Ran Air Force Marathon
100 unbroken dubs
9+ years CrossFit
CrossFit Level 1 Certification
Throughout High School, I was a three-sport varsity athlete playing soccer, basketball, and track. I loved sports but didn’t have an interest in playing for a college after I graduated. I continued to be active and participated in intramural sports through college to stay in shape. Throughout all of these, I learned a lot about mental strength and the value of hard work and dedication. Those are the biggest life lessons I’ve learned and the aspect of going through a hard practice with my team built that mental toughness around if I can survive that I can survive anything…..that’s the biggest thing that’s carried over into my CrossFit journey.
My turning point came after I had my daughter. I’d been a good athlete growing up and I had a competitive drive but after having a child and spending so much time taking care of someone else I lost sight of the person I was. Then along came Crystal with this Summer challenge that really started my fitness journey. It was a Back 2 School challenge and was a month-long contest I think; all I needed was a little competition and it turned my life around. I managed to lose the highest percentage of body weight; I felt great and I didn’t want to stop. After that challenge, I started working out more diligently and my sister came up with the idea of running a marathon…again another challenge so I trained for a year and was able to accomplish that. Again walking up to the start like I see Crystal….and she’s telling me about them opening this new gym and how I should check it out. I wasn’t sure because I’d never really lifted weights and I was mentally just trying to get ready to run 26.2 miles. I managed to finish the marathon and see my daughter there waiting for me and so proud of me. So of course my mind went to find my next challenge….and that’s how I ended up at Long Road and haven’t left since the doors opened in 2013. I needed a new challenge and wanted to be a strong example for my daughter just like I was crossing that finish line.
My motivation is life……my purpose for coaching is the same as for training. I want to coach the people who want to maintain their health so that they can live their life every day. So when their friends want to bike 43 miles on their birthday they’re ready for that or for when someone says let’s go run this half marathon they’re ready. My motivation is just training people so that no matter what life throws at them they are ready for it.
