Games Recap

"Toughness is the ability to perform at the upper limits of your talent and skill 

regardless of the competitive circumstance."

I always find it difficult to summarize The Games experience in one blog post.  The emotion, relationships, triumphs and defeats, the community, friends and family, the programming, the preparation, the recovery, the details and the big picture are almost too much to make sense of in a few paragraphs. 

So here is a quick recap of our athletes that certainly will not do any of them justice, as they all deserve a journalist, not a strength coach, to describe their passion and performance.  

TEAM

After the first two events on Friday morning the team was in 37th place.  It was time to see what the character of this team really is.  As John Wooden said, "Sport doesn't create character, it reveals it." 

The easy thing to do would be to lay blame, pack it in and coast through the remaining events.  But this team is tough and filled Champions.  They finished in the top 10 in 5 of the last 6 workouts to battle back to 12th overall.  

I am happy that Tommy's "Hacks Pack" won.  They were the fittest team there and the deserve to take home The Cup.  Congrats to CrossFit Ute!

INDIVIDUAL

The similarities between Chris's and the Team's experience were strangely similar.  Chris was right were he wanted to be in the first event, 9th place after the bike and 3rd place half way through the run.  Then the unfortunate hit.  He experienced cramping in his lower body that turned his run into a walk and finally into a shuffle.  The cramps were so bad that they left bruises.  The fact that he was able to finish the final 5K, when every step and every minute was excruciatingly painful, is a testimant to his focus and determination.  Chris finished the Triathlon 3rd to last and would spend the rest of the weekend battling himself out of a hole.  Chris has learned a lot from his record six Games experiences and was able to turn his focus on what he could control and influence, which was recovering and preparing for the upcoming events.  Battling all odds, Chris was able to make it all the way to Sunday's event and give the crowd a show as he hung with the bigger athletes in the heavy chipper wod and the double banger.

MASTERS

Lisa Mikkelson won First Place in the women's 45-50!  Lisa is an amazing athlete (Master's American record holder in the 400m) and she dominated the field finishing 1st in five of the seven workouts.

Brian Curley, the former Master's Champion, and one of the best humans on the planet, finished in 9th place.

Jerry Fireman in his first games finished 14th.

I am lucky to have been surrounded by a lot of great people and athletes this past year.  It is my hope that this blog will help expand the roster of Games Athletes that I coach.  The only prerequisite is that you have courage, integrity and love CrossFit and your fellow competitors.  

On to 2013...