It is so crazy to me that Annie and I arrived in Sioux Falls one year ago today.

Now we officially opened January 5th 2009 but we were born October 6th 2008.

Everyone has their story; here’s our CrossFit story:

Annie and I arrived in Sioux Falls, SD from Los Angeles, CA October 6th, 2008. Annie knew about 5 people in Sioux Falls from attending one semester of high school at Lincoln in 99 and taking an internship at KSFY in 04. I had only visited Sioux Falls in 2006 in August for a couple of days driving through to the Twin Cities.

We both came here for an adventure not really knowing what we had in store for us. One of the main reasons we decided to move here was we both knew about CrossFit, how successful it was, the potential it has, and South Dakota (let alone Sioux Falls) did not have an affiliate at this point. I would always ask myself, “Sioux Falls would be a perfect place for a CrossFit” now I tell myself, “boy I’m glad we were the 1st!”

I found CrossFit in July 2007. My brother, Mark, was training to be a firefighter and one of his buddies showed him the site and did a couple of workouts. Mark told me about the site and his workouts and thought I might be interested. I was. Right when he showed me crossfit.com it reminded me of high school football workouts. Those workouts gave me the best results of my life and sparked me to become a personal trainer in college.

I was at a point in my life where the gym and my workouts were dull and boring. I got caught in the trap of doing the same workouts and routines so mentally and physically I was burned out. When I saw crossfit.com I was immediately interested and wanted to start the workouts right away. So my brother and I went to the globo gym and did that day’s WOD. I can’t even remember what it was exactly, 7 rounds of knees to elbows, front squats…and something else. Bottom line we could barely finish, we were both so freakin sore and I was hooked. Two months later Annie and I got married moved from Anaheim to Santa Monica and I immediately joined CrossFit LA. CrossFit LA was everything I hoped for and some. The workouts, the intensity, the community it built. It was love at 1st puke:-)

Then in April of 08 we got a text from one of Annie’s friends in Sioux Falls, “Hey we are doing this workout, I heard it is pretty popular in LA, called CrossFit”. Annie and I both looked at each other and said, “WHOA!” We knew at the time South Dakota didn’t have an affiliate, but it was crazy to think of the possibility to open one there. We knew it would be far to expensive and difficult to open one in southern California. Honestly at the time we shelved the idea, but it was cool or think about opening one in a far away state.

I later got Level 1 certified June of 2008 in San Diego just for fun and because I was still personal training independently and I wanted to give my clients the gift of CrossFit workouts.

A month later Annie and I were at a crossroads in our life, career wise. She had always flirted with moving back to Sioux Falls even when we were dating but I never thought of moving to South Dakota. First, I barely even knew where South Dakota was, and second I did know it snows like 6 months out of the year and growing up in SoCal where the weather is sunny and nice 300 days a year was hard for me to think about moving away from. Through some long talks and both of us really going nowhere with our selected career paths we took a chance, packed our car, and moved to Sioux Falls South Dakota.

From the day we got here I was determined to start CrossFit; didn’t know how or when, just knew it was going to happen. Through a lot of planning we got everything together, found a space, moved in the space December 16th, opened the doors January 5th 2009!

I had some high goals set for this thing. But wouldn’t have thought we would reach them and surpass them! We are 130 members strong. People are seeing some UNBELIVABLE results. (I think of Nate losing just about 80lbs! All the women who tell me I have never done Pullups before in my LIFE and how we have someone new every week starting pullups without bands).

Everyday we get emails from one of you about how great CrossFit is, your results you have achieved, or how it has improved your life for the good. It is sooo cool to have met everyone on your 1st day, get to know you and see the transformation happen before our very eyes (it is truly amazing).

The reason why I love CrossFit. It pushes me to a higher level. It eliminates your weaknesses. I want to be the best and the healthiest I can be and CrossFit gives me the unlimited potential to do anything I want to do in life. And mentally I get even more of a benefit. Seeing how far I can mentally push myself puts me on a high, that I will always strive to push a little more each workout. It is a life long journey of betterment and that is hard to find let alone do!

I feel very very fortunate to be here and very very grateful to have met all of you and be apart of your lives!

We have some BIG plans in the very near future! This thing is just scratching the surface. Enjoy the journey, its only going to get better and better!

Chris and Annie Mello

That’s our story. What’s YOURS?

Today’s WOD: