Mine is Chris. There has been so many ways that this man has changed my life its hard to break it all down. I met Chris around a year ago - he found me on the CrossFit site as he was looking for a coach. He called me, we set up a time to meet and discuss training. When I first saw Chris my thought was "wow...this guy looks like a serious runner." He was 27 pounds lighter than he is today, and his disposition was a little nervous and unsure of himself. We chatted for an hour and I convinced him that he would be in good hands with me - I knew he would need some hand holding as he stated he didn't even have a pullup. In fact, I remember some of his goals were to be able to take his shirt off on the beach and not feel embarrassed, to backsquat without feeling weak, and to do pullups. These were great goals! I was going through my own personal hell as Brendan had just left me and I was trying to sort everything out. Looking back now - a higher power definitely led Chris to me....because my life got better after he came into it.
Over the next few months I took control of his endurance diet and switched him over to Zone - he would only eat maybe once a day before meeting me - he quickly saw the results in strength and his speed on the track got faster. After a month of being friends he told me who he actually was. Chris was a very accomplished athlete indeed - winning the Ironman Brasil, competing all over the world as a famous runner. Wow - my respect for the man rose to new heights! He was so humble and even though he trained with the best coaches all over the country - here he was listening to me. Trusting me. He got his pullups around the second month and he was hooked! We would met every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and I would program mostly strength workouts with him. The man had speed already - a 5:23 minute mile - but as he got stronger and gained weight he also broke records in his speed - he now has a 4:57 minute mile.....and can hold 5:13's for mile repeats!!! Chris has come a long way and we have built a wonderful friendship. We spend time together outside of the gym, and every conversation we have teaches me something new about myself and life. He shows me that there is good in me, and although I have made some pretty huge mistakes in my past - I have learned from them and have grown as a person. Every once in a while if your lucky there comes a long a person into your life who changes you for the better. Chris is that person for me. In a lot of ways our lives are parallel. He has gone through some tough situations in his life as well as I, but I see the other side through his eyes.....and it has opened my heart.
Anyway, enough about how wonderful Chris is. I was prompted to write this note by a text message sent to me from Mary Cranover, a client at CrossFit SCCentral. In it she stated how lucky I am to have such a wonderful man as a friend in my life.....and I thought "Yea! I am lucky!"
Love you Chris!! Cant wait to build pain ball grenades with you tomorrow and have more meaningful conversations :)
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