For years I was/still am an 'average' hobby jogger, and the last two years I've taken my talents to the local 'box' and think I can now say I'm in the low end of 'average' cross-fitter.
Some observations of mine...
- Distance running is just as much of a cult as cross-fitting is. Both are made up of people with the same Type A personality. In fact a lot of the memes are the same...For instance I have seen the 'Pablo Escobar sitting sadly on a swing' meme used alongside "when you show up to a party and no one wants to talk about your upcoming marathon" and
"when you show up to a party and no one wants to talk about your crossfit workout/benchmark workout PR, etc"
- The comparisons in this thread are pretty absurd. The reality is, an argument could be made that Ashton Eaton is the best to ever compete in the decathlon (for discussion in another thread), but because a crossfitter may not come close to his performance in one or more of those events they must be not as talented or athletic. The comparison of 'the best to ever compete' in their sport, however niche that may be, to someone else, doesn't seem to make much sense. With that argument, why are the other Olympic finalists even competing?
- In my limited sample size, from what I've seen in NYC, comparing the general population, I think there are a lot more crossfitters who would finish at a higher percentage in a distance race, than runners who signed up for the crossfit open. I'd say that holds true if they did the other event today, 6-months from now or 2-years from now.
- I can say with certainty that there are crossfitters who would finish in the top few percent of a NYRR race (5k-half marathon) with no training outside of what they're currently doing for crossfit. The same is true for indoor rowing (2k erg test). Are they olympians...no, certainly not. Had they specialized in a different sport from early on, maybe they could have been.
Whether it's running, crossfitting, both, or a different activity, hopefully more folks find something they enjoy to use it to improve both their mental and physical health. Afterall, that's why 99% of us do this stuff...we're not winning local races, let alone big ones to make a living doing it.