Merry Liftmas! – A Bisel Dis… A Bisel Dat

One year ago, I began a journey that I never imagined I’d come to love so much. It was a year ago that my sister-in-law Sara and her husband Liam dragged me to my first CrossFit workout. Little did I know what was in store for me. I thought I was in decent shape since I’d been working out consistently for the better part of the previous 3 years. But this workout, The 12 Days of Christmas, kicked my ass into the next week. Seriously – I could barely move for days.

Still, something made me go back. First it was once a week or two. Then twice. By spring break, I was up to 3x weekly, and I wanted to go more. Once I’d used up my initially purchased 10-class punch card, I signed on for a full membership and canceled my membership at my old gym.

We arrived on a Friday, and the plan was for me to go with her Saturday morning. She’d warned me that they were doing 8 weeks of Hero WODs on Saturdays. A Hero WOD is usually a bit more taxing than a regular workout, and is named in honor of a fallen soldier. Before starting any Hero WOD, it’s customary to hear a brief story about that soldier’s service and favorite workout(s) that led to the development of the particular Hero WOD. On this day, we were honoring Deputy U.S. Marshal, Josie Wells. The Josie WOD if, if performed strictly according to Hoyle (the CrossFit term is RX), is done for time while wearing a 20-lb. vest. The WOD entails:

1 mile run (I scaled it down to 800 meters)
Then, 3 rounds of:
- 30 burpees (I scaled to 15)
- 4 power cleans (35lb)
- 6 front squats (35lb)hen, 3 rounds:
Then, 1 mile run (scaled to 400m, though I could have done 800m if we weren’t pressed for time.)

I finished in 30:22. I’d never done 45 burpees in one workout, nor have I run that much in YEARS – and, I felt great at the end! I was really proud of myself. But, my performance in the WOD itself wasn’t the only cool thing to happen. I also got to meet TJ, one of the athletes at KP – he recognized me as the person who wrote the post about my first CrossFit experience with Sara last Christmas. I felt kind of famous. And speaking of famous, the owners of KP are none other than Andy Katzenmoyer and his wife Trish. Andy used to play for the New England Patriots. Yep, he’s HUGE, and a super coach who pushed me to excel, even though I was only there for a drop-in.

I’d only planned on going to CrossFit with Sara the one time on Saturday, but it turns out (unlike at my home box), KP has Sunday workouts. Thank goodness I bought a new tank top at Rogue the day before. I wore it, plus my new spiffy headband (also from Rogue) for the Sunday Metcon at KP.

Here’s what was on the schedule:

Of course, I scaled it to my own ability:

45lb on the SDLHPs and Hang Cleans
Step up and overs instead of box jumps
Sit-ups instead of shoot throughs
One foot on the box for K2C – a step forward from how I’d been scaling it.

This past Thanksgiving, Kilter returned the hospitality when Liam and Sara came to town and spent 5 days at WODding with me.

It was a bit of a drive from my MIL’s, where they stayed, but it was great having them join me at what has become my second home. Some people think that CrossFit is a “cult,” but those are the outsiders. For those of us on the inside, it’s family. I have seriously met the most amazing, kind, generous, loyal people through CrossFit. They are my people and I couldn’t love my Kilter family any more.

Fast forward to this morning, one year +1 day from when this all began. One again, 12 Days of Christmas was on the board. But this time, not only was I ready, I was ridiculously giddy with excitement. After all, this was my one-year WODiversary!

The movements may not have been the same, but the effort required certainly was. This time, not only did I feel like knew what I was doing, I was doing it with enthusiasm. By the 9^th “day” it was getting pretty tough, but I still had a smile on my face, and when I finished, and when I finished, I felt great. Breathing hard, but great!

We didn’t take a group picture this year, but I got some snaps with some of my favorite peeps. Not all, but some. A few left early, and some couldn’t make it. Still, here’s a sampling of some of the coolest cats I know: