Sunday, June 24, 2012

Embrace the Gauntlet

I worked until 7pm on Friday night and then Brad and I loaded up the car to drive to Dothan, AL (3.5-4hrs away) for Embrace the Gauntlet competition Saturday.  We got there about 11:30pm and stayed with Crystal and Wayne McCullough.  They are so sweet for letting us stay considering they are moving today (Sunday) to Arizona.  Start time was set for 0700 the next morning so I tried to get some sleep but morning came way too early considering I had woken up at 4am every day this week for work.  Oh well on to the competition. 


Top 5 move on to workout 5 and winner takes all so I knew I just needed to stay consistent throughout the day and not kill myself and then crush the last one. 
7:30am
Rx wod 1
2 rounds of 30 ball slams(30/20) 100m swim

Wow, this was tough and shoulder/trap burner!! 6:33. 4th place. Could not breathe once I jumped in the water. Let's just say that I need significant work on swimming technique.  

11:20am

Rx wod 2
4 rounds 30 wall balls 20/14 30 box jumps 24/20

10:23 I think.  2nd place. This just sucked. Just tried to keep moving. At this point in the day, it was sooooo hot!!!  Could have redlined or gone a little harder and won this but knew I didn't need to.  Was so hot after....took an ice bath to ease the legs from lactic acid build up. 1st place overall.

3:45pm
Rx wod 3 
5 rounds of 200m row and 50 double unders
Then 30 deadlifts 225/155

10:10. 2nd place. My judge absolutely screwed me and did not know how to count DUs but I didn't care in the end bc I knew in the standings I would be fine but It made me mad and I had to count for him a few time. He is a friend on mine and it really didn't matter. I wasn't mad at him anyways, he was just trying to do his job. 1st place overall.

4:30pm
Rx wod 4 
7 minute amrap 
21-15-9 kettlebell swings 70/53 burpees
Remainder of time max Pullups

Turn around for this even after waiting on Wod 3 all day was very short.  Because of the heat, it felt like the longest 21-15-9 I have ever done. 40 pullups.  Forearms just shut down. Was not happy with this but I just had to calm down and tell myself it didn't matter. 2nd place. Still 1st place overall or maybe tied for 1st.


Women had gone last all day, but at the end they called the top 5 women out onto the court and announced the final workout and said, you have 5 minutes and we start.
5:15pm
Rx wod 5 hero wod "Barfield" (local fallen soldier) - his parents were at the event and told his story and it moved me beyond. I was so inspired to get out there and win it for him.
* only the top 5 males and top 5 females*
Workout will be announced right before last event. Winner takes all!! 

Barfield
37 hang power clean (185/135)
every time the bar touches the ground you have to perform 10 Toes to Bar. 12min Cap.
1st place.
They had men's bars and they were so old that they didn't spin at all. Grip was gone and T2B did not help. If they would have had women's bars, a lot more reps would have been done UB (sets of 5-8 probably after the first set)  I got 10 on the first set and then I was shot.  Sets of 3 and 4 the rest of the way up.  I got to 31 resp and knew time was about to be called. Everyone was cheering for me and the whole crowd rallied around me like no other time in my life ever.  It was so amazing and inspiring.  I wanted 6 reps so bad but only got to 4.  Went to my T2B and did 5 and my judge called time. I looked over at Landon and he gave the me the nod that he wanted my to finish it.  At this point, no one else mattered.  No one got above like 23 reps and that didn't matter.  Everyone was gathered around me and I was told that the judges were trying to keep the crowd back from me while I finished. I did the last two reps as the whole crowd yelled 1---------2 and then everyone yelled and screamed.  It was sooo inspiring and I felt so much love from the crowd.  I immediately went to shake Barfield's parent's hand and tell them thank you and that is was an honor.  This was a moment in my short crossfit career so far that moved me so much.  I will never forget it.  Amazing and humbling and so honored to be a part of such a special moment.  The crowd was unbelievable.   





Overall, it was such a fun day. It was extremely hot but luckily between our members we had two tents set up and lots of sunblock.  I was so so so happy to have 5 other CFTuscaloosa members out there competing with me.  Drew finished the events with 2,1,1,1 and then got 2nd on the final event so he got 2nd although he was crushing everyone else.  Brandon finished 15th in the men's RX. Dayna finished 1st in scaled. Sean and Ryan took 3rd in team. Jessica (Sean's girlfriend) and Brad were there to cheer us on!  Loved having so many people from our gym when usually I am there by myself.  Great day, great location, great weather, great competition.  It ran so smoothly and was on time or early for the most part. We had a blast and can't wait for the next one. 

I don't really have any pics yet of me competing but I'm sure some will surface in the next few days. 

CrossFit Tuscaloosa bringing a great group to the Gauntlet. :) 


Dayna and me after event 1.

Goofy and glad to add Crystal to the pic!

Dayna and me after it was over! 

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