Atlanta

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Tonight I'm heading down to Atlanta to check out apartments. People keep asking me if I have a lot of friends there, and to be honest, I don't. I'm just going to join a box.

A year ago, I was a hot mess. I surrounded myself with people who didn't actually care about me or my well-being. I compromised my happiness and subjected myself to treatment that is less than I deserve. My life was empty and it's no wonder I spent a significant amount of it drunk.

Signing up for Essentials at CrossFit Hell's Kitchen was a 3 day commitment that entirely changed my life and gave me the opportunity to meet more than a hundred amazing people. I am honored to be their friend. I also don't have to compromise myself to do so. I am my best self when I am with them.

So no. I don't have a lot of friends in Atlanta but I'm not concerned. I'm not moving to Atlanta for any reason or anyone but me. I want to live in a more affordable city that has nightlife for young people but will also make a good place to settle down and start a family. I want to live in an apartment bigger than a walk-in closet. I want to drive my car. I also want to continue working for my organization and our Atlanta office is well-established and home to many of our senior leaders whom I admire.

I look forward to touring boxes in Atlanta and finding my new family, but no matter where I live, I will always call CrossFit Hell's Kitchen home.

Throwback Thursday: LifeTime Fitness Visit

Throwback to the time Christine brought me to Lifetime Fitness as her guest.

I met Christine in Yves Maco's kickboxing class at Equinox in the fall of 2010. She was one of the cool kids in the front of the class. I made it my goal to be one of the cool kids in the front of the class. Soon we were bitching about teaching in the locker room, sharing hair-ties, and kicking synchronized ass front and center. Life was good.

Then Yves left Equinox, I moved back to Manhattan, and Tuesday and Thursday afternoons have never been the same.

14.3

I missed the 14.3 announcement because GoGo in-flight wireless refused to live stream it for me. That's some malarkey because I really wanted to see Alessandra Pichelli kick some major ass. My name is Alessandra, her name is Alessandra. I'm 27, she's 27. This workout made me giddy with excitement, she schooled this workout like nobody's business. This is what I call fate because back in 1986, our parents' clearly named us with this moment in mind.

WORKOUT 14.3

WOMEN - includes Masters Women up to 54 years old

Complete as many reps as possible in 8 minutes of:

95-lb. deadlifts, 10 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

135-lb. deadlifts, 15 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

155-lb. deadlifts, 20 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

185-lb. deadlifts, 25 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

205-lb. deadlifts, 30 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

225-lb. deadlifts, 35 reps

15 box jumps, 20-inch

Feeling Okay

My trip to LA feels like a year ago instead of just a week. I came back and experienced four different climates, somehow created my own timezone, and learned that someone I liked very much passed away. It is extremely sad and my heart goes out to his family and loved ones during this difficult time.

So I'm feeling okay. Not rockstar awesome, not depressed, and not even indifferent. I'm just feeling okay. My entire body aches from 14.3 plus two days of wall balls. Anthony is preparing us for the two remaining Open workouts but if I do another wall ball in the next 24 hours, I won't be able to complete any wall balls that may appear in 14.4. (I have accepted that there will be wall balls announced tomorrow and I have made peace with it.)

14.2

I'm a little tardy with a 14.2 write up, partly because I was traveling and partly because I was unhappy with my score.

14.2 was announced on Thursday, March 6 when Camille Leblanc-Bazinet and Talayna Fortunato went head to head in Miami. It was effing crazy. Talayna killed that shit.

WORKOUT 14.2

Every 3 minutes for as long as possible complete:

From 0:00-3:00

   2 rounds of:

   10 overhead squats

   10 chest-to-bar pull-ups

From 3:00-6:00

   2 rounds of:

   12 overhead squats

   12 chest-to-bar pull-ups

From 6:00-9:00

   2 rounds of:

   14 overhead squats

   14 chest-to-bar pull-ups

Etc., following same pattern until you fail to complete both rounds

I Was Solid Gold

Today I had brunch with the person that I have said made me the person I am today. And after all of these years of crediting him with the nightmare I've become, well, it was pleasant. We had fun. I've given him too much credit for my life. I felt nothing. I thought I wished to feel anything. I didn't.

I suppose it's time to John Hughes it and go after my prom king and all that. I saw how most many of my decisions this past decade played off of our theme - no but really, who can unintentionally recreate the greatest love triangle of all time a decade later but me? (G-A-A vs. Z-C-A, I think the 2013 version is a pale version of the 2003 highlight reel). Maybe I can find a grown-up relationship that isn't based upon breaking coed and meeting up in the library in 2014.

I was a television version of a person with a broken heart.

Throwback Thursday: Mister Abs Boot Camp

Throwback to the time I went to Mister Abs bootcamp.

I bought a LifeBooker groupon for Mister Abs', aka Levi James, East River outdoor boot camp last spring and went sometime last fall before it expired. (Side Note: is groupon now a noun that can be used for all online deals of its nature? Because if it isn't, we need to get on that.)

From what I remember, it was fun. And look! I made a GIF!

Pink Iron

Member Kristen, Owner/Coach Holly, Coach Barbell, and me having some fun after class.

So this amazing place called Pink Iron exists in real life. It's where Barbie, if she were real and badass, would train and it's probably the most beautiful place I have ever been. I'm a sucker for pink. I had an entirely pink dorm room in high school and loved every damn inch of it.

Cave CrossFit

Greetings from LA! I arrived last night, went to Yogurtland and then watched Sideways with two of my favorite guys in the world. Conked out on the couch and felt spectacular this morning.

Colton and I spent the day running errands and driving around town. We hit up Whole Foods, Alfred for coffee, and drove around the Hollywood Hills. Then I switched rental cars and made Colton take me to CrossFit (even though I have my own car.)

After much deliberation, we decided to go to Cave CrossFit on Beverly Boulevard. Coach and co-owner Zee Brod taught our class. Zee was great and gave me so much personal attention during our snatch work. We also got to meet Brian Jaffe, the other co-owner/coach at Cave CrossFit.

We had a thorough warm-up of a 400m run, jumping jacks, burpees, and Samson stretches. My snatch was seriously struggling today - I had to stick at around 45#. I realized that I hadn't eaten anything besides a green juice and a chocolate today and was pissed at myself.

The WOD was 21-15-9 thrusters and box jumps - 24 inch for women and 30 inch for men. Besides getting incredibly lightheaded and thinking I was going to throw up from hunger, I had an amazing time. I used 50# for the first 19 thrusters and then switched to 45# for the remaining. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this WOD and want to do it again.

Frostbite 2014

Everyone should compete as a team at least once. I had originally signed up to volunteer at Frostbite 2014 to support Denis and Anthony's team, but found out that I was actually a member of that team. We asked Katrina to be our fourth and Team When Hell Freezes Over was born.

I'm carrying Anthony while Denis is performing the reverse med ball toss. Katrina, not shown, is rowing.

Fast Recovery

I was back in the box the day after the Caumsett 50K. A 2K row, 50 HSPUs (or pikes of a box in my case), and deload week for the front squat. Never in a million years would I have thought I could row a 2K the day after Caumsett 2011, 2012, and 2013, and I only did the 25K in 2011!

below parallel after 31.2 miles

Sunday Funday: 31.2 Miles

I ran the Caumsett 50K yesterday, again. I know I said I retired from ultra running after Rock the Ridge, but I wanted to see if I could get a sub-5 hour finish. The answer is no, I could not.

It was really, really, really effing cold. Painfully cold. It's the first time I have ever run this race and never warmed up. I wore a sweatshirt over that top and a furry head warmer for the first nine 5K loops. I took them off for the last lap to light some fire under my ass and finish strong.

I really didn't enjoy running this race. I spent a good portion of it thinking, "This is neither constantly varied nor functional." I was bored.

We had some changes this year. We ran the 5K loop in the opposite direction and I liked it better this way. This was also the first year that there was an official marathon time marker. I entertained the idea of PRing the marathon like I did in 2012. As I approached the marker, the only thing I could think was, "Wow. The last time I ran a marathon this slowly, I was high."

Sometimes you have great runs and sometimes your runs suck. This run sucked.