Sometimes We Need To Take the Scenic Route

Even the best laid plans don't always go as expected.

Since beginning my CrossFit journey almost 5 years ago, I knew almost immediately that I wanted to be a coach and one day have my own gym, but not for the reasons you would expect...or maybe so.

When I found CrossFit, I was needing something positive in my life. I was empty and lost and on a terrible spiral down into a dark depression. I had prayed for God to lift me up and what He did was lead me to a place where I would learn to lift myself up...and I did.

How could I not share this? How could I possibly keep this to myself? I had found the best therapy for me.

Yes. Therapy.

When I started CrossFit, I was 15 pounds underweight, living off minimal sleep and just trying to make it from day to day. I can promise you, "getting fit" was NOT on my mind. The only reason I joined my first CrossFit class was because my boys karate instructor had been pretty excited about the "new class" he was offering and he thought I would like it. If you don't know any karate instructors, they are quite persistent.

So, I tried it out, partly because he asked me to, but mostly because I needed to do something other than sit around feeling sorry for myself.

That first class we did a little chipper. It didn't look bad at all, but I ended up in a puddle on the floor. As I was pulling out of the parking lot that night, it occurred to me that in that hour long class, I had not thought ONE TIME of anything else that was going on in my life. My focus had just been on the moment I was in and I was hooked!

As time went on, I really began loving getting stronger. I fell in love with the barbell and I had finally found an outlet for my secret competitive side by competing in local CrossFit competitions. My husband soon began CrossFitting and my boys started CrossFit Kids. To say CrossFit had changed my life would be a complete understatement. It changed my whole family.

Fast forward two and half years and I was blessed with the opportunity to open my own CrossFit gym which I would co-own for the next 2 years. What an amazing experience! (That is a whole separate blog.)

My love continued for coaching. I fell in love with Olympic Lifting. I wanted to be better, to be stronger and faster and my goals continued to evolve. I felt more comfortable in my 40-something year old body than I ever had my entire life! I made life long friendships in the community and I was happy.

I imagined how the gym would grow over the next years, all the awesome things that we could do, but sometimes my plan and His plan are different.

In June 2014, I finally had to admit to myself that it was time for me to change course and I sold my part of the gym to my business partner. Once again, I felt like a failure and very defeated for those first few weeks, but God always has a plan and I had to remember that. I can absolutely testify that sometimes the right decisions are often the most difficult to make.

Almost immediately, my husband and I began working on our garage and made it into a garage gym. It was around our 3rd workout together that I realized how rare it was that we ever workout together. In all the years I have been coaching, I can literally count the number of times we have worked out together.

It was fun! FUN! and I was given another reason to love CrossFit. My boys joined us for the next one and I was given yet ANOTHER reason to love it.

Did I imagine 5 years ago that I would be coaching people out of my garage? No, but I did imagine that I would still be in love with CrossFit and I am. It continues to be the best therapy ever. It's my "Happy Dose" each day!

CrossFit has been given a bad rap over the years, but I can tell you that it saved me and it saves me everyday. I LOVE getting stronger. I love sweating and knowing I gave a workout everything I have but mostly I LOVE coaching. I love the look on someone's face when they do their first double under, or kick up to their first handstand or get their first pull-up..when I see the joy on their face, there's nothing like it. THAT's what it is all about to me and I don't see that getting old for me anytime soon.

I'm still on my journey and what I have learned is that God's detours are blessings and I believe sometimes He wants us to take the scenic route instead. I am thankful for the detours because it causes me to slow down and enjoy the scenery.

Everyone has a different reason for beginning CrossFit and my story is just one in a million. Whatever your reason is, the goal is to be happy with who you are and what you are doing.

So go be happy! Life is just too short to be anything else.

Believe! You Can Do This!

It is that time again when one year comes to an end and another year begins. A time when we look back on the past year and pat ourselves on the back for achieving goals that we set for ourselves OR wonder "What the hell happened?!"

I have stated before that I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions. Why? Well, let me ask you. How many of your New Year's Resolutions have you actually achieved? My guess is, probably not that many.

Now let me ask you another question.

How many of the goals that you have set for yourself have you met? I would venture to guess that you have reached many of them.

Have you achieved all of your goals? Probably not. If you have, I would tell you it is time to make some more. We should ALWAYS have our sights set on a goal and when we reach that goal, set a new one! Remember, "The finish line is just the beginning of a whole new race."

As I have looked back on this past year, I am thrilled and amazed at how much has happened.
There were many goals that I set out for myself that I still have not reached, but I am certainly closer to achieving them than I was a year ago.

As far as goals met, I competed in 4 CrossFit competitions in the RX division,  I even came in second place in my first Master's Division at the Reindeer Games. I recieved my CrossFit Gymnastic Cert., organized my very first and successful fundraiser benefiting Autism, (WODism for Autism). I went to the CrossFit Games and watched some amazing athletes! I met Cheryl Brost, Lindsey Smith, Rich Froning Jr AND Fitness Lonnie! I learned butterfly pullups, got my first bar muscle up and got stronger.

I also surprised myself with achieving my largest goal.

Owning and running my own box has been a long time goal of mine, more like a dream of mine. I saw that dream fulfilled back in August when I and two of my good friends opened CrossFit Alabaster. It has been a huge success and that is due to my outstanding partners and our amazing (and fun) athletes! I have made some pretty incredible relationships because of CrossFit Alabaster and have the opportunity to spend time with some pretty amazing people on a daily basis. I am blessed.

This morning while I was in church listening to my dad preach, he said this during the sermon, "sometimes opportunities come disguised as impossibilities. Remember, nothing is impossible with God!"

This is so relevant to me. I don't know if I thought it was impossible to have my own box, but I did wonder if it would ever be possible. What I can say is that I BELIEVED I could do it. I don't know what your faith is, but I do know this. You must BELIEVE  for it to come to pass. I truly believed. I had a few people tell me that I would not be any good at all running my own gym/business. That I didn't know how to do "this", I didn't know how to do "that". I wasn't good at "this", I needed to be better at "that".

I had faith in myself though. I had a positive support group and I chose to listen to them. I chose to believe in myself and I chose to put my faith in Him.

Have you ever set a goal or set out to do something and had someone tell you that you couldn't do it?

Did you do it anyway and succeed? Why? Because you had faith in yourself! You believed you could do it!

The same also applies to your fitness goals, as well. One of my goals this year was to have a "PRETTY Muscle Up". It's okay, you can laugh, but if you saw my muscle up, you would agree that this is a very good goal for me to have. The other day, I was on the rings working with one of our other coaches and he told me, "Dawn, give me a few minutes, I will have you on top of those rings! It's going to happen today!"

HE believed!

We transitioned, we kipped, we broke everything down back to the basics. All the things I already knew. I could do this! I was ready to do this...right? I got back up on the rings, did this beautiful kip (well, it felt beautiful)...and felt myself stop pulling, mid-swing.

For the first time, I actually heard the words in my head. "You are going to fall."

I was scared I was going to fall. I KNEW I was going to fail. I was scared I would go through the rings...all the way through and fall out of the rings. I did not expect to get on top of those rings. So...I didn't.

I did not believe.

Guess what goal I have not reached. Guess who is holding me back...me.

So today I am asking you to make goals for yourself. Write them down. Share them with someone! My biggest goals were achieved because I had help and encouragement and I BELIEVED.

You can do this!

2013 is going to be an amazing year!

Happy New Year!

SKINNY does not mean HEALTHY

I have spent the past week or so really trying to find the right words for this post. I have finally come to the realization that I just need to be up front and point blank about this. I really just need to vent just a bit.

SKINNY DOES NOT MEAN HEALTHY!

That being said, I am human and I get my feelings hurt, too. I have to admit though, it really pisses me off that I couldn't just shrug this off but instead, let it get to me. Especially when what was said to me shouldn't have bothered me!

Last week, I had someone very close to me, another woman, lovingly point out the fact that I had still have a belly.
Not a shocker! I mean, it's not like I didn't know, but it hurt my feelings just the same. I said as much and she told me that she didn't mean to hurt my feelings BUT she was taking these appetite suppressants and maybe I would like her to get me some also to help me get rid of the rest of my belly.
:(
FEELINGS VERY HURT!

And do you know what makes me the most upset?! The fact that for a split second before I shut her down, I was willing to hear about these pills. WHY?

Seriously! WHY?!

If someone from my gym had told me that this had happened to them I would have come UNDONE! I would have been so upset! Then I would have spent the next 30 minutes explaining to them that SKINNY does not mean HEALTHY! Pills are NOT how to lose weight and blah, blah, blah!

So why didn't I have this immediate reaction when it was suggested to me that I needed help to lose my belly? I think partly because this statement came from a loved one, but I think the real reason is because I, like so many of you, can not be completely satisfied with how I look.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

I have never been that girl with the eating disorder. Mostly because I enjoy food too damn much!  What I have always wanted though, was an athletic build. A body that, when people saw me, would know that I worked hard for it, not wonder who my plastic surgeon was. (DISCLAIMER: I have nothing against plastic surgery, it is just not for me.)
Up until a few years ago, I didn't do the work to get that body, so I had no reason to be upset that I didn't have it. So, I wasn't.

If you don't work for it, you can't expect it, right? RIGHT!

After the birth of my 3rd and last son, I got serious though. I started working out 6 days a week doing something you may have heard of, P90X. This was perfect for me at the time. I had a newborn that I couldn't take to the gym and with this, I could work out at home. I did this for 3 years, every day. (YES! You read that correct) I measured myself monthly, weighed myself, took the before and after pictures. You name it! Over those 3 years, I saw my body begin to change and reward me with my hard work.

THEN I discovered CrossFit and my life completely changed!

I also discovered I wasn't near as strong and in shape as I thought I was. My first CrossFit workout handed my ass to me...and I loved it!!! As a result, I saw my body change more in the following 3 months than it had changed in the past 3 years of P90X. My arms, my legs, my shoulders and my back all begin to change. For the first time, I was able to see muscle definition. I didn't even know I had some of these muscles. Very cool!

What was even better, was that I found my goals had begun to change as well. I was no longer concerned with the number on the scale going down, or the measurements, or the damn "before" and "after" photos. My goals changed to things like, lift heavier, run faster, get an unassisted pull-up, learn the olympic lifts, do push-ups correctly.

Losing 5 - 10lbs began to seem silly to me.

I felt amazing and fitter than I had ever been in my life! Wasn't that supposed to be our goal?

I also learned what my body was not going to do. I had always expected my body to respond to everything, and for the most part it did...except my abs.

I joke with my friends that I only have a 3-pack instead of a 6-pack. Those other 3 abs that will not show, I have named them Taylor, Brendan and Jordan after my 3 boys.

So then why the hell did this conversation bother me so damn much? I had accepted a long time ago I was not a 6-packer.

Not a 6-packer

Nope, no 6 pack here either.

Reality = STRONG!

Not me! :)

My best friend suggested that maybe I was mourning a loss. She asked me, "Why are you not upset that your boobs aren't perfect?"
I laughed hard and said, "Girl, I have had three boys! There is no help for them expect for surgery, which I won't do."
She said, "The same is true for your abs! Everything else about your body changed as you expected with the exception for your stomach. Let's take a photo of those abs you think you should have, burn the picture and bury this crap!"

Well said, Cindy! So, for those of you out there that may be going through this same struggle, let's bury this crap! Love who we are! Be proud of what we are doing, and most important, don't let the hurtful words bring you down.

Strong is Sexy and Beautiful! Caring what people think of you...not so much.

You know better. I know better!

Be healthy, be fit, and most important, be HAPPY with who you are!