In May of 2012 The Fort CrossFit doubled from a small 1,500 square feet to a legitimate 3,200 square foot space. It was great; there was room to breathe, an area for mobility and warm up, and we even added onto the pull-up rig. We took photos as JP methodically sawed through drywall and framing. A few of us worked that weekend and for the following week cleaning the new space, painting, lugging rubber stall mats, and preparing to show it off.
May 2012. Just after busting through to the other side.
If you’ve seen Oliver lately, you know that he has grown along with the gym!
Fast forward one year. It is now June 2013. Between the spring of 2012 and now The Fort’s membership has at least doubled. We are now a 4,500 square foot garage gym. With humble beginnings in a small basement corner, it’s safe to say that we have come a long way.
My intention for this post was not to boast about our square footage. I wrote this to boast about OUR PEOPLE. Thinking about last weekend makes me even more proud to be part of The Fort CrossFit. On Thursday night, JP began to prep the wall for the “take-down” on Saturday morning. Jay moved the electrical around the the wall could be taken down freely. Saturday morning a crew of us headed to the Bobcat Bolt 5k/10k and left the task of demolishing the wall the JP and Matt. They did it for time (what else would CrossFitters do?) and I believe it took them around 13 minutes – it’s on video.
The wall is down!
After finishing up at the Bobcat Bolt the crew headed over to The Fort to check out the progress. My jaw dropped; it was awesome; the space was HUGE. After taking it all in we began the move; lockers, refrigerators, cleaning supplies, books, desks…everything. Within a couple of hours everything had a new home.
Wall demolition gets loaded into the trailer and hauled away by Jameson and CP. Dirty job, someone had to do it. Not to mention it was about 90 degrees and humid – sooo sweaty!
On Sunday, we were all back at it around 9am. Matt and Kyle set out for stall mats and Katie and I started prepping the floor and cleaning lockers. When the mats arrived, CP and Carl got to work with the razor blades for some precision floor fitting.
KT vacuums the new floor. Another dirty job.
It’s like a puzzle.
Matt moves mats.
CP and Carl fit the flooring. Precision work!
Progress.
We were on a mission. We wanted to get as much done as we could so the gym would be ready for the masses on Monday. What I looked forward to the most was seeing the looks on people’s faces when they walked through the new main entrance.
Dana vacuums. That was a workout!
The mopping crew.
Group effort.
Kevin stopped by to see the place and lend a hand. Thank you, Kev!
Father and son. Even the kiddos helped out.
Matt plans out the flag placement.
Nate has a new home above the clock. He’s always watching over us.
Thank you to Dana and John Padden, Jay Parent, Matt Nguyen, Dave and Charlene Rochefort, Kevin McCarthy, Carl Ashby, Brian Doucet, Katie Hogan, Jill Manning, Jameson Lemieux, Jenn and Andrea Lake, and Brittany de Pinquertaine. Your help means a lot to us and it is much appreciated. Also, a HUGE thank you to all of our members for patiently waiting for the expansion, supporting us through the entire process, and continuing to “walk through the door”. YOU are the reason we were able to do this!
It is quite awesome when a group of people are willing to give up a beautiful June weekend to work (and sweat) their asses off. It is a testament to the integrity of our members and friends. I frequently look around and I am amazed by the community of people TFCF is built upon. We didn’t even have to ask and our friends were by our sides.
It’s amazing, so amazing.
This is The Fort CrossFit 4.0…
This is OUR gym.
Ashley Finding Balance 