Justin Schmalstieg, Marine Gunnery Sergeant, was killed in
action serving his fourth tour of duty in an active warzone, Afghanistan 2011.
He was an EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) Technician whose very job was as
dangerous and as important as any MOS in the Marine Corps. He was also a CrossFit
athlete and on July 4th, the WOD at CrossFit Champions was in his
honor: the Schmalls Hero WOD.
As the mother of an active duty Marine, doing this WOD was
not only a matter of respect, but pride. My son is currently deployed in the
Pacific Theater of Operations and I know he is closer to the ‘action’ than he
has ever been. It is only right that I
work my body as hard as possible, that I sweat and strain, that I finish
something hard because my son, and many other mothers’ children, are out there
doing the same for us, for the U.S.
CrossFit Champions was very full on Monday morning; it was
heartening to see athletes pushing hard to honor a great American. The HeroWOD
is a noble endeavor on the part of CrossFit. It may not be nationally
recognized or even locally noticed, but every CrossFit athlete knows what it is
and what it means.
It gives us just a little taste of what it means to make a
personal sacrifice that may or may not ever be noticed or appreciated by
others; how it feels to work to the
point of exhaustion without a single ‘atta boy’. While our mere 1 hour “sacrifice” is nothing
in comparison, we dedicate our sweat and tears to the members of the United
States Military who willingly sacrifice for us every day. #HeroWOD
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