A Random Mess Of Thoughts

9.6.15

Life

I've had a few life facts reaffirmed this week and learned a few new ones. In no particular order, here they are.

• Never go into Hucks without your phone camera. You WILL see the raddest mullet ever and you will immediately want to ask Joe Dirt for his autograph. You will also see free pizza samples sitting right out in the open at about butt level 3 feet away from the register and 6 feet away from the door. I'm not a germ-a-phobe, but something about that just looked unsanitary.
• Whoever prices things at Murray Goodwill is nuts. I have a project list of things that I am searching for so I routinely run through Goodwill and Angels Attic. I never find things at Goodwill. Scratch that, I never buy things at Goodwill. Wal-Mart is right across the road and is cheaper. 
• Don't try to mop when the dog is in the house. No explanation needed.

• You can use fish food as plant fertilizer? (not sure if this is a fact, thus the question mark) Sometimes my brain makes a lot of random leaps and connections and this one may be pushing it. I was looking at my sad little houseplants wondering how to make them happy. I was also thinking about lunch. Then I remembered that fish meal can be used as a plant fertilizer. Which made me think that I could pour my canned tuna water into the plant. Then I remembered the shrimp pellets I accidentally bought for my Beta fish. They don't float, so he won't eat them. Hmmmm...they make Miracle Grow pellets that you sprinkle on the soil. Why can't I sprinkle these pellets on the soil?? I did it. I'll let you know what happens. 
• When you decide to use fish food pellets as plant fertilizer, the dog thinks they are treats and digs the soil out to get to them. 

I got a Tupperware box yesterday! Here's the super exciting unboxing! Lol, really, don't get your hopes up. It's not that exciting. Ok, it's not exciting at all. But I'm in my jammies and look wretched so it might be worth watching just for the laugh value.

Training

Yesterday I got to compete in my first CrossFit Competition since February! Super City CrossFit hosted the second annual Battle of the Boxes Team event in Metropolis, Il. We won last year so we were hoping for a repeat and WE DID IT!

Yesterday was special because it we had so many athletes interested in competing we had to take two teams! 12 athletes represented CFM in a fun, hard day of competition and 3 of those had never competed before so we were excited for them to experience it! Each team had 3 guys and 3 girls.

The first event was 15 minutes to establish a max deadlift, a max bench press and a max clean. The girls on my team and I are all really close in abilities so we were able to execute this event according to our plan almost flawlessly! Shout out to Lindsey for her 140# bench!! The boys did amazing as well and our team won event 1!

The next event for us was 5 minute WOD where we had to push a weighted sled (115# I think) in 100 ft increments as a relay for distance. I pushed it 100 ft, then Meg  pushed it 100 ft back, then Lin, etc. This event about did me in. First, I don't have a lot of muscle endurance yet since I just started back to CrossFit. Second, it was 100 billion degrees in blazing sun and on asphalt and I don't sweat. I just get really hot and overheat. I survived it and we won that event, but it took me a good 30-40 minutes to get my head back on straight!

For our third event I have to give props to my partner, BJ. We had to do thrusters and bar muscle ups. He was a machine on that pull up bar! His hands ripped and he was hurting, but he kept going strong! This was the only event we didn't win yesterday and we lost it by ONE SECOND! I remember on my last muscle up staring at the bar convincing myself that I could do it. Dang. There was that second we needed!

The last event of the day was Triple 3. The boys competed as a unit and the girls competed as a unit. Each unit had to row 3000 meters, do 300 double unders and run one mile. Megan was worried about her double unders but she rocked them LIKE A BOSS!! And when those girls took off running, they were on fire! As for me.....

I am not a great runner. I enjoy sprints, but anything over 400 meters is just gross in my opinion! But, I've been working on it and was feeling fairly confident going into the 1 mile run. I had a plan and I had a playlist. As I took off out the door into the blazing heat, I was surprised when J came up running beside me. He was coaching, not competing, so I thought he was just running out to give me a few words of encouragement. But no. He ran the entire mile with me!

My calves cramped up and my shins started hurting about 1/3 of a mile in. J was encouraging me, but I couldn't hear him because of my head phones. Apparently everybody else could hear us though!

J- Land on your heels! Stretch out your stride! You are doing fine!
A- I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

J- Don't let anybody else pass you! You are almost there!
A- I DON'T CARE!
J- MOVE YOUR ASS!!
A- (me hauling ass the last 300 meters)

Hahahahahaha! I'm not sure my time, but that was probably my best/worst mile. I had to walk a lot and I yelled at my husband (and he yelled at me) and I cried, but I made it in the door fourth. Even though I'm a terrible athlete mentally sometimes, I am proud that my husband is my coach and knows when to baby me and when to push me.

And even though I was writhing on the floor and making sounds reminiscent of a dying animal at the end of that event, our team won it as well! So close to a sweep!

If you've never been a part of a CrossFit competition, you should go sometime just to watch. The community and support that everybody brings is amazing! And my favorite is the women.

Nowhere else have I ever seen women come together and cheer each other on like they do at a CF comp. Even if they are on different teams, it doesn't matter. In CF, we love strong women. We love building each other up. We love seeing each other do things we didn't know we could do. If all women acted like CF women at a comp, a lot of cattiness and drama would go away.

Best Thing I've Came Across Lately

Teaching middle school for 14 years put me in a position to know and work with young people dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts. Having a college aged daughter with friends suffering the same issues has shown me we have to look at new ways to help them. They suffer and think they are alone because they just can't see anything beyond the present situation. Those of us that are older and know that hard times pass just can't convey that to them because the concept of a future that is better is almost impossible for them to envision. I came across this article by Tim Ferriss and I think it is a profound piece on the subject. Please share it with anyone you know that is struggling.

Another ingenious thing about this article? The hyper link reads this

http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/05/06/how-to-commit-suicide/

Why does it say "how to commit suicide" at the end? So that if someone searches that phrase they will be presented with this article. And because it's Tim Ferriss, this will show up at the top of Google searches. Love it.

Talk back

What life facts have you learned lately?
Could you have your spouse as your coach?
What do you think about the Ferriss article?

Stay Strong Y'all!

This post is linked up at the MIMM with Katie & The Fit Dish Link-Up with Jill Conyers and Jessica Joy!

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