Sara Wilkinson: “Grief Is Love With Nowhere to Go” (EP. 051)
The CrossFit Podcast
CrossFit LLC
4.3 • 757 Ratings
🗓️ 10 November 2025
⏱️ 79 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
You’ve probably heard of the workout CHAD1000X (1,000 weighted step-ups for time) and The Step Up Foundation – the organization using fitness to raise awareness for mental health and veteran suicide prevention.
In this episode, we get to know the selfless leader behind both: Sara Wilkinson. After losing her husband, Navy SEAL Chad Wilkinson, to suicide in 2018, Sara turned grief into purpose, creating a global movement that’s brought thousands together each year to honor his legacy and support others who are struggling.
She opens up about what it means to carry grief, how community heals, and the importance of looking people in the eye and asking, “How are you, really?”
Topics Included
- The story behind Chad1000X and its growth into a global movement
- How Sara transformed grief into purpose through The Step Up Foundation
- Compassion, resilience, and the power of community in healing
- Suicide awareness, mental health, and the language we use around loss
- The realities of military life, brain injury (CTE), and post-service transition
- The importance of small acts of kindness and connection
Resources Mentioned
- Chad 1000X
- The Step Up Foundation
- Home Base (Boston-based veteran brain clinic)
- Sound Off (mental health therapy platform for veterans)
- Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS)
- Boston Frogman Swim
- 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
- Sara Wilkinson on Instagram
- Willpower and Resilience, Live Big
- Jocko Podcast
- Cleared Hot Podcast
Community Highlight
Cory and Sara Fulana don’t just run two gyms — they run on purpose.
At Silk City CrossFit and CrossFit Hartford, service is part of the workout. Every month, they rally their community for something bigger — suicide awareness events with Uplift, women’s WODs supporting local female-owned businesses, Toys for Tots drives, marathon rows for the Boys and Girls Club, and Hero WODs that honor those who have served.
Their question is always the same: How can we give back?
Because for Cory and Sara, CrossFit isn’t just about fitness — it’s about using strength to serve others.
Know someone you think deserves to be highlighted? Nominate them here.
Share Your Thoughts: Email us [podcasts@crossfit.com] or complete our survey here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What you've managed to do, Sarah, is transform this unimaginable tragedy into this source of strength and healing for others. |
| 0:09.0 | There was never some master plan of like, I'm going to create this workout and it's going to be big. |
| 0:15.0 | It's mind-blowing what you've been able to do and you're living proof that you can take something, even in the darkest times, and you can create something beautiful. |
| 0:23.1 | What are the things that you think about when things are hard or when you're frustrated or |
| 0:27.6 | when you want to quit? |
| 0:28.8 | You don't get through life alone. |
| 0:30.6 | Who do you step up for? |
| 0:41.5 | We do these. These are like the pre-recorded ones. So these are on the, well, they're pre-recorded. |
| 0:45.0 | And then we have these lives that we've been doing lately and we do them weekly and it's |
| 0:48.2 | like me and James and then some guests and we go a little rogue on those. |
| 0:54.6 | Yeah. |
| 0:56.2 | We have a good time. |
| 0:56.9 | Yeah. |
| 0:57.5 | That's good. |
| 0:59.2 | Yeah, we're in the, how are you doing? |
| 1:00.0 | What you mean up to? |
| 1:03.1 | Just life is kind of busy. |
| 1:06.1 | My daughter and her fiancee just moved back. |
| 1:07.8 | I'm on the East Coast right now. So they move back to the East Coast and like just kids growing up |
| 1:13.0 | and managing life really. Trying to manage being an empty nester is really what it is. It's hard. |
| 1:19.1 | What does that feel like? Terrible. Like is it like what is my purpose? Who needs? |
| 1:26.9 | Well, you know what's interesting is, is, I guess it all depends on when you have your kids, but for me, I had my kids very young. So now I'm in my late 40s and obviously I'm alone and don't have their dad. So you're not living kind of that empty nest life you thought you would have. |
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