Raphael Durand
Coach/CrossFit Games Athlete
@raphdurand
Home town?
Born in Avignon, France. Grew up in Menlo Park, California.
Currently living in?
Redwood City, California.
Where would you live if you could live anywhere in the world?
Somewhere
with no-humidity, warm-weather year round a beach, some mountains, wildlife, and good wi-fi.
Northern California comes pretty close, but if you know a spot, let me know!
Do you have a nickname?
Rufio! A famous character from the Peter Pan
movie 'Hook'. Ru-Fi-Ooooo
You can only have one type of food the rest of your life... what is it?
Steak.
Bucketlist travel destination or itinerary?
I love getting to see
wildlife. Most recently, I went to Antarctica to check out some penguins. Maybe Gorillas in
Uganda are next up for me.
Scary movies, yes or no?
No. But my girlfriend, Ali, makes me watch them
anyways.
Top burger recommendation?
I've never craved a burger more, than one
from In'n'Out when I moved out of the country for a year.
Go-to music type or band?
Alternative rock. Listened to a lot of Linkin
Park growing up! I must have seen them live 4 or 5 times.
What got you into CrossFit?
My first ever CrossFit workout was in a
Planet Fitness whenI was 21 years old. I heard about this thing called 'Murph' and figured
it took around an hour, which was about how long I would workout for anyways. I did the runs
on the treadmill, and strict pull-ups (because I didn't know how to 'kip'). On the second
run, I remember thinking "what is happening to me?". Fast forward a year, a couple of
friends of mine, Morgan Bungerz and Nick Zapp, introduced me more formally to CrossFit.
For me, CrossFit was that perfect transition from competitive team sport. This was something that I could continue to compete in.
If you could spend an hour with anyone in history who would it be?
Most
definitely, without doubt, Spongebob Squarepants.
Favorite non-CrossFit sport/activity?
I play ice hockey once a week.
It's fun to get outside the gym, lace up the skates, and push a black piece of rubber around
on a frozen sheet of water.
One thing no one knows about you?
In my day job, I've become referenced
by some of my colleagues as the 'Excel Master'. I guess I'm pretty handy with spreadsheets.
