It was a wild summer and we really weren't sure if we were going to get to be able to make it up to elitefts™ to visit. My friends all asked if I was going to make it up there to train. The guys at elitefts™ kept asking if I was going to make it up there for some PR work. Matt Ladewski and Jenn Petrosino kept asking when I was coming so we could train together...
Well, it all fell into place and we made the decision to get on the road. I worked all night and then slept about three hours, and then we hit the road. My wife and I THOUGHT that we had prepared for everything but clearly we have much to learn about traveling, especially to the great unexplored state of Ohio.
My wife had been training to be prepared for Ohio and possibly fill in as an intern for a day while at elitefts™.
Once I got tired, my wife filled in and took over for me as you can clearly see.
But Paris just isn't quite as special as London.
I may or may not have passed by elitefts™ once again, on purpose of course, before I made it into the multiplex parking lot that they have.
Steve Colescott was clearly working hard as I ran into him in the parking lot, which continued the suspicion that he didn't really "work" at elitefts™, but that Dave simply let him wander around the parking lot and use the WiFi connection to play on Facebook and send emails without calling the police to have him reported.
About a flat second later, Ms. Ronda came running out of the office and gave me a big ole hug. She made my trip worth it right then and there. I don't have the words.
They both brought me inside the office and took me on a tour where I got to meet everyone. Most of the names I knew and several of the faces I had attempted to delete on Facebook before, so I had that going for me ahead of time. Still, I never got the name of the young lady answering telephones in the center office, only that they called her "that hot girl", and they weren't lying. Maybe next trip I will actually learn her name.
Then, Steve looked at me and with a classic Steve Colescott voice, head turned at an angle, looking up at me with glassy eyes and said, "So, would you like to meet Dave?" in a tone that made it sound like Dave was something that they only let out on special occasions. I expected either a four-inch man to come running out from behind a barrage of computer screens in the office, or for them to take me into a secret basement where they kept him in a steel cage because of the full moon. I was slightly disappointed that neither were true.
Steve walked me out to the gym where I heard a grunting that I had heard so many times before on videos. Sounds that I could not mistake for anything or anyone else in the world. Dave Tate doing what must have been 100 reps on the leg press with every plate imaginable (so...probably about 300 pounds "in your hands"). He went through another couple of sets and then began to stumble and huff and puff his way over to where we were and then did something that will never escape me for the rest of my life.
He reached out and shook my hand and gave a simple "Hi, how are you?" while never breaking stride and walking over to my wife, shaking her hand and saying "We really want to thank you for letting your husband take time out of his day and your vacation just to be a part of the team. His work really does make a big difference to us and to a lot of other people. I really appreciate all that both of you do."
While I was excited JUST to meet Dave and more than anything, more than training at elitefts™, more than the public relations, more than ANYTHING ELSE, I just wanted to sit down and take Dave out to eat and to thank him. And the first thing that HE does is walk by me to give his respect and say thanks to the family that holds his athletes, his friends, and his company together. And that was just the start of The Education that Dave Tate would give me over four days in London.
Later that night my wife, son and I came back to meet up with Dave, his wife and son, and Sheena Leedham at the gym to hang out and grab a bite to eat afterwards. My son, Steven, had a blast playing with Dave's son and that is all he talked about the rest of the trip.
"Is Blaine going to be at the gym? If he will be there, I want to go too!".
My family, Sheena, and Steve all left the gym late and it seems that the night life isn't really that "hopping" around London. Similar to Paris in that respect. We went into a couple of restaurants before we found one that was open past Senior Hour (6 PM, I think) but we finally stumbled into a local place that at least had some food we could feast upon. At this point I became really suspicious about Sheena, and why anyone would order a salad as a main course. Ever. But I'm pretty sure that she was slightly suspicious as to why I had brought olive oil (and ammonia capsules) with me and began pouring the olive oil all over everything on my plate.
My wife did ask an important question.
"If the company is run through the internet, what happens if the entire system goes down?" That was an important question in the following days.
As we parted ways, I went straight to the local truck stop and loaded up on quality midnight foods. Drinks, chips, powdered doughnuts, ham sandwiches made from odds and ends, etc. All of this became very important as well. Especially since I had to be up, bright eyed and bushy tailed early the next morning (noon-ish) to do a series of interviews with Steve.
Check back soon for more...MUCH MORE!
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