I just started my tenth month of this journey.
Ten months. I think that’s how long it takes to cook a baby (or so I’ve heard).
Ten months of constant challenges and surprises and support and friendship and health and positivity. There are many places and relationships in my life that have provided the exact opposite and I have learned that those are places and people I don’t want to keep going back to. So I don’t. But Solcana? Solcana is my happy place. I can’t say it enough. EVERYONE SHOULD BELONG TO A GYM WHERE THEY GET HUGGED! Unless you don’t like to be hugged. Opt for a handshake or a slap on the back instead. You do you, okay?
Last week was the first week of the CrossFit Open (you might remember me talking about it last week) and I was really terrified to compete. If I had to describe myself, competitive would not be a word that comes to mind. I hate competing – rather, I hate competing against people I consider friends. However, that’s one thing about CrossFit that I love – you simply compete against yourself. And that is definitely something I want to continue doing. There have been so many times in this journey where I have surprised myself again and again with new PR’s and goals achieved and as someone who’s never operated on that plane before, it’s pretty damn motivating. And, I’d be remiss without mentioning my awesome gym pals who provide endless amounts of encouragement and support, too. For example, this was a text chain I was in BEFORE 9AM ON A SATURDAY:
Back to the Open, though. I competed in the scaled version (a little more user friendly for regular folks like me). The weekly workouts are announced Thursday nights and you have just a few days to complete them (with a judge and EVERYTHING), and enter your scores to the CrossFit Games site (by Monday at 5pm PST).
Did I mention I was terrified to compete? Here’s what I had to do:
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 9 minutes of:
15 hanging knee raises (from the pull up bar)
10 deadlifts – 55 lbs
5 snatches* – 55 lbs
*ground-to-overhead allowed
I hit 90 reps.
THEN WE ALSO HAD TO DO:
1-rep-max clean and jerk in a 6-minute time cap.
I hit 100 lbs. A new PR!!!
Now, I need to tell you that I had a wonderful partner for this first workout – Jen, if you’re reading this, THANK YOU. You guys. I cried in the middle of this workout. Well, I cried doing the 45 hanging knee raises because they were so difficult to do, my grip strength was gone, and I GOT EMOTIONAL. And Jen was there to keep cheering me on and showing me encouragement even as I was doing each knee raise as an individual rep. It was intense and I would have been lost without her. I’ve always heard about ‘gym feels’ and have even witnessed them a few times…but I had never, ever experienced them myself. Until now. They are a real and true thing that you feel when you have absolutely hit that point of putting your all into something. And, as much as I hate to be publicly vulnerable I DID NOT EVEN CARE. I just kept going. TEARS AND ALL. I don’t know who this new person is that I’m becoming, but you know what? I like her. I like her a lot. She’s a bad ass.
AND THEN? Well, cue the awesome Solcana Support System and you get texts like this from your gym pals who know EXACTLY what you just experienced and are feeling the exact same way. It’s human nature to want to feel like you belong, and man, I have really found my people.
I want to tell you that I’m excited for the next workout on Saturday…I really do. I’m nervous. It’s who I am, what can I say. I might nervous pee 100 times Saturday morning and I might have lots of anxiety all week until the workout is announced Thursday night. It’s possible. But one thing for sure is that I’ll be there at 9am Saturday morning ready to give my all even if it means I’m going to ugly cry in front of my friends.
It means that much to me.