The Open...Its over...So much anticipation...so much preparation...So much excitement! ...So now what!?! What just happened!? What did we just do!!! For the last 5 weeks over 300,000 athletes across the world have come together to compete and share the same experienced-a test of mental, physical, and emotional strength. There is nothing like it on earth. Every athlete had to endure the same physical challenges whether they are male, female, young, old, adaptive, big, small, in-between. We all came together to compete. Sure there are different divisions and age groups. There are teens and masters. Scaled and Rx. But the challenge is the same for everyone. A smaller athlete does not get to use lighter weights. A larger athlete does not get to reduce range of motion etc. We all compete on a level playing field and in the end the best rise to the top and move on. The rest return to the daily regiment and begin focus on getting better.

We all find out different things about ourselves as athletes and people. We find that we have things we like better. Skills we excel in and are better at and prefer to do. We find there are movements/skills we despise and struggle with. We discover that there are some GLARING weaknesses in our abilities and/or some strengths we didn’t recognize before. Maybe we found a breaking point? We also found that we are determined to improve on our deficiencies and be better next year. Work to become the most well rounded, fit athlete we can be.

Did you experience any of this? If so you are a crossfit athlete-This is part of being a CF athlete. The gift of the experience and journey. The gift of the challenge and the privilege to be a part of it. Potentially hundreds of thousands of people share similar feelings...the excitement, the nervousness, the thrill and triumph of reaching new heights...the agony of falling, finding the courage to be honest with ourselves about why we are where we are, because we are all exactly where we have earned. We are exactly where we have placed ourselves. We have the magnificent, glorious ability to control our outcome and based on our body of work and the Open gives us an opportunity to put that to the test. Success is blessed upon those that put the work in... Those who will experience the biggest improvements between now and February 2018 are those who will put in the most ACTION towards improving their weaknesses! That being said those that continue to train exactly as they did before will experience mediocre results. They will settle for mediocrity yet be frustrated when they are not where they want to be. Mediocrity is acceptable if you are ok with being just that. Greatness is achieved only by those that are willing to sacrifice, and to put it simply-do what it takes to become great. I would be willing to bet you don’t want average. Average is forgettable. Average is the easiest road travelled. As functional athletes, we must avoid average. As a CF athlete we must recognize there is a standard and if we want to to slap that sweet bumper sticker on or sport that cool CF swag we have a standard to meet. and that standard is defined by effort, integrity and humility.

So what does the Open mean to you? What did you take from the experience? Maybe more importantly what did you give to the experience? Did you give your best effort? Not just during the 5 weeks of the open but the 47 weeks leading up to the Open. Did you get so wrapped up in yourself that you forgot to cheer on your teammates? Did you find excuses as to why you didn't do better than you wanted to and use that opportunity to discredit the open? or Did you recognize the open is more than a number where you finish on a chart. Did you grab your teammates up by their bootstraps and will them to give their all. Did you remember to enjoy and appreciate the journey? If so you gained from this experience. If so you understand there is no destination. There is no finish line. The end result isn’t the most important thing. Because really we never truly reach an “end state”. We tend to always be in search of more and better in our pursuit of mastery and greatness. There must be a desire an "obsession" and commitment to greatness but the constant obsession over the endpoint blinds you from appreciating the process, the journey that leads you towards your goal, and the blessing that is that we may get to be on that journey for another day. The process is what you can control, not the end result. And it’s from the process how we learn, grow and in the long run get the most enjoyment. Because even if you don’t “win”, your journey will be what you’ll be most proud of!