When my husband starting getting all geeked out on signing our box up for the CrossFit Games Open Competition, I shook my head and thought "What's the point? It isn't like I'm going to make it to Regionals anyway." His response, "You don't run a 5K race always expecting to win, you run it for fun." He had a good point. So I did it. I signed up for the Open as did 14 other athletes from our affiliate. I think we may have initially went into it to humor my husband, Matt, but the outcome was an experience I am very thankful for. What i couldn't prepare myself for was the camaraderie that ensued from all the athletes, competitors and non competitors alike, coming together for a common goal.
Every week, we chalked up our hands, we slid on the weights and we gripped the bar in an effort to put our name on the roster with the likeness of the fittest on earth. Our goal wasn't to be named the fittest on earth. Our goal was to give it all we had! Every workout tested our strength and made us dig deep to put up weight we never thought we could. We made PR's, we contemplated re-doing a WOD for a better score, we cheered louder than ever for our team mates and with every competition WOD we formed a deeper relationship with each other.
What is it about competing together that seems to bring people closer together? Is it the shared jitters? or the adrenaline that we all experience, or diving head first into the WOD with the thought "There is NO way I can do that", or just knowing we are all suffering together? Maybe it is a combination of it all, but it seems to be that those that suffer together, stick together!
I am thankful for each and every athlete at CrossFit Manitowoc, those that competed and those that didn't. We couldn't have done it without the support of the non competitors who came out and cheered us on. And having 14 other athletes to compete with, made this experience so much more enlightening. I am thankful for those that took on the challenge with me, pushed me past limits I didn't know I could, and gave me a lot of memories and laughs in the process. I may never share the floor with the elite CrossFit athletes, but as far as I am concerned, I am sharing the floor with some of the greatest people I know, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to be surrounded by while taking on the Games OPEN.
13.5 Cool Down!
Some of the cheering crowd!
the CFM ladies that rocked out 13.5 together! We rocked the shorts and tall socks!!
And just for fun, us ladies took on the hand stands!!
At the end of it all, I ranked 7,921 worldwide and 685 in the North Central Region. I won't be going around bragging that I am the 8000th fittest woman in the world, that is for sure, and I probably won't even remember these stats when next year rolls around. The point of the Games wasn't for me to "rank", it was for me to prove to myself that I can do more than I think I can when put in a position that I have no other choice. I could either quit or keep trying. So no matter what challenges you face, remember: "Your untapped potential is revealed when quitting is not an option and trying is all you've got!"
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