I've solved it!
You may begin thanking me now. Global warming challenge, solved…by me…today! That’s right, hell is freezing over, and I caused it.
Two things have happened in the last week that tilted things in the world’s favor.
First, a little backstory:
Jeff Tincher is this guy: The Legend. He’s one of the co-owners of our box, and he’s amazing. Buds views him as a physical specimen to be emulated and chased. Every WOD is an opportunity to be as good as Jeff. I view him as a fantastic coach, and it always causes a bit of a thrill in the box when he comes in to coach. He’s a full-time firefighter, and he and Maggie, the other owner and head coach, are both fantastic at what they do.
Maggie, the trainer we work with the most, was in Mexico City to present some CrossFit Training, and we had Jeff as our trainer for this WOD:
AMRAP in 15 minutes of:
- 10 calories on rower
- 25 double unders
Core – 3 Max Effort L Holds on Pull Up Bar
Jeff had us warm up on the rowers to check our form, and once we had gotten started he said, “Everybody look at Jen. That’s perfect.”
That’s right…an athletic, firefighting legend said I was performing an athletic ANYTHING in a perfect way. I almost fell off my rower. Truly, I felt a happy glow all day.
Then, just today, the second cataclysmic event occurred.
The WOD today was:
AMRAP in 10 minutes of:
- 8 KB Swings (70#/53#)
- 12 push presses (95#/65#)
- 20 lateral jumps over barbell
Core – 25 Glute Ham Raises
I’ve been having some shoulder/upper right arm issue, so I didn’t do the RX’d weights, but I felt good about how I did, and I’ve definitely got more jump in my jump than I had 30 pounds ago.
I called Buds to let him know I was on the way home, and how many rounds I completed (5+9). We hung up, and he called right back to say, with a huge smile in his voice, “Well, Ginnie, you are going to cry about this.”
“What?!”
“Wait until you read what Tania posted.”
“What is it? Read it to me.”
“The title is: Operation Be Like Jennie.”
And she went on to say, “I’ve decided that the only way to lift as heavy as Jennie — my crossfit idol — is to swallow my pride of reps/time and just go heavier. After being up all night with food poisoning/stomach bug/cholera, perhaps today was not the best day to initiate Operation BLJ. But I survived, didn’t hurl in front of Maggie, and upped my weight.
4+3
50# push press, #44 KB”
I was speechless. Tania is a wiry, scrappy, tough as heck, amazing woman. She does adventure races on the weekend, and can do pull ups like a fiend. (A feat I have yet to master.) I admire her a great deal, and have never ever thought I’d have anything to teach her…about anything.
The eighth grade me; chubby, as unathletic as humanly possible, and a consistent failure at the Presidential Physical Fitness annual test of hellish activities, was shocked. Being picked last for teams in gym class became something of an art form for me. I perfected the “I have to pee right now,” timing so that I would be in the bathroom as teams were being picked, then when I came out, Mr. Lindsay would just say, “Jennie, you are on that team.” Off I’d trot. Much less stressful.
Buds greeted me with a huge smile, and reminded me that the view we have from the inside is not what others see. In fact, someone just meeting me now, as Tania has, would think I was a relatively competent athlete.
To top it off, two friends asked me if I wanted to join their team for this race: EX2 Greenhorn Adventure Race. They thought I’d like to do it.
Wait, I’ve become that person. Someone that people choose to have on their team…their athletic team?!
This changes everything.
Photo by Michael Rothgeb, a trainer at our box. Thanks, Mike!
