I Finally Signed Up for the Open

It’s true, I’ve been holding out. I’m really not even sure for what, but for some reason I was just not motivated to “officially” do the Open this year. Last year it was fun, but we totally missed 13.4, and I forgot to report our score for 13.5 (that was the weekend we got engaged… I had a few other things on my mind!), so needless to say we were not exactly taking it seriously. I had similar thoughts about this year’s Open… Why pay the $20 when, first of all, I’m going to be doing the WODs anyway since TJ programs them every Friday during Open Season, and, secondly, I don’t feel like I’ve improved all that much in the last year, so why bother measuring my progress?

Let’s be honest and realize that CrossFit has created a brilliant marketing scheme where, despite the fact that only about 300 people in the entire country actually have a real reason to compete in the Open, we are all told that it’s an amazing way to compare our fitness with everyone else’s fitness. That the Open is for everyone, it’s the Great Equalizer. Well, I wasn’t buying it.

But last week I finally caved. Because you know what? The one thing that is very true about the Open is that it’s the one event that unites every CrossFitter around the world. Last year after 13.1, every CrossFitter could answer the question “What snatch did you get to?” After 13.3, every CrossFitter had burning quads for days. After 13.5, we all knew just how miserable C2B pull-ups really were, and had a much more visceral understanding of how ridiculous a sub-4:00 Fran really is. It’s the one event that unites us, regardless of where we WOD or how we train. And that is pretty rad.

So I signed up. I also decided that I am so obsessed with CrossFit, that this seemed like an odd time to stick my flag in the sand and decide that the Open was too far. So here we are. And now, I am actually sort of looking forward to it. You know, as long as it isn’t wall balls.

Are you doing the Open? Still on the fence? I can’t believe it’s less than a week away! Hooooly crap.