The 2010 CrossFit Games season is upon us. Because of the extraordinary success of the '09 Games, they have added another layer of qualifier. Last year, the Regionals were the starting point for potential individual competitors. This year, you must qualify for the Regionals via a Sectional first. Here is all of the information:

Midwestern Sectional
3683 New Town Blvd. St. Charles, MO 63301
February 12-14, 2010
Top 30 men, 30 women qualify for Regionals

North Central Regional
Denver, CO
April 30 - May 2, 2010
Top 4 men, 4 women qualify for CrossFit Games

CrossFit Games
Los Angeles, CA
July 16-18, 2010

Sectionals will be open to anyone, but participants, as well as spectators, will need to register quickly because they may have to cut it off at some point. I will post to our website as soon as registration is open.

As for the Affiliate Cup Challenge, affiliate teams will have to qualify to compete in the Games this year. This will take place at our Regional. There will be no team workouts at the Sectionals. More information about the Affiliate Cup competition should be coming soon.

If you are interested in competing at Sectionals as an individual or Regionals as part of our Affiliate Team, please email Bill and make your intentions known. There will be some additions to our regular programming for those competitors.

Finally, we would like to encourage EVERYONE to make plans to attend the 2010 CrossFit Games with us. Talk to anyone who went last year and they are sure to tell you about the awesomeness that you missed out on. Don't let that happen again! At the very least, we expect most of you to make the road trip to St. Louis in February to support your fellow CrossForters at Sectionals.

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A couple of CrossFit Affiliates in the region have organized two separate events. As a disclaimer, neither is sponsored by CrossFit HQ. If you have any interest in either one, email Bill and he will forward you additional information. Here is an email for the first event:

Dear Fellow Crossfitter;

On January 9th, 2010 at the Kentucky International Convention Center (Louisville, Ky), individuals from all over the region will converge to test their fitness against others in a competitive fitness venue, “The Kentucky Fitness Challenge.”

Contestants will participate in several fitness challenges to determine who is the
fittest in each age/gender group. The top over all male and female will be crowned “Kentucky’s Fittest Man and Woman.”

We are asking for the Crossfit community to come and participate in this first time event. This will give your staff and clients a chance to meet and compete with other members of the community, in a positive event while supporting health and fitness.

Crossfit practitioners receive a “special registration” price of $25 (regularly $45). This offer expires December 31st, 2009. Could you please inform your staff and clients of this event? We would appreciate your support.
We look forward to meeting you at this years event. Thank you.
Sincerely,

Kelly Cable
Metro Cross Training
www.metrocrosstraining.com
(502) 689-2116
cable216@yahoo.com

The following is an email from CrossFit MadTown. They are hosting a competition for CrossFitters this February. It is the same weekend as the 2010 Affiliate Gathering in Miami and also around the time of sectionals, so CrossFit Fire will not be attempting to organize a trip to Wisconsin for this competition. However, I wanted to pass this along anyways just in case any of you are interested. Here it is:

CrossFit MadTown of Middleton, WI is hosting a CrossFit Decathlon to find the fittest and best athlete of the Upper-Mid West. We have a one of a kind CrossFit facility to host this competition and if you are curious to see the facility check it out at www.hitterssports.com . This will be a 10 event 2 day completion with scoring by place in each event making each event equal in scoring. The event is set for February 20 and 21st, 2010 running all day each day. Attached are the event list and also the flyer. Because of logistics for this first year of competition we have to limit the competition to the first 50 who sign up. So sign up quickly to ensure your chance to show your best. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Keysha or Skipp at the following:
Keysha@hitterssports.com
skipp@hitterssports.com
608-833-4488
Thanks for your interest and we are looking forward to meeting you all!

Skipp and Keysha Benzing…..CrossFit MadTown

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I have a few announcements for everyone:

1. "Team Saturday" will be a little different this week. We will partake in the Lumberjack Hero WOD instead of our traditional team challenge. For those of you who do not know, 4 of the soldiers killed during the Fort Hood shootings a few weeks ago were fellow CrossFitters and this WOD will be done in their honor. For those of you who would like to donate to the cause, here is the link to do so: CrossFit Lumberjack Donations.
2. If you will be joining us for the Weightlifting Meet next Saturday at Windy City CrossFit, I need 2 things from you ASAP:
   1. $20 for the registration fee
   2. weight class you will participate in
      • Men's Weight Classes Upper Limits in Pounds:
        • 136.4
        • 151.8
        • 169.4
        • 187.0
        • 206.8
        • 231.0
        • 231.0+
      • Women's Weight Classes Upper Limits in Pounds:
        • 105.6
        • 116.6
        • 127.6
        • 138.6
        • 151.8
        • 165.0
        • 165.0+
3. I will be available at 10:30am on Saturday, December 5th (tomorrow) for anyone interested in getting some additional Oly work in before next Saturday's event. Feel free to hang around the Fort after Saturday's WOD, but please be courteous of the Intro class. Cranking up the music or sharing equipment with the newbies tends to be pretty distracting.
4. If you order meat from the MeatGoat, please be there on Thursday night to pick it up. We have absolutely nothing to do with this service and will not be responsible for meat left at the Fort.

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• 1 can of Thai Kitchen coconut milk
• good size scoop of Thai Kitchen red curry paste
• several shakes of the "21 Seasoning Salute" from Trader Joe's
• 1 cup of organic vegetable broth from Trader Joe's
• 1 pound of raw shrimp from Trader Joe's (wild caught)

I made a quick lunch for Jennie and myself today which took about half the time it takes to get a Broccoli Beef from Panda. Don't let the simplicity of this dish fool you though. It was both very hardy as well as delicious.

To replicate this creation, combine the coconut milk, curry paste, and seasoning in a pot over low heat and warm until the curry paste mixes completely with the coconut milk. Add the vegetable broth and shrimp and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes. Enjoy!

Next time, I am going to try taking the tails off before cooking and dicing the shrimp. I figure this will make the dish more like a soup and a LOT less messy to eat.

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As you all know by now, our transition to Mind Body Online has been anything, but smooth. Please hang in there though and I should have everything working smoothly in short order. Until then, I will do my best to keep you all updated. If you have any questions along the way, please don't hesitate to ask. Also, please try to stay current on our blog posts. It is easiest for us to relay messages through this blog as well as our whiteboards at the Fort.

Here is what I need everyone to do:

• Please go to Mind Body Online and create an account
• Email Bill letting him know that you created an account so that he can give you proper permissions
• Wait until you run out of punches or your monthly membership is up and then make a purchase through our Mind Body Online store

In the mean time, I will be working on altering everyone's accounts to reflect your current membership status. Once I figure this out, you will be able to register for classes. Until then, continue showing up to the Fort as usual. Remember, the class registration thing is a test run as of right now and will not charge anyone for a no show or two or ten. You aren't required to use it, but we would appreciate it if everyone tried it out and provided us with their feedback.

**Update**

Due to several people's concerns about having to miss classes around the Holidays and such, we have decided to put the kids on 12 class punch cards as well. The cards will be good for 2 months and will cost $120 for kids of non-members and $80 for kids of members. I am adding this option to our online store immediately.

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While searching the "healthy" aisle at Jewel the other night for a "no sugar added" marinara sauce for our meatza, we came across "The Original Breakfast Cookie". Frankly, I didn't realize that there were multiple breakfast cookies to choose from nowadays. I mean, I know there are pop-tarts and other sugary frankenfoods, but to try to sell me on eating cookies for breakfast, now that is something new.

The uninformed masses patroling such an aisle are unlikely to be able to realize how poor of a food choice this breakfast cookie truly is. Afterall, the packaging is plastered with statements such as:

• All Natural
• 0 Trans Fats
• Baked Fresh with Whole Grains for life on the go!

How is one to argue with such information!?

I decided to take it one step further and visit the website of The Original Breakfast Cookie. Here is what the manufacturer has to say about their Breakfast Cookie:

The Original Breakfast Cookie is something you can feel good about eating. Baked fresh with heart-healthy whole grains and sweetened with fruit puree, our cookies combine the flavors we all love with a heartiness that satisfies for hours. Packed with protein, antioxidants, fiber and complex carbohydrates, it is a healthy and delicious way to start your day. Every Breakfast Cookie is handcrafted in our own bakery using the finest ingredients available. You can taste the exceptional quality in each bite. Taste one, or better yet, taste them all!

A few of the customer reviews were right there in plain site as well and I thought you should know what Carissa Hayes has to say about The Original Breakfast Cookie:

I would recommend any of Erin Baker's cookies to everyone. They not only taste great, but are healthy too. I feel much better allowing my children to eat these cookies than any other product that is out.

UN.BE.LIEVABLE.

OK, so I'm being a little dramatic. Ignorance like this is completely believable in this day and age. Carissa obviously trusts anything her government or big business has to say about nutrition. Hook, line, and sinker!

Finally, let's take a look at the nutrition label of such a nutritional goldmine:

Whole Grain Oats, Unbleached Wheat Flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Prune Puree, Evaporated Cane Juice, Water, Chocolate Chunks (sugar, chocolate liquor, anhydrous dextrose, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), Brown Rice Syrup, Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder, Chicory Extract, Molasses, Baking Soda, Vanilla Extract, Sea Salt, Soy Lecithin, Dried Egg Whites, Aluminum-Free Baking Powder, Cinnamon.

There you have it. A convenient, healthy, delicious cookie for breakfast. What else could anyone want? *HUGE EYE ROLL*

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Tres Potrillos was less than a quarter mile from our hotel so we went there for dinner. Here is what we had:

6 jumbo shrimp marinated and rolled up with bacon and prepared to perfection. Served on a bed of lettuce with sliced oranges and ranch dressing.

Grilled steak served with Mexican rice, fried beans, guacamole salad, pico de gallo, jalapeños and four flour tortillas

Grilled chicken, melted cheese, chorizo and pineapple. Served over a flour tortilla with Mexican rice, lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes and cheese

I asked them to hold the rice and beans, but they insisted on being wasteful.

Luckily, Jennie also avoided being poisoned...

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