I have been Crossfitting for sixteen months. The changes that have resulted, both mentally and physically, continue to astound me. I had always considered myself to be reasonably fit, with the notable exception of about 18 months I spent fighting an illness. The ensuing two years, wherein I was just happy to be healthy again, I allowed "total wellness" to take a backseat to just having fun. Overweight, but happy, I continued to stay active and even trained for & completed in a couple of sprint Triathlons. At the time, simply finishing the Tris was my goal. In retrospect, I didn't focus on the journey nearly enough.

In January, 2009 I made a conscious decision to bring total wellness back into my everyday life. I had been trying to do this for about 6 months, but that January I decided to seek real help that would keep me accountable. Initially I wanted to lose 20 pounds and resume a healthy eating & exercise lifestyle. My goal was to implement a health focus as my lifestyle - not a "diet" as my husband kept calling it. I found a Nutritionist/PA focused on women's metabolic issues as well as healthy eating, fitness and overall health. Her approach resonated with me in that it didn't involve simply one aspect of health, but instead focused on all of the factors that impact our daily lives. I joined the YMCA with a friend and we held each other accountable for "showing up." We started Spin classes and quickly got hooked. Our trainer, Tony, made a point of getting to know any of us who showed up consistently. He was unassuming, highly supportive and very encouraging. He convinced me to try his "Pure Strength" class. I later heard these types of classes described by my Crossfit coach as "Girl Classes" which cracked me up. However, at this stage of my journey, the classes led me to discover how much strength I didn't have! I quickly found myself attending classes every day (sometimes twice a day) and turning down happy hour invitations in favor of working out. I looked forward working hard and seeing progress. Having a trainer who took note of my progress was a bonus in keeping me accountable to my goals. I had finally become my first priority. Four months into the journey, I was seeing significant progress in my endurance and was increasing the weight I used in class. I continued to meet bi-weekly with the nutritionist and saw tangible/measurable evidence of my progress in the pounds I had lost, the muscle mass I had gained and the drop in my body fat percentage. I had lost 40 pounds and 21% of my body fat and I was feeling great.

By July of 2009, I had lost 45 lbs. and had dropped 24% of my body fat while increasing muscle mass by 21%. Activities that were previously painful were effortless. I should mention that I've had seven knee operations over the last 20 years and even my knees proved capable of activities I'd told myself I would never do again. That summer I had taken note of a group of people in my neighborhood who were working out in a garage on the main road. Over the next couple of weeks, I realized that it was an organized gym and they did some off the wall things - like walk up & down the parking lot with weights over their heads and run up & down the road with balls on their shoulders. It looked HARD, but I was intrigued. Too intimidated to just stop and ask, I ultimately found a website for Westlake Crossfit.

I had never heard of Crossfit so I started reading about it and going through WLCF's website to learn more. In truth, I was really trying to figure if you had to be a 21 year old male Navy Seal, (or in this case, a Ce-Bar Fireman) to be able to survive a Crossfit workout. A friend, who had just completed an Ironman Triathlon, she said she had tried Crossfit and it had kicked her ass. Yea, that was encouraging! I continued to read about it and found that Crossfit is highly adaptable &scalable to all ages and fitness levels. I was still intimidated, but I drove by slower each day to see what they were doing. In August, WLCF advertised a free trial day for the upcoming Saturday. I clicked on the link for more information and got an email back from one of the coaches telling me I could just show up at 9:00. I decided that the worst that could happen was that I would completely embarrass myself and have to find a route in and out of the neighborhood that would never take me past the garage again. So I showed up on Saturday. There were about 9 or 10 people there and clearly none of them were brand new to Crossfit. I followed Coach Jevon's directions and just hoped no one was laughing hysterically at me. We did an "AMRAP" that day which involved running, squats, sit-ups and pull-ups. Since I couldn't do even one pull-up, Jevon started me on ring pulls. He was really nice, calling "scaling the workout", but I knew it was a kinder term for "wimp". I think the AMRAP was 20 minutes even though it seemed like 2 days and I didn't know that I was supposed to keep count of how many rounds I did. I do know one of the guys lapped me at least 4 times and another one lapped me at least 3 times. One of the other Coaches, Jarrod, stayed out on the street watching the runners and shouting encouragement, but really I think he stayed out there to make sure I didn't keel over dead. We finished by stretching and I went home to shower. I then took a 4 hour nap and slept like a dead person. It was the first time I had slept that soundly in about ten years.

A week passed and I had been travelling. I received a call from Jarrod asking if I wanted to pursue "Elements Training" which teaches you the fundamentals of Crossfit and prepares you to begin classes. I had been on the fence about whether or not I could really join this gym, and the memory of four days of intense muscle pain hadn't quite faded, but I wasn't feeling challenged enough at the Y so I told Jarrod I would follow through with Elements. Honestly, if he hadn't made that call, I very likely could have remained too intimidated by it and not returned to WCLF.

In our first elements session, we talked about what my workout routine had been. We talked about the limitations I had with my knees and how I certainly didn't think that I was up to their level. I also had noticed that I was a "few" years older than the median age in the gym and wasn't sure how that was going to play out. Coach Jarrod assured me that I didn't need to be concerned about these things. We did 3 elements sessions, plus a remedial 4th session because I couldn't master Cleans. Jarrod was abundantly patient and never laughed at me even though my balance and coordination left much to be desired. I would arrive home from these sessions exhausted and wobbly. The next day I would be in more pain than I had ever imagined. Upon graduating from Elements (which has now been extended to a series of 6 sessions and yes, I think I had a lot to do with that!) I was ready for class.

I had decided I would attend the M-W-F 6:00 am sessions and see how it went. Jarrod was the coach for those sessions, so the familiarity helped get me comfortable and the accountability kept me motivated. My first couple of sessions it ended up just being Jarrod and I. I was relieved to have more time to improve before more people joined us. Within a couple of weeks Alan became a consistent M/W/F "6-AM-er" and I realized how helpful it is to have someone else to work with and to try to keep pace with. More importantly, the camaraderie & support you get and give to the group makes a huge difference. Coach Jarrod never stopped pushing us or trying to get more out of us. One morning during an AMRAP he was shouting encouragement to me and said, "I like that you're not stopping, you just keep moving!" I looked at him and said, "I'm a rule follower; I didn't think stopping was ALLOWED!" That made him laugh. Around December when the morning temperatures had dipped into the low 30's, Leonard joined our morning crew. I was feeling more confident by this time and was seeing improvement in my strength and endurance. An added bonus was that I loved how my clothes fit! I stuck with it through the holiday season, even adding a 4th morning to my regimen and over the holidays, I lost another 6 pounds without consciously trying. Our "Box" gym began to catch on and our class sizes increased with it. We started keeping daily training logs which helped to quantify & measure my progress, and somewhere in late winter I began to really care about trying to lift heavier weights. It had become a personal challenge and it was fun (and frustrating) to see what I was capable of achieving.

Our 6 AM-er composition has changed periodically, but generally our same core group remained constant for about 5 months. We supported and encouraged one another and celebrated individual successes as a group. I have met some really amazing people at Westlake Crossfit and it's a community, not just a gym. The 6-am crew has been evolving again in recent months and yet that same team spirit remains prevalent and is attributable to the coaches and their commitment & philosophy of what they want our "Box" to be. Occasionally I don't finish the TOD in last place now, but even when I do I don't really care. I finished, I improved over the prior time and I always feel great at 7:00 am! What I've learned is that Crossfit is training - both physical & mental. It is not easy for anyone and it constantly requires an athlete to challenge herself: more weight, improved form, shaving time off, encouraging others. We've had many new faces join us in recent months and I've found that most of the women are as intimidated as I used to be. It's rewarding to be able to encourage the newcomers and to show them that we're all in it together. Some of the best mornings have been when someone is really challenging themselves and the rest of the group finishes the TOD and cheers them on. There are still some mornings where I look at the board and am scared that I'm not going to be able to finish, but it hasn't happened yet because the coaches and team members don't let it happen. While the physical improvements have been great and my health has never been better, the mental and emotional strength are even greater accomplishments.

Crossfit is hard and for the most part I do it five days a week; I start my day having accomplished things I never imagined I could do two years ago. I no longer jump rope like a 5-year old, so now I'm thinking I need to learn to do Double Unders. I have progressed from not being able to do a pull-up to being able to string 10 together with a light band - using no band is still a goal. I couldn't do a box jump when I started without enduring a lot of knee pain - recently I completed 33 in 30 seconds. That just makes me want to progress to the 18" box! It's not about what you can't do; it's about what you can do and how far you can take it. Most days I walk around with varying levels of muscle soreness, usually from the prior day, but even that is now part of my routine and it provides some entertainment for my co-workers! I've come to learn that even the coaches are sore pretty often. It's a good sore; it reminds me of what I accomplished that day. I am so fortunate that when I discovered Crossfit, it was Westlake Crossfit, because the environment, the coaching staff and the members played a huge role in helping me stick to it. Being able to measure my progress has motivated me and feeling great about the possibilities is what keeps me going back every morning.