The CrossFit Open. That’s pretty much all my box has been talking about for the past few weeks. (Maybe even a month now? Who knows. It feels like forever.) When I first learned exactly what the CrossFit Open was, my brain jumped right onboard the Absolutely Fucking Not train. I humiliate myself enough in front of everyone at my gym all the time, no need to do it on a larger scale. Plus, it’s not like I’d actually be able to do any of the WODs Rx. Hell, I doubt I’d even be able to do any of them scaled. So while everyone else has been prepping and getting all excited for the Open to start, I’ve just been off in a corner, minding my own business, happily unregistered. 

But then, a couple of days ago, one of my coaches was talking about how she was excited to see how she’s improved over the past year, and that the Open is a great tool to use as a progress marker. She also said something along the lines of, most people who didn’t sign up this year will regret not doing it come next year because they will have nothing to use as a baseline to see how far they’ve come in a year.

So for a split second - and I mean split - I considered registering for the Open. I’m curious to see how far I will have come in a year. But then I remembered: Humiliation. Embarrassment. Shame. Embarrassment. Have I mentioned humiliation? You get the idea. And I again decided that the Open was just not for me. 

Fast forward to today, where my coach posts an article on Facebook written by the man who came in just about dead last out of last year’s 272,000 CrossFit Open competitors. As I was reading it, he expressed all of the same fears I had. One, I can’t do it. Two, I don’t want to be made fun of. Three, everyone will think I’m wasting my time. Those all pretty much hit the nail on the head. 

But then he talks about how, despite all of those things, he did it anyway. Even though he was nervous and afraid he would make a fool out of himself, he tried, and he posted his scores, no matter what. I have to say, I have a great amount of respect and admiration for this guy. How could I not?

As someone else who also has last place reserved at their box for just about every workout, I'm still not convinced that I wouldn't regret registering. And I know this is supposed to be the year of doing things that terrify me, and this definitely qualifies, but...I just don't know. So, to be continued...