Jeremy Thiel is standing in the athletes’ warm-up area, yelling at a flat-screen TV streaming the live feed from the JumboTron towering over the Stadium. The energized Texan is barking instructions and encouragement as Crystal McReynolds and Carey Kepler work their way through a WOD. He looks almost as fired up as when he pulled 505 in the deadlift ladder a few hours earlier.

Thiel is passionate about CrossFit, but he’s also passionate about CrossFit Central, his athletes, his friends, his co-workers and his family—and Kepler and McReynolds represent all those things at once. Read More