Recently I found myself completely unfocused, staring at the PR board in the middle of my workout (do as I say, not as I do). However it wasn’t the numbers, very impressive numbers I must say, that were distracting me. Instead it was all the names and nicknames that I was looking at. I think it was the first time in 7 months that I was able to take a step back and think about what has happened here in this short time.
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I am supposed to be getting my stuff together for my quick trip down to Chicago, I’m heading to Lollapalooza for an extended long weekend and I would be lying if I said I was excited… because I can hardly contain myself. If there is one thing I love more than bragging about you guys, it is music. I have been talking about going to Lollapalooza for years and when I heard that Queens of the Stone Age(I am a fan of anything Josh Homme touches)/Nine Inch Nails/ The Killers/ The National/ Mumford & Sons etc… were playing this year, I couldn’t pass it up. Before I get way off topic, because I could talk music all day, let’s get back to the purpose of this write up!
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Anyway, as excited as I am for the festival… I, at the same time, don’t want to leave because I am equally excited about what has grown within our four walls. I was talking to Shenan the other day and she so perfectly put my feelings into words when she said, ‘this is as close as it gets to being on sports team’. She was referring to being a member at Sublime. Her comment and my moment of awe while staring at the board prompted me to write this quickly before I left, in-case I get crushed in a Nine Inch Nails mosh pit…. I kid I kid, now I’m going to have my poor mother all worried.
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We have soooooo many different personalities that walk into our home every day, miraculously we all seem to gel together. We have our share of fire breathers: little talk, all action. And sure we have our sassy members: roll their eyes every time I ‘suggest’ they put more weight on the bar, but they grind it out each day. The amazing thing to me is that we were able to build a community with so many positive people. I’m talking about TRUE positive people, not the ‘scream at you to do another burpee because they care about your workout time’, but someone who legitimately cares about you, and that includes what is going on in your life OUTSIDE the gym. I am glad that I know about you as a person, and not just what your max lifts are.
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I love the community aspect of CrossFit, I really do. It is what gravitated me toward River City CrossFit so many years ago. Something that always bothered me though was the clique-ness(is that a word?) of it all. Finishing a workout and then yelling at someone else to ‘pick up the bar’ is great, but if those are the only words you say to that member that day, have you really made a positive impact on them? Is the community any stronger? We have members that will push you to do your best, and then ask you how your day went. Do you know how rare that is? I mean rare in the world today, never mind in a gym environment. Maybe it’s the music festival bringing out the hippy love in me but……Ahhhh man, you guys are awesome.
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No single member OR trainer is bigger than our team, and as we grow and expand that is something I will never forget.
Don’t burn the place down while I’m gone.
Kyle.
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