Tell us about yourself:
I’m a husband, father of 4, and pastor. I love Jesus and living out here in Ventura County. I’m a St. Louis Cardinals fan (I grew up there) and I love a good cup of coffee.
What do you do for a job?
I’m the pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Oxnard.
Tell us something people might not know about you:
I have a Studio Art Degree from undergrad. I still do photography and design work.
What brought you to CrossFit in the first place?
At the time I was coming out of a real challenging experience. I was extremely overweight and stressed out. I was breathing hard walking up stairs, I couldn’t run around with my kids, I had grown out of all of my clothes, and was always exhausted. I knew had to do something. Thankfully, we homeschool our kids and they needed a PE option for them. BSCF is a vendor for our charter school and a friend recommended it, so we checked it out. Our youngest wasn’t interested but the older three were thinking about it but unsure. It was kind of a “if you do it, I’ll do it” arrangement.
What was your first impression? How has that changed?
My kids and I did a visit. The loud banging of weights and people pushing themselves to get stronger was familiar enough to me as a former collegiate athlete, but having it all coupled with support, encouragement, and an acceptance of people being at different levels was new and refreshing. It left me excited to step into it and, at least, see what would happened if I just tried.
What was your first “Bright Spot?”
It was when I was first able to do a full Fitness level workout without adjusting anything. At my age, physical improvement isn’t necessarily a given. I felt like I was actually getting stronger.
What are you working on now?
I have a few small goals with weights, but the biggest one is what the coaches have all taught me; just do 1% more than last time. I’m just trying to improve little by little each day. The more I keep incremental growth in mind, the more excited I am to show up and the better I do in the workouts.
What’s your favorite BeachSide CrossFit memory?
I have two 1) One day, after a Foundations session, my kids and I were all super sore. We were all trying to go up stairs but had a REALLY hard time doing it. We were in so much pain but all giggling about it. 2) In the Open last year I did my first pull up since I was in middle school. I was cheered on by a bunch of folks who knew that I couldn’t do a pull up. Being surrounded by the cheers and high fives was pretty cool.
