New Year...Same Me...

...and that's OK.

Same me but with a little more clarity and determination, maybe its the years of life and experience? This year I will be 40....can you believe it? I can't. I mean I can....but I can't! I don't feel a day over 30. Except sometimes I'm sore and achey and I can't keep up with the 25 year olds in the gym, shoot I can't even keep up with the 30 year olds any more....but I am still there. Still going! Still doing my best!

And that is what this is about. Doing MY best. I am only competing with myself to do my best and I just don't care to compare myself to everyone else. I don't have the energy. And I sure don't have the time. Last tine I tried to keep up with the young'uns at the gym I ended up hurting myself and taking nearly 8 weeks off! My 39th birthday I came back to the gym after 4 weeks off (ribs popped out of place, displacing my scapula that lead to a shoulder separation...OUCH). Anyway I tried to come back too soon and reinjured myself and ended up being out even longer. I am not doing that any more.

I remember when I used to write about Running Your Own Race. I meant it. I lived it! I believed it! Somehow when I started crossfit I forgot about that. My competitive side got ignited and I started trying to compete with those around me. In many ways that is AWESOME! I had fun! I got stronger and faster. Then I got hurt. 

These days I have shifted my focus and try to reel it back in when my competitive side rears it's head. Some competition is healthy and fun and I enjoy it. But I have to be smart and remind myself of my goals. I'd rather be able to stay active and fit and be able to come to the gym than hurt myself and be out for months....

Which I am reminded that I will soon be out for at least 8 weeks. Ugh.....But that is another story for another post.

I am almost to 4 years doing crossfit. FOUR years! And I do miss running but I realized that I have taken some of what pushed me and excited me about running and implemented it into crossfit.  Each time I ran a race I was chasing a PR. I wanted to beat MYSELF! Do better than I did in THAT race or THAT distance than I did the time before. I didn't always beat myself. But I ALWAYS tried. And that is what I do with crossfit. And numbers don't lie. 

At my gym (or what most call a box) we have a bell hanging on the wall and each time you pick up something heavy, heavier than you have ever picked up and put back down, when you enter your score into the computer you get a GOLD STAR. And if you get a gold start you get to ring that bell. and THAT is what I try to do. I don't get a PR start every workout. Sometimes I feel so strong and surprise myself. Sometimes that 35 pound bar feels so heavy I don't even think I can get it in to the rack. But I always try to do better than I did the time before.

I didn't really start tracking and paying attention to how may PR Stars I got until 2016. That year I got 65. 65 times I did better than MYSELF....I got stronger 65 times.

In 2017 I got 62 PR Stars. Not quite 65 but 62 is awesome and I will take it!

This past year, 2018 I did better than MYSELF 83 times. EIGHTY THREE. You guys....83 times I beat myself. 83 times I got to ring the bell....83 times I got proof that what I am doing, the effort I am putting in every day, the hard work....is worth it.

I .LOVE .THAT. 

The two dudes who beat me are amazing! They are also coaches! Jeremi logged in to I think 365 classes last year or something crazy like that! And see? Here I go comparing and being competitive....I can't shake it entirely! But I am so happy with my numbers and we will see what happens in 2019!

PR Leaderboard!!

The thing with weight lifting is that eventually getting stronger gets more and more difficult because, well, its HARD and form is important and many of these lifts are technical and require such meticulous form that it's hard to improve and add weight if you don't use proper technique...so we shall see if I can keep improving! It's a challenge and I accept.