Fingers to keyboard, it is finally happening again... It's been nearly eight months since I've written a blog post (10, if you only count published posts). I've had so much to say, but I've either been too busy to write or too unsure of how to say it. The plan is that that behavior stops now. These writing sessions are always good for my soul, and this little bit of daily (I hope!) wordsmithing is just what I think it needs right now.
So where to begin? I have lists upon lists of potential blog topics I've been saving for this moment, but none of them feel like the perfect place to jump back in, except for one: the past year. Because so much of what has happened in the past 12 months began that one fateful night in January 2014, when I dropped in to check out CrossFit Industrious.
I knew within minutes that I was going to be happy at CFI -- the coaching staff was uber welcoming, one of the owners LOVED my Duck nanos, and the weightlifting coach's mom was part of the weightlifting crew. Coaches: if one (or both!) of your parents trusts you enough to let you coach them, you're doing it right. Driving home from CFI on the first night, I decided I didn't need to wait. I signed up for a membership online the next day.
In March, I lifted in my first USA Weightlifting-sanctioned meet. It was equal parts terrifying and awesome. During the summer, I dropped the CrossFit portion of my membership -- doing four days per week of programmed weightlifting was enough on my body. I used trips to NYC and DC for family weddings as excuses to visit gyms I was curious to see in person. I completed my first (and only) Whole 30. I met the Outlaw Barbell legend, Rudy Nielsen, and his prodigy Nicole Capurso. I lifted in two more meets, getting medals at both. I hurt my shoulder something gnarly on my 32nd birthday. I was elected secretary of the Washington LWC in December. I watched more weightlifting videos than I can count. I've made some amazing friends within the CFI walls -- both the old space and the current digs. I tried dry-needle therapy and If It Fits Your Macros-style nutrition -- both are my new favorite things.
On my one-year anniversary at CFI, I joined my partners in crime, Kristin and Dan, for the noon class. Programmed that day was 13.1 -- fittingly enough, the last workout I'd done at Interbay before I left. I definitely did not PR (I am very much not in burpee shape -- and I am content with that), but I had a blast and got to share a platform with my new BFF for rack jerks. Enjoying that moment, sans PR in a beautiful, sunny gym with friends, really reminded me how far I've come -- and just how much life really is about the journey, not the destination.
