At the beginning of the year, I started a little list in the notes app of my Iphone. A lot of people have bucket lists for life. I decided to create bucket lists a year at time. It gives me motivation to chase things, creating a shorter window to achieve the goal. The list isn’t very long (a year isn’t either), and one thing I’ve already ticked off. Other things I haven’t. Some of those items include; eat a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, eat at buffet Popeyes, run a sub30 5k, and get a body weight pull up. See how some of the items totally contradict others? 🙂 I can in good conscience say that I have spent WAY more time making progress to the 5k time and the body weight pull up then I have thinking about eating 12 donuts. So…that’s a relief.

One of the things on the list is to Rx a benchmark WOD. In crossfit, benchmark WODs are a big deal because they are the workouts used to measure performance across all athletes. The standard for the movements is the same for everyone, and benchmarks are used to measure gains in performance as well as stack you up against your peers. They test accuracy, strength, stamina, and mental capacity. They are not easy, they are not meant to be.

Today, CFHSV posted Kelly. Which is:

5 rounds for time:

400 meter run, 30 box jumps (24inches for guys, 20inches for girls) and 30 WBS (20# for guys and 14# for girls, all to the 10foot mark).

I didn’t wake up this morning with a plan to even attempt to Rx this workout. In fact, even as the buzzer went off starting the clock, I still didn’t have a solid plan except to not die of heat exhaustion (it was a humid 93 degrees out at 3pm). I figured I would try to do the first 2 rounds Rx and then assumed the first thing to go would be my box jumps. I only started Rxing 20inch box jumps about two months ago and didn’t anticipate being able to complete 150 of them today. Then I figured I would get too tired to shoot the medicine ball to the 10 foot mark and would gradually just start being okay with letting it hit 9 foot. But none of those movements started to slip…so I just kept going. Beginning my third run, I thought, “well I will be able to say I Rxed 3 full rounds, so I will plan on just stopping after this round.” But after the third round, I had about 20 more minutes worth of time to continue to work, and I couldn’t get right with stopping. So I ran out again.

I started my final round at about 41 minutes and change and knew I wouldn’t make the cut off time of 45 minutes. My runs were trots by then, but I ran trotted on, and came in the door with 15 seconds left so I hurried over to get a few box jumps in. My head coach came over and said “keep going! If you can safely finish this work out, go for it!” So I nodded and kept jumping and knew that I would finish the workout. And I did, in 51:06.

No, if you look up Crossfit Kelly times on google or something, it’s not at all impressive of a score. But, that’s totally okay with me. My heart soared when I finished, and I smiled at my Coach, and my friends, celebrating this milestone of mine!

The coolest part is that my husband was there with me, nearly rep for rep. We went all the way with Kelly for the first time together 🙂

This month marks my one year anniversary with Crossfit. Thinking back to when I started, I made a lot of goals, but the one I have chased the most is the pull up. I’ve even had several dreams about it and I just knew that after 1 year of Crossfit, I would have a pull up and I eagerly let the months tick away fully believing that I would have that conquered when my time came. And here it is, and the pull up still eludes me. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that “failure”. If you can call it that. I have spent a lot of time training before and after class, working on my upper body strength deficit and doing everything I could in my diet to help shed weight. And after one year, I am still without pull ups.

But, looking back across the pages of my WOD book this last year, I am filled with joy and triumph when I see all of the things I have accomplished that took time, courage, and practice, and repeatedly difficult attempts to master. Some of those things are:

Double Unders, Box Jumps, GHD situps, Going inverted and working on HSPU, Being able to Clean over 100 pounds and take it overhead (current PR at 130), and weighing less now than I did as a freshman in high school.

And so I’ve grown to accept that I will still chase the pull up into my second year. I will chase A LOT of things this second year. But that just makes me want it more. Because when you finally catch up to something you’ve wanted for so long, that high fills you all the way up and carries you away. I challenge you to always be chasing something better. Get stronger, get happier, get healthy. Do it because it’s hard and because no one else can do it for you.

D.H Lawrence wrote:

“I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.”

Let this be both a comfort and a pile of coal for the furnace of your heart when you find yourself in your struggles, whatever they may be, as you chase what’s important to you.

“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” – Socrates

 

Other happy things that occurred this weekend: My WODbestie Kim surprised me with an embroidered sweat towel!! (today was literally the perfect day to receive this gift).

 

And I told you I would get around to showing off my lifters! Swwoooooonnnnn.

I meant what I said earlier- live this life in a full out effort to do what it is that means the most to you. No one else can do that for you and I promise you will shock the hell out of yourself when you realize what you are capable of; I see it every day inside CFHSV.