The Glory of My First Granite Games
It was about this time last year where it hit me that I would be participating in my first competition at a huge event held in St. Cloud, MN called The Granite Games. I had signed up a few months before but being new to the competition scene made me pretty naïve and unaware of how these events really made you become a different kind of athlete.
(Here's a sneak peek of the first round from last year)
As I prepare to compete in this event, again on a team of three, it is crazy to look back to last year and realize how much I have learned not only about preparing for competition but how it translates to tasks in everyday life. Preparing and having a plan dictates how we actually perform in the heat of the moment whether in the gym, a Tuesday at work, or even a trip with your favorite travel company (which I’m guessing is VRX).
Anyways...my point is this. You don't need to be an elite athlete to compete. You don't need to be the best out there. You just need to be YOUR BEST. Whatever that is. The goal is to improve yourself, not beat everyone out there on the floor.
And I think that's what enthralls me about CrossFit - and also why I wanted to start this company. We're not trying to be the best athletes of all time.
We're just trying to help others be their very best. Including ourselves.
For the next two(ish) weeks I will try to convey my preparation for this year’s Granite Games. This week I will mainly focus on what I took away after my experience last year. If you made me describe it in one word I would say, holycrap. You can’t stop. You can’t let up. Every rep. Every point. Every meter. Everything you do means something to the success of you and your team. It was here though I realized success is a tricky word to define. That being because success at events like these is that it doesn’t matter if you get 1st place and blow everyone away or if you sit at the bottom of the board, success here is pushing yourself to do something you haven’t done before. Get a personal record on a clean is success. Learning butterfly C2B is success. First rope climb, yes that is success and something no one can ever take away from you.
Having done more competitions in the last year I feel my preparation this year will be light years ahead of where I was just a short 53 weeks ago. Do I hope I improve on a lift or a movement? Absolutely! Will I be angry if I feel I didn’t do my best? No doubt about it! Will I experience something I will learn from and remember the rest of my life? Of course! Will I enjoy that beer on that final Sunday night? I might shower in the stuff!
Work hard, play harder. That's the motto here. Hope to see you on a trip when we (finally) launch here in the next week. Updates to come.
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it”- Yogi Berra
Talk soon! Email me with questions, comments, concerns at Tony@VoyEdgeRX.com
Tony B.