What I enjoy most about Albany CrossFit is getting a chance to wear these slick compression pants that I’ve bought recently. In most other venues, these sporty duds would be considered “inappropriate” or “wearing leggings as pants,” however, toss on a pair of Nanos, and suddenly you’re “on your way home from the gym, so take that, people of Albany who are judging me while I’m at Target looking a hot mess,” and it’s totally acceptable.
What I actually enjoy most about Albany CrossFit, which I think is a common answer, is the community and the welcoming attitude of everyone I’ve come to know there. I’m new to Albany, I moved here in February 2013, and other than my now fiancée, Richard, and a few high school friends of friends, I knew no one else in the area when I arrived. Getting out of the house and interacting with these unique and supportive people is a nice change of pace from my previous routine of watching Netflix and eating too much.
I’ll make a list of things that keep me coming back: -The Dirty Thirty; -I have to wear a wedding dress in August 2014; -I’ve already lost 30 pounds; I might as well lose the rest (I set a goal of getting down to my previous lowest adult weight by the time I’m 30, I have about 65 pounds to go, and until July of 2015 to do it); -I like shopping and Crossfit gives me an excuse to buy new clothes what with the whole weight loss and dropping sizes and whatnot; -I like picking up heavy things and putting them down (or dropping them as the case may be); -My squat is good and I like showing off; -I miss having a dog and sometimes there are dogs there; -Did I mention compression pants are really comfortable?; and -The longer I do Crossfit without getting hurt, the more I can throw that back in people’s faces who say Crossfit is dangerous and I should do Zumba instead. If I’m going to look a fool, I’d rather do it at Albany CrossFit than trying to sweat it out to Latin Hits of the 90s.
The biggest change in my life is obviously my drawer of workout clothes. No, seriously. When I started in May 2013, I had one sports bra, one pair of running shoes (running shoes by name, “dust collectors in the bottom of Anne’s closet” by practice) and nothing that any self-respecting Crossfitter would consider to be workout appropriate attire. A year ago, that drawer would have been empty or would have been designated the “clothes I’m too fat for but won’t get rid of” holder. Now, I have a pile of clothes that are too big for me to wear and a drawer full of clothes exclusively for exercise. That’s new.
Unlike a lot of the true rock stars of Albany CrossFit, I didn’t have any medical conditions or diagnoses to give me the wake-up call I needed. Being totally truthful, the final thing that pushed me to decide to get healthy was getting engaged in April 2013. I thought about looking and feeling like I did that day on my wedding day and my immediate response was “Aw, hell no.” We joined Albany CrossFit about 10 days later; I tried on wedding dresses in October and it wasn’t the most horrible day of my life, so there’s that.
I notice small but significant changes in my day to day life. For example, I can walk around the mall for longer than 10 minutes before becoming all bitchy because my back hurts but I don’t want to say that’s why I’m being bitchy because I don’t want to admit that I’ve gotten incredibly out of shape because if I acknowledge it that means I’ll have to do something about it.
I can wear heels on a regular basis because it no longer makes my back and knees ache after 5 minutes of walking.
I climbed a mountain the other day. It was 6.6 miles, it took over 5 hours, and it took a few days for my knee to fully recover, but I climbed a mountain.
There isn’t any one person that I look to as my favorite story, because there’s inspiration and remarkable accomplishments all around Albany CrossFit. But, my favorite thing to hear is stories of dedication, be it over years of athletics, a later adoption of fitness and health, or motivation to improve on already top notch fitness. Right now it’s just me and Richard and our cat and my painfully sedentary 8:30-5:00 job. There aren’t too many other demands on my time, so making the time to come to Albany CrossFit isn’t hard (except when it’s cold outside and I just don’t wanna do any more wall balls, pout, whine, complain). What worries me is down the road if jobs get crazier and/or we have a few rug rats to chase after; will I still make the time to come? Hearing people’s stories of crazy schedules with work and family and other commitments and they still make the time to come to Albany CrossFit lets me know it’s possible to make Albany CrossFit, Crossfit and general health and fitness a part of my life for the rest of my life. Also, I bought all these compression pants; I might as well use them.