Team Choose the Wrench

Oh, don't forget the post script below...announcement!

Once again I find myself nigh the eve of battle, headed to meet an unknown foe. I know the tasks that await, but not the opponent. This time is different. This time It's not my battle to fight alone. No, this time there are four of us.  This weekend we will set out on a journey to Milford, CT and the Garage Games team competition.

It's certain that the competition will be difficult, but the dynamic is radically different. A team competition brings out the best in everyone. Especially those of us who were first drawn to CrossFit because the group/team feel that the workouts bring. It reminded me of football practice, way back in the days of yore. A place, a time, and a task that was so difficult, so emotionally invested that it created bonds which can't be explained in written or spoken language.

F that, I'm weirder than Vincent Price on LSD

There's people I walked the gridiron with that I haven't seen in ten years. But, if they walked in the door right now it'd be like they never left. There's something there, something intangible that's shared betwixt those who've suffered together in a noble cause - for victory. We experience this in CrossFit as well - it's what makes us what we are - but that bond is strengthened like a tempered blade when it's forged in the fire of adversity.

This weekend at a gym in Connecticut, many more such bonds will be tied. Each team that competes and truly fights their hardest for each other will feel that strength. A strength that can only be wielded by those who would die for whom they fight with. It's a shared force that's never as strong without the whole of the group that created it, and it is powerful beyond measure.

Maybe I'm an oddball (actually F that, I'm weirder than Vincent Price on LSD) but I've never been able to surpass or even match the levels of intensity that I've reached when fighting shoulder to shoulder with a team. I can get to beast mode on my own, sure. On a team though, there's more at stake than when you're flying solo - but it's not because you're accountable to them. No, it's because they've given themselves to be accountable to you and to each other...and you will do whatever it takes to honor that gift. It happens when a group comes together and collectively chooses the wrench, and goes off to do work.

It's not just me this time, so like a boss won't cut it. We're a management team of Gordon Gekko style corporate raiders hell bent on domination. We're taking this thing down like a board of directors heavily laden with stock options...wrenches in hand.

I look forward to sharing the field of battle with such a great team this weekend, and I have the utmost confidence in all of them. Not just of their ability, but of their resolve to perform beyond what that ability would dictate by itself. I look forward to doing my part as well, and to being able to go beyond what I thought was possible. That's the greatest reward of being a part of a team - what their performance can inspire you to. Through the strength of those who will walk the path with you, a level can be reached that was previously unknown. I can't wait to go to that place...and I won't be alone.

Team CTW - Geoff Leard, Ali Leblanc, Jodie Cohen, and myself - is rolling to Milford this weekend like a board of directors. 

P.S. We're sporting the "Choose the Wrench" t-shirts as our game jersey's this weekend. Yup, they FINALLY happened...but there's a very limited quantity on the first run so let me know if you want one. I'll get some pictures of this bad-ass shirt up here as soon as I pick them up (Thursday hopefully!)