Fittest on Earth: A Decade of Fitness Page #4

go through it,

it's all over the place,

And as soon as you

got a herd of people

going through it,

You're basically

breathing smoke.

Early on,

there was a handful of athletes

That kind of separated

themselves towards the front.

Josh bridges, mat fraser,

brent fikowski,

Sam briggs for the women

in particular.

slow down,

slow down, slow down.

Take it easy going here,

you gotta go left, slow down.

we both know we can

pull away right now.

Let's leave these guys behind.

mat took off

and I was like, okay.

I let him go, let his lungs

burn up a little bit,

And then I'll catch up to him,

which is not the case.

All of the sudden, that dude

was just gone, so...

it was not

an easy run, by any means.

Some of those hills were,

you know, you're on all fours,

Using your hands,

you're crawling up.

I went down a little bit

and then up again

And then down, then up again,

and I was like, "wow.

When does this stop?"

Like, "when am I done

with this?"

I was just by myself,

kind of like,

"man, I hope I'm on

the right path."

you could see who said,

"I don't like this crap either,

"but I know I need to do it,

I need to be well-rounded,

"so I don't avoid it

in my training.

Hey, I'm glad you threw it

at me, watch this."

you're always looking

behind you,

Just constantly have that fear

of someone chasing you.

You just feel it

on the back of your neck.

So it's like, just keep going,

keep going, keep going.

Poof! All the dirt

off the ground,

you couldn't see anything.

I think I slid

all the way down.

It was the fastest, safest way.

- Ow!

-here he comes!

if you're running faster

than you can fall,

you're not gonna fall.

Try to keep those legs pumping.

how was it?

It was good.

not a barbell in sight,

And mat fraser's got

100 points on the board.

The guy wasn't

even breathing hard.

He just did a 7k trail run

through treacherous terrain

and walked off.

Josh bridges comes in

a 1:
20 behind him.

And then, as more and more

people filtered in,

That's when you started

to see the effects.

That was awesome.

What a way to kick

the games off.

Whoo! Yes!

Here's what I like

about sam briggs.

She's running,

there's not a female in sight.

She could walk it in.

Brent fikowski is

about 10 or 15 feet

in front of sam briggs,

And solely to establish

dominance,

Sam briggs dusts brent fikowski

just to say,

"welcome aboard, rookie,

this is my event."

Not necessary to do at all,

That's just how

sam briggs rolls,

and I love it.

Sam briggs beat me in the run.

did she beat you

on the run?

Yeah, I was the first dude

she beat.

- I know she was.

-She was right behind you.

I was like, oh, briggs-- yeah.

How close were you to brent?

I took him on the last corner.

I'm not the first dude!

Yeah, no, I, uh...

I don't feel good.

So you took fourth overall,

I took fifth overall?

Oh, yeah, 'cause of her.

I kept slipping

and I was going so slow

That I just went on my butt

and literally just like...

So, I probably have

poison ivy... All over.

seeing some of the women

of the crossfit games

Who are sweethearts

and beautiful women...

Do I look good?

...Just with

like dirt mustaches?

And like dirt beards,

you know.

And they didn't know it while

having the interviews done.

Have I been looking

like this the whole time?

Like mud everywhere, like

between my teeth and everything.

It was fine,

and you're like, "ohh!"

looking like they were

coming back from war.

I mean, just covered

in dust.

Looking like

they've been up for days.

It's the very first event

of the crossfit games.

People just hunched over,

dousing themselves with water

And then thinking,

"I have everything left to do."

Two minutes!

In theory, the fastest runner

Would not have

the highest deadlift,

And the slowest runner would

have the highest deadlift.

So sam didn't warm up

for the deadlift either.

I was like, "dude,

you gonna like warm up?"

He's like, "I just ran seven

kilometers-- I'm warm."

so in 2009, we did not

get the loading right

On the deadlift.

I said, one or two people

are gonna get the deadlift.

And in that year, I think it was

17 people cleared the deadlift.

I was like, this is

the opportunity to get it right,

The event right,

the loading right,

And the combination right.

you didn't even know

what was happening out there

Because no one was cheering--

you heard your name called out.

Now it's just you and a barbell.

sam dancer,

he's like a cartoon character.

He, I think, almost checked out

of life on the trail run,

But then when he got back in

And there was

a deadlift ladder there,

He cleared the entire thing

and pulled that last barbell

Of 615 pounds.

my spine would have

shot out my back

If I tried to do

something like that.

and then I watch

brooke wells

Pull 415 pounds from the ground.

pulled 505 at the games.

That's the heaviest I've pulled

in a long time.

I was really happy with my 505.

That's right at my pr deadlift.

505 ended up being

like 20-something place.

23rd? Oh, my god.

Which was crazy 'cause

that's where the ladder

finished in 2009.

Oh, wait, look,

there's tia toomey again.

Where did she come from?

It's amazing,

given that tia toomey

finished second in 2015,

That we still overlooked her.

yeah,

I wouldn't look at it like,

"oh, I can't do this

in any given day,"

And I've just done

the 7k workout.

Whatever it is,

I just have to try

and get to the end of it.

what happened to tia

in 2015,

That's a really good question

'cause I remember going back

And looking at everything

we did, we barely showed her.

there's rumors, there's

a mysterious fog about her.

You overhear something

in a bar.

You're like, no, that's a myth,

that didn't happen.

Damn it, how did she

catch us by surprise like that?

tia-clair toomey,

she flew under the radar,

And she was so consistent.

It's because she wasn't flashy,

didn't win an event in 2015.

you look at the women

she beat to get on that podium,

It's like, "who is she?" and

that's incredible as a rookie.

tia-clair toomey!

It surprised the

out of me.

we knew she was going to

be in the mix again in 2016.

but just very quietly

in the background, saying,

"yeah, I can do this

and I can do the next event.

I can probably do

the next event, too."

this year I qualified

for the rio olympics,

And now I'll be heading

over to rio

Ten days after

the crossfit games.

And I can call myself

an olympian.

You guys enjoy

your introduction

To the tenth anniversary

of the crossfit games?

yeah!

Good. Eat some food,

drink some water, relax.

whoo!

any part of you think that

you made the event too hard?

None whatsoever.

- you ever thought that?

-Yes.

We're pretty well conditioned,

comparatively,

To like a power lifter,

so those short rest periods

Aren't the worst thing

in the world for us.

But we're taking

just really nice jumps

And crossfitters

simply don't do that.

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