Stop saying that CrossFit won't make you bulky.

I am sick and tired of all the CrossFit advocates crying foul and saying that CrossFit won't make you bulky. Athletes and coaches generally make these statements in response to the protests of whining women afraid of trying CrossFit (because they'll lose their clothes hanger style stick figures). These people are lying. CrossFit causes you to bulk up in so many ways that people just won't talk about. I know because I've experienced the bulking.

Endurance running used to be my fitness world. I ran at least six miles four times a week and usually one 10-20 mile run on top of that. I weighed about 120 pounds at 5'7" tall and wore a size 4 (sometimes a 2). My last race that strictly involved running was in December of 2012. So, a little more than three years of CrossFit focused training and coaching later, I weigh about 132 pounds on any given day, I'm still 5'7", and I still wear a size 4 (sometimes now a 6). I look much healthier. I have meat on my shoulders. My butt has, well, "lifted". I have something that resembles hamstring muscles to balance out the quads on my legs. My vertebrae no longer visibly protrude out of my lower back. Basically, I no longer resemble the smiling outdoorsy stick figure that you see on all the T-shirts with the happy dog. I am definitely more bulky than I used to be, but I don't think that anyone that sees me walking down the street in jeans and a T-shirt would ever refer to me as such. More importantly, most of my bulking up hasn't been in the physical sense of the term.

My self-confidence has put on some serious mass. Hearing that "3, 2, 1, GO!" five times a week and knowing that I can survive whatever workout I'm commencing has certainly helped me tackle everyday tasks with confidence. Knowing that I can pick up my 80 pound German Shepherd with ease or carry my 7-year-old son for any distance if I have to is also a nice thought. I can open jars in the kitchen more easily, too.

My focus has seen some positive gains. Working toward multiple short and long term goals simultaneously in the gym helps me focus on priorities outside the gym as well. Learning to put my head down through a rough metcon and chip away at the reps has made the evening chaos at the Giddens' house seem much more manageable.

Adaptability fibers in my brain are becoming increasingly large. So what if something isn't going according to plan? Making adjustments and working through situations as they arise, even just being THERE, IN that difficult moment without panicking is much easier for me than it used to be. You have to be able to shake off that missed lift or "No rep!" in life just like you do in the gym.

Computational math is so much easier now. Just kidding. I still have a front seat on the struggle bus when it comes to math. But as a coach my communication capabilities have developed quite a bit. Because CrossFit truly is for everyone my capacity to move words continues to increase. I must be sure that all my athletes know what they are doing, when, and why. I can only hope to continue to grow in this arena.

Undoubtedly the muscle that has put on the most bulky mass since I started CrossFit is my proverbial heart. I love my gym. I love all the athletes that come into my life because of this crazy fitness thing and I treasure the friendships I've made and the experiences I've had. The oft-used "#fitfam" seems trite until you experience it. People think we're cultish and weird. Maybe. We are a group that suffers together, succeeds together, we invest in each other and our communities; ultimately we are all striving to become better people and we are doing it together.

December 2012 and May 2015

I am sure you have gathered by now that I was thin and didn't need to lose weight when I started CrossFit. I needed to increase my actual, non-satirical physical muscle mass to improve my health. Can CrossFit help you lose weight if you have weight to lose? Of course it can. Can CrossFit teach you how to be healthier overall? Absolutely. If you or someone you know are thinking of trying CrossFit but are afraid of getting bulky, or you are afraid that it will be too hard or you aren't fit enough to try it, maybe you should change your way of thinking. If someone says that CrossFit won't make you bulky, tell them they are wrong and that you know the truth and you hope for all the gains. I don't know anyone who couldn't benefit from a little more CrossFit style bulk.

The Backgrounds We've Been Given

Sometimes I fancy myself a bit of an artist. I like to paint things. I prefer my subject matter to be dogs and babies. Honestly, there are lots of things I've never tried to paint, mainly because I'm not sure I'm good enough to. I like to work from pictures and I usually need pretty good pictures to work from. I can fudge a few things here and there, but I'm not good at completely filling in the blanks when it comes to portrait work. I'm usually pretty timely in getting pieces finished unless I'm working from a poor quality image. Then I struggle. So, imagine my chagrin when it took me two years...yes, TWO YEARS to finish a portrait based off of this little sweet pea's picture:

She's gorgeous. The picture is of excellent quality. What on earth was my problem? I can certainly make the excuses that I had many other things going on in my life during those two years. That wouldn't be a lie, but it would still be an excuse. Being a wife and mother, my responsibilities at the gym, trying to better myself as a coach and athlete, and a very fuzzy puppy I brought into our home for service dog training certainly take up the majority of my time. I also had a few commissioned pieces come through that were bumped to the front of the line since this one was being done as a gift. There was also this one time, at band camp...the time I had to start completely over because while Captain Awesome knows better than to touch things that are on my easel (learned THAT the hard way), one of his friends did not (learned THAT the hard way, too). But even with all those things it shouldn't have taken me nearly that long to finish.

Somewhere along the line I realized why I was putting off finishing the piece. The little sweet pea in the picture above has a beautiful older sister. I created a portrait of the big sister, too, using a close-up of that peanut when she wasn't much older than Sweet Pea. Peanut was wearing a black shirt in her picture and the background was black. I lightened up the background of Peanut's portrait in order to keep the piece from looking like a hand and head floating in space. Part of me wanted Sweet Pea's background to match Peanut's background. The two might be hung in the same vicinity in the home, after all. The problem was, I had no way of knowing the exact combination of colors I used for Peanut's background. Many many layers usually go into a portrait that is painted in pastel. Never mind the fact that I finished Peanut's portrait over seven years ago. I remember I used some colors that I thought would bring out her eyes, and that pink might have also been involved. I asked the girls' mom what she wanted me to do for Sweet Pea's background. She gave me carte blanche power to make the decision. That means she was no help whatsoever...none. It's okay. I still love her.

One day I was sitting at my easel and I was looking at the progress of the portrait. I began studying my reference photo and trying to just create a tint of the main background color. That didn't really do anything for me. I added a few other colors. I still didn't like it. Shouldn't the background be similar to Peanut's? Finally I added the dark shadow behind Sweet Pea's head. As I added that shadow, before I could blend it away and lighten it up, I realized that it was that shadow that made Sweet Pea's eyes jump out at you with all the innocence and wonder. That shadow behind her made her skin appear soft and new. I darkened up the whole background and was eventually satisfied with this:

Well there you go. Not only did I grow as an artist, I learned a little something about life when trying to complete the two year journey of Sweet Pea's portrait. Sometimes the very best background for you is the one you're given. I've dealt with some pretty dark things in my life. Lots of them. I get the old "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" adage, but it's more than that. It's not just about being an optimist, or feeling stronger, or enjoying the challenge. Those dark shadows behind you are what make your light shine for the rest of the world to experience. Embrace the shadows and work to emerge from them to the forefront of YOUR portrait. Thanks, Sweet Pea.

"Badass" and other things CrossFit has taught my five-year-old.

"Was he good for you?" I asked my husband upon returning home from a Ladies' Night Out at our CrossFit gym. "No...." began his explanation of how, in my absence, our five-year-old son referred to a video about his favorite game as being "badass". Yay. The incident was handled by my husband and I didn't have to deal with the tears and apologies and the face being hidden behind the hands since my son was already in bed. I just got to giggle and be glad it was someone else's turn to handle it. You see, this wasn't the first time our sweet, intelligent child had dropped a verbal bomb. I vividly remember nearly crashing the car the day my son asked me from the backseat: "Mommy, what does 'pussy' mean?" The hard part about this is that I don't even have to ask my son where he hears these things. I know exactly where he hears them. He hears these things at a place I purposefully take him to between one and seven times a week...the gym.

A CrossFit facility isn't like a typical gym. We all know each other, we all workout together in small groups, we like to push each other and we like to goad each other. We're like one big, sweaty family. Because my husband and I co-own the gym with another couple, my son spends quite a bit of time there among an extremely wide array of "family members". I have learned that I will have to stomach some of the bad to balance out all the good my son experiences at the gym. Some people might wonder what sort of good things a five-year-old could learn at a place where he also learns such foul language. Quite a lot, really:

1) Women of all shapes and sizes and ages can be beautiful and strong. This may seem like a strange thing for a little boy to be learning. It may seem like a strange thing for the mother of a little boy to care that he learns early on. I think it's very important. He sees real women being praised for the effort they put in, not the number printed on the back of their britches. He sees real women being heralded for moving weight, not losing it (although he sees that achievement celebrated as well, as long as it's the goal of the athlete). He sees a camaraderie between women of all backgrounds as they work to complete a common task in the gym. Most importantly, he sees men of all shapes and sizes and ages cheering for all the women in the box and fist bumping every one of them that hits a PR or reaches a personal goal. Women are celebrated for their strengths and accomplishments far more often than they are objectified for their "assets".

2) Fear of failure prevents success. I can't tell you how many times he has seen missed lifts. I can't tell you how many times he has seen people struggle to get a pull-up or muscle-up and fail. He has seen people cry. He has seen grown adults pitch temper tantrums to rival those of any sleepy toddler (and make the colorful vocabulary of the most gnarled sailor seem pale by comparison). But nearly every time he sees those same people try again. They may not succeed the same day, they may not succeed that month, but they aren't so afraid of failure that they don't try it again.

3) How something is said is just as important as what is being said. Coaches tend to shout cues at people who are in the middle of a workout to remind them of movement standards or correct a potentially injurious movement fault. More than once my son has heard a coach shout the same cue five times to an athlete who appears to either be ignoring it or not understanding it. Another coach comes along, changes the wording of the cue slightly or draws the athlete's attention to a different body part and BOOM. Problem fixed. I have seen my son get the same look on his face while trying to ask for something as my husband gets when trying to coach someone through a complex lift. Certainly not always, but I think more often than is typical for a five-year-old, my son thinks about the best way to say something before he opens his mouth.

4) Praise is powerful. Everyone has a better time when the progress of the athletes is acknowledged. Coaches, athletes, spectators, EVERYONE smiles when advancements are recognized. I have overheard my son volunteer a "Good job!" to his friends when they are succeeding at something new or different. I know he hears these things at school and at friends' homes as well, but I know he hears it quite often at the gym.

5) Human beings can't thrive in a self-imposed bubble. My son has always been very slow to warm up to new people and new situations. The first 14 months of his life were pretty rough medically and I think that may have something to do with his suspicion of all things new and different. Being at the gym he's able to see that the people who ask coaches for help and discuss techniques and strategies with other members are the people that continue to progress and accomplish goals. People who come in and keep to themselves don't benefit from the input of others. Thankfully, aside from the previously mentioned goading (that takes place on a routine basis, yes, but all in fun), input from others is mostly constructive and encouraging.

6) Self-imposed bubbles aren't good, but people have to learn self-reliance, too. Newbie or seasoned veteran, ultimately every athlete who walks into the gym has to put the work in themselves. No coach or other member can lift the weight for them. No coach or other member can practice the rope climb or the handstand for them. We can help each other up when we fall, we can shout encouragement, but we can't make someone break a sweat by doing their work for them. I was trying to help my son with his first box jump not long ago, and I helped him a little too much. He ended up knocking his ankle into the box as I lifted him too far forward and not high enough. No physical damage, just injured pride. Through tears he told me "You should have just let me do it myself." He was right. He hasn't tried it since, but when he does decide to try again I will let him rely on his own two legs and his own perseverance.

7) "Hard work, dedication, dedication, hard work" has become the catch phrase of a popular television show trainer. This is the most constructive thing my son is learning through his visits to the gym and through the journey our family embarked on when the gym opened almost one year ago. My son is seeing how hard we worked to get the gym going, how hard we are working to keep it going, and how dedicated we are to our members and to the tenets of CrossFit. We have a Chinese restaurant near us that we occasionally get takeout from. The owners' children are always there in the evenings and on the weekends, sitting at a table and doing their homework or playing games. The first few times I saw them there I felt bad for them. I thought how hard it must be on both the kids and the parents to have them there in the restaurant all the time. Then I realized that the children were seeing exactly what it was their parents did when they weren't home. They saw that their parents worked together for a common goal that provided for their family. Most children today have no idea what their parents do when they leave the house. They have no idea why their parents might be in a bad mood when they get home from work. Some of those kids might take it personally. I'm now in the lucky camp that can actually talk to my son about what goes on at work and he'll understand, even at his tender age. Certainly there are some things he doesn't need to be concerned or burdened with, and some things I have no desire to discuss with him; but if I tell him I'm tired because I worked hard that day, he has a general understanding of what I mean. I don't always want him at the gym with me and I know he doesn't always want to be there. I also know that he knows why we ARE there.

Yes, my son sometimes hears words that I would prefer he didn't hear, and that I would certainly prefer he not repeat. Yes, my son sees some things at the gym that would be inappropriate in any other context. But my son could see those same things on primetime television and HAS heard the same things on satellite radio. I have decided that the positive lessons he learns about health and fitness and self-worth and community at the gym far outweigh the moments that test my parenting panache. In fact, I think we have quite a badass thing going.

Stop taking it personally!

I'm not big on New Year's "resolutions".  They've never really gotten me anywhere.   A few years ago I set a New Year's "goal" for myself instead: to run a half-marathon within the year.  That went off without a hitch.  The next goal was to beat a certain time in the half.  Success!  That goal had a secondary goal...the full marathon.  Accomplished!  Twice, even!  The next year, 2013, the goal became to beat a certain time in the marathon.  Life looked to be getting in the way.

My husband and I opened a CrossFit box with another couple and I suffered a fairly serious knee injury during an obstacle race in March.  Running quickly ceased to be my main fitness focus, especially since I couldn't do it for six weeks.  Once I started back it was slow going.  I began to feel as though I had let myself down.  The same old feelings of self-doubt that would creep in when a New Year's "resolution" of old didn't last were working their way back into my head.  It didn't matter that once I began to heal I was actually performing better physically and beginning to look like I was in the best shape of my life.  Thankfully, in the early fall, right when I realized there was no way to accomplish my goal for this year, I realized that I ALREADY HAD accomplished my goal for this year.  Looking back at the runs I logged in my phone app, I saw that I had in fact beaten the 4 hour time I set as my 2013 goal in 2012.  WHEW!

There is a woman I admire very much and like to call my friend (She lives in Connecticut; we met through dog training and now also have CrossFit in common.) that also sets an annual goal for herself.  The difference between her goal and mine is that she stipulates that the goal must push her outside of her comfort zone.  I think that's amazing and has the capacity to be both so simple and so complicated at the same time.  That's why I'm adopting the idea.  My goals in recent years have only been to improve at doing something I loved doing anyway.  This year, my goal is to stop taking things so personally.  Sound simple?  You don't know me very well.

I always take things personally.  As a young child, it was the problems in my family.  As a student, it was an inability to maintain a job, a full class schedule, too many extra-curricular activities, and be everyone's friend.  As a dog trainer, I took every lack of compliance by an owner personally, and I personally failed the few dogs that I trained that ended up needing to be rehomed.  I can't even stand to think about the dogs that didn't make it in the professions that I originally mapped out for them.  As an artist, I still take it personally when I feel too many revisions need to be made on a piece.  I'm failing at capturing that "thing" on canvas or paper.  As a runner and a martial arts student, it was not progressing quickly enough or not understanding the components or progression of a form or training plan.  As a wife and mother, every less-than-stellar dinner, every time a week goes by that the vacuum cleaner isn't put to good use, and every challenge my son shies away from are personal failures.  There are other things in the wife and mother departments that I take way too personally, but that would be an entire essay in and of itself.  In CrossFit I take it personally as an athlete when I don't perform as well as my coaches (or I) think I can.  As a coach I take it personally when I see athletes get frustrated or impatient or misunderstand movements or worst of all: hurt themselves--no matter how minor the bruise or scrape.  I could honestly go on...and on...

While I know in hindsight that most of the things I took personally as a child and young adult were not the direct consequences of my actions or inactions, I have a very difficult time seeing that while in the moment.  So in a quest to become a better wife, mother, artist, and CrossFit athlete and coach, I'm going to set a goal for myself this year that WILL push me outside of my comfort zone.  I'm going to work really hard at not taking things personally.  I believe that there will be immediate positive changes in every aspect of my life by unshouldering some of these burdens that were really never mine to bear.

I foresee that as a wife I can become a better friend to my husband because I won't take it personally when he comes home in a bad mood.  He will feel more able to open up to me about the events that *ACTUALLY* pissed him off or hurt his feelings because he won't misread my interpretation of his behavior as *ME* being in a bad mood.  Wow, that's even complicated to write...

I predict that I will be a better mother because rather than wonder where I've failed my son when he gets nervous and shies away from new people or activities I can focus on what he needs to hear or see in order to rise to the occasion.  I will understand that others may be looking at me to set a parenting example (one way or another) for their own predicaments, not judging me and flinging me down the ladder of their private mental caste system.

I know for certain that I will be both a better wife and mother when I quit beating myself up about the amount of dog hair on the floor.  Everyone is better off in a messy house as long as the kid is happy and the dog has enough mental and physical stimulation.  Besides, I already know that I spend way more time cooking homemade clean meals than your average mom these days.  At least we're all getting the proper nutrition to help fight off the virus lurking in the laundry pile!

My art will benefit because, well, Picasso and Escher and Dali (and whoever was the first to paint dogs playing poker--because you know there was no other reason for that outside of making the artist happy)!

CrossFit will make me a better athlete when I learn to recognize that my coaches really do just want me to get better when they shout those cues at me.  They aren't being judgmental.  Exposing my weaknesses should only arm me to defeat them, not defeat myself.  I will become a better coach when I learn to read between the lines of the protests, or lack thereof, from athletes and understand that we are the same:  we all take it too personally for our own good.

Lastly, I am confident that my faith will grow and I will develop a stronger relationship with God by not taking things too personally.  God doesn't look down on me and say, "I think I'll see what someone else can do to make Vanessa feel bad today."  I need to stop taking things so personally so I can give something to others around me who might need just that very something.  Here's to 2014!

Mid-Life Niche

I have really been struggling to find my new niche lately.  I'm closing in on 40 and I'm trying really hard to figure out where I'm supposed to go next.  Such an odd place I'm in!  There is no mid-life crisis or anything crazy going on.  In fact, I'm in a better place in my life right now than I can recall in at least the last ten years.  I have an amazing son, the best husband and family anyone could ask for, and a greater will to live according to God's plan than I've had since high school.  No, probably ever.  I'm simply struggling with what to "do" now.  My world today reminds me of something I heard recently about a jelly jar experiment: the more choices consumers were provided with on a jelly jar display, the less likely they were to make a purchase.

Prior to my son's entrance into the world I was always a dog trainer.  That is what I "did" and I couldn't imagine even the remote possibility of doing anything else.  I think I was pretty good at it, too.  Once my son Parker was born I put his needs first and dog training became something I did a day or two a week to get out of the house and maintain my sanity.  I still had a passion for working with the dogs, but I found that working with the owners too much made an already tired mommy an exhausted and frustrated mommy.

When we moved to North Carolina from Georgia for my husband's job I thought at first that I would take my time starting a new dog training business, working my way close to full time once my son entered kindergarten, just as supplemental income.  Within six months of our move I had found a wonderful preschool for Parker--and a renewed love for running.  After all, Parker was only in school for three hours three days a week to start. Enough time for a good run and shower, but not enough time for a dog training appointment.  That's what I told myself, anyway.  About this time I started enjoying some moderate starving artist level success selling prints of my dog portraits.  I began to think that if I could do THAT it would be awesome.  I could work when Parker was asleep at night, still be involved in the dog world, still keep the house, and have some semblance of an outside identity that would earn us a little extra cash.  Maybe I could continue to train dogs every now and then, too.

Fast-forward 2 1/2 years to the beginning of 2013.  (Yes, 2 1/2 years.  Let's just say I fell into a good mommy groove.)  My husband decided to open a CrossFit box with his then coaches and now business partners.  Wanting to support my husband in his decision and enable him to do what he loves and keep his job that pays our bills, I became "Queen Gopher" (self-appointed) and subsequently addicted to CrossFit.  I love our box, our members, and the fact that I have visible trapezius muscles and can do pull-ups for the first time in my fairly athletic life.

For the past few months I've been trying to part with dead weight so that I can be the best mother, wife, and person I can be.  I've been working hard at deciphering the messages God is sending me.  Right about now I'm wishing someone would send me a Rosetta stone.  I've been commissioned for six portraits and had four dog training inquiries (with ZERO advertising) in the past two months.  To top it off, today one of my coaches told me she thought *I* would make a good coach.  I think I would enjoy coaching, although *I'm* not sure I would be particularly good at it.  I used to enjoy training people to train their dogs.  Coaching CrossFit would be sort of like training people to train themselves.  You can't give someone the desire to be more physically fit.  Maybe some people can INSPIRE others, but while I know I'm not that person, a good coach can give someone that has the desire and inspiration the tools to realize their goals.

Parker starts kindergarten in a little more than a month.  I guess it's time to figure out what I want to be when I grow up...

How do I find my mid-life niche?!

Mid Atlantic CrossFit Regional Experience 2013

The Regional experience really starts months before the event.  Athletes have to enter the Open and be one of the top 48 in their region in order to be invited.  Teams must be constructed and athletes must prepare for the mental and physical challenges that await them in the Regional competition.  Workouts are announced and then the athletes must strategize and must work to improve their weaknesses.  I'm not one of those athletes, though.  I was just along for the ride.  My husband's business partner and our box's Head Coach Nathan Keil is the only reason I was able to go.  So if you're looking for in-depth accounts of the athletes' thought processes and training insights and horn tooting, you won't find it here.  Read on for an ordinary CrossFitter's take on an extraordinary experience.

Thursday, June 6th

The "Size Up"

"CrossFitters don't seem to talk a lot of smack, but they sure do size each other up!"  That is what I said to my husband once we got back in the car after stopping for lunch somewhere in Virginia.  We were traveling with our business partners Nathan and Kelsey from North Carolina to Maryland where Nathan would compete in the 2013 Mid Atlantic Region CrossFit Games.  Last stop before the big show in California for three of forty-eight athletes; the end of the national competition's annual road for the other forty-five.

We stopped for lunch at some random Chipotle in Virginia.  As the four of us sat eating our lunch outside, I watched a group of four park their car and walk inside.  I immediately knew they were CrossFitters and likely headed to the same destination we were.  Although I've only been CrossFitting for a short period of time, I've come to realize that there are certain things all CrossFitters have in common:  we walk a little taller and with a little more confidence than a lot of people, birds of our feather definitely flock together, and when we flock to eat--it's usually to Chipotle or someplace similar.

When the four of us went inside to dispose of our trash and visit the facilities one last time, that's when I realized that the other group had obviously come to the same realization about us that I had about them, and they were sizing us up.  I was very amused because they were checking us ALL out, and only in a competitive way.  My husband and I both come from running backgrounds, and we both have more arm and shoulder muscles now than we've ever had in our lives.  That still isn't saying much at all in my case.  It was honestly flattering. 

Sure enough, when we arrived at the facility later Thursday afternoon to get Nathan checked in, they were among the first people we recognized!  The "size up" continued as athletes milled around trying to work out some early nerves and gauge their competition.  We saw a few other athletes with recognizable names, got a quick feel for our home away from home for the weekend, and left to get some grub and get settled into the hotel before our very early wake-up call Friday morning.

Friday, June 7th

Grace Under Fire

CrossFitters are known for their community.  Friday gave me ample opportunity to see that community in action and to see one of the sport's athletes exhibit extreme grace under the pressure of what could have been a very icky predicament.  The very first thing that struck me was the huge variety of people there.  Every "look" imaginable was present, every age group, and every fitness level.  I must say, though, that I don't think I've ever seen more spandex being worn in one location EVER.  I was waiting for the "Flash WOD" to strike at any moment!  Whatever keeps you comfortable, I guess.  The bleachers certainly didn't keep you comfortable.

One of the most awesome things I saw was the man wearing a metal prosthetic leg taking so much time with a little boy not much younger than my own son.  I suppose the little boy was about 3-4 years old and I guess he appeared intrigued by the metal thing extruding from one hemline of the man's shorts.  The man got down on the boy's level, explained what the prosthetic was, what it did for him, and even let the little boy touch it and stare at it for as long as he wanted to.  The little boy's mother was obviously grateful for the experience.  CrossFit teaches us that there is an athlete in all of us, and just because you scale a workout doesn't mean you don't work hard.  If you do what you are capable of doing and work to make the you that you are right now stronger and faster, you are a worthy member of our community.

Another thing that caught my attention was the female judge with the bald head.  I don't know if she was undergoing chemotherapy, supporting someone else that was, or just rocking a look that she loved.  The point is it didn't matter.  No one accused her of not being able to do her job.  No one pointed and stared and made a big stink of it.  She didn't either.  She simply did her job.  We are a community that supports our members.

The biggest example of community and grace under fire that I witnessed was in regards to an incident surrounding one of our very own, Nathan.  The first workout was "Jackie", a 1,000m row followed by 50 thrusters and 30 pull-ups.  He did the workout in the fourth heat, and was the third in his heat to finish.  We had him touching the finishing pad at 5:22.  The judge said he didn't touch with both feet, so by the time he turned back around and definitively did that, some of us guessed it cost him around four seconds.  Nathan signed his form and went back to the Athlete Village to cool down.  Charles, Kelsey, and I went into the stands to wait for him and check the Leaderboard standings to see where Nathan's performance would rank him.  1ST?!?!?  We all saw that Nathan wasn't the first to finish in his heat, but congratulatory messages started coming in through Twitter and Facebook from box members and friends that were checking the CrossFit main site.  Kelsey had to inform everyone via the same channels that a mistake had been made and to please be patient.  Nathan went and talked to the Head Judge to try to get the error rectified.  He went HIMSELF.  The Head Judge told Nathan they would update the Leaderboard within an hour or so.  Nathan had to go talk to the judge AGAIN two hours later to prevent being seated incorrectly for the next event.  They eventually got everything worked out.  Although it was stressful for Nathan (and for us), he acted with integrity and honesty.  As far as I know, nobody else said a word to Nathan about it.  There were no cries of foul by other athletes, no media shi*t storm, there weren't even any public apologies made.  Someone made a mistake.  Someone fixed the mistake.  End of story.  Communities take care of their own, all the way around.

Saturday, June 8th

The Nitty Gritty

Have you ever worked out so hard for so long that by the time you cooled down you had a crusty, gritty layer of white salt left on your skin?  Emotionally, that was what Saturday was like.  There were alot more spectators on the scene on Saturday, and the air was thick with human electricity.  Nathan's family came up on Satuday to watch the grueling workouts.  I recall Nathan's little sister remarking about the number of babies in attendance.  Without pause, I said, "Think about it!  There is so much testosterone floating around in here...fertile women are just attracted to CrossFit men!"  We all had a chuckle about that, but I'm betting if someone did some research on it, my statement could be the beginnings of a thesis.  It's also an additional testament to the community and family atmosphere of CrossFit.  True fitness is a way of life, and it only makes sense that fit people include their entire families.  Everyone there was willing to embrace even the sometimes crying babies of their extended CrossFit family.  I'm a mom.  I would not be nearly as willing to take a youngster to an NFL game where they were likely to have beer spilled on them and hear language that surpasses the "profanity" label.  Now I know there was some colorful language being thrown about, but for the most part I would choose the CrossFit fans over the NFL fans any day of the week.

I have never done the 100's workout.  All I can really say about what I saw during that workout is that some dreams were dashed, and there were some athletes that, for good or bad, surprised even themselves.  For those athletes that are willing to take a step back and honestly evaluate their performances, the 100's workout exposed weaknesses without mercy.  Among the exposed weaknesses was mental fortitude.  Many athletes didn't finish that workout, and some athletes didn't have the mental fortitude to put that aside and finish the day strong in the last workout.  They were temporarily broken.  Obviously Coach Glassman believes that one's mental fitness is just as important as one's physical aptitude.  I, for one, like that.

The last workout of the day was a 21-15-9 rep scheme of deadlifts and box jumps.  Over the weekend I saw a T-shirt from a box that said something like: "We will bring out the competitor in you or expose the quitter in you."  I apologize if I should be quoting a specific individual here.  That sounds like something Coach Glassman would say.  Coach Glassman did say "Hiding from your weaknesses is a recipe for incapacity and error."  I would venture a guess that most of the individuals that made it to the Regional weekend were comfortable doing both deadlifts and box jumps.  Comfortable doing them within six hours of completing (or attempting to complete) the 100's workout?  That was obviously another matter altogether.  I found myself rooting for every athlete that took the mats.  Athletes were stumbling on their box jumps all over the place.  The deadlift weight shouldn't have been EASY for anyone, but the effects of between 50-100 dumbell snatches at heavy weight was written on the faces and performances of many of the athletes by Saturday evening.  By the time Nathan was done on Saturday, so was I.  I was emotionally spent and physically tired, and I hadn't lifted a single weight!

Sunday, June 9th

Keep Calm and CrossFit On

The venue seemed awfully dark and comparatively quiet when we arrived on Sunday morning.   The power was out!  The women were down on the floor doing double-unders and handstand push-ups to nothing but the dull roar of a slowly swelling crowd.  No DJ, no announcer, just their own grunts and groans, the voices of their judges, and the sounds of the group that had gathered to support them.  I guess this is where the "constantly varied" part of CrossFit plays into real life.  You never know what life is going to throw at you, so you should be prepared to Keep Calm and CrossFit On.  The power flickered on and off a few more times before the womens' heats had finished.  It was honestly amazing to watch an announcer with no audible voice guide a crowd in cheering on the athletes.  All it took was a few pointing gestures and some flapping of her arms for the crowd to begin screaming.  Those that weren't paying attention started to when the people next to them began bellowing for their favorites to move from handstand push-ups to shoulder-to-overhead to walking lunges to step onto their finishing pads.  

By the time the men took the floor the problem was fixed.  The crowd was large and the men needed all the cheering they could get.  Sunday afternoon saw a few men pulling away from the pack, with Ben Smith putting on an untouchable show.  The Games veteran had a little brother, Alec, that was also competing in his first Regional event.  Alec looked so very young compared to the other athletes; and at 20 years old his 25th place finish in his first Regional event (like Nathan's 20th place finish at his 1st Regional event--he's 24) is a testament to the future of the sport.  Nate Schrader, the 6th place finisher in our region, also had a brother--one year older--Jesse, who finished 36th in the Region.  Genetics simply can't be discounted.  Anyway...

The last workout of the weekend was a tough one, even by Froning standards.  Rope climbs, sprints, and squat cleans.  Way to save the "best" for last!  The only thing I will say about this is the disappointment I felt when I realized how FEW of the teams that were competing stuck around to see the final heats for the women and men.  Even though the top two men and women had very nearly been decided, the races were pretty close for the final athletes in both divisions that would make it to the Games.  I was personally shocked at how much the crowd in the bleachers thinned after the final heat of teams finished the last workout.  Teams are exciting, yes.  People have long drives home, yes.  Team competitors aren't half as likely to have sponsorships and do CrossFit for a living.  I get that.  But there were boxes that had both teams and individual competitors representing them during Regional weekend.  Some of the individual competitors were missing their team cheerleaders by the final heat workout on Sunday.  I would have been upset had that been me.  Then again, maybe that is where CrossFit prepares you for all the junk life throws at you.  Keep Calm and CrossFit On.

The drive from Maryland to North Carolina was neither somber nor gay.  It was definitely somewhere between.  The three of us that hadn't competed all weekend were so proud of the one that had, and yet we shared his exhaustion and sobriety while peering down the road to 2014's Open.  There is much work to be done.

In Conclusion

Here are some of the things I've taken away from my Regional experience:

1)  It isn't the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.

2)  Honesty is indeed the best policy.

3)  We all want something.  An individual's ability to define the want and to map the course to achieving the want are more important than the desire itself.

4)  There is something to be said for believing in yourself.  There cannot be enough said about believing in something other than yourself.  1 Timothy 1:12

5)  Individuals, Teams, Boxes--it shouldn't really matter.  It's all OUR community.

6)  There are sports...then there is CrossFit.

Thinking inside the box.

Something very interesting happened to me today.  I realized that I am becoming a CrossFitter.  Now, most of my friends know that my husband and I co-own a CrossFit gym (also known as a "box") with another couple.  I'm the only one out of the four of us that doesn't have a coach's certificate.  I was the last one of the four of us to drink the Cool-Aid--misspelling intentional.  Members at our gym don't even know what to call me.  I've started calling myself Queen Gopher because that's the best description that I can think of.  I do a little of this and a little of that, going for this and going for that, popping my head up here and there to keep the place running smoothly and allow the coaches the freedom to do their jobs.  And we have, in my opinion, the best coaches around.  Today I was kinda proof of that, and although it was a delayed reaction, it really made me feel great.

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.