[soliloquy id=”4650″]

In January of 2012 I weighed a little over 200 lbs and was miserable with the way I looked and felt.  Being active almost my whole life, I felt like I was trapped in a body that wasn’t mine.  I hated going out because I knew I’d be trying on clothes in front of the mirror for over an hour and when the clothes didn’t fit or didn’t look good, I’d end up disappointed and feeling worse about myself.  I wouldn’t leave the house unless my arms were covered up… I was so embarrassed.  I knew I needed to change.  I tried a CrossFit affiliate nearby, but only went 2-3 times a week because I felt intimidated and wasn’t really seeing results as quick as I had hoped.  I liked the sport of CrossFit because it brought me back to my powerlifting roots, but I didn’t feel any community support (the coach didn’t even know my name despite the fact that I took only his classes 3 times a week for 5 months) and I always felt out of place around the RX athletes.  I was stuck on the black band for pull-ups and wasn’t progressing past the lowest box for box jumps.  After a vacation in May of 2012, I quit CrossFit all together.  Over the summer, I undid the little progress that I had made, which made being in a swimsuit downright unbearable.  Then, I saw that Ashley and Scott were opening up CrossFit Tri-County. In September, I dove back into CrossFit and haven’t looked back since.  CFTC has been a completely different CrossFit experience.  In the beginning, I struggled through the WODs, I had to walk during a lot of the runs, I battled with pull-ups on a black band, but I was always encouraged by the other athletes (who I hoped to one day be like) and I was pushed to keep moving and constantly challenge myself by Scott and Ashley.  I started out with WODs 3 times a week, then bumped it up to 4.  I started seeing greater results in strength, cardio, and weight loss.  In January of 2013, I got my first unassisted pull-up.  This was a game changer.  A year ago, I honestly thought that I would NEVER get an unassisted pull-up.  I looked up to the athletes that had kipping pull-ups and just had it in my mind that that was something I would never be able to do.  After proving myself so wrong, “never” and “can’t” were no longer in my vocabulary.  I stopped cherry-picking the WODs and committed to working on everything: strengths, weaknesses, and things I once thought were impossible.  I bumped up my training to 5 days a week and incorporated some Paleo into my diet and that has gotten me where I am today: I’m down 46 lbs and dropped 6 pant sizes, I ran a 10k (without extra training, just CrossFit), I’m RXing most WODs, I look and feel stronger than I ever have, and I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long time.  I’ve made so many new friends at CFTC and I love being there.  I’m so excited to see what the future holds!