I wasn't joking.

I'm sure some of you thought it was cute when I put up my last post about how much I like the people at Shoreline Crossfit for putting on this event for Emily. "Aw, that's nice. The people at his gym are looking out for his little girl. They probably feel bad for him. Skinny bastard can probably barely do a pushup!" (Editor's note: shut it.)

Then, thanks to the extraordinary talent of SCF member Chris Bruno, they put together this video to promote the event. Emily is on display in all of her flowery cuteness. I talk a lot but sound almost coherent (I'm serious...Bruno might be a genius.)

The video is all over facebook right now and the comments are piling up. Out of curiosity, I googled "shoreline crossfit emily tredwell" and what popped up amazed me. On the first page alone, four different Crossft affiliates had linked to the event (Elm City Crossfit, Crossfit Nor'Easter, Crossfit Strongtown and Crossfit Milford) as well as two different tumblers and a site dedicated specifically to Crossfit competitions.

Therein lies the difference. I'm not saying anything negative about your gym. I'm sure you have made friends there and the 20 minutes you spend on the elliptical followed by 100 crunches is just as good as any Crossfit wod (I'm kidding, of course...it's not even close.) The Crossfit community is unmatched. It's a great feeling when people you know and like are willing to help you in times of need. But I can't even begin to explain how it feels when people I've never even met are so willing to open their hearts to me and my family. Crossfit athletes sweat together, struggle together, fight together and, most importantly, never, ever, ever let each other down.

Thank you all for making a difference.

SCF for life.

I know I've mentioned my people over at Shoreline Crossfit a couple times in this space. If you haven't been paying attention or you've never heard of them, you better ask somebody! This is different than any gym, any fitness center, any health club...you name it, SCF is better. It's a community of people who push, prod, encourage and drag the very best out of you. I jumped on board two years ago when my basement workouts were teetering on non-existent and can't imagine how I ever got by at a YMCA. I honestly don't think I can say enough good things about this place.

Even Emily is a fan, although it's not hard to imagine why. She has tons of space to run, they have gymnastics rings to swing on and, frankly, there's nothing like a little foam-rolling after a hard day of being a three-and-a-half-year-old to work out the kinks. She frequently says to me, "Dad, we have to go to crossfit so I can get strong and climb trees!" Then she flexes and kind of growls and it's ridiculously awesome.

But then, they went and set this up. What can I say? People are just determined to make me remember that there is good out there...and, clearly, it seems to swirl around our little girl.

To everybody at SCF...I'll never be able to thank you enough. But, when Emily has two legs of equal length and is smashing WODS as a member of Crossfit Kids in a few years, that will be better than any thank-you note I could ever write.