Crossfit End of Week 4 - I think. A summary of what’s been going on.

 It’s been an uphill battle selling all my stuff on EBAY. It seems like I’ve had more late payments and non-payments than good transactions. The most recent was a vehicle we were trying to sell. This was to be the big-ticket item that would give me a couple grand towards new Crossfit equipment. I’ve listed the vehicle several times before but it did not sell for what I wanted. When it did finally sell, I got cheated on a deposit and ultimately the final sale. In my opinion the guy was feeling buyers remorse and found any excuse to back out of the deal. When it came time to pay (as we were filling out the title) he backed out because the license plate number on the title did not match the one on the vehicle. After numerous attempts to convince him the VIN number is what matters, he refused to budge. He said the deal was shady even after we suggested a ride to the local police station to verify the title. Mayra even agreed to drive the car to Los Angeles and meet the dude at the DMV. He agreed but backed out after she made the trip, and basically we never heard from him again. We received a fraction of the deposit via PayPal, but ended up spending that amount in gas and additional title replacement fees, since the title was partially changed to reflect the sale prior to him backing out. We might take the guy to court to get our money back but have not yet decided.

I was hoping to use the money from the sale to purchase some equipment during the Crossfit games. I figured that most of the vendors who sold online would be offering discounts at the games. No dice, even if I did have the cash, I found no vendor selling packages or giving great deals. A few were selling used equipment or stuff they did not want to ship back once the games were over, but by the time we got to the games on the last day, most of the items had been sold. Most of the vendors were pretty cool to talk to but some were just plain cocky and rude. I’m not going to mention names because I don’t want to burn any bridges, but some vendors need serious help in the customer service department.

The games themselves were awesome. We were there on Saturday and Sunday, although our stay on Saturday was cut short by the extreme heat. On Sunday, the temperature had dropped and there was a slight breeze. When we arrived they were setting up for the individual finals. We checked out the vendors again while we waited but nothing much had changed in that department. We decided to watch the finals standing, this allowed Montana to sit in her jogger and allowed us easy access to shade, refreshments and the bathroom if necessary. Like I said it was cooler than the day before, but it was still hot.

The women started first and you could tell the black floor mats must have been hot. During the first exercise (push-ups) most competitors quickly moved into the shade of the rope wall to protect their hands from the burning mats. It looked brutal, they had to do 3 rounds with a seven-minute cap of 30 push-ups followed by a rope wall climb (Up and over) then 21 over head squats with 65lbs and back over the wall. Next they were given a 30 second break, given new instructions and on to the next exercises. They consisted of three rounds with a seven-minute cap of 30 toes-to-bar, then 21 Ground to overhead presses at 65lbs. After they were thoroughly exhausted it was onto the third tortuous series of exercises, which were three rounds with a twelve-minute cap of five-burpee wall jumps followed by two consecutive 20-foot rope climbs.  Scary was the best word to describe the rope climb. There were no spotters (that I saw), no mats and the athletes were exhausted when they got to the ropes. At one point the crowd cheered a competitor on, who was only a couple of feet from the top, but she had hit a wall of exhaustion and could move no more. Without a sound she just gave out and slid down the rope bringing a unified exclamation from the crowd. I’m sure her hands were torn to shreds but she landed safely. Next the men came out and they continued the same course the women had done only with a change in weight and I believe an additional rope climb. While watching, we were joined by Dalay and David of Las Playas restaurant (They supplied food to the competitors and volunteers during the entire event). Dalay an avid Crossfitter has been instrumental in giving me terminology via Facebook and was a wealth of information on the games. We visited with them for a bit before they had to go back to serving and continued watching as the next group of women came out. Once again the women continued to astound me and I wish I could have stayed but the heat was beginning to get to us. Montana was getting cranky and from the looks of things she’d had enough.

On the twenty or so minute drive down the 405 back to the hotel, I’d decided that the games were a great time, from what I got to experience. I’d definitely go again. Watching the worlds top fitness athletes go head to head in grueling conditions, with crazy WOD’s was a plus. I wished that some of the vendors had been more helpful, but maybe they were having a bad day. Anyway that’s how my week went. With any luck I’ll sell some more stuff so I can begin to buy the equipment I need. Talk to you soon.

See you in the hills!

Lance