because I remember the two-a-day workouts, the time with my Teammates, and the memories and rush of being under the "Friday Night Lights" of game time.

 

*Under the Friday Night Lights with my teammates

 

I don't keep much contact with many from high school, not because I don't like them, but simply because we are not the same people we were when we knew each other. I'm at the point now that I don't necessarily make efforts to keep in touch with my old classmates, but I love it when I run into them [and my teachers], after all it has been about 10 years since I have seen them.  I enjoy this because I'm proud of the person I have become, eager to see what they have done with their time, and for my teachers I owe them a big thank you for their help so many years ago.  

 

I was a nice kid back then, and I like to think I have turned into a nice young man today.  I am proud of who I have become and what I have done, and I like to share that gratefulness with my teachers, and see that same "success" in my classmates. 

 

Most remember me because I still look like I am in high school, I never miss an opportunity to approach a familiar face and say, "Aren't you...?"  I give most of them hugs because I am a big-tough-hug-machine.  It's always interesting to see them "now."  Some of them have made great things out of themselves, some of them are making-ends meet and taking it day-by-day, and a few of my classmates are complete train-wrecks. I think that's probably true for every class.  

 

We have all changed and grown up, some for the better, some not so much, but we will always remember our time together in high school.  We will always have that bond that we forged during two-a-days under the hot sun, and under the "Friday Night Lights" when our backs were against the wall, and at times when all that separated success from failure was our bond with each other.

 

 

I will always carry those memories with me. 

 

"Men, most people will never go through double sessions. But, those who do will always remember what it takes."  -My H.S. Football coach before my first season of "double sessions."