KEEPING IT FUN

Having fun… wish you were here!

“Fun” is a word that has been heard a lot around ALL IN CrossFit lately.

Chris and I recently made a point to attend our latest Beginners Class coached by Harrison. I LOVE a Beginners Class! You have a bunch of people new to CrossFit, excited to learn things they didn’t know existed and do things they didn’t know they could do.

No one is jaded by not getting a new PR on their Fran time.

No one knows to dread the workout written on the whiteboard.

No one knows that they should want to get a muscle-up or how hard it is to finally get one.

You have an active audience, eager to learn and give it their best. Chris was so taken by our beginners’ enthusiasm, he gave a little speech at the last class telling them to remember the sense of accomplishment they felt at that moment and to always “keep it fun.”

For anyone who has been on the ALL IN CrossFit Facebook page, you know that we have been having a lot of fun encouraging our members to sign-up for the CrossFit Open. Chris has taken his own words of “keeping it fun” to heart, and we have him to thank for these awesome videos he has been making, giving people who have signed-up for the Open a special shout out. We’ve seen a rose ceremony, a dream sequence, and who will ever forget Mambo #5?

As of this writing, we have 53 people signed up for the Open. And believe me, I am certain it isn’t because all 53 are dying to test their fitness. They want to be a part of the fun!

Fun. Fun. Fun.

My Open experience usually goes like this… About a month before it begins, I decide to start training for the Open.

Hello, muscle-up, whom I haven’t seen since last year’s Open!

Hated wall balls, I still hate you!

Oops, looks like I still can’t do pistols!

I start beating myself up. Why didn’t I train harder this past year? Why didn’t I push myself more?

Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE the CrossFit Open, and every minute of it. My husband is already preparing his good-byes as he knows my inevitable 24-hour-a-day leaderboarding is about to begin.

But the sad truth is that I usually end my Open experience thinking: “I should be better than this.”

This year, I am making the pledge that it is going to be different. I am going to KEEP IT FUN!

I am going to enjoy watching all 53 (maybe more!) of our members take on the Open, most of them for the first time.

I think I will. I think I will.

I am going to cheer on my partner, Chris, who, unlike me, puts in the time and hard work all year long in order to improve and get better.

I am not going to fret over the fact that I have agreed to do the first workout head-to-head against Harrison immediately following its announcement.

I am going to focus on what I can do, not on what I can’t.

Because when I really think about it, it is pretty damn awesome what this 41-year-old-wife-and-mother-of-two-box-owner-with-side-job-working-for-CrossFit-HQ can do!

I pledge to myself: I AM GOING TO HAVE FUN THIS OPEN.

Just as long as we don’t have to do 150 wall balls again.