At the Games, Day 7

In looking back at all my pictures, I realized that I didn’t take hardly any today, our 7th and final day at the CrossFit Games. I snapped a picture of me in a goofy hat (so that I didn’t get completely wrecked by the sun) and a couple of the winners.

I did my best to simply sit back and just enjoy the last day because there’s no telling when I’ll make it back out here again.
I learned a lot over the past week, as both a coach and a fan.
As a coach, I couldn’t be more proud of how well Jay did in his rookie trip to the Games.
As a fan, I couldn’t be more proud of the community that I’m a part of. The camaraderie and support, not just from the fans towards the athletes, but amongst the athletes themselves cannot be bragged on enough. It really was a unbelievable sight to see.
As the sport has grown from the inaugural CrossFit Games in 2007, (which was basically a throw down amongst friends with some food and beer after), has evolved into a monumental test of physical, psychological, and emotional pieces to find the fittest people in the world.
Example: the D-Ball weight for individual competitors in 2012 was 150 for the men and 80 for the women. This year, the Master Men lifted that same weight and the Master women lifted 100!! The picture below is of me and Katherine, a 63(!) year old stud of an athlete who was competing in her third straight year! She missed the top 10 the past 2, but finally made it this time around. We spoke for a good 30min back stage in the athlete warm up area (coach perk!) and then I finally told her the D-ball weight she did was the same for women in 2012…she was floored and so so so proud of herself and all her other competitors. Chatting with her was one of my top 3 moments this week.

We are just really beginning to scratch the surface of the physical capacities that humans can achieve. It’s taken a sport like CrossFit to push those boundaries. The athletes we spent a week watching are the tip of the spear.
You all experience this search on a daily basis and we’re all doing the same thing – trying to find our own genetic potential. And just like these athletes find new limits every day, we must do the same.
I can’t wait to get back to all of you to share all the stories of things we did.
But most importantly I can’t wait to get back to my wife and children. I’ve missed them immensely and can’t even express how appreciative I am to Mandy for holding down the fort with Jesse and Quinn while I was away – I love you babe, and owe you BIG TIME!