Do one thing everyday that scares you.

I know you have read this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt or heard it many times but have you tried to do just that? I did this past weekend. If you are friends with me on FaceBook, you have probably grown tired of hearing me talk about this past weekend, in fact I am sure I have probably been blocked by some of you. I apologize, really, but I am still giddy as hell about it!

What happened this past Saturday? The Regionals, yes, BUT that's not what I am talking about. I am talking about the WODism for Autism.

What is that you ask? Well, let me tell you about it.

Back in the fall, my friend Sean Dickson, from Combat Fitness in Hoover, Alabama had a food drive for Backpack Buddies. For the entire day, he did this crazy body weight workout that lasted literally ALL DAY LONG. People came out and supported him by donating canned goods for Backpack Buddies. I went out there with my boys to bring some canned items and watched him workout. When I got there, some of his buddies had joined him for a few rounds of pushups, squats, running and I think some situps were in there, too.

I was inspired! What a great idea!

Over the next few months the idea of doing something like this to raise money for the Autism Society danced around in my head. What if we had a Ground to Overhead Relay that lasted all day? At the end of the day, we would see how much weight we put over our heads. Why? Well, why not?

Then I thought, what if we had a WOD that was inspired by movements my son, Taylor, likes to do? We could have 3 different versions, RX, Scaled and Kids. Why not use this as an opportunity to introduce CrossFit to our community and show them that they don't have to be Elite to be a CrossFitter. They could even have special needs and we can still make it perfect just for them. This is what I have done for Taylor and it have been amazing for him. Then I thought, wouldn't it be great if we could raise $1000 for the Autism Society of Alabama?

These were my goals.

I had never attempted something like this and I had no idea what to expect. I decided that since April is Autism Awareness month, April would be the perfect time to do this. In March, I sent out some messages to 2Pood, ReDefine Fit, WOD Gear and Atlas Power Wraps and asked if they would like to make a donation for prizes for this event. All of them replied very quickly with a big "YES!". 

I thought Jeff Tucker of GSX CrossFit would be the perfect guy to program the WOD "Taylor". Taylor really likes the body weight movements, and so Tucker is the man! Tucker was so generous with his time and was genuinely thrilled to be asked to do this for us.

I then started sending out invitations via FaceBook and the response was immediate and overwhelming! Can I just tell you how much I LOVE the CrossFit community? We had a great crowd! They came from all over the state. My friend Crystal and her husband Wayne along with their son, Morgan drove all the way from Dothan to be a part fo this event. My friend, Jonah from Brute Fitness in Gadsden (the bad ass in the video doing the one armed snatch) spent the day with us as well helping and putting weight over his head. We also had people come from Huntsville and Tuscaloosa. Not only did they show up but they showed out!
I think this video, done by my good friend James Washer, sums up the days events perfectly.

The day was a huge success!  Trinity CrossFit raised over $7000 for the Autism Society of Alabama and for the Ground to Overhead Relay that was going on all day from 11:00-6:00, we put over 200,000lbs over our head. I think next year we can do even better!


Then to make the day even better the most amazing and moving thing happened. A company called "The Infinite Actuary" donated the New iPad for the event. We decided that we would give that as a prize to the person who raised the most money. A fundraising contest, of course!


At the end of the day, James came in and said "It's over!. Someone just won the iPad by giving over $1000!" Then he told me, "They want Taylor to have it, so it's his and they also want to remain anonymous."

 I was moved to tears! I had to go into the bathroom and just cry. I had told my boys that we didn't count in the fundraising and now Taylor had just won the iPad because there are still some really amazing people in the world. 
Wouldn't it be amazing if CrossFit boxes all over the country did this for their local Autism Society?Autism affects more and more children. It has become an epidemic! When Taylor was diagnosed 13 years ago it was 1 in 150 children. Today it is 1 in 88!

I believe we can make a difference. I am so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone. I am still riding the high of an incredible weekend.


"Taylor"
10 minute AMRAP
5 second Handstand Hold
5 Ring Pushups
5 Shoot Thrus
15 Squats
5 second Hollow Holds