My CrossFit peeps on Facebook have been asking each other one thing lately — are you signing up for the Open?
For me, signing up last year was a no-brainer. I registered as soon as the site went live, and then spent a month convincing as many Sandbox athletes as I could that they should sign up, too. CrossFit is all about community — how could we miss the chance to experience that on a world-wide scale?
This year, I’m in a whole new place, literally and figuratively. I’m living in a new town, and have been CrossFitting solo (and inconsistently) since November. While this weekend I finally found a CrossFit home where I can do the Open WODs (a new military affiliate, CrossFit Rifles), my current level of fitness leaves a lot to be desired.
Despite all of that, I’m signed up for the Open.
It doesn’t matter that I haven’t trained consistently since I began marathon training over the summer. It doesn’t matter that I will probably post some pitifully low scores because of my lack of conditioning. It doesn’t matter that I might have to scale down some of the loads to keep things safe for me.
None of that can matter, because as a coach, it’s imperative for me to keep some skin in the game.
I try to always hold myself accountable to do those things I ask my athletes to do. Signing up for the Open, and putting my scores out there for all to see, good or bad, is an important part of my commitment as a coach. If I believe my athletes will benefit from the experience of competition — then I need to provide myself that benefit as well.
Feel free to follow along to see how I do via my athlete profile. 🙂
Coach Cheri Wissmann 