Every person has a list of fears. These lists, depending on the person, can be either as short as an oompa loompa or as long as a 4 year old's Christmas list. Mine? I honestly don't have a long list of fears and ultimately fall into that oompa loompa category.

For those that know me well enough, one of greatest fears is flying. I admit it, I'm a white knuckler. Oh, how I can't stand it! I'm leaving for out of town tomorrow and all I can think about this week is not how much fun my mini-vacation will be. Oh, no sir! No, all I can think about is the 4 hour airplane flight. From the moment I get on the plane, I try to play it cool but I know I act differently. To everyone around me, I would imagine that they can see that look of fear on my face and the terror in my eyes. I know my wife does because from the second I get situated in my seat, she changes gears into the "have to keep husband from shaking like a frightened rabbit" mode. And, for the most part, she really helps keep me calm.

As I've gotten older, I have learned to better control my anxiety. One way I do it is through self-inflicted mental distraction. I read. I don the iPod (even during those times when the flight attendants say its time to turn them off). I put my hands in my face and lean forward. Anything to help shift my thoughts to something else. Not long ago, I discovered a new level of "distraction" - the airplanes built-in plug-in music. There I was flying home from wherever I was coming from and I plugged my headphones into the armrest of my seat and started channel surfing. I kept pushing the "arrow forward" button and saying to myself "Nope, don't like that. Nope, lame! Nope, what the heck is that?!" Then, I found something that caught my interest. It was the opportunity to listen into the air traffic control and the airliners pilots.

COOL!

I sat there in my chair and I listened intently for nearly 1 hour. Seriously, nearly 1 hour! I was that engulfed in this. When I listened closely, I was able to actually follow some of the commands and communication between checkpoints, towers and airliner:

Immediately the airplane leaned and headed right. COOL! These pilots don't mess around! I kept listening:

Now, at this point I was beyond interested, I was enthralled and I'll tell ya why. You're probably wondering what exactly is a TRACON? Well, lemme tell ya. "TRACON" stands for "Terminal Radar Approach CONtrol." It essentially is an operating unit of airline traffic that tracks and guides airline flights as they cross states and state line borders. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the TRACON to guide the airliners from tower to tower. For example, if I am flying from Miami, Florida, my flight would leave Miami International Airport in complete communication with MIA's tower. As I flew north back home to Chicago my plane would eventually leave the communication responsibility of MIA and transition to a TRACON, perhaps in Gainesville, Florida, who would then contact Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport tower to assume communication and guidance control of my flight. This would continue until my flight reached its final destination in Chicago. What I heard was the final TRACON involved, which is located in Elgin, Illinois, that had communication and guidance control of my airplane until it handed me off to the primary "ATCT" or Air Traffic Control Tower, at Chicago O'hare International Airport.

Whoa! That was a lot of information.

Now, you're probably wondering: "How in the world do you know this, Tom?" Simple. As a Sales Account Manager, my largest customer was the Federal Government's United States Department of Transportation (DOT). Inside the DOT is, you guessed it, the Federal Aviation Administration or the "FAA." I called on the FAA nationally and would consult, recommend, design and provide technology solutions for their I.T. needs. The equipment I sold were to people in many locations include the ACTC's and the TRACON's. Great folks and when I peppered them with questions, they were always happy to explain what all of the bazillion acronyms were. I had customers in the Elgin TRACON. I had customers that were radio controllers in O'hare's tower. They were smaller revenue customers, but still customers of mine that I worked hard for.

I know. I know. Amazing knowledge. I'm a man chock-full of all types of information. Most of it useless, but it's still information that I can rifle off in my feeble attempts to be dazzling.

Believe it or not, I found myself thinking about airline travel during one of our recent GYG WOD's. Yes, I am 100% serious! Give me a moment to explain as I assure you I am going somewhere with this. I walk into the box in the morning and as I approach the prestigious whiteboard, I see something we haven't trained in a while and another that well, we technically have never trained:

1, 1, 1, 1

- 5 "Clusters"

- 7 Chest to Bar Pull-ups

(7 rounds for time)

Cool! It's been a while since we jumped for height so I was "fully joy" for this. As I turned away from the prestigious whiteboard I looked up at the rower only to see a familiar face smiling back at me: It was Brian. "Maas" as I call him (like most others) has amazing and natural athletic ability. I've told him this and while he smiles sheepishly back at me followed by a very modest verbal reply, I think deep inside his skull he's really thinking "Damn right I do!"

There we all were warming up with lower height box jumps and then slowly increasing the height from 38" to 41" to 43". It was around here that both Garth and Super Dave reached their max; Garth with a very picturesque half-leap, half-grab as he succombed to his fear of height of the jump. Still standing was both myself and then Brian who made it look easy. Onward to 45", I make the jump as does Brian...easily! Up we go to 48" with everyone watching. I leap with all I had and next thing I know I am flat on my back on the floor after having epically failed the attempt only to come crashing down to the ground. Brian stepped up, took a deep breath and as we all watched in utter silence he leaped and landed the jump.

First try. Easy. WHOA!

Up the height went. Up the height went very aggressively past the current Fort record of 52" to a new potential record of 53". We all looked at the stack of bumpers piled high on top of the 24" box and wondered if Brian would do it. It was here that I began to daydream off and think about airline travel. More specifically, my experience listening to the airline traffic control. I stood there paying attention to Brian psyching himself up for the record setting jump and blurted out sarcastically: "Someone contact the FAA to obtain a flight plan for Brian's Box Jump." With all of the commotion and excitement, I doubt anyone heard me. Imagine what a fictitious communication log would look like if were able to tap into Brian's "black box" memory as he mentally prepared for this jump:

Just then, Brian squatted low and thrust his arms backward to start to build his momentum. At the bottom of his squat, his arms thrust forward as fast as the pilot would fire the throttle forward and up he went...really high....us watching....hoping....wondering....does.he.have.it?....and then the landing...ohhh he's got it...stick the landing, Brian...OH! NO!

Failed...barely!

So, close we all thought he had it. Here's the footage that shows both his 48" success and near 53" fort record:

After the Box Jumps, we all cleared the areas and got ready for the Clusters and Pull-ups. A cluster is exactly what it sounds like: A combination of a clean and a thruster, "Cluster." Aren't we CrossFitters crafty? We all got set and there I was debating if I was going RX'd or not. Super Dave wasn't going RX'd. I glanced at Garth's bar and as expected, he was going RX'd. Love that guy, that Garth Show. Always pushing the limit with no fear....except maybe of a 43" box jump. Great stuff! I thought for a moment longer and then mumbled to myself "Heck with this! Full Joy this morning!" and proceeded to load my bar up to the full 60K RX'd weight.

"Oh oh oh oh, yeah! Tommy Mo going RX'd. There you go, Brother! Let's get it!" Chanted Garth in my direction. I nodded and winked back as if to say "Heck yeah! Let's get after it." Coach Zach quickly chimed in with a "Hurry the fuck up Tommy Mo, we're all waiting!"

Yeah. Yeah. I'm comin' already.

My bar loaded and all of us ready, we get the 3-2-1..GO! from Zach and off we went tackling the clusters. Bars clanging, bumpers bouncing off of the floor and some mild grunts, you could both hear and feel the intensity that morning. We all repped through the first 5 and raced for the pull-up bar. One rep after another, we knocked out the pull-ups and into round 2 we went. More clanging bars. More bumpers bouncing off the rubber matted floors and deeper breaths combined with sounds of pain setting in coming from all of us gang members.

Round 2 completed. Round 3 completed. Round 4 completed.

Enter the uncomfortable. Breathing heavy, legs burning, forearms swollen and body temperature at a blistering 189 degrees, we all gutted through the clusters and walked slowly to the pull-up bar. Slowly, one after the other, we finished the rep.

Round 5 completed. Round 6 completed. FINAL ROUND!

Everyone working hard and gutting it out, Garth chimed off first calling "TIME!" to lead the way. Slowly but surely we all gradually followed his lead. This morning, my calling "TIME!" was long overdue as I immediately crashed to the ground to lay, rest and recover. Uhh yeah, TRASHED! But, another great WOD completed with an honest and best effort given. You can't be ashamed for trying and finishing. But, it wasn't just me with an honest and best effort, Super Dave was right there with me working his Cluster technique and making sure his chest hit the bar on all of his pull-ups unlike others who shall remain nameless *cough* Garth *cough*. Check out Dave's technique:

In the end, another great GYG morning. All of us focused and working hard under the direction of Coach Zach's watchful eye.

It's great that he's now completed the ramp-up and was in his first official class with the GYG. He comes out firing with a 48" box jump and darn near lands the 53". Miss or no miss, the fact that he "sacks up" and gives it a whirl earns major kudos in our eyes. Great stuff, Maas!

Great stuff this morning, Gang! Thanks for the B-L-A-S-T!

-tmo