CrossFit Gal

During my youngest's last year of school, she discovered CrossFit during the pandemic. I can't remember now if she accompanied someone to a class or needed an outdoor facility to work out in, but she went, and then she fell in love. She is relentless in training, waking up at 4:30 some mornings just to squeeze in a workout before work, and if she's unable to do it in the dawn, she's there in the evening after work.

This past week she and her bestie competed in a Crossfit competition. The whole family rolled out of bed at an ungodly hour to be their cheering section. She kept telling us it would be like going to a soccer match: bring chairs, sit outdoors, cheer from the sidelines.

Madison: "It is sort of like that. But it isn't the same. It's missing Jan and you making all your sideline comments."

I texted that to my bestie Jan. 

Jan: "I miss our soccer days...SHOOT IT...RUN FASTER...KICK IT HARD...NOT IN THE MIDDLE...WATCH YOUR TEETH...PROTECT YOUR HEAD!!!"

I mentioned it was starting to rain, just like at soccer, and she commented with something about me being prepared. I laughed hilariously at that because...

• Tech Guy threw away the soccer chairs. I rescued one from the trash. He threw it out the following week. (He also threw out the beach chairs. I saved one of those and threatened to purchase more if it got tossed again.) I had to bring the plastic chairs from my front porch that he'd like to throw out.
• Our soccer blanket was MIA. We suspect #1.

I started out in shorts but luckily had the foresight to bring long pants "just in case." I changed into those on the field within forty-five minutes. I also had coffee. Oleg later made another coffee run and purchased donuts, which made me laugh because we were totally surrounded by buff, muscular men and women who probably never let sugar touch their lips. I ate only one.

The competition itself was awesome. I don't really know much about CrossFit, and while I've seen my daughter's body change since she began this fitness regiment, I was not prepared for how strong and impressive she was in these events.

They entered the novice division. There were nine teams. The first round required running and then tossing (I think it was a 20 lb.) medicine ball over their shoulders fifteen times. Then they picked it up, ran, and performed it again. Next, they had to do hanging knee raises several times. As soon as one finished that, the other sat and lifted twenty-pound weights several times, and then they switched positions. Lastly, they did everything all over again two more times. They finished in fourth place after round one. 

They were in fifth place after round two, which was indoors and required bench pressing, back squats, hang cleans, and burpees. The third and final round was outdoors again and required running, rowing, wall throws, some type of ring pull-ups, and toting this rack on your back.

Everything had to be done within a certain time limit, and in the final round, the last few minutes (or seconds) were all rowing and burning as many calories as possible. Darcy took that leg and rowed the hell out of her machine even though I knew her muscles had to be burning.

Each couple had a judge who followed them, and an announcer kept the crowd and athletes going with his commentary, a lot of it making fun of Darcy and Sofie's team name. They were the Crackheads. We are told they called themselves this because they had the energy of someone on crack.

When it came time to announce the winners in the novice category, the announcer was thrilled to death because the Crackhead finished in third place overall! They weren't expecting that, and they were thrilled and excited. So, excited that they've already signed up to enter another competition in May.

I've marked it on my calendar to have the donuts ready.