The month of June will bring a couple really cool things – my 6 month anniversary as a crossfitter and my 43rd bday.  I’m slightly more excited about the CrossFit anniversary to be honest – so if you feel inclined to get me a gift, the anniversary is June 9th (just kidding of course, but my shoe size is 7 and I could really use some lifting shoes – again, just kidding).

As I approach this half-year milestone I find myself looking back at pictures of those first few weeks and reflecting on how far I’ve come.  This refection is coming at the same time as I find my Facebook wall plastered with articles opposing CrossFit and articles written in defense of CrossFit.  I’ve read a few of them (on both sides) and since I agree almost entirely with those passionately written to defend the sport we love, the articles I find more interesting are those written against our sport.  Reading someone else’s perspective gives me an opportunity to honestly evaluate something I am spending a lot of time and money on.  It has given me a chance to think about how our coaches perform and to ask myself if I have ever felt pushed to attempt things beyond my capacity.  These articles have allowed me to consider how I feel about being viewed as part of a cult!

Here are some of the conclusions I have arrived at.  First of all, I am so glad that my sport is challenging enough to have an element of “danger” to it.  I recall reading an article when the boys were small and started skateboarding that indicated there is scientific evidence that children who are encouraged to challenge themselves to the more difficult and “dangerous” elements on a playground and in sports end up being the leaders in our communities.  I think that is on display in my CrossFit box where I work out next to doctors and lawyers and accountants and chiropractors…  Our minds and bodies want to be challenged, that is how we have been beautifully created.  I am grateful that the coaches at Tallahassee CrossFit are wise and careful and have never encouraged me to do something I shouldn’t do.  They do however encourage me to do things I don’t think I can do (because they know I can) and that is why I am getting stronger and better.  I injured my knee running in a marathon the week before I started CrossFit, it’s still not all the way better – and all my coaches help me choose modifications when I need them so that I have the time and space I need to heal.  They are invested in me in a way I have never experienced while working out before!

The CrossFit community at large (and at my box) is committed to total health and well-being and promotes the things we should be doing to keep the one body we have been blessed with functioning as well as it possibly can.  Chris started CrossFit a few months before me and I learned so much about diet and nutrition from the CrossFit magazines he brought home in those early months.  We both became consumed with what we could do (especially since we are older than many of those we work out with) to be strong and competitive.  Our first step was eliminating alcohol – and that happened almost a year ago!  Next we started down the path of eating Paleo so that our bodies would not be additionally challenged to digest processed foods or chemicals.  Recently we completed the 21 day sugar detox which further showed us evidence of what is hiding in the foods we blindly eat everyday.  During these changes I have found my body works so much more naturally well and I feel and sleep so much better!  I was contemplating surgery for a problem fixed by eliminating sugar and the low feelings I often had from hormone imbalance are much less severe.

CrossFit has changed my family’s life; in some ways I think it saved it!  Reading articles written by those who seek to diminish CrossFit is distressing because they are trash-talking something I wholeheartedly love.  But CrossFit isn’t for everyone, and there are other sports and practices that can deliver some of these same results – but I can’t think of any that could deliver without some element of risk.  When my body wakes up at 4:15 a.m. my mind has to wake up too.  I go to the box engaged and present and I don’t just mindlessly hop on a treadmill and expect to hop off fit and ready for whatever life might throw my way.  I focus through every WOD and I think about all my movements and how I can be as efficient as possible given my particular set of strengths and weaknesses.  This practice prepares me for my day and my life in ways nothing else ever has.  I feel more in tune with myself than ever before and it is making me better at everything else I do.

Falling in love with movement and challenge like I have through CrossFit makes me more authentically fascinated by anyone out there moving in a challenging way.  No matter what my friends are posting on Facebook, be it running or preparing for a Spartan race, or dancing or swimming – I am much more intrigued by the process.  I think it is a beautiful time in history when science has provided for us an understanding of how things work in such a precise way that our bodies can perform as close to perfect as possible.  Thank you friends for all you are doing to inspire me every single day by getting out there and doing what you love.  Keep it up and let’s challenge one another to be our very best – regardless of what sport it is that gets us there.