Making History

As the alarm went off at 0600 this morning, I slowly sat up in bed, stretched out my legs, looked up at the window and thought to myself.....yesterday, we made history. 22 adaptive athletes competed in the first competition of its kind. I began getting myself ready for a recovery run and simply found myself standing and looking in the mirror with goosebumps thinking about what transpired yesterday. I still have those goosebumps as I sit here composing this post.

I was asked by a friend, "What was the best part of the event?" For me, without a doubt, the most important part of this event....the best part of this event, was the camaraderie. Not only were we athletes competing in a competition, we were instantly friends simply playing a sandlot football game together. Sure, we sized up the competition. We looked each other over trying to discover each competitor's strength and weaknesses. But more importantly, we reveled in the moment knowing we were the first ever to do something so special.

Every time I see a CrossFit competition, I see something that I never see in other competitive sports. In no other sport do I see the top finishing competitor or team stay and cheer on every other competitor or team like in CrossFit. Yesterday's event was no different. As soon as we were done with our event, we were cheering our faces off for those still competing. Pushing them with our words of encouragement and screaming like crazies out of a mixture of pure adrenaline and camaraderie. 

I will break down the event from my point of view; but I am sure my view doesn't vary greatly from that of my competitors. This about sums up the day for me:

At 0730, I picked up Chuck Newman, a Marine who suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury and a fellow competitor. Chuck and I had never met before. We only became Facebook friends a week earlier. But we were competitors and I took the opportunity to formally meet him by picking him up at his hotel and arriving at the games with him.

The opening ceremonies kicked off around 0830 and watching the JROTC color guard post colors made me not only proud but also made my blood pump harder through my veins. I was starting to get that rush of excitement. The adrenaline surge you get right before something incredible is about to happen. We had been warming up in the athletes' area but honestly, even if I was cold and hadn't warmed up at all, I swear I could have pulled a truck up a cliff just from the excitement.

Matt Ramsey's one handed sled pull. Photo by Aaron Wyche

My first WOD was the One-Handed Sled Pull. The object of this event was to pull a sled weighing 75% of your body weight 10 meters with a rope using only one hand, then pushing it back to the start point as many times as possible in 8 minutes. You could only use one hand the whole time and cannot touch the rope with your other hand once the event started. I got 36 reps on this event and worked through the technical challenges of pulling a weighted sled across a floor that had a rubberized coating on it. Secretly I think CrossFit Rubicon's owner, David "Chef" Wallach's goal was for us to grind all the glue off the floor for him. Not sure if we accomplished that. Immediately after we were done, we all rushed over to watch the One Handed Deadlift WOD that was running simultaneously. Murphy Hueston, one of the Marines I coach at CrossFit Walter Reed was proving himself to be a competitor by pulling an astonishing 265 lbs on the one handed Deadlift. Murphy hadn't pulled more than 185 lbs one-handed before!

Scott Weaver's 305 lb Deadlift. Photo by Aaron Wyche

My second WOD was the One-Handed Deadlift. I knew from posts to the Working Wounded Games Facebook page that Scott Weaver and Chuck Newman were going to provide stiff competition. But I also knew I had a hare to chase with the 265 lb deadlift Murphy put up in the previous heat. As I started the ladder, I had my goal. Little did I know, someone also had his sites on me. Once I hit 245 lbs, I was in uncharted territory for myself. As I climbed and hit 275 lbs, I saw myself being able to go much higher. Apparently, my thumb and grip didn't get that memo. I failed at 285 lbs. Just no grip left. But Scott Weaver had what seemed like endless grip so, in true CrossFit competition fashion, I jumped in his court and wanted to push him to go as high as he could. Had he not dropped 305 lbs after his first attempt, I am convinced he could have reached the 315 lb mark. Another astonishing competitor with us was Corey Reed. Corey is a blind amputee who literally made me tear up from the excitement of watching him do these one handed deadlifts.

Brian Edwards during a spectator WOD. Photo by Aaron Wyche

There were several spectator WODs with Midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy and those spectators who signed up for a WOD throughout the day. I have to be honest, with running around and talking to all of my amazing friends and family who came to watch, I didn't manage to see one of these events. But it's my understanding that all who competed got the chance to experience what an adaptive crossfitter faces. Each spectator WOD had an element of each of the WODs we performed in the competition. Rowing, single armed pulls and heavy balls.

My third event of the day was the Yoke Carry. Carry a yoke weighing 125% of my body weight 10 meters, set it down then return for as many reps as possible in 8 minutes. My yoke weighed 225 lbs. As I geared up for this WOD, I had my strongman coach Barry just ahead of me along with one of my friends Jenny. I took off like a rocket with this event. I fought through and carried that yoke for 40 reps earning a third place finish in the event. Scott Weaver was on my heels the whole time until he passed me and was able to make 5 more reps than I did. It was trilling to fight along side these competitors and I felt great knowing I was in the top three in this event with my friend and fellow Rubicon coach Mark Tippett.

The final WOD of the day, the mystery WOD, was a static row. With the seat locked to disallow use of your legs, the athlete had to row with just their arms and torso for as many calories as possible in 8 minutes. Having tested this WOD, I knew that 5 minutes of this was a fairly large slice of hell. 8 minutes was going to introduce a whole new level of suck. But as the saying goes, "It never gets easier. It just sucks less." In this case, it didn't get easier and it sucked more, but we were all in this together. With Matt Goard and LaKia Lemmon-Peyton cheering me on and in my ear, I rowed my ass off. Well.....I actually rowed my arms off. With Matt Ramsey next to me, racing our hearts out, I could hear the cheers from the crowd, but moreover I could hear Matt Goard telling me I was neck and neck with Matt Ramsey. I knew I was marginally ahead of  and I felt I could hang with Matt until the end, and maybe push out a win. Matt was able to pull ahead by 5 calories, finishing with 117 calories while I had 112. Neither of us knew that Scott Weaver was at the end pulling an incredible 127 calories. Let that sink in folks. 127 calories on a rower, only using his arms and torso. It was a little like a punch in the gut. I thought, finally, I got second in the row and may end up in the top three. Not so. But I chased and ran with my Rubicon partner and kept ahead of an outstanding athlete in.

The results of the day. Since I know that really why any of you are reading this, here are the results from the day:

2012 Working Wounded Games Competitors and Staff.

First among TBI Competitors:
Mark Tippett

First among Limb 
Dysfunction Competitors:
Scott Weaver

Second:


Third:
Matt Ramsey

Fourth:
Dillon Behr

Fifth:
Jason Sturm

This event changed me and will forever change the view of adaptive athletes. We are competitors. We have not thrown in the towel and you cannot make us quit. If you know an adaptive athlete who wants to try CrossFit, I encourage you to lead them to this blog. Tell them to contact me. If you witnessed this event, tell them what you saw. The ferocious fight that ensued. Tell them what an adaptive athlete can do.

Finally, a massive thanks goes out to David "Chef" Wallach, Hrönn Wallach, Sara Olsen and the entire event staff and judges for a history defining event!