Athlete of the MonthDecember

Most of my days, and quite a few evenings, are spent serving as a high school principal.  I am also the proud mother of an 8 year old girl, whose interests in gymnastics, cross country, and basketball keep our family busy.  When we have a free evening, my husband and I enjoy bowling, long walks, and attending concerts together.

My husband, Mélon, who is also part of the Hardware community, suggested that we join a box a little over a year ago. After having previously been active, fit adults, we noticed that we let busy careers and family responsibilities interfere with regular exercise and healthful eating.  We were both experiencing health concerns that were the result of poor lifestyle choices and knew that we needed to pursue fitness in order to improve our quality of life.  My husband found a crossfit box and signed up right away.  He asked me to come check it out on the first night of his on-ramp class.  The sights and sounds of the first WOD that I observed were incredibly intimidating–I mean, who were these hardcore people jumping on boxes, pushing heavy weights over their heads, doing gymnastics, hopping on rowing machines, over and over, and then smiling and giving each other high-fives and hugs at the end?  I was certain that I could not do any of what I witnessed, but I went for it anyway.  As the old adage states, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Eight months later, I entered my first in-house powerlifting meet and a year later I did the Crossfit Open.  When my box closed unexpectedly, I knew that I wanted to continue with Crossfit. I was stronger, faster, and 15 pounds lighter.  My health concerns had long disappeared. I made amazing friends who were dedicated to fit lifestyles.  The Crossfit community provided the keys to managing the stress of juggling an intense job and parenting responsibilities.  I was not interested in returning to a globo gym or pursuing an alternate fitness program.  A friend suggested that I check out Hardware. I liked the high-quality coaching and the welcoming community so I signed up right away.

WHAT ARE YOUR CROSSFIT GOALS? HOW CLOSE ARE YOU TO REACHING THEM?

 

What I love about Crossfit is that there is always something on which you need to work.  Right now, I am working on the push press and pull ups. I’d like to move my push press to 135 pounds and, well, be able to do strict pull ups. I’ve just started working on these skills, so I am not close to achieving them.  However, I am giving myself until March to achieve the 135 push press and to be able to do 5 strict pull ups.

I am proud of achieving a 245-lb deadlift and finally being able to string 10-20 double-unders together.  I worked hard for those!

The deadlift is my favorite movement.  I also like ab mat sit-ups.  While I don’t have a favorite WOD, I do enjoy Hero WODs.

Running.  I do not like running.  Therefore, I am so grateful that Hardware programmed all those running WODs last summer and fall. Every time I went to the gym, there was some kind of running interval in the WOD.  I’ve really improved as a result.

Wall balls are also at the bottom of my list..