Dear FRAN my no. 1 frenemy

Dear FRAN
Thank you. Thank you for turning this reluctant CrossFitter into so much more. Thank you for helping me find myself. Thank you for giving me something to strive for and providing me with an inspiration . Thank you for giving me a way to tap into my desire to make changes to my mind and body. Thank you. Thank you for introducing me to health and wellness, I LOVE my new body but I also love that I will be able to enjoy this body for years to come. Thank you from not just myself but from my children and my husband. Thank you for bringing people into my life that I didn't even know I was missing until they were there. Thank you. Thank you for your supportive, friendly, caring community. I will be eternally grateful for everything that you have unlocked within me.

Thank you for a wonderful year.

Love
Dana

And done:)

What can I say.....I DID IT!!!!

Thanks to T-Raw for taping me so that W could be there to hold J Dawg and cheer me on.  Its a long one and a handful of the thrusters at the start are gone to cut down on size of the file but enjoy and for all the no-rep Nazi's be nice:)

Here is some of the many people that came out to FRAN it up today:) It was an awesome atmosphere and there was a number of PRs.   It was a good day at Ignite today.

 Yep that is J Dawg on my lap in the middle and you guessed it he is crying:)

Here is the VERY TASTY!!!! VERY NON PALEO cake that my friend Mrs J made for me...oh ya for everyone else to enjoy too.

Twas the night before FRAN

First of all.......AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

T- minus 12 hours...

OK now I blog....

Here I sit on the the eve of FRAN and find myself chuckling at the irony of this whole thing.   Like W my life can now be divided into two very distinct time periods, BC (before crossfit) and AC (after crossfit) and I can't help but think that I probably can not  consider myself a reluctant beginner anymore either. 

I did what I said I would do...I got to know the other women in W's life and I wouldn't have thought in a million years that spending time with her would leave me feeling more confident, sexy, strong and empowered.  After years of "floating" through life, feeling isolated and lonely in my teens, falling in and out of depression in my twenties and really never understanding who I truly was or what kind of authentic life I could lead it was on the proverbial eve of my thirties on the fast track to frumpy, middle aged martyr-dom that I gave myself quite possibly the best and most important gift, my health, my happiness and control over my life.  And now here I am excited, feeling alive and rejuvenated, anxiously anticipating how the end of the this journey will ultimately become the beginning of a new adventure. 

This last year is not a story that is expectational or out of the ordinary in the CrossFit world.  There is a reason this once underground movement has exploded over the last few years, and no its not just because Rebook has brought it to the world with their mass marketing plan, it's because just like me people in CrossFit boxes all around the world are having life changing transformations.
Although not every one of the 315,360,000 seconds of the last year has been devoutly dedicated to becoming more FRANtastic, the majority of my time and energy was not wasted and this commitment has resulted in some valuable life lessons.  Lessons full of advice that I would give myself during life's tough times, stuff that didn't make sense before but that I now know for sure and even a few little gold nuggets I wish I had known just a short twelve months ago.

Lessons from FRAN

- A year is a long time
- Paleo wasn't really that bad
- Metallica, timed right, can actually jack you up during a long ass WOD
- Just like the many laws in science, the law of attraction is proven.  Positive energy attracts positive energy.  And positive is sooooo much healthier than the alternative
- Your body is your temple, treat it well and with respect and it will do the same to you
- A strong body is a strong mind.  A strong mind is powerful. Power breads confidence.  Confidence comes hand in hand with healthy self esteem.  And healthy self esteem leads to happiness. 
- You don't have to swim in the Kool-aid to enjoy the benefits, moderation in life is key
- Find inspiration in everyday things
- Take control of your life and be present
- Set goals with intrinsic motivation and stick with it, there is nothing quite like the feeling of true accomplishment
- Whether you are telling yourself you CAN or you CAN'T, you are usually right
- You will get out of life what you put into it.  Don't quit, don't stop, drive onward, always onward
- Failures and weaknesses are learning points but let them go, move forward and move on.  Bad days pass and life goes on.  Being humbled isn't always a bad thing and the end goal will always be there. 
- You can change your life if you really are ready and want to
- Having lots of people in your life is good,but having a few loving, caring, amazing people surrounding and supporting you is even better
- Families do not always share the same blood as you and can come in all shapes and sizes
- Overcoming obstacles teaches you alot about yourself, some good, some bad, embrace what you learn about yourself in times of adversity
- If you want to you should, and if can why not? Its OK to ask for more for yourself and never settle because of apathy
- Reach out and accept help and advice.  Being open and listening is key to growing
- Competition can be healthy and you can be surprised at your internal competitor when it counts and you really care

And really the most important thing I took away from my time with the ol' bitty is that there is only one me and I now I know how much I really can offer my friends, family and most importantly my husband and two beautiful children. 

Happy FRAN Day everyone:)

Inspiration

What has inspired me? Over the last twelve months I have tried to capture the things that inspire me, move me and.motivate me to work harder. Quotations, pictures and/or stories that gave me an extra reason to give a little push and keep going.  Just in the last month I have found a lot of inspiration from the outpouring of support that has come from everyone who has followed my 'story'.  And as the day draws near to get it on with FRAN I find myself working hard for the people who have taken time to send me a quick note of encouragement, a piece of valuable advice or to just show their unfaltering support.  Its been motivating to know that people who follow the blog do because they care about me and want to see me succeed.  Even with the risk of leaving someone out I thought a little shout out to of few of my special "peeps" who have inspired me along the way was appropriate. 

First and foremost Team Schafer, the three most important people in my life who have been in the trenches from the word go and who inspire me everyday to be a better person.  My main man, W, my husband, my bestie, and my sanity.  He has really seen the ups and downs of this past year, stuck it out and believed in me even when I didn't.  Then there is Little Miss M who depending on the day and her mood could either be heard cheering me on or asking me to set the weight down more quietly as it is "rather annoying" when I drop it and yell out . My momma's boy, J Dawg who has cried or slept through almost every workout I have ever done at Ignite but rewards me with smiles when I finish.  I hope that I have done right by them and that they are proud of me. 

Then there is all the other people in my life who have inspired me by just caring about me and what I was doing.  Like my"book" club and other non CF friends who took interest and followed me, put up with my weird coffee orders and listened to me ramble on about my snatch :) My fellow CrossFit Red Deer Mommas and my special CF BFF Rowdy Rusty for pushing me to work hard and making CF class much more bearable.  The rainmaker himself Coach IA2 and his wife Special K who let me pretend I worked at Ignite and gave me special privileges in order to achieve this goal .  All the coaches who offered their advice, encouragement and guidance and everyone I have ever wrote about and gave silly nicknames to.  All these people will be on my radar on Saturday when I think I just can't do one more thruster!   And last but not least my CrossFit Firebreathing hero, Fancy Nancy, who if I had never met I would have never thought this was possible:)  I look forward to having her beside me on the pull up bar this weekend. 

When I am laying on that cold, black floor, gasping for air on Saturday morning and finally get up to eat a delicious slice of my very NON paleo Fran cake.  I celebrate with all of the people who have been part of my very special journey and inspired me along the way. 

Thank you:)

T-minus 38 hours to FRAN DAY 2012

Inspiration

With time ticking away Coach IA2 passed along this inspirational message. I am pretty lucky to have such a great group of supporters and cheerleaders:)

Is there a trophy for Most Improved...

The theme for Open WOD 12.5 was looking back.  I will be honest when the workout was announced on Wednesday night I panicked.  By releasing the same final WOD from last years Open, it appeared that CrossFit HQ wanted athletes to spend some time, revisit how they performed last year and then marvel at how far their training has brought them over the last 365 days.  It makes sense, CrossFit would be getting even more buy in because of the obvious improvements most athletes would see. Kinda like they handed out a fresh jug of kool aid!    A ladder version of FRAN that required the athletes to add 3 thrusters and 3 CHEST TO BAR pull ups every round for 7 minutes. Immediately this posed a problem, I can't do a chest to bar, I am still frantically working on doing more than 2 kipping pull ups unbroken before March 31st. I knew that no matter what I did at the gym today I wouldn't get past the first 3 thrusters before getting "no repped" to death, so I resigned to that fact and thought of today as a great warm up for my real CrossFit Games next weekend.  And even though I completed the workout up to the 12s by doing a regular old chin over bar my official score was a three.   
Unfortunately my score today did not reflect how far I have come just in the five weeks that the open has been on, not to mention how far I have come since sitting on the sideline with my one month old son in my arms admiring those who dared to compete.   A whopping 3 does not adequately represent the improvements I have made to my physical and mental capabilities nor does it leave me feeling satisfied.  But what today and the rest of this five weeks have showed me is that sometimes its important to focus on what you CAN NOW DO that maybe you couldn't do before and don't waste so much time and energy thinking and worrying about the skills and movements that you have still yet to master. Week after week I set a PR, I did a movement or lifted a weight that I never had before, I pushed past limits I didn't think I could and even though I remained near the bottom of the leader board I could be proud of my performance and proud that all my hard work, time and energy paid off. 
So even though I can't compare this years final WOD to last year and relish in my obvious improvements I still got my glass of kool aid and am sitting here at home tonight happily sipping away thinking about FRAN and how next weekend will be one of my greatest personal accomplishments to date. 

The Story of Fran

The Open WOD this weekend makes me panic a bit....a version of FRAN with chest to bar pull ups....I am not ready to face her just yet:(  Nevermind the fact that I can't do a chest to bar pull up!!!!! Can my ego take a hit one week out?

Here is her story from the mouth of Greg Glassman....

“If a hurricane that wreaks havoc on a whole town can be Fran, so can a workout.”

In this video shot at several CrossFit 101 seminars, Coach Greg Glassman talks about the birth of one of CrossFit’s best-known and most challenging workouts: Fran.

From CrossFit Journal

http://journal.crossfit.com/2009/12/the-story-of-fran.tpl

Inspiration

Glad that Canada West Media Team told this story:)

She's coming...

FRAN Day 2012 is not so far off. 

I have always been a reflective person, keeping journals as a kid.  Analyzing my life and figuring out what I should learn from each life experience.  So its no surprise that as the last month on this wild journey winds up I have become a bit of an emotional wreck reflecting on the year that was. 

Its hard to imagine what exactly was running through my head a year ago and it has become so obvious, particularly in the last month looking back, just how much my life was in need of this.  My life was not just in need of CrossFit.  I was in need of all the things that have come from putting myself out there, taking a chance and exploring who I really could be.  After I had little Miss M I struggled with my identity, where I fit in and how my life was changing.  I joke about the "dark" three months that followed her birth but in truth I was lost, sleepless and unhappy.  Between the internal emotional storm that was raging daily inside of me and the external sources of stress that I couldn't seem to avoid, my life was not my own.  I slowly came out of the fog and emerged a little stronger and a little more confident.  But when we found out we were having a second it was hard not to anticipate the worst.  Where would I go this time?  This idea to do FRAN prescribed was more than just a fitness goal or a way to connect with my husband, it became a beacon of light to ensure that I didn't get lost in the dark again.  It is easy to forget where I came from and I still have difficultly believing how much my life has changed.   And no matter what happens on March 31st, whether FRAN kicks the shit out of me or not I will take my lumps like a champ and remember: 

"Success is not measured in achievement of goals, but in the stress and strain of meeting those goals."Spencer W. Kimball