a little note

This year has been a really off year for me in the way of health & fitness. I haven't been posting much because I really don't want to jump on here and post about all the negative thoughts and feelings I am experiencing with my constant setbacks. I've been riddled with minor injuries and irritating old ones. It's frustrating, but I know this is only temporary and everyone goes through it. So bare with me, I will be back on a more consistent basis soon. This week we are working on a few 1RM, so I am sure I will post more about my outcome.

Hope you are all well!! Keep grinding!

help me help jennifer

So I know in the past I have blogged about various people who have impacted my life in positive ways, Jennifer Burningham is one of them. She is the person responsible for helping me to learn how to run, to push through barriers that I constantly put up (and sometimes still do), and ignited a passion to keep working towards getting fit and healthy. Meeting and working with her I feel was critical in my finding the path that I am currently on. Had she not pushed and inspired me, I don't think I'd be where I am today. So Jennifer, thank you.

With that said, the main reason for this post is because I learned that Jennifer is working towards opening up her own fitness studio. This is something she's contemplated for a very long time and is in a position to take that step. Her goal is to create a space that is totally committed to client success and overall wellbeing without grabbing for money or selling supplements. Her long term goal is to offer training and wellness services on a sliding scale. I think this is a fantastic idea, it gives people access to her that ordinarily would not be able to afford the expensive price tag of a gym and/or personal trainer. To learn a little more about her, visit her site by clicking here.

Jennifer is in the process of trying to raise funds to help with the expenses of opening up a new business. Depending on how much you decide to donate, you will receive a perk. Whether it be a one 30 minute session with her to receiving several sessions and a lifelong discount of 15%. I encourage you to take a peek at her fundraising page: Right Track Health and Fitness. If after reading up on her via her website you find that you may be interested in working with her and/or just want to help a local woman be successful in helping her community get healthy and fit- donate. And as a favor, I ask that you share the link to my posting with your family and friends in the Portland and surrounding areas.

This photo is from Pinterest.

the gorilla takeover

This past weekend Aaron and I volunteered at The Gorilla Takeover, a CrossFit competition hosted by CrossFit Stumptown and CrossFit Mt. Hood. It was open to Scaled and RX, as well as Teams and Individuals. The closest thing to a competition I had ever seen was this past summer when I watched the CrossFit Games on ESPN. It was exciting to watch that, but I have been continuously told that it is a much different experience being at a competition. One of my coaches at Stumptown had commented one evening leading up to this past weekend that after witnessing a competition like this, most people who never competed will get a bug to want to compete. Now I understand what he means... but more on that later.

Several of the athletes at the Gorilla Takeover were from my box. I was excited to be able to support them as they competed. Watching many of the athletes from all over the Pacific Northwest was a lot of fun. What surprised me the most was seeing athletes of ALL ages and sizes. What I mean is, we had athletes as young as their early 20's up to 40+, and not all of them were toned and ripped. It goes to show you, anyone can do CrossFit, and not everyone's goal is to have a rock solid body. The goal is to be healthy and fit- and that comes in all shapes and sizes.

Carly from CrossFit Stumptown

The competition was a 2 day event. The first day consisted of WOD 1 - 3. The second day consisted of WOD 4 and then the Final WOD. All teams and individuals did WOD 1 - 4, and then the Top 10 in every division made it to the Final WOD. The first day I did a lot of running around, assisted with moving equipment around in between WOD's. For one WOD we literally had to move 25# and 45# weights back and forth between every Heat, there were over 10 Heats! Needless to say, I got a workout in without even thinking about it. We arrived close to 8 am and didn't leave until a little after 5:30 pm. The second day I didn't run around as much as the previous day, which was good, I was exhausted. It gave me more time to sit amongst the other volunteers and guests and watch the athletes compete. Some  would finish the WOD's efficiently and with very little struggle, and others struggled, some didn't finish. The one thing I noticed though, no one gave up! It didn't matter that they still had 10 more Wall Ball's before moving on to 80 Doubleunders in less than 2 minutes. Even when an athlete knew he or she wasn't going to finish before the time cap expired, they kept going until the buzzer rang. That is some dedication. What was even more inspiring to witness,  was when one athlete was left, all the others that had finished would surround him and her and motivate said athlete to keep going. There are NO egos in the CrossFit world. There is no mentality that "I am better than you." It's a community of people who care about each other, and will help each other to push when we feel like we have no more to give. Many of the men and women this weekend PR'd in their Deadlifts, they fed off the energy that surrounded them. To see the excitement of the crowd cheering on the athletes as they did incredible things- oh how inspiring it was to be there and to share in the moments!

Going back to what I stated earlier about competing. The bug bit me. I definitely became inspired and motivated to prepare myself for a future competition...