Courage Games Review #1

A couple days ago, bright and early on Saturday morning we set up for the Courage Games.  The weather was showing to be perfect, clear, sunny with a little wind, and people began to roll in just as the weights began to line up on the black top.

With everyone signed in, we had 26 total athletes competing, 20 men, and 6 women.  I welcomed everyone to the event and we promptly got started with the forst WOD: 20 tire flips for time.  This moved along so smoothly with Gretchen Kittleberger tearing up the women's heat at 50 seconds, and Owen Leutz getting 65 seconds (with seconds place coming in a full 17 seconds behind him!).  Everyone attacked this one with inspiring intensity, and the whole crowd of people really seemed to get into this one right from the start.

WOD #2 talk came shortly after.  We all headed to the top of the big hill to go over the course.  100 meters kettlebell throw, to a 800 meter KB run.  Each throw was an additional 5 seconds to the overall time.  Again, smooth as ever with how it went down.  There was clearly some concern from the athletes about where the course actually took them, but in the end, it was pretty easy to follow (not all that easy to actually run though!).  Louren Twohig took this event from the girls, squeezing in just 7 seconds ahead of Gretchen, and Own Leutz again stole this one with a score of 296.  But the real battle on this event was between Dan Samarov and Graham King.  With Graham leading for the entire run, Dan was able to overtake him in the final sprint to the finish line, finishing about 1 seconds ahead.  But that's when the "curveball" of the WOD came into play.  It took Graham only 9 throws to get the KB 100 meters, while it took Dan 10; this ultimately gave Graham the better score on the event by 4 seconds.  What a battle!

Ahead of schedule, we took about an hour to break, so people could relax and refuel before the final event.  The breeze and the shade helped, and it seemed that everyone spirits stayed high the entire time.  And then came the standards fr the final WOD.

50 meter sprint
50 meter weighted sprint (2x25/2x10)
20 thrusters (95/65)
50 meter sprint
50 meter weighted sprint (2x10/2x5)
20 squat clean
50 meter sled push (95/55)
20 burpees
50 meter sled push
50 double unders

This proved to be, well, brutal!  I had planned for it to be unconventional in the sense that the athletes had to run to retrieve their weights, load their own bar, and perform the movements.  And this became a incredibly tough one, especially after the rough 800 mete weighted run an hour ago.  It was unanimous that the squat cleans were the toughest part of the WOD, and to watch people battle through that portion was one of the most motivating things I have seen a long time. Landon Purdue absolutely demolished the WOD witha score of 569, the next losest to him was Nick Hurndon at 583.  For the women, Gretchen Kittleberger flew through it, with a score of 528, over 100 seconds faster then the second place finisher!

With the WOD's completed, and the scores tallied, everyone gathered around for the announcement of the winners.  Heres what they got:

3rd place received: a nutrition consultation from Michael Donovan, a functional movement screen and 1 follow-up session from Louren Polivka, an article of clothing from lululemon athletica.

2nd place received: a nutrition consultation from Michael Donovan, a functional movement screen and 2 follow-up sessions from Louren Polivka, two articles of clothing from lululemon athletica.

a nutrition consultation from Michael Donovan, a functional movement screen and 3 follow-up sessions from Louren Polivka, a full outfit from lululemon athletica, and a set of rings from Rogue Fitness.

Women:
1st - Gtretchen Kittleberger
2nd - Louren Twohig
3rd - Mary Perry

Men:
1st - Landon Perdue
2nd - Dan Samarov
3rd - Nick Hurndon

A huge shout out and thank you to the judges and staff, Ori, Sarah, Steve, Kyle, Lindsey, Patrick, Patrick, Cory and Andrew.

Thanks so much to the Washington Waldorf School (my school from 3rd grade through 12th!!) for allowing us to use their absolutely perfect grounds for the competition.  And a huge thank you to our great sponsors for hooking us up!

lululemon athletica
Paleo Treats
Paleo Kits
Rogue Fitness
Justin's
Honest Tea

This was such a fun competition all around and I am so happy, and proud of how it all went.  All the athletes and spectators proved why it is I do what i do.  To see people outside, throwing weights around, sweating, smiling, supporting each other and having fun.  There is nothing that can compare to that sort of thing.  I met so many great people, saw so many first-timers give it their all, and go home with a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.  And I am honored to have been able to share all this with everyone.

To to make things even better, we were able to raise $300 for Steve's Club!  So happy about that.

I plan on having another couple (mush smaller) events before I head out to the West Coast with Lindsey to start a big gym.  And out there, I plan on hosting competition left and right, and of course, hope that many of you can make it out there!

Videos to come!

Thank you so much for making this day so perfect everyone!

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage