So…here we are. Nearing the end of 2012, and again I find
myself amazed at the evolution of a year. My life has so drastically changed in
the past 10+ months, I’m not quite sure where to start. But, this isn’t a “dear
diary” kind of blog, so I’ll make it short and sweet. I came to Afghanistan in
January with the intention of leaving after a few months, but found myself
going through a divorce and decided to stay for the rest of the year. I ran a
50k in Sweden in April, then quit running distances beyond 10 miles. For
whatever reason, I just couldn’t find it in me to post a RR on Sweden.
So...here I am, over 6 months after my last race, and not a
concern in mind about the next marathon or ultra I’m going to run. Mainly,
running over here sucks. There’s an 8 mile loop, though with the amount of
vehicles driving by I’m constantly eating dirt. It was hot (go figure) in the
summer, and I just didn’t care that much to get out there for more than 90
minutes at a time. I think I lost hope when a kid was throwing rocks at me over
a fence, and decided I didn’t want t be a target for little
terrorists-in-training. I’ve limited my distance to 8-10 miles depending on my
mood, and have spent more time at the gym than pounding pavement (err, dirt and
rocks).
I was gifted with a fab roommate who convinced me to start
Crossfit with her, and have since spent about 3 months going from looking
insanely awkward to looking like I kind of know what Crossfit is. I’ve never
been in to weights, the only thing that doesn’t bore me is running, but
Crossfit has more than given me the endorphin boost I’ve been missing. It is
certainly NEVER boring.
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. I was thinking the same
thing 3 months ago. “Crossfit? Uggghhh,
that clan is so annoying. I do NOT want to join their weird cult”. But
guess what? If you’re one of my running pals…hello pot, meet kettle. You’re
both black. If anything I see more
similarities between the Crossfit folks I’ve met and endurance runners than any
other population. We’re all obsessed with PRs, we’re concerned with our diet, we
talk about our workouts when we hang out , we’re religious with our workouts,
and God save the person who gets in our way. I visited Crossfit Sarasota for a
week or so while I was home on leave, and the people there were so kind and
helpful it was no different than running on a track with a diverse range of
runners.
Roomie and I were taken under the wing of gym owner/athlete
extraordinaire Chris Jernigan who runs a Crossfit 910 in Fayetville, NC. He was
unfortunate enough to be stuck in Afghanistan with us for a bit, and taught us
the basics. When we started out, I was determined that I would hate it and go
back to strictly running, but I found myself feeling great and noticing major
changes in my body. I actually feel athletic instead of just reasonably fast,
and I’m enjoying the change in pace (err, pun not intended). I’ve been running
30-35 miles a week in the mornings, and doing Crossfit 5 days a week, but I’m
going to take the plunge and jump into a Crossfit Endurance program Chris is
designing for me to train for the Gasparilla Half in Tampa on Feb. 24th. No more long runs, no more
crazy mileage. Opposite of everything I’ve ever trained for.
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| Me & Roomie |
Who knows, it might be a fun experiment seeing what happens
to an ultra-runner-turned-(temporarily)-crossfit. By no means are my ultra days over, just taking a little side
road to see where it leads. After all, that’s how most of us got where we are
today.
