My Awesome Roomie

This is Curtis Keene....he is incredible! He races for Specialized in the downhill mountain bike category and is dubbed "The American Dream" . A name that totally suits him. I guess a photographer gave him that nickname and it stuck. I've been reading about his sport, what he does, and checking out the magazine articles and websites, there are a lot of em! He rides and races for a living...I mean...this is what he does for a JOB! He lives a blessed life and is really humble about his talents. Curtis is nothing short of amazing! Seriously....to be a professional athlete takes dedication and talent. The thought of powering down a muddy hill full throttle as fast as you possibly can - over roots, dips, hills, you name it is beyond crazy to me. When I used to do duathlons, I would unclip down the hills and run with my bike! The thought of wiping out is scary to me. I guess I better get over that quick because Curtis and my Specialized clients plan on torturing me on a ride like I torture them at CrossFit. Curtis started CrossFitting with me and Zoning also - so watch out! He's already really great at most of the movements, especially the fast metcon ones...like wall ball! I feel a Karen WOD coming soon for him...also he's incredibly fast on the rower. His time for a 1k and a 500 is the fatsest on the board at Central. Anyway, he got that new toy in the picture a day after he moved in and is finally taking it for a ride today....stoked!! I hope everybody has a great day! Oh yea..weird thing is his name is Keene - mine is Keener.....crazy! Hes an electrition by trade (only 2 months out of the year) and his family owns Keene Electric in Scotts Valley - a place I always drove by and wondered who these Keene people were! Life is great!!

Olympic Weightlifting Cert with Aimee Anaya and Greg Everett In Chico

This past weekend I attended the cert in Chico at CrossFit NorCal hosted by Greg Everett and Aimee Anaya. I was invited as a guest of Aimees and drove up with Eva T. for the weekend. We had a great time and I learned tons of useful cues, and corrections on some of the big lifts like snatching and cleaning. Big thank you to Niki and Rob Wolf and Aimee and Greg and my hero Eva T. One of the profound thoughts of the weekend for me was that I attended as SHARI. Not Brendans girlfriend.....as myself. I was a seperate entity at a CrossFit event hosted with people Brendan and I knew as a couple and although it was a little different at first, I quickly relaxed and was just myself. Thank God for Eva T. She speaks truth to me and when I feel a moment of weakness, I call her. When you are stuck in a situation and can't see out (I call it the black hole) you need somebody close to you to throw you a lifeline. Eva is that person for me. She threw me a rope several times this past weekend and pulled me out of the dark cave. Thanks Eva. I love you....my guardian angel.

Paint Ball Fun Day

Brandon and I went paint balling in the SC mountains with my awesome client Chris and his son Jack a while back and had a great time! I loved the feeling of being able to shoot people without hurting them, and running, ducking and hiding so I don't get taken out! Brandon had fun and even though he was a little apprehensive at first, loosened up when he realized Chris was covering him. Chris was awesome! He let us use his fast equipment and watched out for Brandon the entire time... More fun days ahead I'm sure

Food For Thought....

"What he said is that love is like a drug; it makes you very high, but it creates a strong need. You can become highly addicted to love, but what happens when you don't receive your daily doses of love ? Just like a drug, you need your everyday doses. He used to say that most relationships between lovers are just like a relationship between a drug addict and the one who provides the drugs. The one who has the biggest need is like the drug addict; the one who has a little need is like the provider. The one who has the little need is the one who controls the whole relationship. You can see this dynamic so clearly because usually in every relationship there is one who loves the most and the other who doesn't love, who only takes advantage of the one who gives his or her heart. You can see the way they manipulate eachother, their actions and reactions, and they are just like the provider and the drug addict."

Mastery of Love.....

Chris H!!!

My new client Chris H. I ADORE this man. He's an accomplished runner who was sponsored by Asics and competed around the world in events ranging from World Championships to the IronMan in Hawaii. The bottom picture is Chris taking 2nd place OVERALL at the IronMan in Hawaii. The car driving next to him is NBC Sports recording him on his run. He's an amzing runner, athlete and great person as well. We're going paint balling this weekend with our kids to have a good time. Brandon is excited to shoot a gun,,,,and it'll be fun to enjoy with a new friend.

Joe Buckley

aka BUCK - he's my M, W F 5am guy and a total bad ass to say the least. He works out with his wife, Jen, who I'll post soon and Ian. There is pretty much nothing short of intense to describe Buck. He works for Specialized and tests mountain bikes for a living. He rides hard and strong and took first place at the Sea Otter Classics downhill slolum course this year. Buck came to me around 1.5 years ago not aboe to perform a good squat, but quickly hit all the movements with ease and continues to amaze the people around him with his strength. He competed at the CrossFit games this past year and did so well, he even beat many others in his heat. He beat a lot of guys in the run, who I thought would actually come in front of him just because of his absolute HATE for running - but there's one thing about Buck - He brings EVERYTHING he has to each and every workout. I swear, I don't think he's ever mellowed out since I started training him! He's got muscle ups, handstand pushups, crazy deadlift strength and can snatch like nobody's business. He and his wife Jen make up a "Power Couple" and they are a force to watch out for. I'm going to talk them into competing at the Games again this upcoming year - so look for them. They are training hard and heavy every session and have plenty of air...It's easy for me to wake up at 4am just because i know I'm going to a gym to train some crazy bad asses who never complain, and who chase perfection....every single time!!

Mary The Principal!!

This is one of my eary morning 5am ers Mary. She just happens to be my son Brandons principal at middle school.....and she rocks! Mary does triathlons and climbed Mt. Whitney recently and plans to go back for a second go at it soon. She pushes hard every class and even though she hates to go heavy - I make her and she always meets the demands I put before her. She once said to me "man..we're crazy for coming here at 5am and waking up at 4 these days!" I responded...."you're not crazy...just dedicated!" And so it goes with Mary....dedicated to her workouts and to all the kids at the SV Middle School. I trust her completely to watch over my son while he's there....plus it's a bonus to know if he got into any trouble during the day!! ;)

Ian Chambers

This is another amazing client - Ian Chambers. He is a chiropractor at healing Waves in Santa Cruz and I had the chance to see him last week for an adjustment and let me say - it was probably the BEST I have ever had! He uses a very gently approach unlike any other chiro I have gone to in the past - which was refreshing. After leaving his office I felt more centered, like my body was actually in alignment for the first time. He used electrodes to test each vertabrae for muscle tightness and seems that every single muscle in my back was lit up! I know I have major problems with my c5 (upper neck area) and this just confirmed it. Anyway he's amazing - go see him! As far as training him - I love it! He pushes really hard every session and always moves well. Dream client to say the least!! More about Ian soon. Plus he's a runner so he already has a special place in my heart because of that!!

Oldie But Goodie....

From CrossFit San Diego when I went there for a visit....great workout!!

From "CrossFit Fire" website.....

"Bill and I had the pleasure of attending a CrossFit Running & Endurance Certification over the weekend. The certification covered the basics of running using the "Pose" method. CrossFit Chicago hosted the cert, and it was an absolute blast! Brian MacKenzie, Carl Borg and Shari Keener were all there to instruct, critique, coach and push us when our bodies were aching. In their defense, Carl DID warn us that we would be VERY sore. I honestly had no idea I had such bad running form until this weekend. I always knew running was my kryptonite, but at least now I know how to make it better. Here is a summary of what I learned this weekend:

1. Running is WAY more complicated than just putting on a cute outfit, tying your shoes and hitting the street
2. With enough skills & drills even the worst runner (me) can improve their technique
3. Slow motion running videos are almost as unflattering as slow motion jump rope videos, but not quite
4. I have muscles in my legs/feet that I didn't even know existed
5. The muscles I didn't know existed are sissies, and need to be worked more often
6. All your beautiful new running form will turn into a painful limp the Monday after a running certification
7. Shari Keener is the hottest CrossFitting woman on the planet!

To explain #7...has anyone seen a woman with about 6% body fat? I haven't until this weekend. We can add Shari's pictures to the list of pictures to show women when they talk about being afraid of "bulking up" from CrossFitting.

Oh my GOD...I love this girl....not only is she funny as all HELL, but her energy is through the roof to say the least! I enjoyed meeting everybody - especially HER!!