Howdy!  I’m David and I’m from Juneau, Alaska. At least that’s where I grew up till age 13 and moved to Singapore for a couple of years. Moved to Seattle during the grunge years and never looked back. I guess I’m a Seattle guy and my heart is from Alaska.

Man, I’m so Seattle that I was an Amazon.com employee during the door desk days! I’m a O’Dea grad and UW grad with a B.A. in Political Science. Right after graduation I decided that my mind was on cooking, so obviously I HAD to go to culinary school instead of law school, much to the disappointment from my Chinese mother.

During culinary school at Seattle Central I got a job as garde manger at the best restaurant in Seattle at the time, Lampreia. We won a James Beard award during my time there.  After that I floated around doing pretty much everything, learning from notable chefs in Seattle such as Thierry Ratareau, Tamara Murphy, Scott Sundstrom, recently Nathan Lockwood, and also worked with some of the worst. Got 15 years in the biz. Next step is opening my own joint: thinking high-end food set in a really nice bar. Get some beautiful, well-sourced, composed food paired with a casual but chic bar, perfect for groups or dates. Just try to not do all the stupid shit I’ve seen and emulate my mentors.  What could go wrong?! HAHA!

I found CrossFit while cooking around in 2009. The “gym” was in a garage in a condo complex. There was one rower, which took up the majority of the space, and a squat rack. My first coach had gained fame at the previous years’ CrossFit Games by finishing the final event (30 squat clean and jerks at 100#) with screaming, guts and tears.  She was also 14.  After my initiation, I felt like I was going to die and instantly fell in love with the suffering.

Seattle Affiliate League at CrossFit SLU

I found that CrossFit as a sport really spoke to me. I love the competition within the workout. I love the challenge of learning new skills, getting stronger, and getting faster… and I don’t mind the six-pack. I’ve competed at the CrossFit Games as a member of a team, and at Regionals twice. It’s just a fun, fun, fun experience. I’ll be “going for it” this coming 2018 season, as I’ll be in the Masters competition in the 40-44 class. I’ve got a plan and my priorities are set up, so we’re going to see what I can do.  Dedicating another year to it so we’ll see what happens.

The 2009 CrossFit Games

It’s been a truly fulfilling experience finding my fitness. I’ve discovered a lot about myself through CrossFit, including the fact that I really enjoy coaching. I’m a Level 1 CrossFit Trainer and I took a couple of years off from cooking and coached full-time.  I revel in people’s achievements and triumphs, and I’m also disappointed, sad, and frustrated when people fail. I take coaching seriously because you take your fitness seriously and that’s just the way it is. I’ll give you all I got- just give me all you got.

I also LOVE running an efficient, fun class. It’s a microcosm of professional line cooking. You have a set time and set tasks. There is the human component. Not everything goes right. Can be chaotic. Curve balls and everything, but those obstacles don’t matter- you still have your tasks to be done.  Clock malfunctions, pull up rig falls down, screaming kids and yapping dogs. Those things doesn’t matter. Think fast because you still have your tasks to be done in said time. Everything outside of that is arbitrary and to tell you the truth, what’s even better is having a great time doing it. There is nothing better than putting up 3-star cuisine while the world is ending, and there is nothing better than running an efficient, fun class while inspiring people to kill themselves… I mean get fit!​

I’m now part of the Training staff at Foundation and you can catch me assisting and leading some select CrossFit classes during the week, as well as on Sundays from 12pm to 2pm where we’ve added another Competitive Exercise class for those who want to take it to the next level!

Glad to be part of FCF!