~Nate Dunfee

Well…the 2014 Open is over.  Finally, right?  I know a lot of you are feeling that way.  It seems like every year we come into the Open fired up and full of energy to join the worldwide community and take on the challenges ahead.  But the truth is, it’s a long, stressful 5 weeks, and by the end you’re just relieved to finally be done…to have survived it.  Trust me, I have those same feelings.  Whether you’re at the top of the leaderboard or the bottom you probably had some weeks or moments where you were proud of yourself and others where you fell short of your expectations.  What I ask all of you to do now is look at the big picture.  Look at what you accomplished over the course of this 5 week journey and realize that it’s pretty awesome.  I was so proud of our community this year.  It was great to see almost 100 CFP members throw their name in the fire and get after it.  I loved seeing the trashtalking going back and forth on our Facebook group page.  And it was great to see so many people helping each other out, meeting up at off hours to help judge, and coming in on Saturdays to cheer people on even though they had already done the workout themselves the night before.

The powers at CrossFit HQ definitely threw us some curveballs this year.  There were difficult movements almost every week and new and different time caps and formats.  I’m sure there are some of you that feel like the little girl in the picture.  But you know what?  We also said that just finishing the Open was a tremendous accomplishment, and that is truer now more than ever.  Even if you didn’t do every single movement across 5 weeks perfectly RX’d, as long as you showed up each week and put your heart and soul on the line…then you finished the Open in my book.  Congratulations.  I’m proud of everyone.  I hope all of you will look back on the Open and be proud of your overall body of work.  Use it as a measuring stick, and join me in 2015 to do it all over again.

As many of you already know, this year’s Open was very special for me as I finally reached my goal of qualifying for Regionals as an individual competitor.  I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I wrote this after last year’s Open, and that it’s now actually happening.  I can’t really say it’s been a lifelong dream because I’ve only been doing CrossFit for 2 and a half years, but from day 1 this goal has been driving me.  It’s a tremendous feeling of accomplishment to see 2 and a half years of hard work and training 12+ hours a week finally pay off.  I believe there was something around 9000 men signed up for the Open in the North Central Region when it all started, and I feel proud and honored to have finished 17^th and be going to Chicago in May to compete alongside so many of the guys I’ve been looking up to for the last couple years.

There are so many people who helped me get to where I am today, and I can’t thank you all enough.  The CFP community, I got so many texts and messages and words of encouragement over the last month.  It was great to know you guys were behind me.  Alex Tubbs, my first coach, for introducing me to CrossFit.  You taught me so much when I came into CrossFit as a bench press and bicep curl guy.  Matt Arnold, you opened your gym and this community to me.  I know I don’t always follow your programming word for word, but it has definitely molded me into the athlete I am today.  Jeremy Mghenyi, you are an awesome training partner, and I think at times, believed in me more than I believed in myself.  Shawn Vinz, the best training partner around.  I don’t know how many 5:30 AM sessions I would’ve skipped if I didn’t know you were going to be there.  I know I wouldn’t be here without all of you.  And finally thank you to my wife Heather…for everything.  For putting up with the constant leaderboarding, my complaining when I suck at muscle ups, and banging weights around in the basement on Sunday nights when you’re trying to watch TV.  But most of all for always believing in me and being my biggest fan.  I love you.  🙂

So I know that sounds like an acceptance speech, but really you have no idea how much you all mean to me and have helped me up to this point.  This ride is just getting started.  I’ve got just over a month to train hard and get ready for Regionals.  I’ll be wearing the CFP colors all weekend and will do my best to make you all proud.

Tuesday 04082014

Fitness 

A1.  CGBP – 5 x 5 w/30 Sec Rest 

A2.  Russian Swings – 5 x 10 w/2 Min Rest 

B.  3 Rounds 

20 x Ball Slams 

30 x Cal Row or 8 Cal AB 

2 Min Rest 

Performance 

A1.  CGBP – 5 x 5 w/30 Sec Rest 

A2.  Russian Swings – 5 x 10 w/2 Min Rest 

B.  3 Rounds 

20 x Box Jumps @ 24inch/20inch (step downs) 

30 x Cal Row or 8 Cal AB 

2 Min Rest 

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