CrossFit Games 2010!!!

The 2010 CrossFit Games will take place at The Ranch in Aromas, CA on July 16 - 18, 2010.

Stay tuned for more details. This year, you will have to qualify for the Regionals by being a top performer at one of many smaller Sectional competitions. That is, unless you competed in the 2009 Games, in which case you are automatically qualified for the Regionals.

There are not quite as many regions, and most regions will not be sending quite as many competitors. Only 100 athletes will make it to the Individual competition in Aromas '10, fifty men and fifty women.

The events and scoring system for the 2010 Games will be kept a mystery until right before the competition. Only one thing is known: they will be different from any of the past CrossFit Games.

How do you prepare for a competition of an unknown nature? Easy! Specialize in not specializing. Overcome your weaknesses. Fortify your strengths. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. And, develop tremendous power across broad time and modal domains.

Tyler Smith (my training partner) and I are preparing for the CrossFit games this year. For both of us it will be our first attempt at competing in the games. As I thought about my training and how I run my gym I came across this prayer on www.crossfitchron.com. It is a good reminder of the true meaning of life. God sent His Son Jesus to suffer and die for our sins. I believe one of the reasons it is beneficial for us to put ourselves through the pain of some of these workouts it to get a little bit closer to understanding what Christ did for us. Remember that as you train and train hard.

The CrossFit Athlete's Prayer

God, amidst this period of preparation, do not let me forget the most important people and things in my life. By Your grace, give me the will to welcome increasing pain, on a daily basis. Allow my heart and lungs to handle the amount of trauma necessary to qualify. Grant me peace to sleep when my body needs. Give me the ability to discern good advice from bad, good coaching from average, smart advantages from sleazy shortcuts. Allow me to learn the difference between hurt and injury, setback from debilitating pain, torn and sprained, fracture and microfracture. Let me seek you when I plateau and let my motivation be from you alone. The time is short, but allow me to make the most of it before competition. When I run fast, let me envision you rather than the finish line. When I squat and press to the sky, let me see you and not metal beams, insulation or sunny gray skies. When I fall, let me rise quickly with not an instance of self-pity.

Lord, I am not asking you for a favor, this time around. Rather, I am asking that you just stand with me and watch as I forge elite fitness out of a beaten and abused 26 year old body, bruised ambitious mind and an occassionally broken yet enduring spirit. I want no favors, I seek no vacation from the reality of a CrossFit athlete. We all know how bad it will physically hurt to qualify. We also know how bad it hurts to attempt this feat and stand relinquished to a comfortable view of the arena while donning a spectator's wrist band.

It would just be comforting to know that you're there and that you birthed a Son, who endured pain and exhibited physical and mental strength unlike anything that we CrossFit athletes will witness. It would be comforting to be reminded that He stood tall and ultimately won. Your comfort is what I will seek when my body suggests that I stop, slow, cheat or DNF. Amen.