Most of my friends also know that I am a runner. I really don't even call myself that very often, even though running has been a major part of my life for, well, most of my life, but really the last three years. So I must admit I got a little excited when a collegiate Track and Field and newbie Cross Country runner contacted me yesterday about doing some CrossFit while she's home for the summer. She signed up for her first class this morning. I was really looking forward to getting schooled (no pun intended) by a woman nearly 20 years my junior.
There were in fact two new women in class this morning: one my age, and the college athlete. Because we have amazing coaches, the two new kids were broken in gently, given half the workout that the "veterans" were given. In true CrossFit fashion, those of us doing the full workout flopped down flat on our backs when we were done. I didn't feel too much like being particularly social, so I left the congenialities to the coaches, who weren't sweating bullets and heaving like a crank caller. The co-ed signed up on the spot. Within a few minutes after the end of the workout, everyone was gone. I was alone, left to do my extra work and my thinking inside the box.
May 14th is typically a day I do a lot of thinking every year. My mother was born on May 14th and she died in 1997. I still miss her immensely. I thought about her a lot today as I did my extra work at the box. I did an EMOM set of bench presses. I did my strict pull-ups. I did my toes to ring sets. Then I went on a cleaning rampage. Those ergometers just looked filthy for some reason. So did the wall balls. After all those things were clean there wasn't a whole lot of time left to go home and shower before I would have had to turn around and head to my son's preschool to pick him and my friend's daughter up. Double under practice just seemed like the right thing to do.
Before I knew it the lunchtime crew started rolling in, so why not hang out and see them get started on the WOD? The box was just where I wanted to be this morning. I wanted to be with the people that I consider my CrossFit family when I couldn't be with my own family. I was talking with Kelsey, our other female owner, and she was telling me that the two new women this morning were jaws agape watching me finish the WOD after Kelsey told them I'd only been CrossFitting for a few months. My immediate reaction was to think "No way...they were not!". I probably rolled my eyes at Kelsey. But you know what? That's EXACTLY how I look at Kelsey. It's amazing to watch this beautiful little woman throw weight around and out run and out jump a lot of the men. I admire her. I admire all our coaches, for different reasons. They all embody different strengths both in their individual physical prowess and their coaching styles. They are a wonderful group of people.
I left the box to pick the kids up from preschool and I thought about what my coach said. Instead of rolling my eyes I began to smile. Granted, the two new women haven't seen Kelsey work yet, but it is certainly a testament to the work of Nathan, Kelsey, my husband, and our other two coaches Thomas and Jon that anyone would be impressed with what *I* can do. It is also a testament to the very bedrock of CrossFit that I would want to spend today of all days thinking inside the box. People from all walks of life, philosophies, and athletic statures have suddenly made their way into my life through CrossFit, and I am certainly the better person for it. I hope I continue to have many years of thinking inside the box.
