Here's Russ with his CEO, Dick Costolo, and Jason Khalipa- the SWEETEST guy, previous CrossFit Games winner, came in 2nd place last year, and overall outstanding man.... Oh yeah, Russ wore a 10# weighted vest. He's awesome.
Yesterday, I saw a post on Twitter of a picture of our best friends, Ryan and his 3 boys, after the workout with neighbors. That's a tough WOD for a 13, 11 and 9 year old! So, I told my Momma, "I'd love to do it but..." Now, that was a lie. No one in their right mind says, "I'd love to do Murph today!" Murph is as follows:
Does that sound FUN? NO. However, given who you're doing it in honor of, it's a little easier to endure. Still, it sucks. After I said that, my Momma pressed me. "Oh.... how long will it take you?" "I don't know, maybe an hour?" "How long is a usual workout?" "Well, after warming up, working out, cleaning up my stuff and doing mobility, maybe 45 minutes to an hour?" She let it go and didn't push any more, but it left me questioning myself. What did I have to do? I had already gotten groceries, cleaned up breakfast, started the dishwasher, did laundry, etc. Did I really not have an hour, or was I making excuses. I was totally making excuses. SO, I did it. I started eating a Quest bar, took my bucket of chalk, leather straps for my hands, water bottle, iPod, and went to a park. See, I'd never done a full Murph. I've always run both of the miles, but twice I've done half of the exercises in the middle. Never a FULL Murph. Yesterday, I bit the bullet.
The first run was pretty good but not outstanding, 7:20. Right or wrong, I hold back knowing I've got a long way to go. The middle three are grouped into 5-10-15 reps of them but 20 rounds. So, I began picking away at each round. It just kept getting hotter, and the bar was a monkey bar. I wrapped my fingers around it in a "O" shape, when on our fat bar at home, they're in almost an "e" sign language shape. The leather straps are new and stiff. I started tearing callouses and getting new blisters. I could come up with numerous excuses as to why I had to eventually break up even a short 5 rep set of pull ups, but it's just tough no matter what. The push ups were my weakest, and to have that fact shoved in your face, literally every time you go to the ground, sucks. It sucks! I don't like feeling weak, and by round 16, I almost wanted to cry from frustration. Then, I thought to myself. Did Jonas cry when it was tough? Wasn't HE hot in Afghanistan? So, I stuffed it and kept moving. Every time I went to squats, my quads cried. I have no idea why they were sore, but they were and reminded me. One by one, I took a poker chip out of the bag noting another round finished. Then, it was time for the last run. My run was S-L-O-W. My quads had to warm up to the idea after squats that they didn't get to rest but needed to keep firing. Three laps around the park is a mile. The second lap, my mind began to fight with me to "just walk a little bit. You'll feel better and be able to run faster when you start back up." No way! You won't! I've heard this lie from my head before, and I've listened enough times to know it's not true. That really doesn't work. So, I pictured myself as a CrossFit competitor running from outside to inside the stadium (carrying a 40# log) with the crowd cheering, encouraging, assured that their athlete NEVER quits and somehow keeps finding more strength, energy and determination. I didn't quit. I wanted to walk and catch my breath, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other, shutting down any more lies from my mind. Man, I can be my worst enemy. However, I actually remembered to pray for his family. Remember how I'd wished I'd prayed for Baby Brayden's family instead of thinking of his suffering? I actually remembered to pray for his widowed wife, parents and sister. Instead of thinking about how horrible my time was going to be (It was 1 hour and 3 minutes.), I thought about my choice to actually do this and finish.
It's so easy to place myself, my wants, my agenda, and my *fill in the blank* first. However, I've found that as soon as I recognize I'm pushing myself in front of everything or everyone else and I change my perspective, God somehow manages my life to include time for the things I wanted and needed in addition to the things others wanted or needed. Putting myself aside yesterday, placing LCDR Kelsall in my forethought, and doing some small thing to honor his service and life was insignificant in a lot of ways, yet it offered me the opportunity to pray for his family and get out of the way of myself. Life is always better when I'm not clogging up the front!
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