In the weeks leading up to my 5th consecutive
Regional competition, I searched for a reason why I put myself through all of
this grueling training for one weekend. I wondered, when I would be satisfied
enough to retire? I thought, maybe if I just could have one perfectly executed
competition, then I’d be happy. I figured I just kept competing to see what I
could do with a perfect weekend, or “realize my potential.”
As the week leading up to Regionals approached, I caught a
nasty flu-like sickness. I was in bed for 2 days. I started to really worry
that my perfect weekend was going to evade me. I recovered mostly in time to
compete, but was still concerned I wouldn’t be perfect because I had been sick.
Immediately after finishing my weekend of competition at the
Central Super Regional, I was consumed by frustration and disappointment. I
failed repeatedly on the 175lb clean, the final rep of the entire weekend. I
never missed it in training, failing never even crossed my mind. I totally blew
a top 5 event finish, maybe even an event win. I had never won an event at
Regionals, it would have been so awesome. Maybe that would have been my perfect
moment that I was looking for, and I let it slip away.
In the middle of feeling sorry for myself, I watched the
final heat of the Central Regional. I watched some of the top girls fail their
muscle-ups and cleans. I watched Julie
Foucher complete her muscle-ups in a boot, knowing she could not perform any
cleans and that she likely wasn’t going on to the Games in the last season of
her career. But she was still smiling and supporting all of the other
competitors and everyone was cheering for her. Then the Crossfit community
really taught me a big lesson. Competing in Crossfit is not about winning or perfectly
executing everything. It’s about learning to overcome.
To get through the Regional weekend I overcame injuries, sickness,
tears, self-doubt, stress, soreness, rope burns, and so much more. I did not have the perfect weekend but I found
my perfect purpose for doing Crossfit. When I do Crossfit, I feel like I can
overcome anything. The training I put in every day at the gym doesn’t guarantee
that I’m going to be perfect come game-time. And my training isn’t a sacrifice
that I make in order to have some big payoff. My training teaches me that I can
overcome anything in life, even if the outcome isn’t perfect.
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