Yesterday we celebrated Jack's birthday with a workout dedicated to him!

5 rounds:
10 deadlifts
15 push-ups
20 box jumps
25 anchored sit-ups

I think you can tell just by looking at it that this was a tough WOD. Not to worry - there were scaling options for this, as always. Most people finished this workout around 15-17 minutes, but our birthday boy finished in just over 13! BIRTHDAY POWER!

I  saw our buddy Bender the other day, and he is looking slim! He shared with me that since coming back to the Fort he has already lost 20lbs! He reports that he feels better, sleeps better, and doesn't wake up achy anymore. He also reports that he looks sexier naked. I'll have to take his word on that.

The February ramp-up finished their 3rd class last night and they are doing GREAT! You might have noticed that polaroid pictures have started appearing on the Welcome board in the front room. This is where we will be posting pictures of our newbies for everyone to see. Maybe there'll be a quiz. Maybe there'll be extra points for people who can name the most newbies. OR....maybe there'll be burpees for anyone who CAN'T name them! Dun dun DUUUUN! (dramatic music)

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Sometimes the pictures that appear on the camera at the Fort catch me by surprise. As you can imagine, this little doozey caught my attention. Hello there, sexy leg! Richard Simmons shorts are making a come back....

The workout yesterday was a combination of ring dips and pull-ups.

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

Each round you were doing 11 reps of ring dips and pull-ups, but each round you got to subtract a ring dip and add a pull-up. There are a lot of you who can do unassisted ring dips! I was super impressed with my evening class. I encouraged Brad to do his dips sans band for the first couple rounds and he did GREAT!

Since ring dips and pull-ups are soooo boring to Pete, he decided to do 30 muscle-ups for time instead. I think he had 2 reps left when he tore the palms of both hands. OUCH! I mean....great job and all...but ow.

I was talking to my buddy, Phil, and he shared with me that since starting at the Fort he has already lost 30lbs! THIRTY BIG ONES! Great job Phil! Lookin' good! (insert cat call here)

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I was totally blown away when I found some little notes written in a book at the Fort. Check out what this little mystery person wrote:

"I like to work out a lot at the gym. Wow!!!"

"Today for brefist I am eating baccine and pancakes."

First and foremost, I cannot BELIEVE this tiny person can spell pancakes correctly, but not bacon. But that is neither here nor there. What I was most impressed with was the fact that this tiny CrossForter is not only creating a food log, but also a workout log! When I was little my diary said things like this:

"Leonard is cute. I hope Mrs. Neumann lets me sit next to him!"
"My cat's breath smells like cat food. He does not like tic tacs."

What an amazing and powerful thing these parents are doing by bringing their child to the Fort with them. Can you imagine how much different your life would be if eating right and working out was ingrained in you from the time you were little? Think about that and post to comments with your observations...

In addition to reading other people's diaries, we also worked out yesterday.

AMRAP in 10:00
20 wall ball shots
250m row
work/rest 1:1

Meaning, rest as long as it took you to complete one round. That way you'll be fresh as a daisy to start the next round! If you were in some of our bigger classes then you had the joy of being partnered up and doing this as a team WOD. How many of you were smart enough NOT to volunteer to go first? Not me, that's for darn sure.

Have you noticed that  handsome man that appeared in the left hand column of the website? He's our link to the Reebok CrossFit store. If you need anything, please use the link from our site. Believe it or not, every time you shop there a portion of the money will be put into an account and we get free stuff for the Fort!

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Know what today is? It's the Fort's 4th birthday! Pop quiz - Who knows how CrossFit Fire got its name? 10 extra credit points to anyone who can name all the people on the pull-up bar in this picture from May 8th, 2008.

The pull-up bar structure in this picture was our first version. It was pretty darn sturdy, but with all of us on there it would start swaying. George, I'm still eternally grateful that you permanently fixed our pull-up bar!

Some people reflect on the last year of their life when they start a new year...well THIS is my new year. I start to feel all nostalgic. I start to think about what has happened over the last year, and daydream about the things to come.

We said good bye to a lot of amazing CrossForters this past year, but we also welcomed in some of the most kind and caring people I have ever known. I can't remember a time at the Fort where things all seemed to be humming in perfect unison. We have such a great group of people, it truly feels like family. We have GREAT coaches. We have GREAT members. Each day that I come to the Fort I leave a little happier. I hope the same is true for you.

As a Fort, we have come a long way. We grew our passion from 6 guys and ME sweating in 600 square feet, to a gym with over 100 members! We got knocked down, but got back up again. Nothing was going to alter our course, or take away from our ultimate mission: to provide a fun, healthy atmosphere where people can come together and share their love for CrossFit and the CrossFit community.

As we blow out the candles on our Paleo birthday cake, I have all of you to thank for this amazing journey! The Fort is what it is today because of everyone that has come, gone, stayed or visited. (BIG HUG!)

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Let's just be VERY clear about something....just because this dessert is gluten free doesn't mean it's "Paleo". I can't in good conscience describe this decadent dessert in the same terms as my ribeye on the grill, or my omelette. If you're looking for a special treat, this cake is worth the carbs!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
• 1 cup melted butter
• 10 eggs
• 5 large carrots, peeled and shredded
• 1 cup pure maple syrup (reserve 1 tablespoon for date mixture)
• 1 T cinnamon
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 10 medjool dates
• Chopped raw walnuts for garnish

Directions:

1. In a food processor, using the grating blade, shred carrots.
2. Place carrots in a large ziplock bag. Pour maple syrup over carrots and let marinate in the fridge for an hour.
3. Preheat oven to 325.
4. In a small mixing bowl, add sifted coconut flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.
5. In a large mixer, blend eggs, vanilla, melted butter, and *date mixture.
6. Add dry ingredients to wet and blend.
7. Stir in grated carrots, discarding excess maple syrup that they soaked in.
8. Grease two 9 inch cake pans with butter. (You can also line the bottom of the cake pans with parchment paper for easier removal)
9. Pour batter into pans.
10. Bake for 35 minutes. Test center with a tooth pick-if the tooth pick comes out clean, then the cakes are done.
11. Remove cakes from oven and cool.
12. Frost cake, garnish with walnuts, and serve!

*Date Mixture:

1. Remove pits from dates and place in a microwave safe bowl.
2. Add one tablespoon water to the dates and microwave for 30 seconds.
3. Mash with a fork, add 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup, and mash with a fork again.

• 16 oz full fat cream cheese
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons grated ginger root

Directions:

1. Bring cream cheese up to room temperature.
2. Blend all ingredients with a hand mixer or Kitchen Aid Mixer.
3. Use right away, or refrigerate.

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I always do a little happy dance in my head when a SUPER nice day comes along and there isn't any running in the WOD. Brian would disagree - he thought we should have been doing some  nice long 800m runs yesterday...but thrusters and burpees are just as fun on nice days as running!

10:00 - every minute on the minute
7 thrusters
3 burpees

The fact that there was not a prescribed weight on the board for this workout should have tipped you off that this was going to be TOUGH. As Zach pointed out to his evening class, "some of the strongest athletes in the gym did this at 40kg's....so make sure you don't over-shoot the weight".

Have you guys met Jamie and Amy yet? They're fresh out of the January ramp-up and they're doing GREAT in group classes! (Jamie is on the left, Amy the right) I wonder what they're both looking at....

Ladies - Warrior Women Wednesday is tonight at 7PM and we are putting on a snatch clinic. WOO HOO! We need at least 6 ladies to do this class - so if you are planning on coming please register right away! We need 2 more warriors to get the green light for the snatch clinic!

The 2012 Open begins in 3 weeks. This is your opportunity to complete a series of workouts and see how you stack up against the REST OF THE WORLD. The CrossFit Open is the preliminary round for the CrossFit Games - the biggest event of the year in our little CrossFit world. Last year we had over 30 people registered including a big pregnant lady! I want to see as many of you participate as possible - this is NOT open to only our firebreathers! I mean...what fun would it be if only the best of the best threw their hat in the ring?? NO FUN AT ALL. To participate, you will first need to create an account on the Games site: https://games.crossfit.com/mygames/login.php

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PHEW! Anyone else completely exhausted? Yesterday was quite possibly the most amazing day EVER in the history of the Fort. I want to thank everyone for coming out and participating, spectating and hanging out with us. It was EPIC.

While we didn't get the 45 degree weather, I think the wintery wonderland gave the event some character. (that's the equivalent of saying it's good luck when it rains on your wedding day) It stayed about 55 degrees on the competition floor all day and about 99 degrees upstairs in the loft. Despite the temperature everyone was a good sport about it. We had half naked people in the loft, and people in coats, gloves and scarves outside in the tents.

The competitors were absolutely inspirational. You came with a smile, left everything on the barbell and walked away proud. These were tough workouts designed to test you mentally and physically. You made the impossible, possible. Great job to all of you! Final standings can be found on the men's score page and the ladies score page.

I have about 4 dozen people to thank for helping put together this event. Maybe you baked something for the concession stand, took pictures, came at the crack of dawn to shovel snow, kept our twitter feed going, moved around equipment, or checked athletes into their heats - for that I thank you. The entire event was never more than 5 minutes off schedule the WHOLE DAY. We truly have the most amazing community of people at the Fort. You gave me 110% and I couldn't ask for more.

To my judges, you had the hardest job of all. It's never easy to issue a "no rep". It's also not easy to spend 7 hours of your Sunday counting reps and offering encouragement for other athletes. You held strong to our movement standards and made this a legit event.

I wish I had a 60 person podium, because you all deserve recognition for your hard work! Alas, the podium only held 3 men and 3 ladies.

Ladies:

1st place - Nell Shuttleworth
2nd place - Jessie Murphy
3rd Place - Maddy Ruggeburg

Men:

1st place - Scott Carlson
2nd place - Ben Crookston
3rd place - Todd Nief

Our 3 lovely photographers took almost 1,000 pictures! If you'd like to view them, you can find them here. Feel free to use these on your blogs or Facebook pages. Sharing is caring. Extra credit points if you use a picture from our event for your CrossFit Open Competitor profile picture!

Again, awesome event. I couldn't have asked for anything else! I look forward to seeing all of you next winter!

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