Tuesday 4/28/20
Good Morning CrossFit Pittsburgh!
I wanted to share this letter with you. It was written by Laurie Bowler and originally posted on the Rainier CrossFit site then shared on the CFHQ site.
I think it speaks volumes as to our spirit. And by “our” I mean all of us who have chosen to:
Seek out a CrossFit Affiliate.
Go after what you know you need in spite of the fact that it can be a challenge.
Accept coaching and reject cheerleading. Anyone can yell “Yeah! You’re doing great!” But do they actually know what they’re teaching you?
Keep getting after it when you’d rather hit the snooze button. And not the one on your alarm clock, I’m talking about the one on your life.
I could go on all day but I think you get it.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
Dear CrossFitter,
We miss you, too.
There’s nothing more we want, as owners, than to have our alarm go off at 5:15 and wake up from this bad dream. We want to see your sleepy eyes and bed head wander in at 5:59 for the 6am class. We want you to hurry back from the run to get the prime spot on the pull-up bars. We want to drop heavy weights (because we all secretly LOVE that sound) and make sweat angels.
Oh, how we want this.
Hang tight, dear CrossFitter. We will be back. As soon as we can. We know physical activity plays a big part in mental health. We know fit people use “wellness” as a hedge against sickness. We know a healthy population uses fewer medical resources overall. We want to be active in the solution, not adding to the problem.
As CrossFit gym owners, we are working at getting our reopening proposals in front of the right people so that we may open our doors and continue to provide our services. We may have to limit class sizes, we will give each athlete their own space and their own equipment. We’ll share only stories, and a whiteboard. We’ll make new bleach solution and leave it on equipment for the recommended contact time, and we’ll wipe everything once, twice, and again. We’ll ask you to stay home if you’re not feeling great – and we may need you to stay home some so we don’t get overcrowded. We’ll continue to support your at home workouts with equipment loans, zoom classes, and personal rehab recommendations. And we will all wash our hands.
So while we expect to see some changes, we also expect to walk right back in where we left off. Your community will be here to support you, share your success and celebrations. Wish you happy birthday, cry at your gym engagement, get dressed up for your wedding, and shower you with loads of diapers when those babies arrive. And boy are we expecting them to arrive — about December. We will cheer when you honk the PR horn, soon we’ll be back to post Saturday Suck breakfasts. We’ll be talking nonstop about CrossFit instead of a virus. The Games will go on and you’ll see Kurtis on the live feed. He’ll still look mad. Your gym will once again be your third place – or maybe even your second. You’ll be glad to get out of your house and smell the rubber flooring again.
We’ll be here for the less good times, too. Your place to beat a tire with a sledgehammer as long as you need to. To drop a bar with gusto because it was a bad night or a bad morning or just because. A place to safely vent anger, frustration, fear. To cry together when we lose a love, or a parent.
We can’t wait to tell you to find your heels, squat lower, tighten your belly, or quit resting at the chalk bucket. Our days are spent nit-picking and cheering, all with the intent to make you move better, be stronger, and able to go play harder OUTSIDE of the gym.
CrossFit gyms have a way of chipping off the armor. Leaving us real, and raw. We get to know each other in ways that are intimate and personal and because of it we share more inside the gym that we ever would anywhere else in public. We become family.
We do this better than anyone else. Better than 12 Hour, or Orange Cycle, or Beach Booty Camp. I know because we’ve been doing this almost 16 years. Thousands of family members. We will walk back through the doors like we haven’t skipped a beat. I promise everything will again be OK.
It won’t be long and we’ll collectively groan at dumbbell thrusters. The hill will still be steep. We will *still be sore. And we will lie in puddles of sweat, happy, triumphant, and yell
“TIME!”
Hey, CrossFitter, we miss you. Hang in there. We’ll see you soon.
Love,
Your CrossFit Gym