Yesterday, the Crossfit Palo Alto community honored the 19 firefighters who died fighting a wilderness fire in Arizona in 2013, by doing the Hotshots 19 Workout. The workout is: 6 rounds: 30 air squats, 19 cleans (135/95 RX), 7 strict pullups, 400 meter run.
We did the workout in several heats, including members of CFPA and other local Crossfit boxes, and also including local firefighters. People scaled the workout to their abilities (for example, I lowered the weight to 75# and did kipping pullups instead of strict), but everyone gave big effort, and as always, it was a wonderful community event.
Our event was organized by co-owner, Kristen Dymmel, who is a former wilderness firefighter, so this event was particularly meaningful. She asked if I could write something about what it means to do a workout in honor of people who have lost their lives. On the wall in our warmup room, there was a large banner to memorialize the fallen firefighters, a page with each firefighter’s picture and a little bit written about him, and the essay that I wrote (which I’m posting here).
For me, I chose to remember Eric Marsh, supervisor of the fallen crew, yesterday. I chose him because he was 43, close to my age. Throughout the workout, his name was in my mind. Though the workout was not easy, for sure, it wasn’t mentally painful. In my mind, it was for Eric, to (in an incredibly small way) honor his memory, and so I didn’t really care that I could not stop sweating, or that the cleans, which would I would usually consider only moderately heavy, got so hard. It wasn’t about me at all. My last 19 cleans were for each hotshot who died, and it moved me to the point of tears to think of each of them, so much so that it was difficult to breathe during my final run because I was crying so much.
In addition to my own workout experience, it was really incredible to share this workout with so many of our active firefighters and peace officers. Honoring fallen heroes among us is special, but it was a great reminder that there are living heroes in our own community that we can appreciate right now. I was proud to be able to cheer and encourage their effort and commitment. The cheering, as always was awesome. I fear that some people will hear my yelling (or hubby’s cowbell) in their nightmares, but truly, everyone was cheering, finding out the names of visitors so they could be supported by name, lining the new running route to give directions and cheer, surrounding the last finishers of each group and cheering them and running their last lap as a team. It’s just incredible.
I don’t have a lot to say about the workout itself for me. I did work until it was over. It wasn’t pleasant, but that wasn’t really relevant to me. For me, it was so much about really thinking about whom we were honoring. I’ve done plenty of hero workouts before, and I had thought I understood what they meant, but this time felt different. Learning about these men, and about their stories beforehand, the experience became more personal and meaningful.
In the Jewish faith, when someone dies, we say to their loved ones :”may their memory be a blessing.” Thank you to each of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, who died that day. Thank you to the military and first responders, living, injured, and fallen--the memories of your commitment and courage bless us every day.
