The woman in the background, that’s my friend –MG. She is the first person I ever uttered the word CrossFit with.
It took a couple years after I had become aware of CrossFit before I decided to do something about it. It was the gym that she co-owned and was head coach of that I first called.
MG was my first CrossFit coach, she was the first person to teach me how to do a thruster, and how to snatch. She taught me: WOD, AMRAP, RFT, Tabata, handstands, ‘Fran’, and chippers. She taught me ‘Viking Eva’ –it’s the benchmark WOD Eva: Five rounds for time –Run 800 meters, 2 pood Kettlebell swing, 30 reps, 30 Pull-ups; but substituting the 800m run with a 1000m row instead. The depths of my love for that workout cannot be fathomed or understated –it just hurts so good!
MG was the first person to look at me, all broken and flabby, and suggest that I should compete in some sort of athletic event. I had only been CrossFitting a couple months…maybe even less when she did. I was sitting around one evening chatting with her and the other members while we recovered from the evenings workout. MG started talking about Regionals, and she asked if I had thought about going. Then she began discussing the possibility of getting a gym team organized for it. She kept including me in the discussion as if it were a determined factor, a done deal –clearly this was before you had to qualify to be in regionals.
I was quick to remind her that I didn’t have any sort of pull-up or muscle-up…I was still doing push-ups OFF OF A WALL…and what the hell was a “Regional” anyway.
I was pretty bluntly implying that she was crazy to be including me in on this notion of hers. I remember her pausing and looking at me long before speaking, and then she only said, there’s plenty of time to get ready, and all those things I brought up were non-issues to the conversation.
A team was never formed, but that whole conversation changed my life. It started something new for me. She knew my physical weaknesses, she knew exactly how very many I had …and she didn’t care. She believed I could do it, and she wasn’t ashamed of me or what my current abilities were. Sometimes that is all you need to start making a real difference in someone’s life.
That conversation opened some doors to new possibilities in my mind. No. More accurately, I knew I finally found a place where it was safe for me to start pushing myself into the challenges I wanted to take on and overcome. Some months later when I told her I wanted to compete in something, we talked about it, and she helped me decide on weightlifting, then she helped me find a great weightlifting coach. And when I needed a place to train for that first meet, she gave me the keys to her gym, no strings attached, and just said, “Have fun, be careful, and lock up before you go!”
She’s pretty awesome! Heck, She even taught me how to knit!
“Some people are in our lives for reasons, some for seasons, and some for life.” –unknown
Fast forward nearly four years, MG and I are no longer part of that first gym, but life has kept us together in the same mix for many seasons now. MG is still my coach, and over the years we have grown into training partners, and good friends too.
You might think that she’d be ashamed of me because I have been CrossFitting all this time, and I still don’t have that ripped sexy body that is typical of a CrossFItter. But she’s not. She is always proud to be seen with me, and for people to know that she is my coach and friend. She leaves the issue of my body shape up to me and focuses on helping me move better.
It’s a difficult line to walk, pushing someone to be better than they are, yet liking them for exactly who and what they are in that moment. I have found more of those types of people in CrossFIt then I have anywhere else in my life.
“C’mon! Get under the bar!”
“That’s better!”
Yes, MG, it just keeps getting better! Thank-you!
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