The End

And just like that it was over...

My time at CrossFit Oldtown has come to an end. A year and a half of blood, sweat, and tears shared with brothers & sisters from many walks of life but of one common mindset:  to improve themselves and the ones around them.

I came to CFOT to get stronger. I was tired of being weak and soft. That was my goal from the start and over time the initial PRs began to fall by the wayside. As time went along I'd go back and look at old blog entries and marvel at just how far I had come physically. I was amazed at what training with your peers on a day-to-day basis could really do but then again that's just the kind of place CFOT is. A place that promotes giving your absolute all as an investment in order that, in return, you will achieve the greatest of results. Training and ultimately competing for CFOT also helped me come to some realizations about myself as well. Personal traits or aspects that needed "extra training" in addition to working my physical being. I now realize that training your body should go hand in hand with training your mentality, will, resolve, heart whatever you want to call it. It should be one body of work - they should be one in the same! I failed to realize this until the end though...

One thing that CrossFit has done for me is rekindle my fascination and love for Olympic Lifting where before I was merely a kid staying up late to watch the snatch and clean & jerk every olympics. Now I want to oly lift more, maybe even become proficient enough to one day even compete on an amateur level for fun. Who knows?  I'd also like to improve my absolute strength in regards to powerlifting and the strict press just because I want to continue that journey towards strength. I'd like to sprint more - being that it was my love of Track & Field that started my whole athletic career. I want to get back to running the 100m, 200m, 400m, and maybe if I'm feeling saucy the dreaded 800m and 1600m races. Maybe even throw in a long or triple jump just to see if I can get back to where I was leaping before back in the day.

All in all my time at CrossFit Oldtown has been nothing short of memorable if not unforgettable. I will never forget certain experiences or memories, both good and bad, from my first muscle up, to my first "Fran," from my first 405-lb. deadlift, to my DNF'ing the OHS/PU/Bastard WOD at last year's Mid-Atlantic Hopper Challenge, from me cleaning 225-lbs. for the first time to spraining both my shoulders in one WOD it has all been a pleasure and a joy. But most of all I will never forget the people that I've met along the way. You made it all worth it and that's probably the part that weighs heaviest on me as I leave.

But alas it's not really the end. I will continue to train although I'm somewhat hampered by life and it's challenges right now. But thanks for CFOT and CrossFit in general I can never look at fitness the same ever again. Certain things just make sense now and I can never go back to the way things used to be. Being functionally fit makes me a better husband, father, son, brother, and friend. And I think that benefits everyone around me.

Thanks,
Soni... OUT!