blog

[/caption] Just under a year ago, Crystal and I were sitting in the stands at the Canada West Regional in Vancouver. Crystal was the only member of the Functional Fitness 204 “team,” and we were hanging out with our adopted families from Functional Fitness Regina and Functional Fitness Vancouver. It was amazing to be part of those groups, and I remember setting a goal for myself that I wanted to have a team of athletes competing in the 2012 Functional Fitness Games Open. That, of course, was before we had the Bomb Shelter and were carrying barbells and plates from the trunk of my car to hold classes three times a week in the free-weights area of the Assiniboine Athletic Club. We took possession of the Bomb Shelter in June, and Ryan and I weren’t sure if anyone would show up aside from the original Dale’s Garage crew that had been flipping tires with Marty the dog in Functional Fitness 204’s spiritual home for the previous year. Crystal kept saying people would come and, sure enough, they did. Suddenly we were blessed with all of you. When the Functional Fitness Games Open rolled around, we were overjoyed that 17 people signed up to represent the gym—including two families! Ten months after we had set our goal, we had a team. Even better, that team grew to include a host of people who came to cheer our athletes on in every workout. I can’t tell you how amazing it is to look around the gym during an event and see our athletes giving their all and the other members of the gym spending their Friday night cheering them on. You are all a part of a new sport: the sport of fitness. And even if some people think it’s just a bunch of people trying to be good at exercising, you’re part of a movement that makes fitness fun again. That’s an amazing thing. The Open is a competition, sure, and our top athletes fought to post good scores and get to regionals. But more than that, the Open is about community. Competitions like this give us a chance to test ourselves, push our limits and reach new heights, and they also give us a chance to come together to support each other and be inspired by each other. We couldn’t be more inspired by the community that supported our athetes in 2012, and we’d like to thank you for being part of the Functional Fitness 204 team. That team finished 20th Canada West and qualified for the regional. Goal accomplished! Unofficial Standings Functional Fitness 204 – 20 (qualified for regionals!) Linz – 23 (qualified for regionals!) Crystal – 54 (qualified for regionals!) Jenn – 86 Michelle – 178 Tricia – 223 Eden – 327 Junior – 108 Mike – 117 B-Mac – 235 Adam – 246 Sean – 567 Hartless – 666 (appropriate?) Neil – 795 Kathy – 182 (worldwide!) Sonya – 570 (worldwide!) Sr – 355 (worldwide!) Pat – 48 (worldwide!) Congrats also to Tyson Takasaki (2) and Mitch Van Ram (146), who spent the Open with us!