You Always Remember Your First

They say you always remember your first.

Your first kiss.    Your first date.  Your first real vacation.  Your first love.   Your first job.     Your first car.     Your first home.                Your first . . . well, you get the idea.

I have a new first to add to my “always remembered.” I will always remember Angie, the first girl I ever did!

She was mean and evil. All 40 minutes and 25 seconds of her. But I did it. I survived. And while it still hurts to move my arms, 2 days later, I can’t help but smile. My first girl was Angie, and I did her 6 weeks in to CrossFit!

Angie – For Time
100 pull ups (I use rings)
100 pushups (hand release of course!)
100 sit up
100 squats

I was nervous. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but at the same time, it does. I’m not strong. I do 30 pushups and think I did a great job. There was no breaking it up in to sets of 25 each. You finished all 100 of that exercise before you could move on to the next. Half way through I was regretting not doing the WOD or even the WOW. Why did I have to pick the Sports WOD? Why was I so eager to do a girl?

40:25

It’s not a great time. Hell, it probably really sucks. I do pull ups using the rings. I do pushups on my knees. But at least I am doing something. Six weeks ago, I could barely do a squat, 20 pull ups killed me, pushups were my enemy, and sit ups left me sore for at least a week.

Today, my legs are tight, my abs a little sore, and my arms are ok as long as I don’t try to straighten them. But I did 100 reps of each exercise and I did them all in 40 minutes and 25 seconds! Something I could never have done 6 weeks ago!!!!

I can’t believe how far I have come in 6 weeks of CrossFit. I love the strength gains that I have had (even if they are small). I love that I can run up and down a hill with Ayden more than 2 times before I want to sit down. I love that I am not constantly telling Harley to slow down when we are walking next to each other. I love that I finally got to do a girl!

I will always remember my first!

A toast to Angie . . . the first of many girls that will kick my butt!

Discipline and Pride

There are a lot of journeys in life that I have taken that I can’t say I am proud of. There are a lot of times I know I should have been more disciplined – school, work, friends, life in general.

That was then and this is now. And the “Now” me is more disciplined  (and can also look back and say all of those not so proud moments have brought me to where I am and I would not change that for anything!).

Maybe having a child helps that. Ayden does keep me more disciplined when it comes to schedules. I hate schedules! While we are not a very down to the minute scheduled family, we do have a bit more of a pattern to the days then we did pre-Ayden. The good Lord knows that there is not a thing I would not do for my child. He is amazing!!!

Lately I have learned that I am capable of pushing myself further then I ever thought possible. Lately, I have realized that with a little discipline I can achieve great things. For four weeks (13 work outs) I have held myself to a 3 days a week schedule at CrossFit. I have not backed down. I have not given in to sleepless nights, long days, stress from work, stress from family, headaches, sore muscles, asthma attacks, nights out, drinks or any other random part of life. In short, I have been disciplined.

Discipline, on this level, is new to me.

I feel in control. I feel on top of the world. I feel like I can tackle anything. I may not be the fastest. I may not be the strongest. I may not be the best. Actually, I am the furthest from all of these. But through my constant struggle to survive each WOD, I have discovered so much about who I am and who I am capable of being. With each disciplined WOD, with every breath I take, I come one step closer to achieving even better results. Every achievement, whether it be an Rx’d exercise (Slam Ball!!) or just completing a WOD without dying, brings a satisfaction to my life that I have never experienced.

Pride.

Self worth.

I know I can be the best wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend and worker. I know I am capable of greatness. I know that I am worth the effort. I know that I am special. I know I deserve happiness. I know that with a little bit of discipline, I can achieve anything.

“You have to discipline yourself, and through this discipline will come some level of achievement, and from this achievement will come your pride”

Are you Interested, or Committed?

It’s been a looooong time since my last post. Who knew blogging could be so hard to find time to do? Instead of catching up on every detail of the last couple of months, here is my quick recap:

The first Christmas without my father-in-law was weird. I was sick with a stomach flu so I didn’t have much time to really dwell on it. I guess that is a good thing. Ayden got a full week of opening presents since I was sick and our plans got all turned upside down. I think he enjoyed it and it was probably less overwhelming then if he had gotten to open everything at once. Santa spoiled him!! Never the less, the holiday passed and we made it through. Harley made it through. That was most important.

We found a home for Sequoya with a family that seems perfect for her. They have sent us pictures so we can see how she is doing in her new home. She seems happy. They are a military family with 2 daughters. The husband used to train shepherds when he was on the police force. He is now in Iraq. I pray every night for his safe return. It is weird without her around. It is calmer. I miss her like crazy, but I honestly believe that we made the right decision for all parties involved. Oakley has seemed a little lost without her. We are making sure he gets spoiled more than ever in absence.

New Year’s Eve was perfect. Harley and I had a great time staying in the city and going to the ZBB concert. We drank, ate out, ordered room service and watched a movie in the hotel room. We were us! It was great and what we needed to “burn 2011”- our motto for our mini vacation. I say we succeeded!!!

That brings us to current day.

For Christmas, I get Harley a membership to a local CrossFit gym (or box as the Xfitting community likes to call them). He has embraced CF and been happier then I have seen him in a long time. After much discussion, I decided that I would give it a go.

And so begins my journey and probably the direction my blog will go.

I am excited and I am scared. Each new day brings on another challenge both physically and mentally. But somehow, after only 1 workout, I knew this is what I have been missing from my life. I knew that this was the program, the community, that I needed to make the changes in my life that I have needed to make. I knew this after only 1 workout and today I am getting ready for workout number 5.

I am proud of myself for stepping outside of my comfort zone and walking in to the gym. I am proud of myself for going back even though I am, by far, the most out of shape person there and the soreness in my muscles was like no soreness I have ever had from a workout . . . EVER!!! I am proud of myself for not making up excuses and not letting intensity and negativity hold me back. I have been down that road too many times. That is my crutch. Excuses are my security.

Not. This. Time.

This time I am taking the road less traveled.

This time I am not letting excuses be my crutch.

This time, I am not just interested, I am committed.

"There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permits. When you are committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results" – Unknown (to me and Google!!)

I propose a toast . . . To being more than interested. To being committed. To no excuses. Only results!