WODism For Autism, the Beginning

About five years ago I went to an event hosted by Sean Dickson (owner of  Riverchase CrossFit). This event was called Backpack for Buddies and was held at a local park on a Saturday afternoon.

Sean and a select few set up a tent and then did a day-long, grueling workout as people came by to watch and make donations for this charity. My three boys were caught up in it also, very proud of their donations as they handed each can of vegetables one at a time to the lady who was collecting them.  It was obvious to me that my youngest two wanted to jump in and start working out with them. They watched with respect as these strong guys worked through their grinding workout for a good cause and as I stood there next to them, I was inspired.

I spent the whole drive home in deep thought, my mind going a thousand miles an hour. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I could do something like this, too. I was energized! I had an idea and I couldn't wait to get home and tell my husband about it.

See, my oldest son, Taylor, has high functioning autism. He is now 17 years-old, and the resources available to him today are many, but when he was a toddler and I was a young mom, there were not many at all. No "internet highway" for me to find everything we needed for Taylor. There were many long days in the beginning that we felt like we were on our own, treading water. I am grateful to say that we found the perfect school for him with amazing teachers and therapist but I know that this is not the story for a lot of families. I wanted to help.

Taylor started CrossFit Kids not long after I began CrossFit in 2010 and he did really, really well at it. He really seemed to like it and I felt like I had finally found something for him that would keep him active, and more importantly to me, engaged with his peers.

On the drive home from Backpack for Buddies that day, I started to envision it. I could combine my love for CrossFit and my desire to help other families who are living with autism. I  decided that I wanted to create an event, similar to the one Sean had hosted with the big difference being that anyone could participate in it. An event that would introduce CrossFit to children and adults with autism or other special needs and as a result raise money for our local Autism charity.

I had no idea where to even begin but I took a step out in faith and just went with it.I thought maybe we would raise a couple of thousand dollars, I really didn't know what to expect.

Taylor's favorite movements in CrossFit are the gymnastic movements. The idea was to create a workout in his honor using movements that he likes to do. I knew the perfect person to program the perfect WOD (Workout of the Day). I asked my friend, Jeff Tucker with GSX CrossFit and he was happy to help!

The event would be called WODism for Autism and the format was simple. Do the WOD, "Taylor", which is a short AMRAP (As many rounds as possible) and pay a donation to participate. If you just wanted to buy a t-shirt, the proceeds from those also went to the charity.

I think we had around 60-70 people participate that first year and we raised a little over $7,000. I was elated!

Since that first year, we have had hundreds of people come out to support WODism for Autism. In 2013 we year raised over $17,000 for the Autism Society of Alabama.

This year will mark the fourth year for the WODism for Autism and I can't wait to see what we will achieve this year. Our charity this year is KultureCity and they are making a huge difference in so many lives! Taylor looks forward to WODism for Autism every year now. He marks it down on the calendar as soon as we hang up the new yearly calendar for him.

WODism for Autism is close to my heart. Every year, my cup runneth over but I know that there is no way any of this could be pulled off without all the amazing people that put in their time to help and support it. I am surrounded by so many incredible people with enormous hearts!

I learned some very important things through this little journey.

The CrossFit Community is AMAZING!

People WANT to make a difference.

Autism touches the lives of just about every person you and I know.

Watching a child with special needs, ANY special needs, participate in a group event like this and seeing the smiles on their faces makes it all worth it.

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!

Do one thing everyday that scares you.

I know you have read this quote by Eleanor Roosevelt or heard it many times but have you tried to do just that? I did this past weekend. If you are friends with me on FaceBook, you have probably grown tired of hearing me talk about this past weekend, in fact I am sure I have probably been blocked by some of you. I apologize, really, but I am still giddy as hell about it!

What happened this past Saturday? The Regionals, yes, BUT that's not what I am talking about. I am talking about the WODism for Autism.

What is that you ask? Well, let me tell you about it.

Back in the fall, my friend Sean Dickson, from Combat Fitness in Hoover, Alabama had a food drive for Backpack Buddies. For the entire day, he did this crazy body weight workout that lasted literally ALL DAY LONG. People came out and supported him by donating canned goods for Backpack Buddies. I went out there with my boys to bring some canned items and watched him workout. When I got there, some of his buddies had joined him for a few rounds of pushups, squats, running and I think some situps were in there, too.

I was inspired! What a great idea!

Over the next few months the idea of doing something like this to raise money for the Autism Society danced around in my head. What if we had a Ground to Overhead Relay that lasted all day? At the end of the day, we would see how much weight we put over our heads. Why? Well, why not?

Then I thought, what if we had a WOD that was inspired by movements my son, Taylor, likes to do? We could have 3 different versions, RX, Scaled and Kids. Why not use this as an opportunity to introduce CrossFit to our community and show them that they don't have to be Elite to be a CrossFitter. They could even have special needs and we can still make it perfect just for them. This is what I have done for Taylor and it have been amazing for him. Then I thought, wouldn't it be great if we could raise $1000 for the Autism Society of Alabama?

These were my goals.

I had never attempted something like this and I had no idea what to expect. I decided that since April is Autism Awareness month, April would be the perfect time to do this. In March, I sent out some messages to 2Pood, ReDefine Fit, WOD Gear and Atlas Power Wraps and asked if they would like to make a donation for prizes for this event. All of them replied very quickly with a big "YES!". 

I thought Jeff Tucker of GSX CrossFit would be the perfect guy to program the WOD "Taylor". Taylor really likes the body weight movements, and so Tucker is the man! Tucker was so generous with his time and was genuinely thrilled to be asked to do this for us.

I then started sending out invitations via FaceBook and the response was immediate and overwhelming! Can I just tell you how much I LOVE the CrossFit community? We had a great crowd! They came from all over the state. My friend Crystal and her husband Wayne along with their son, Morgan drove all the way from Dothan to be a part fo this event. My friend, Jonah from Brute Fitness in Gadsden (the bad ass in the video doing the one armed snatch) spent the day with us as well helping and putting weight over his head. We also had people come from Huntsville and Tuscaloosa. Not only did they show up but they showed out!
I think this video, done by my good friend James Washer, sums up the days events perfectly.

The day was a huge success!  Trinity CrossFit raised over $7000 for the Autism Society of Alabama and for the Ground to Overhead Relay that was going on all day from 11:00-6:00, we put over 200,000lbs over our head. I think next year we can do even better!


Then to make the day even better the most amazing and moving thing happened. A company called "The Infinite Actuary" donated the New iPad for the event. We decided that we would give that as a prize to the person who raised the most money. A fundraising contest, of course!


At the end of the day, James came in and said "It's over!. Someone just won the iPad by giving over $1000!" Then he told me, "They want Taylor to have it, so it's his and they also want to remain anonymous."

 I was moved to tears! I had to go into the bathroom and just cry. I had told my boys that we didn't count in the fundraising and now Taylor had just won the iPad because there are still some really amazing people in the world. 
Wouldn't it be amazing if CrossFit boxes all over the country did this for their local Autism Society?Autism affects more and more children. It has become an epidemic! When Taylor was diagnosed 13 years ago it was 1 in 150 children. Today it is 1 in 88!

I believe we can make a difference. I am so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone. I am still riding the high of an incredible weekend.


"Taylor"
10 minute AMRAP
5 second Handstand Hold
5 Ring Pushups
5 Shoot Thrus
15 Squats
5 second Hollow Holds