Goodbye CFSB

I just coached my last class at Crossfit Southbay.

Reading the words I’ve just written stir up a lot of emotion for me.  Pit of your stomach kind of stuff.  I don’t want to leave.  I love it here.  I love the gym, the members, the other coaches, everything.  Life is calling though, and its finally time for me to grow up.  In a few short weeks I will be starting physical therapy school at UC San Francisco.

Let me back up a little and give you some background on me, so my decision makes more sense.  I went to college with vague, grandiose notions of being a doctor (me and half the kids who go to college, right?), but mainly I just wanted to play rugby.  My plans changed just before my second year of college, when I shredded my MCL in a summer rugby tournament.  As I went through the recovery process, I found my interactions with the various physicians infuriating.  The people who seemed to care, and actually help me get well were the physical therapists.  When therapy wrapped up I was stronger than I was before I got hurt.  I thought to myself “Self, there is something pretty cool about physical therapy.”  The next semester I switched majors and headed into pre-physical therapy.  While there, I had an internship with a physical therapy clinic.  That was 5 years ago, and I haven’t looked back.  Working in a clinic for so long has solidified my decision that I should be a physical therapist, but to accomplish that I had to commit to 3 years of grad school.

3 years doesn’t sound that bad, but when I graduated college there was no way I was going straight back to school.  My senior year I had a full load of classes, worked 30 hours a week, and was the president of the rugby team.  By the time I graduated, I was toast.  All I wanted to do was disappear to Costa Rica and never be heard from again.  I did that for a couple weeks, and did some serious thinking about my future.  Should I go to physical therapy school?  Should I try to be a doctor?  Make a go of being a fitness professional?  I choose option D) move to Australia.  I worked for a year and a half saving money, and spent a year living in Australia.  My time there was incredible.  So many good mates, hazy nights, beautiful places.  I came home in January of 2010, and was right back where I was when I left: still waiting to go to PT school.

A few things happened that helped me make up my mind.   One is pure jealousy.  I had let a few years get away from me, and the kids I graduated with who choose to go to PT school were about to graduate.  They had put in the work and were living the life I wanted.  Having pissed off to Australia for a year, I felt like I had finally taken the mental holiday I needed after college.  I was ready to grow up and face the real world.  The real world came much sooner than I had expected though, and helped me put everything in perspective.  A late night last summer I came about 1 millimeter from death.  I was stabbed twice, once in each side of my back, right through my lats.  The knife came closer to my lung than I’d like to think about.  The word all the doctors and nurses kept using was “lucky.”  I prefer to think about it a different way.  I like to think that pull-ups saved my life.  Without the muscle to absorb the blow, who knows?  All I know is that I was back at crossfit the day they took the stitches out, doing pull-ups in my first WOD back.

I guess I should have mentioned that right after I came back to LA, I joined Crossfit Southbay.  One of the best things I’ve ever done with my life.  For the past year and a half CFSB has been a big family to me.  I love coming into the gym, saying hi to all the regulars, introducing myself to the new person just in from on-ramp.  I love the feeling of a heavy bar when you catch it cleanly.  I love the gasping, can’t breath, just got flogged by a WOD feeling.  I love leaving sweat angels.  I should say thank you now to everyone who helped me.  Slaughter was my first coach, if you’re reading this buddy, thank you.  You inspired me, showed me what is possible for someone to achieve just by focusing on the fundamentals and working everyday.  Cody, Remy, Marissa, John, Chris, Scarlett.  Wow.  So impressed.  I am the athlete I am today because of everything I’ve learned from you.  Every day I get to be coached by you, I learn something new.  Forrest, thank you.  You gave me the opportunity to be a crossfit coach, you helped me learn the right way to do it, and you supported me from the first day to the last day, all with a smile on your face.  You are an example of the right way to do things.  Most of all, thank you to everyone who let me coach you.  It’s been a privilege.  I will miss coaching at CFSB as much as anything, and it makes it that much harder to leave.  I don’t know when I’ll be able to come back, but I will.  I know when I do that the gym will have improvements, and that everyone here now will be stronger, fitter, and faster than they are now.  I already can’t wait to come back and visit and I haven’t even left yet.

I am thrilled to be going to San Francisco.  UCSF was my first choice school, the one I didn’t believe I could get into right up until the minute they told me I got in.  I grew up in Santa Cruz, so you can imagine the folks are pretty excited to have me closer, if not quite back home.  I am stoked to get started on my professional career.  Living in San Francisco has some pretty cool perks.  Giants games come to mind, not to mention lots of awesome hoppy beer.  I’ll be working out at my new crossfit home San Francisco Crossfit, which happens to be owned by Kelly Starrett.  K-Starr is also a physical therapist, so I’m looking forward to watching how he integrates physical therapy into crossfit.  Anyone making a trip up to SF, MUST come get a workout in with me.

I will be traveling for the next week, but I’m in town for Memorial Day weekend.  Saturday morning I will be at the gym for a last WOD, please come.  Lets do what we do one last time…

I am going to miss CFSB.  I have had the time of my life coaching and working out with everyone.

Thank you all.

Sean McBride

Workout of the Day 5/20/2011

A. Hang Power Snatch 5-5-5

B. “Sean”

3 Rounds
12 Deadlifts (225/155)
200M Run
21 Double Unders
200M Run
12 Burpees