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A Letter From Grandpa Tom's Son -
"I wanted to write a letter to the CFSC community to thank you all for the support you've shown my dad as he fights to get healthy. I know that the community support he receives here is a huge part of his successes so far. I also wanted to let everyone in on a little bit more about Grandpa Tom, and about why I'm so outrageously happy with the work he's doing.
We are all told how important it is to attack our weaknesses in Crossfit. I certainly have a natural inclination toward to training my strengths and I often dread working on weaknesses. I think that we face an analogous challenge in a larger context, the challenge of improving our characters. I think that everyone has some area of life where it is a struggle to reach a level of excellence we not only want for ourselves, but we expect for ourselves. And I think our characters are most truly shown in those cases where we strive for excellence in something we have no natural inclination or talent for.
I want to honor my Dad for attacking a life-long weakness. As long as I've known him, my dad has been smart, loving, kind, generous, honest, and so many other wonderful things. But he has never been very healthy. It is not that he didn't value health - he has always encouraged me to be healthy, and he appreciates the importance of health to human well-being. But he has never been very good about pursuing that form of excellence for himself.
Ever since he started working out at CFSC, and began following a new diet, I feel like I am a witness to an amazing, burgeoning transformation.
I've spoken to my Dad a few times about the positive reception he gets from everyone at CFSC. I think at a basic level, you are all just a damn fine group of people, and I'm not surprised when people are welcomed into our community. But I think that the response to my Dad has something to do with what i'm trying to describe here, that we all know he is struggling to change decades of entrenched, habitual bad behavior. We all know how hard that is, because we know what it is to feel the weight of our own pasts upon us. And we are inspired to see that change is possible. We want so badly for Grandpa Tom to succeed, and his success shows us that we can all fight our weaknesses, whatever they may be.
My language seems over the top to me, but I'm trying to convey the joy I feel, and honest surprise, to see someone I've known my whole life light up in pursuit of a new, noble goal. One that I never thought I would see him pursue with such ferocity. It is simply beautiful.
To honor my Dad's work, I've decided to double his pledge of $/pound lost by December 15th. But instead of giving to the CFSC party fund, worthy as that cause might be, I'm going to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. My mother, the love of Grandpa Tom's life, died from leukemia ten years ago. I know that she would be so proud of him for the work he's doing to get healthy, and I think that the best way for me to honor his work is to help others live. I also know this will make him really want to lose that weight!
Thanks to everyone at CFSC, from the bottom of my heart."
- Kyle
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Workout:
Clean and Jerk on the minute for 10 minutes. Work speed and technique
then,
"Annie"
50-40-30-20-10
Double under
Sit up
Double under
Sit up
