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on the 4th Day of Christmas...

Dec 04, 2012

...my True LU gave to me....

4 Friends of FRANZEN!!!  (wait --- we think we can hear you singing!  nicely done!)

LIVE UNCOMMON - the Team....the Movement....the RevoLUtion....is designed to make a difference in the World, so that the World can make a difference.

JEN and JEFF PAUL were selected back in Day One of the RevoLUtion to serve as LU poster peeps -- an 'image' to look upon as a visual reference...someONEs to 'make you look' and then make you ask, "Hmm...LIVE UNCOMMON...what's up with that?"

JEN and JEFF were selected not because they LOOK the part, even though they do.  No no.  They were lifted up because they ARE LIVE UNCOMMON.  They LIVE it.  You dig?  Don't get us wrong here -- LIVING UNCOMMON - striking the Balance between Family, Work, Fitness, Giving Back - doing these with our utmost, with Excellence - this is an achievement that IF ever actually struck, is very difficult to maintain.  There is only a finite amount of Time in a day - fitting it all in is not easy.  Minutes, even seconds count.  No, it is not easy.  We believe that to perfectly LIVE UNCOMMON is something most of us will attain briefly and intermittently, but for which we must constantly and continually aspire.  This REACH is what makes us grow, improve, LIVE UNCOMMON.

So....in the beginning days, JEN and JEFF were the 'faces' for us to look to as an example of what it means to LIVE UNCOMMON.  They served, and continue to serve, the Movement by inpiring us to look, to take notice, to ask questions....and then ultimately...to take action.....  It was an epiphany moment way back in the conversation days, before LIVE UNCOMMON was anything but a seed of a thought, when the RUSSELLs asked eachother, "putting someone, JEN or JEFF up on a billboard -- what does it DO??"  The answer was this - we want to challenge the world to look, ask, emulate.

And ONE by ONE by ONE by ONE it happened.  The Team came to BE.  And as each ONE took up the challenge, THEY BECAME THE ONE to inspire another.  And another.  And another.

YOU become the 'face' of the Movement when you join the LU roster and throw the LU flag on your back.  YOU become the inspiration for the next ONE.  YOU become the Movement because YOU ARE LIVE UNCOMMON.  Pretty cool, don'tcha think??  Yeah, it's pretty freaking cool.

We are so fortunate behind the scenes here at LU to do the happy little jig dance every day when we are privileged to read emails from YOU telling how and why you came to the Movement.  Many times it's the story of "I keep seeing all these people at the races with really cool shirts on...I figured they must be the elite runners...so i looked you guys up...I love what you do!"  It's pretty cool for us back here to read this stuff.  And if it's cool for us, we're thinking it will be cool for you too.  Because we are all bound by one Uncommon thread...dreaming bigger, reaching higher...  Many times we learn that someONE was inspired by someONE else who changed their lives significantly.  Metamorphisized.  It can be a reawakening of an almost lost dream...something you always said you wanted to do and now IT's TIME....  Run, Bike, Swim, Dance, Walk, Zumba, GIVE.  It's all good.  It's actually way, way better than good. 

So...lots of buildup to this point, but it's all worth it....here, now, allow us to introduce to you to ---- DUANE FRANZEN.  Here are the first words we heard from DUANE after writing to him to thank him for his generous donation and to ask him to introduce himself:

"I wouldn't call myself a runner, more just a life long athlete trying
new things. I was a state qualifier in track but was more of a sprinter
over 20 years ago. :-) I did my first two road races this year, the
b-rrrry scurry and then the CASI 5K and that is where I seen all the LU
stuff, I saw the neon yellow shirts and liked them but figured they were
for the most serious of serious runners. I run for cardio, cutting bf
etc. I'm in Max Muscles maxformation contest right now, since December
2nd I've went from 233.5 pounds to about 197 right now through hard
work, watching calories and maintaining energy balance, and more hard
work and suppliments. About 13-14 years ago I was competing in MMA and
was off and on involved in training fighters until about 08. That's me
in a nut shell, a 39 year old former athlete trying to do things still
and make my mark!"

So we got DUANE on the roster and in some gear.  Right on, right?  He had his gear personalized too with a codename kinda word..pretty cool.  Anyway, this all happened back in early April of 2012.  It was in July that we had our first sighting of DUANE and this pic on the left is literally our first eyes on the man who is DUANE FRANZEN, LIVE UNCOMMON Teammate #343.  We creeped on him a little from behind, trying to figure out who he was exactly based upon his gear (did you know that a tremendous amount of thought goes into the design of the gear so that it can be visibly tracked back to it's origin?  It's true.).  It only took a moment to figure out who was this LU and then we tapped him on the shoulder and gave him a "hey, Duane!"  This was at the Firecracker Race in East Moline, by the way, on the 4th of July.  In the portapotty line as a matter of fact.  It was one hot day too, whoa.  But it was a magical moment in that hot sun, meeting DUANE and his lovely wife before the START gun.  Wait, it was a START cannon.  Anyway, that's how we, YOU - LIVE UNCOMMON - came to know DUANE FRANZEN.

So THEN we find out that Mr. DUANE is like a morphed man himself.  As the months roll by, from April to September, so do the pounds - by and off DUANE.  As a participant in the Max Muscle MaxFormation, DUANE as undergone a DUANE reformation.  He looks great, feels great, does great (things, that is).  So great, in fact, that he has been featured in an ad in Muscle and Fitness Magazine.  Nice!  The super cool thing about it is that DUANE, through his DUANE reformation MaxFormation journey, eventually got to the bottom of  years' worth of frustration over symptoms such as general apathy and such.  The issue was finally diagnosed as Low Testosterone.  DUANE says he then navigated through feelings of shame and embarrassment before deciding that he could serve others similarly afflicted, by standing up, throwing his shoulders back, holding his head high, and sharing his story.  Now, his story is broadcast in a national magazine.  Pretty cool stuff there, don'tcha think?  We do.  We are confident there are guys out there who are grateful to DUANE for helping to shine a cool light on this sensitive issue.  We applaud DUANE for being the catalyst.  Furthermore, DUANE has served to inspire fellow participants in the MaxFormation to join him in his, our, YOUR, pursuit to LIVE UNCOMMON.  Here is an snippet from an email in early September:

"The four of us in the article attached from last month are interested in wearing uncommon clothing and doing the relay at the QCM.
Where do we sign up your website?
How do we purchase shirts for the race?
Anything else I should know?
We want to promote our weight loss and Live Uncommon! :)
Thanks!"

This was from JENNIFER COLLINS who got the ball rolling for herself, DUANE, JASMINE FORD, ANGIE NIPPER, and MARK DANN who, besides taking on their own personal reformations through the MaxFormation challenge, came out to show it loud and proud as LIVE UNCOMMON Team Max Relay in the QC Marathon!  Right on, Team!!

DUANE, JENNIFER, JASMINE, ANGIE, and MARK do their thing, inspiring us, and hopefully YOU, to get up, get out there, GO.  Whatever that "GO" means to you, get it done.  The strength of the Movement is behind you....

DUANE was the ONE who inspired JENNIFER to ask some questions and then LU.  JENNIFER was the ONE inspired JASMINE, and ANGIE, and MARK.  That's how it works. 

The Movement saLUtes DUANE, JENNIFER, JASMINE, ANGIE, MARK.  They are, YOU are, the ONE.....

Here we go now......on three.  One, Two...  "on the 4th Day of Christmas my True LU gave to me.....4 Friends of FRANZEN....3 LMTs and an LU MASSAGE...2 ROBERT BEARDSLEYs......and JEN and JEFF PAUL in RUSSELL CONSTRUCTION gear!!!

miss a verse?  find the words to sing along to all the Days by clicking on the links on the Days above..
 
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