That chipper is SSSSSSIIIIIIIICCCCCCCKKKKK!!!!!!!!!

I am a stay-at-home dad and I can't imagine ever letting my daughter roam the house out of eye sight or be in the bathtub without me there...even for a second. The past few stories for the Infant Swimming series have focused on parents who left their infant with access to a pool or in the bath unattended. I feel terrible for them, but I can't imagine allowing my daughter access to a body of water unattended. Do other parents routinely leave their infants in the bath or let them roam the house while they sleep?

@ #1 When our kids were little they were never left near water alone. Never ever.

Thank you HQ for the ESPN spectator feed! It is so awesome!

Wasn't able to attend the games this year, so the stream is the next best thing!

Thank you HQ for the amazing and FREE coverage of The Games! Outstanding work by everyone who makes this event happen each year!

Sunday musings (from the Games)...

1) Hall Pass. Yup. Got mine. The whole weekend to hang at the CrossFit Games. With "The Heir" and Lil'bingo. Yup.

2) Cyber-gym. Once upon a time in CrossFit land most of the people who did CrossFit congregated here, on the Main Page of CrossFit.com. This cyber-gym has since expanded, kinda like an Affiliate that got so big it needed a bigger space, and now it includes stuff like FB and Twitter. Many of us have forged a very cool kind of friendship or kinship through the shared suffering of CrossFit in this cyber-gym.

It's especially cool to actually meet these folks in real life. For real...like shake hands and hug kinda real. At the CF Kids Teen Challenge I met the near-OG who once upon a time went by "Cougar" around here along with a half dozen other women who've met the same way. Very cool pic floating around FB as proof.

Full frontal hugs had by all.

3) Vetted. Bumped into Kelly Starret. You know, budding author about to be published (do look for his book, out in early 2013). We got to chatting about our community and the word he used to describe it was "vetted".

"I know everything about you once I know you are a CrossFitter. I know who you are. I know who you hang out with. I know the kinds of choices you make, good choices. I already know we will be friends. You've been vetted, simply by telling me you are a CrossFitter."

I really like that word and all it stands for in this context. There is an assumption of good will extended from all CrossFitters to all CrossFitters. We are not surprised in the least when we meet yet another really nice person with a great story. Astonished yes, but no longer surprised. Like today when an honest-to-goodness real-life American hero spent 20 minutes talking with my boys after just having met them, sharing words of encouragement and inspiration (you and your fiance know who you are--thank you).

Indeed, I like that word and how Kelly used it so much I think I'll buy him a dinner at a place called "Lola"!

4) Community. I've been reading Allison Belger's book "The Power of Community" in which she dissects the CrossFit Community from the perspective of both a CrossFitter and a psychologist. I'm reading and re-reading parts so I'm not going through it all that quickly--I'm enjoying savoring the gems and jewels I've been finding there, and I'm sure that I will share more than several of those once I've mined it fully.

Every anecdote so far elicits a knowing nod. I struggled a bit with the question of "why"but I think I've figured it out. You know, as in why does CrossFit create such a strong community? Again and again, on a micro (Affiliate gym) and macro (the CrossFit Games gathering) level.

The science is cool: it turns out that we as creatures are probably wired for community, wired to become a part of a community. What it takes for this pre-wired state to become operational is some trigger or stimulus. The most exciting applied neuroscience now extent is in the realm of my day job where the brain part of the vision system can actually be made to change, to get better, if the stimulus that causes maximal activity in a neural pathway is repeatedly applied.

Ah... now we're getting somewhere. Our stimulus is the willful acceptance of discomfort, and more so the shared experience of that discomfort in an effort to better ourselves. There is obviously something about this particular stimulus that fits right into that pre-wiring for the creation of a community. Dr. Belger's book not only gave me an expanded vocabulary to describe our community, what our CrossFit community looks like, but it also helped me answer the the question of "why" it happens.

Whether in the cyber-gym or a Box, the stimulus for community lies in the willingness to pay the price to move beyond your perception of what is possible; once having done so one seeks others willing to do the same.

Having found them one always seems to be at home.

I'll see you next week...

Here are my picks for the final podium today at the Reebok CrossFit Games.

Individual Men
1. Matt Chan
2. Rich Froning
3. Dan Bailey

Individual Women
1. Julie Foucher
2. Camille Leblanc-Bazinet
3. Annie Thorsdottir

PS: Massive kudos to the comm team...I've been following the twitter feed religiously during the events...absolutely OUTSTANDING work, ladies and gentlemen! :^)

I appreciate the live feed, it's awesome. Disappointing that the community isn't mature enough to handle the live chat. I like being able to see people's reactions but it's marred by people's inability to filter. Would like the option to ignore people if that's possible next year. There was this guy King Bin who did nothing but spam capital letters for hours. Also, a lot of the comments about female competitors were horrible.

Bingo,

Can you believe it's been three years since we met at the Games in Aromas? Seems like a lifetime ago in some ways..

Hopefully, I'll be seeing you again in 2013 brother!

-Jer

Elizabeth/Isabel/Fran!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blew my mind- Last WOD of the day and as soon as Froming wins people start getting up AND LEAVING. DURING the WOD.
Excuse me people, this is not a baseball game.
You don’t leave like that in the middle of the WOD. You stay and cheer on the people struggling. These guys worked so hard to get here.
Your a jerk at the box if you do that, and your certainly a jerk at the games.

300 pound grace in under 22 minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7LZopDzkLw

Question for the group:

In the swim event of 2011, one of the female competitors had her hands on her thighs while doing the squats. Is that legal? It seems more work can be done that way, so I would think it is similar to a kip.

Does anyone know why these games can't be televised live on ESPN?Yesterday ESPN and ESPN 2 had Bowling and Billiards for much of the afternoon,I mean the streams were cool but lot of bad quality and buffering in and out, same with watchespn app(maybe its my computer)would have rather watched in front of tube instead of Comp.
Nice job to all Individuals and Teams

f/42/178/5'10"

I did the row, cleans, burpees event from the masters.

1000m row
30 cleans at 90#
50 burpees

11:09.... Man! Those women are good. Those movements are in my wheelhouse (well, not burpees.. there's lots of room for improvement there)

I'm going to have to give this one another go.

To Shauna and her family,
I know what it is like to have a child disabled in an unexpected manner. Life happens in many ways that we often don't anticipate. I also know that despite the challenges that exist, your child will always know and cherish your love and commitment. He will always love you and share that love with you in his own unique way. For Christian, it is his family that mean the most to him. Continue to love your child and care for him.

A parent who understands,
Steve

@#2 and #3- As an ISR instructor, I have to say I think you are missing the point of the program. ISR teaches children aquatic survival, should they find themselves in a hazardous water situation. As parents, we watch our children carefully, however, it only takes a moment for a child to slip away from a parent's watchful eye. This can happen to the most conscientious of parents and we want to prepare a child for that situation. Just because you never intentionally allow a child near water alone, doesn't mean they can't end up there. Wouldn't you like to know that if the situation arises, your child knows how to save him/herself?

To Shauna, Christian, and the rest of the family,
I forgot to mention this last night. Christian is a beautiful boy, both before and after. He will always be beautiful.

Steve

Thank you, Steve! We love him as he is now and agree he is gorgeous.

Couldn't agree more with ISR instructor.

Go ISR!