CrossFit Games, The Open, 2013, Why you should compete

The worldwide Open is fast approaching.  Please allow me the opportunity to persuade you to compete.  Since Rich and Annie don’t read my blog regularly, you should compete because you can’t win.  You should enter knowing that no matter what you do someone else is going to be better.  This alone is worth entering the competition.  Equally important is that you should compete because you are going to realize that you are better than you think you are.  Until you measure, you don’t know.  Measuring in the world wide Open will allow you to measure against thousands of other people, zealots, recreationals, newbies, everyone.  You are going to be better than some, and you aren’t going to be as good as others.  But you will be part of the great experiment known as CrossFit.  You will establish a line in the sand, and then next year, when you compete again, you will know where that line is and you will know how you have fared over the next year of training.  You should compete so that you are forced to confront your holes (aka goats).  You have them, you know you have them, you duck WODs when you know they’re coming, you shave reps or you shave weight.  You can do none of these things in the Open.  And these are things you need to stop doing at least once.  The public scrutiny of the Open will make you address those holes.  You should compete because it is FUN!  Yes it’s fun to check the rankings and to see how other athletes did.  It’s fun to see how your friends did.  It’s fun to see how you did.  It’s just FUN.  You should compete because it’s a 5/6 week commitment, during which time you will train harder, you will eat better, and you will connect with your coaches and community in ways you may not even realize exist.  You should compete because you can.  I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be.