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You You have no idea, I don't think, how

much I am you. I uh I opened the very

first CrossFit gym, Lauren and I, only

10 years ago. It it may be 10 years ago

this month. I don't I don't know for

sure, but uh and and I didn't I didn't

realize that until just sitting here now

this morning thinking about it, but uh

and and and I and I know I know what you

do. I know about going into the morning

before the sun comes up hours before. I

know what it's like to get up at 3:30, 4

in the morning to see those 5 a.m.

clients. To uh be there when Starbucks

opens its doors,

to uh unlock the doors in the morning. I

know about the cold.

uh turning on the music, flipping on the

TV,

kind of check around, see how the how

the uh how the place looks, you know,

and I know about cleaning the bathrooms

and

uh collecting the money, you know, doing

the training. I know what it is to be a

one-man band,

and I know the fears. This concept, my

training efforts had languished for

years and years and years. I don't want

to tell you how long in a commercial

facility and I had the I had the very

good luck of moving to Santa Cruz and

without thinking ahead of time there

were only a handful of commercial gyms

there. So in short order from between n

95 and 99 I got kicked out of every

commercial gym in town save one and that

was a gym a world's gym owned by Dave

Draper and uh he invited me to come

there after I'd been thrown out of the

others and and I didn't take him up on

it because he was a he was a a very

close friend he and his wife and uh I I

didn't want to have my buddy throw me

out of his gym in a year's time because

I knew he'd have to because I knew that

that the business model that was that

gym wouldn't survive CrossFit.

We' we'd crush his business.

And so I I did him the favor and me the

bigger favor of striking out on my own.

I remember wondering how am I going to

get clients?

because I would been used to being in

gyms where you'd have 15 or 20,000

members and people would see me train

and and you know tap me on the shoulder

or wait by the water fountain for that

perfect moment to talk about training

with me and crazy thing is it was

abundantly clear within a first of all I

I left and everyone came with me all

except one crazy [ __ ] and she didn't

thank God for that

and uh

The people were wonderful. I mean, they

carried me. They took care of

everything. But the wonderful thing was

the the uh um there was no attrition.

That didn't change. And the and the come

on rate, the new people were coming

through the door. I got new clients at a

rate I'd never seen before. And I had I

had better credibility out on my own.

Everything was better. And I I could

hang rings. I could do rope climb. All

that stuff that that wasn't allowed in

the in the in the commercial gym.

and uh plugged along. I mean, it was it

was absolutely heaven. I've never done

anything more fun and I've got this

fantasy of someday getting back to that.

I don't know how what might allow for

that, but uh then the the affiliates

started coming on and uh the whole thing

blew up and and my life changed

dramatically. I uh wasn't going in the

gym the same way in the morning. I I

would go in and I I didn't have clients

or really anything to do and so I was

just getting in the way of of Annie and

Nicole and Eva and the Tony the people

that were training and it I became a

spectator

and uh as things continued to grow I uh

say well gez now I can do some writing

so I became a writer for the first two

years I think it was of the journal I

wrote every [ __ ] article

you don't ever get the idea you're going

to launch a magazine by being the sole

writer for the thing. That was a an

absolute hell. Um, but I became a writer

and then and then we the seminar

business took off big and and as things

continued to grow, we found other people

that could write and write better than I

could and make make a contribution. So,

I was doing less writing. And uh the

seminar program, Dave and Nicole, where

are you? Yeah. Stand up. I give them a

clap right now. [applause]

>> [applause]

>> I I BELIEVE IT was a year ago last month

the first seminar went down without me

there. Is that right?

>> Yeah. A year ago. I remember leaving

Santa Cruz and I and I was on the

freeway and uh like okay, you know,

they're gonna they're gonna they're

going to take care of this thing. And I

saw people coming into town that I

recognized were coming to the seminar

and I twice got off the freeway to go

back and then turned around and got back

on and saw someone else, went back, got

back on. It was it was the hardest thing

in the world to do to leave and uh now

we're doing four or five uh seminars a

weekend and uh I I'm not there for any

of them. I uh it was and it was it was

it was a slow death. I uh would go and

uh become a disruption to the training.

people would want to meet me and talk to

me and and uh I was in I was in the way

and along the way along this growth I

lost my way. I was there was people that

would unlock the door in the morning,

people that were turning on the music,

uh people were doing the training, doing

the seminars,

uh writing for the journal, and uh my

life became increasingly one of talking

to the [ __ ] lawyers and accountants

and starting insurance company. And it's

like, holy cow. I mean, I I I never I

never had a real job because I wanted to

hang out in the gym and I I that's

that's where I've been happiest. That's

it was by default. I never grew up cuz I

like doing what you guys do for a

living.

And I I uh you know I I never wanted to

like sit in a cubicle and work on a

computer all day. And uh God, that's

what it kind of turned into. Now I'm

sitting in front of a computer and on

the phone all day talking to attorneys

and accountants.

Well, it was at a it was at a seminar

overseas

where it became abundantly clear to me

that I was in the way of the seminars

that I would become kind of a a a a

CrossFit celebrity and people wanted to

talk to me and we they'd take these

breaks and they'd line up and we'd talk

and I'd shake hands and give hugs and I

see Pat Sherwood like you know I'm

screwing up the schedule and uh it was

Lisa Lulo that said that you know we

need to we need to get these events

where we just go and meet the affiliates

and talk to people where it's you're

where we're not in the way where I'm not

in the way of the of the training. And

that was the birth of the 101's. And we

hit the road and I I wasn't really sure

why I was doing it. Um other than it

just seemed like a natural evolution. I

wouldn't be in the way. I could meet you

good folks. And I and I got out on the

road and an amazing thing happened. I I

found my way. I found myself. And what I

saw at each stop was me again in 1999.

You you are me and that you're in there

in the morning unlocking the door and

flipping on the heat and turn on the

lights and waiting for the people to

come in and doing the training. And each

and every one of you affiliates is

really a microcosm for the entire

effort. Your concerns, your interests,

your fears, your hopes, your desires,

aspirations, your clients. I recognize

all of it. And it and along on the road

at every stop, you most gyms have that

guy or gal that's lost 100 pounds.

You've got the the the guy or gal that's

in remission from cancer. And you've got

the some 65year-old guy or gal that's

that's swinging it with the with the 30

and 40 year olds. And you know, there

there was there's nothing I saw on the

road that I didn't recognize and

appreciate and miss. And I came to see

very quickly with just stunning clarity

that that you are CrossFit the

affiliates and it's your hard work. It's

your clients. It's your efforts that

that are this that are this movement and

nothing else. And I found purpose in in

in in serving you. That's what I'm going

to do for the rest of my days. I'm going

to help the affiliates in any way I can.

And I don't have a vision for the

future. I don't have a vision for

CrossFit. I don't have a notion of

success for me, for this movement, for

my family that doesn't involve success

for you and your family and your

clients.

We're in this together. And we will

succeed

or we will fail, but we'll do it

together.

and and and that's a that's a simple

story, but it's and it's an exciting

one. So, I come back to my origins. I

come back to my roots and I find purpose

for my life and it's serving you. So,

thank you.

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