“You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings.” 
― Elizabeth Gilbert

It’s a strange thing being nominated for and then winning an award. Throws you into a tizzy of activity, and your whole routine gets amped up. For me it did anyway, suddenly I wasn’t just going to ACF for my daily WOD. Suddenly I began to put pressure on myself, excited about the nomination, wanting to win. Getting a manicure and pedicure.

Last week I didn’t feel like just another member anymore at ACF. I felt special, different, a little bit removed. This can be good and bad. I tend to think about things too much as it is. Generally I’m more comfortable blending in. Which is funny considering I do not blend, as I stand head and shoulders above most. But at ACF everyone is used to my height, so aside from the occasional joke from one of the coaches I’m just another member there to do my best. I relish this. Out in the real world, out in public, people tend to stare or point. Strangers will even come up and ask me questions; How tall are you? Did you play basketball? Once while standing in line at the grocery store with a former boyfriend who was 3 inches shorter than me, the woman in line in front of us turned around and stared at us. She looked me up and down. She looked said boyfriend up and down and then she said, ‘Well, you know what they say, we’re all the same height horizontally.’

True story.

I suppose it’s not that I don’t like to stand out, I would just like to be noticed for things other than the most obvious. Wouldn’t we all. To me, walking up to someone and saying, ‘You’re tall’ is the epitome of stating the obvious and being lazy. Wouldn’t it mean so much more if we took the time to notice little not so obvious things about one another, positive things, and then pointed them out? You’re very patient, you’re a good listener, you have a nice style about you.

Way back when in 1998 in a bar in Denver I was out with a group of friends shooting pool and drinking beer when a black gentleman came up to me and said, ‘Wow, you’re really tall, did you play basket ball?’ Having had just the perfect amount of beers and feeling confident I replied, ‘You’re really black, did you?’

He looked at me and didn’t say a thing.  My friend Kerry started eyeing the Exits.

After a moment the gentleman smiled and then high-fived me and said, ‘Right on, can I buy you a drink?’

Back to being awarded Female Athlete of the Year by my ACF peeps: Pretty freaking awesome. Being recognized for something you work so hard at, is really quite something. When you’re working hard, when you’re really working hard, and you’re forcing yourself out the door against being tired or hungry or the dishes still sitting in the sink and the bills not getting paid… when you’re pushing yourself just one step further, one moment more even when you think you can’t… You really don’t think anyone is actually noticing. It’s dark, you’re tired, it’s late, or too early and it’s cold and you just want to eat some Trader Joe’s curried chicken straight from the bucket and crawl under the covers. But somehow you don’t. You push through the powerful pull to stay and you keep going.

So when you actually do get noticed for something so incredibly positive and in your mind not obvious at all… well, it’s like being blessed.

Thank you ACF.

OPEN WOD 13.1

WOMEN – includes Masters Women up to 54 years old
Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 17 minutes of:
40 Burpees
45 pound Snatch, 30 reps
30 Burpees
75 pound Snatch, 30 reps
20 Burpees
100 pound Snatch, 30 reps
10 burpees
120 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible

Completed: 114 reps. Happy to have the first Open WOD in the books. Mediocre score, but this is my first Open and I’m happy just to learn strategy. After judging on Saturday and being a part of the absolute raw energy and excitement of a lot of athletes pushing themselves towards their very best, I feel energized for 13.2.