With CrossFit’s popularity explosion (ESPN coverage and everything) the community is too large to selectively invite so CrossFit came up with the CrossFit Open. The world is divided up into regions, Northwest, So-Cal, South America, etc. Over the course of five weeks all athletes complete a specified workout and enter their scores into CrossFit’s database.  At the end of the five weeks the top 60 men and women from each region compete in the CrossFit Regionals (video from last year’s NW Regionals). The top 2-4 athletes from each regional competition will compete in the games this summer.

While I don’t have a shot at making regionals it’s still been a lot of fun to compete. At present I am the 312th fittest person in the Northwest and 6232 fittest person worldwide (subject to change as more athletes input their scores for this week). My height is largely a disadvantage as is my bum shoulder but I’m throwing down as hard as I can. Given the nature of the first four workouts this last one should be heavier, with deadlifts, cleans or kettlebell swings. That should play to my strengths.

The really exciting things is that Carol, one of the owners of the gym I work and train at, is presently ranked high enough such that she’ll make it to regionals. I’m pumped to cheer for her this final week and hopefully at regionals. Yay CrossFit!

Lastly, I wanted to share a video I recently made for the gym:

However, I have come to value my time at Rain City crossfit, not only because I’m stronger and my clothes fit better but because it is something that Clark and I can share. In fact when I think about the benefits of doing crossfit there are so many.  I have accomplished physical feats that I would have never thought I could and that makes me proud of myself. My coaches are so encouraging and I love hearing that I am doing well and performing the skills correctly. As an adult I know there aren’t many places where I receive praise for my efforts–a lot of things at work or at home are expected of me and so even if I do a good job it is just part of the routine. Sometimes I think the greatest motivator for me to go work out is just to hear my coaches and the other crossfitters cheer me on and tell me I’m doing well. I love hearing Clark tell me how proud he is of my efforts. Crossfit is also great at making me feel like I am part of a group–we all work out and suffer together. But in a good way. I’m sounding like quite the fan of Crossfit, and I am. Anything that lets me eat cookies guilt free is an awesome thing.

I know sometimes it is discouraging to see other people who are more genetically gifted/athletic pick up crossfit skills more easily and so when I feel like that I like to look back at pictures and see how far I’ve come. I think everyone should take a “before” picture because sometimes it is hard to see the progress that happens bit by bit. And I think sometimes Clark forgets how far he has come too. He has always been tall and slender as an adult but he wasn’t nearly as healthy or as strong as he is today. What do you say, want to see some before and after pictures? Oh yeah you do. Let’s start with Clark! And maybe just skip over me? no? Okay to be fair my before and “progress” photos will be shown too.

I dug these up from May 2010:

And from February 2012:

(It might be hard to tell but there is a lot more weight on the bar here and he is doing a deeper squat.)

A lot more back muscle–looking good!

Nice solid core and much heavier then anything he lifted back in May 2010. I know this because we didn’t own enough weights for him to do this much.

And from all the way back in October 2011 when I started (I don’t “suck in” on my Crossfit body shots–so you are seeing it all! The beginnings of a double chin, stomach that was overtaking a lot of my clothes. So embarrassing):

January 2012–actually backslid a bit with all the holiday eating but still looking better!

Also January 2012:

I posted this picture on my facebook page, not really expecting much in the way of comments and couldn’t believe the encouraging responses I got back.  My favorites were: “Cover Photo Worthy, I say. Cover Photo Worthy” and “Your arms look awesome. Need to find a sketchy bar and start putting bets on arm wrestling matches.”

I never thought I’d say this but I’m really grateful to have Crossfit in my life. All those hard workouts that I’m never sure if I’ll be able to finish (and then do), well, they are helping sculpt me into the person I want to be. And I get to share it with Clark. Awesome.

Because academics came so easily to me I never really understood why athletics didn’t. Genetics is part of it I suppose but I also never really trained.

Today I went to the gym for a lazy Sunday morning workout and before starting my workout I did ten dead-hang pullups. BAM. I also weigh more than I did back in the day and pulling that weight the length of my arms is no easy feat. Oh, and after the ten pullups and some other warmup stuff I hit a personal record of a 25lb weighted pullup (a pullup with 25lbs hanging from my waist). All this with my forever not quite right left shoulder post-surgery.

My point is that hard work and dedication can result in amazing physical changes so go get in the gym!

I’m also really thankful that these people don’t live next door to me:

Seriously what IS that? It looks like the hawk/eagle it trying to decapitate that guy. And the sign says “Our brother’s love.” What the heck. Someone spent hours and hours carving that. I’m SO glad I don’t have to look at that every day. It is in my neighborhood though. (These people also love the inflatable seasonal characters. They have them for more holidays than you’d imagine. )

Another thing I’m thankful for is the crossfit gym. This last year my weight just kept going up and up. My clothes stopped fitting as well and I was buying larger sizes. I’d complain about it and feel bad but I wasn’t really doing anything about it. The last straw was the family photos Clark and I had taken in July. I was barely able to button into the dress I had planned on wearing. I’ve owned and loved this sundress for years and never had a problem with it. When we got the photos back a month later there were good ones but there would have been MORE good ones if I hadn’t looked like a stuffed sausage.

Gym Chic

So I started at the gym that Clark loves so much. He is so passionate about crossfit and I wanted to like it because he did. Let’s just be honest. I hated it. HATED it. The workouts were so hard. My poor arms took two weeks to recover from the first workout I did. But we had paid for me for the whole month and, even if I hated it, I was still overweight and I hated that more. So I kept going. The people were nice, which helped me to not hate it. I’d spend my workouts imagining all the things I could be doing instead (…I could be eating chocolate! I could be watching movies! I could be riding horses! I could be eating chocolate! Wait, maybe that is how I got here…) and in my workout log I’d make little snarky comments and funny drawings about each workout.

Along the way my clothes starting fitting better. I lost about five pounds and went down a hole on my belt. I feel stronger. All good things but when I look in the mirror I didn’t really see much difference. Then I compared photos from the beginning of the first month and the beginning of the second month. And I’m totally going to keep going.

Week one on the left and week five on the right

More things I’m thankful about in the days to come. And maybe I’ll be able to get Clark to contribute too. (Oh-oh Clark, I’m calling you OUT!)

Round two, suddenly the bar felt really heavy…

And he was supposed to be throwing this ball but instead he leaned against it…

And finally just put it down…

And then he was supposed to be jumping on this box…

And he was supposed to be lifting this bar over his head…

But he finished strong on the rowing machine. And he didn’t throw up. So that was good.

Here are some of my other favorite shots from the day:

Lest you think that Clark was the only one in pain…

After the workout these boys rested like this for about five minutes. Then they were fine. All the adults were jealous.

All the participants from Rain City CrossFit (other CrossFits across the nation also participated.) A big thank you to everyone who donated to Clark, even though he thought he might not be able to do it when he discovered that he would need surgery.

Tovah found the photo a little disconcerting since I look deceased as well. You want to lose weight and get stronger? Workout so hard the color drains from your face.

Tovah felt I should also mention that my recovery from my laser eye surgery is going well. The first couple of days were a little painful but that has passed. Tomorrow my bandage contact lenses come out. Very exciting!

Kat and I: The Greek Goddess and the Spartan

We met some other warriors in our heat.

And some ninja turtles….

We got there early enough to enjoy the festivities. While walking around enjoying the music and sights I also took the opportunity to photo-bomb these girls:

We spent some time watching people go over the final obstacles which were in good position for spectating and by far the most spectacular obstacles. Since we live in Washington a little rain came in but thankfully didn’t stay. At that time it was time to start.

Excited to start!

And we’re off!

Each heat was 500 or so runners, ran every half hour. Apparently over 60000 people ran between Saturday and Sunday.

The third to last obstacle was a big cargo net that was probably thirty or so feet in the air.

After the cargo net I “ran over fire” as the event likes to advertise.

Check out my cape!

I’ll save the final obstacle pictures and the aftermath for tomorrow’s post as well as my thoughts on the race. For now I just wanted to get some pictures out there and say it was awesome!

Belief – a video more eloquent in what is being said than the images on screen.

The “What is CrossFit” video I’ve shared before. Awesome music, awesome video.

The CrossFit Origins video. It shows a beautiful history and is set to my favorite song from the last three years.

The Crossfit community is extremely welcoming and supportive and usually consists of smart, conscientious people. Heck, during nearly twenty hours of instruction with sixty students only one cell phone rang during class and no one was late.

Since I’ve spent very little time actually at Crossfit gyms I have received little formal coaching on my technique for the Olympic lifts but I received plenty this weekend, an invaluable experience. I was pleasantly surprised to be repeated told my form looked great during small group breakouts. Additionally, the weekend provided me an abundance of tools to more effectively coach and train people. I believe that those tools will bolster my experience teaching martial arts and dance, making me even more effective at teaching physical skills. Factor in my comfort addressing groups of people from my Navy experience I am supremely confident in my effectiveness as a coach.

Of course no Crossfit certification would be complete without a good workout each day and we were beat down nicely on both days. The workouts, combined with hours of practicing the fundamental Crossfit movements, resulted in my being quite sore on Monday. Good stuff!

The coaching staff was fantastic as all Crossfit trainers seem to be and after passing the test Sunday evening I was officially a Crossfit Level 1 Trainer. This week I intend to try and get  a part time job or even volunteer my time for experience and gym access at the local Crossfit Gym in town.

Lastly, no level 1 course would be complete without a group photo. I’m on top of the SWAT vehicle, near the upper right. Check it out!