Why We Run Together

No one likes being the last one done the workout. But sometimes it happens. We’ve all been there. It’s one thing if you are in the gym grinding out your last few reps. At least there you have your friends to cheer you on and shout encouragement as you struggle through to the finish with your last reserves of strength. But what about when the workout ends with a run? How do you find the will to push that final lap when all the other runners have already returned and are now happily chatting, stretching and cooling down? It is a long, lonely run with little incentive to exert your last effort.

And that’s why at Empower we never let an athlete run that last lap alone. That is why the class members who have already completed the workout shake off their fatigue, pick themselves up and make one last trip around the block to lend their strength and support to the final runner. I can tell you from experience that it is impossible to dog that final run when the whole class is out there at your back. Tired as you are, you somehow find the will to push one last time. This is the spirit of CrossFit.

It was 2005 when I began my CrossFit journey. There were only five CrossFit gyms worldwide and none in Langley where I was living at the time. Like most of the first generation CrossFitters, I began my CrossFit journey alone in my garage gym following the Workout of the Day as posted on the CrossFit.com website. No coach, no class, no fees, just fitness.

As a result, in 2008 when I flew to Golden Colorado to attend my CrossFit Level 1 Trainer’s certification, it was my first experience doing a CrossFit workout in a group setting. There were fifty of us from all over the world, all strangers, all different fitness levels. The workout was Fran. My first Rx’d Fran.
When you are in Fran your vision of the world narrows to a pinpoint, the only thing on your mind is getting through the next excruciating rep. I was in the pull ups of my final round, struggling to find the will to continue when I noticed a small cluster of athletes around me cheering me on. A handful of guys who, having already completed the workout, generously lent their love and support to help me through my final reps. Buoyed by their enthusiasm, I dug deep, ground out my last few pull ups and then dropped to the floor to writhe in pain. One by one they gathered around to fist bump and congratulate me. Who were these guys? I didn’t even know most of their names, had barely met them and here they were cheering me on like we were a team. Amazing!

I wanted nothing more than to lie there basking in their congratulations but when I looked up to thank them, they were gone. They had moved on to cheer on the next athlete. My moment of glory was over; it was time to celebrate someone else’s struggle. I had an epiphany. “Corey,” I told myself, “Get your butt off the floor and go give some support to the other athletes.” My body screamed in protest, but I scraped myself off the floor and hobbled over just in time to help the others cheer another athlete across the finish line congratulating his effort with a fist bump before moving down the line to support the next person, our cheering squad growing one athlete at a time.

And so it went until we reached the last athlete as she battled through her final round. By now, she had a cheering section forty-nine people strong! Can you imagine? Forty-nine strangers cheering you on and counting out your final reps. And when she finished the crowd closed in on her with supportive congratulatory hugs like she was a conquering hero. And in our hearts, she was.

So, this is CrossFit. CrossFit is doing something incredibly hard and then, instead of succumbing to fatigue or celebrating your accomplishment, turning around to help someone else through their battle. I love it!

Two-time CrossFit Games Champion and multiple time podium finisher Annie Thorisdottir had a similar experience. She made it to the finals of the CrossFit Games back in the day when a good athlete with minimal CrossFit experience could be competitive. And in the final event, she found herself facing the ring muscle up, a movement she had never encountered in her training.

What did her competitors do? Did they laugh and congratulate themselves on the opportunity to deny this athletic young upstart a chance at making the podium? No, the female finalists gathered around young Annie and put on an impromptu muscle up clinic coaching her to success and helping her take second place overall in her first ever CrossFit Games.

Annie said in all her years of competitive sport she had never encountered anything like it. She had never had her competitors help, support and cheer for her. In tears of joy, she proclaimed that she had found her sport. Like me she fell in love with CrossFit then and there and became an icon in the sport and our community for the amazing spirit she brings to everything she does.

One more story.The 2019 CanWest Games. The apex of that competition with over 900 athletes competing and a stadium full of roaring fans. Pepper and Timberwolf, two CrossFit competition rookies, made their debut that year and both, in front of the cheering crowd, scored their very first handstand push ups. I was there to cheer Pepper on through hers but, due to scheduling, I was back in the Empower team tent in the athlete village when Timberwolf was competing.

Word travelled back to us about her success and our team tent was abuzz with the astounding success of another of our rookie athletes. The athlete tents formed two rows through the athlete village with ours being among the furthest from the competition floor. So, when Timberwolf returned from her triumphant debut performance, she had to pass along the corridor of tents. Seeing her approach, the Empower team rushed out to the front of our tent to cheer for her and the athletes from all the other tents followed suit, everyone coming out to give Timberwolf a standing ovation as she passed down the lane to the rest of our team. By the time she reached us, she was in tears.

So was I. “This is CrossFit,” I wanted to tell her but the lump in my throat was too big, so I just hugged her instead. This is what it is all about. Every WOD. Every competition. Finish first or finish last, score a personal best or try and fail. All of it comes down to community and cheering for each other. There are no strangers or opponents when we go out to compete, we are all brothers and sisters and teammates pushing each other and cheering for each other.

This is the CrossFit spirit that I fell in love with. And that is why at Empower no one runs the last lap alone. Community is at the heart of everything we do. It is not for everyone. For some people fitness is a vain, solitary pursuit. That is not CrossFit. That is not Empower. It is not who we are or how we do. At Empower we embrace the community spirit that made CrossFit so transformational and life changing. However tough the workout is, our workout is not over until all our teammates have crossed the finish line. At Empower, we run together!

Friday Make Up Day

1) Fight Gone Bad
3 Rounds (1 min each):

Wallballs

Sumo Deadlift High Pull

Box Jumps 

Push Press

Row
Rest

2) 9 rounds for time of:

3 strict muscle-ups

3 kettlebell snatches, right arm
3 kettlebell snatches, left arm

3) Empower Reset #54
Breathing/Head Nods

5 mins (20 each):
Cross Crawl Deadbugs
Windshield Wipers
Shoulder Pullovers

5 mins (20 each):
Cross Crawl Birddogs
Sit Throughs
90/90 Hip Switch

3 rounds (1 min each):
Sit to Squat
Squatting Elbow Squeezes
Calf Raises
Shrimp Squats 30/30 sec L/R
Single Leg RDL 30/30 sec L/R
Overhead Duck Walk
Horse Stance to Cossack Squat
Standing Pancake Good Morning
Reaching Sissy Squat
Crawl