Erin O.

To Lei and Dan, when I first started crossfit in Alaska May of last year, I was coming off of a two year stint of being a full time student, full time job, mom, wife, and small business owner, blah blah – in short, I had no time to workout and was extremely out of shape. Most of the time Ron would have to force me to go which I would dread because I knew that the warmup alone would have me gasping for breath. After moving to Washington this past July, I trained at a different crossfit and wasn’t enjoying myself. By November, I was still finishing last and would choke back tears as everyone else would be done with their workout, the music would be turned off, and the other crossfitters would be grouped up talking about how great they did as I was still two or more rounds to go. I would get frustrated because none of the trainers would push the weights so some of the other women who were pretending to workout would blaze through their workout using the lightest weights they could, as I was trying work my way to Rx. One time a chic even used nothing more than a dowl stick. . . no lie. By the time Ron and I stumbled on your gym, I was ready to quit.

Since being at CFBV, I have made leaps and bounds from where I was. When I started back in May, I could barely lift 45 lbs overhead. A pull up was out of the question and I couldn’t even get on my hands to try a handstand push up. Crossfit is hard. A crossfitter needs to be pushed and sometimes its not enough to push yourself and you need someone else to do it for you. You need to enjoy being around the people you workout with also knowing that while you are competing against your gym mates for the top, none of them wants to see the other fail! Ron and I know the sacrifices you and your family make for the gym and for what its worth, my staying with crossfit and any progress I’ve made, I owe to you two and the community you have built at CFBV. I look forward to working out there and, if we lived closer, would be there five days a week.

To Kym, Matt & Jon: Mad F’ing props. on the games. I never doubted you guys were rockstars. But it took my first Monday workout after the games to put into perspective just what an accomplishment it was. As I was watching you guys, in between naps, I was jealous. I immediately said that I was going to do it next year. I went to the gym Monday and thought this is going to be a fun workout, Im going to blaze through it – mentally preparing myself for the games next year. . . I like to plan ahead. Wellllll, I made it to round 4, yeah that’s right not even half way, both my hands were ripped, I was exhausted, and then tripped on the box jump and broke my leg (not really but that’s what it felt like), thanks Gabe for catching me. . . yes it was that disasterous. That was one workout; you guys did three in one day; and five over two days. You should feel nothing less than awesomeness, it’s a good feeling I know because Im awesome. . . in other ways. Needless to say it is because of you three, everyone else at the gym, and especially the women, Jen (you’re my hero in the wedding pic with the ripped back – I want to workout and have another wedding just for a picture like that which I would hang on my wall), and Janice, Christina, Lei, Micki, and anyone else I forgot that pushes me to want to do better. You ladies are beasts, you want to push hard and aren’t there just to pretend to workout.

Erin J. Onyon