CrossFit provides a method for a personal journey to constantly improve oneself physically, mentally, and spiritually. The intensity of the workouts often makes you question your physical and mental capacity. I heard Greg Amundson say that "The biggest improvement that CrossFit athletes experience is between the ears." The mind can allow us to achieve greatness or cause us to fail. There are only two ways to fail...quit or die.


Since starting CrossFit I have always had a deep appreciation for the Hero WODs. I grew up on various Military Bases as my Father served in the USMC as a helicopter pilot. I remember when we got the news of a helicopter crash involving his squadron while lifting off from a carrier off the coast of Okinowa. He lost good friends, most of which had their families living in Hawaii while they were deployed. I remember seeing these families pack up and move back to the mainland. I often wonder what happened to the children.


I was introduced to CrossFit by a fellow Police Officer back in 2005. "Fight gone bad" on my first day? Really Rochet? Well, I was hooked. "Murphy" came to be my favorite workout. I remember the days when every six months or so we would see a new Hero WOD. Now, I think it's almost three a month. I went to "Randy" Simmons funeral. (Hero Workout #10). I was a new SWAT officer myself at the time and was taken back at how he died. More so, I was incredibly moved by what type of man he was outside of law enforcement. He left two children behind that loved and admired their father. He led a group of inner city youth from his Church who were left without a great mentor.


My personal desire to become a better husband, father, and find some inner peace pushed me to find a way to appreciate life and honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and to those left behind. Since opening my own CrossFit affiliate with my wife in 2009, I have missed completing many of the new Hero WODS. The Challenge I came up with for myself was to complete all the Hero WODs, as prescribed, in the order they were posted. To add to the challenge, I decided I would do one Hero WOD a day, six days a week, resting on Sundays. When I started the challenge there were 50 Hero WODS.

20110313

Thursday - February 17th, 2011


Dedicated to Army Sgt 1st Class Daniel Crabtree who was killed in Al Kut, Iraq on Thursday June 8th 2006.

First Posted 15 June 2006









Day 4 of the Hero WOD Challenge

"Daniel"

For time:
50 Pull-ups
400 meter run
95 pound Thruster, 21 reps
800 meter run
95 pound Thruster, 21 reps
400 meter run
50 Pull-ups

Time: 17min 59 seconds

I felt surprisingly good today.  Normally after completing "Murph" I'm pretty much wiped out the next day.  I'm finding that reading through the comments from the original post makes my soreness seem insignificant and a sense of duty comes over me to honor these men.  It's amazing how in the early days, Hero WODs were posted so quickly after the death of a fellow Crossfitter.  Seems hard to believe how small and tight knit the community was.  CrossFit has really grown and it's exciting to see so many people benefit from the methodology.  Sometimes I miss the old days.

Continuing on the trend of the Hero's names being significant.  Daniel is the name of my brother and eldest son.  From the picture SFC Crabtree appears to be left handed.  So is my son.

200 Pull-ups in the past two WODs and another 90 tomorrow.
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