My 2012 Southwest Regional Experience

Oh lord. I effing love CrossFit. If I had ever questioned that for even a second before, Regionals removed any of those feelings and reminded me of how much I truly, TRULY love CrossFit. It’s why I’m alive. It’s why my heart beats. It’s why I wake up every day smiling.

Regionals was seriously amazing. I’ve told my friends that Regionals is my favorite weekend of the entire year. It’s the place I get to feel normal. All the women have bigger legs like me, all eat like me, and all have the same goals. It’s just so cool to be around since I’m only ever around bros.

So the weekend turned out great. I wish I could show you a ton of video or pictures of what I ate but I didn’t eat a whole lot over the weekend. I was sick with nerves so eating was an effort on it’s own. Regionals is more exciting than boring food anyways.

So let’s recap!

Friday:

WOD 1: “Diane” with deadlifts and handstand push ups. I tasted blood afterwards. Lovely. I wasn’t the fastest by any means, but I PR’d! My previous time was 5:15 and my new time was 3:40 so I was stoked!

WOD 2: 2k row, 50 pistols, 30 hang cleans (135#). That workout was a challenge to say the least. I had a hell of a time with the pistols, even falling over once to finally see behind me and see that I was last. But still PR’d by 1:30 and was happy to finish in the time cap!

Saturday:

WOD 3: 40 one arm DB snatches (70#). OH SCREW YOU SNATCHES. No I’m just kidding. They went much better than I thought. I got through all of them but missed the time limit with the last run. Ah shucks. I actually ended up loving that workout afterwards.

WOD 4: too many squats, pull ups, and shoulder to overhead. Holy poop that workout was bloody exhausting. So much squatting. I didn’t finish the workout nor do I even remember what I got through, but it was fun. I was just glad when it was over since the first time I did it, I cried through almost all of it. No crying occurred this time around.

Sunday:

WOD 5: Snatch ladder. Hands down the best moment of my life. No joke. Coolest moment of all time was when I hit 135# to match my previous PR, then 140# then 145#. It was epic. Not only did I PR in my snatch, but I had the entire CrossFit Broadway crew and my coach cheering for me right in front of me in the bleachers. So epic. I couldn’t stop giggling. Check out the video!

WOD 6: too many thing to talk about but it included muscle ups, heavy deadlift then some other stuff that I barely got to. Muscle ups were tough for me, tougher than usual because of how blown up my triceps were. It took everything in my body to press out of the dip. But I finished all 21 muscles ups, not failing at 1. That’s 20 more than last year.

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I loved Regionals this year. Last year was awesome, this year was even better. Because all I really did was tell myself good things. I smiled, I laughed, I told myself that I was going to do great, and it all felt awesome. I gave those workouts everything I had in me. And, unlike last year, I really took in and understood how lucky I was to be there. I talked to more of the athletes, I got to know more of the people, and I spent as much time as I could soaking it all in.

 The crazy thing about it all is, 2 years prior to Regionals 2012, I was volunteering at Regionals 2010 in that same spot at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. And I watched as all the amazing women power snatched weights I couldn’t even imagine, and now I can do that. I can do something I never believed possible. That’s unreal. And so cool.

I truly feel blessed to be part of the CrossFit community and to be able to participate in Regionals with such freaking awesome athletes. This year, I finished in 8th place. Next year, I want to make it to the Games. I want it bad. And I am changing up my training, getting stronger and better at my skills, all in hopes of making it. F*ck, I can’t wait til next year.

Here’s a couple pictures from the weekend. I just wanted to add in last years because it’s cool to see a pretty similar shot back to back.

There ya have it. Well kind of. I don’t have a ton of pictures, which I’m slightly thankful for. No one looks super good looking while working out. It’s science. Good thing I told you I would talk about my diet and have absolutely no input about it whatsoever in this post. Let’s just say I was lucky to absorb any sort of nutrients from the chicken, almond butter, and sweet potatoes I ate.

Oh, but the real important part here….what I ate Sunday night. Five Guys Burgers and french fries. Epic. And beautiful. The rest of the night was not so delightful. I’ll leave you with that.