murph

Today most Americans will be BBQing and spending time with family, or our shopping in the various sales that are happening. I'm not here to condemn anyone for doing that, it's a day to spend with those you love. But I ask that everyone remember what today really is about. Whether you agree or disagree with any kind of war, we owe the men and women who put their lives on the line for us to have all the things that we have. Let's not be selfish and complacent.

This morning I had the opportunity to watch the movie Lone Survivor for the first time. It is a movie that is inspired by a book written by the only survivor of an operation in Afghanistan. Sometimes we need a smack in a face about what is happening in other parts of the world. This movie made an impact on me, there are not enough Thank You's I could ever say or give to those men who died and the one who made it out.

I participated today with many of my box mates to do a traditional Memorial Day WOD that was named after one of the men who died in that operation, Michael P. Murphy. This WOD was one of his favorite WOD's, and he would perform it while wearing a 20lb vest. So today I did "Murph" for the first time, and I'm not going to lie, it sucked! Many of my gym mates wore weighted vests as well and gave their all. Instead of the one-mile running I did a 2000m row.

"Murph"
1 mile run
100 pull-ups
200 push-ups
300 squats
1 mile run

I finished in 52:02, it is the lease I could do. Thank you to all the men and women who have died and who continue to put their lives in the line.

fortitude

Hello my friends, I have resurfaced to post a little update on what has been going on and what is planned. But first, I would like to take a moment to publicly express my absolute appreciation for everything my love has done for me so far this term. Aaron has taken the role of the main cook, dishwasher, laundry doer, homework helper, and motivator. I don't know how I would've gotten this far into the term without our home looking like a disaster and my starving to death... and I don't mean that last part literally.

Anywho, it is week 8 and there are only 2 more weeks left in the term before finals. I am maintaining A's in all of my classes, though a couple I feel are just busy work classes. I didn't score as well as I would have liked on my Anatomy midterm but I didn't bomb it like I knew I didn't. There have been some challenging moments in some of my classes, and than some "light bulb went off" moments as well. I think I know more now than ever that I am in the right program. The direction I started off with in this program has already made a few detours- for the better. I won't announce what my plans are with this just yet as I am still figuring it all out.

As for my summer plans, my calendar is already booking up. I've made some new friends through my classes who have inspired me to do get out there and get a little crazy. I plan on giving the rock climbing gym another try, gonna go jump around on some trampolines, heading back to tree to tree adventure park with my gym mates, and for my birthday I have decided to take stand up paddle boarding lessons!

What I am most excited for though, is to have a normal CrossFit schedule again. I will only be taking one class this summer, which happens to be a required PE class. Yay! So no more just 2 to 3 days a week CF, back to my 4 to 6 days a week. Tonight though, our coaches gave us an option in WODs. We could do the prescribed WOD of 4 rounds for time of 400m run & 25 burpee box jumps OR we could do "Fortitude", which is EMOM for 30 min of row to 15 calories (odd minutes) and 15 burpees (even minutes). For some crazy reason, I opted for the insane WOD. I'm not going to lie, it was one of the hardest WODs I have ever done. The point to this WOD is that you do NOT stop moving. For an entire 30 minutes you keep moving from one movement to the next. Naturally no one maintains 15 calorie burn and 15 burpees, once your number drops you work to maintain the new number. I feel accomplished for not giving up and continuing to give as much as I could the entire time. I fought through side stitches, seeing stars, and losing control with my breathing. But I held on and got everything under control. I feel in control and strong. In a matter of 10 days it will be my 1 year anniversary of being a CrossFitter. I can not believe it's been that long already and I still love it as much as I need when I first started!

Well my friends, I will probably not post again until after this term is over. So until than, I hope you are all doing well and staying active.