7 Years of Norman

My father passed Dec 18th, 2016. He was a 20 year Army Veteran serving in 2 wars, both Korea and Vietnam. I knew I needed to do something positive to contribute to the world in his honor and most importantly, help serve a community that he was a part of.

Two things drove me. He suffered from post traumatic stress disorder since as early as I can remember. This was something I didn’t realize until his final months when I witnessed him relive much of his combat experience from his hospital bed.

Over the years, my father also lost the ability to do the simple day to day tasks that you and I take for granted. Bending over, picking things up off the ground and walking became difficult. And as you can imagine, this had a tremendous impact on him mentally.

It made me realize that we owe it to ourselves to protect our mind and bodies while we still can and support those that need it most. This is one of the reasons I became a CrossFit instructor.

By November of 2017, I merged my love of CrossFit with my desire to give back in my fathers memory. With the blessing of both the owner and the head coach of CrossFit Novato and many exhausting hours of testing this workout, “Norman” was born.  

This led me to seek out organizations that support our veterans in mind, body and spirit and provide them the tools to harness their own power to tackle the tough moments they face. After a lot of looking for just the right fit, and knowing my fathers deep respect of the Navy, I found the Courage Foundation.

The Courage Foundation was founded by retired Navy Seal Commander Mark Divine. It has been the go to recipient of all fundraising efforts. Every Dec 18, we run Norman at CrossFit Novato and have to date contributed over $25,000 to this important organization.

Moving beyond 2021 while the world rapidly changes, my vision is for this to become an ongoing vehicle of support for the Courage Foundation throughout the year. Stay tuned!