It was like quicksand slowly suffocating me, just when it seemed as though I was never going to see the sun again. A hand reached in and pulled me out. Who was it? Whose hand had reached in and saved my life? Was it god? was it an angel? was it a family member? was it a friend? Looking back I know exactly who had reached in, and pulled me out of the sand. It was me. I pulled myself out. I got myself out of that place. I finally believed that I wasn't just going to let things happen to me anymore. I was going to do something. I was 21 and attending a university. I did have a lot of friends, however I somehow always ended up alone. This alone time was not so easy to deal with, and I think I filled the loneliness with food. I was the biggest I had ever been and I really could of cared less. I was physically and mentally exhausted from studying a major I really didn't like, and I so self conscious I was afraid to do anything.
At the end of last year I decided to join a gym and start running. And I did. It definately help me get back on track and feel a lot better about my life. I decided to continue in the major I was in and make the best of it. It was pretty broad and I can get into anything with it. In the summer when I went home (because I go to school pretty far from home.) I continued to go running. However, everytime I went with my friend priscilla we would pass a crossfit box on the way.
Finally, my curiousity got the best of me. I got up early one saturday morning and drove to the box. When I arrived the door to the place was wide open and when I walked in no one was behind the counter. There were really muscular looking guys picking up wieghts and as I waited behind the counter wanting to kick myself for just walking in unanounced. I was saved a very good looking man named Ian came up to me and said hi! is there anything i can help you with? In my mind I was giving a sigh of relief, someone had finally come over, even though I was probably only waiting a few minutes, to me it felt like forever. I said "yes", "I have been driving past your gym for a while now and I want to know what is crossfit and how do I join?" He kind of looked me up and down, and replied "Crossfit is a "strength and conditioning program as “constantly varied, high intensity, functional movement". He continued to say "Crossfit, is pretty hard and its not something you can just do it will take time, and its like olympic style training." I got the details on how to join and then walked out with a bitter sweet feeling. I had finally gotten enough courage to do something and now I was getting discouraged. Would I able to do this? If I did join would i stick with it? (I had a problem sticking with things at the time.) I finally decided that I would just go to one of the fundamentals and see if I liked it.
When I got there, I went to go pay for the fundamental and before I knew It 145.00$ was being charged to my credit card, and I was standing there thinking to myself "I hope I have that much money in my account?" The next three afternoons I went to the box where Ian taught me and another guy the fundamentals. I wasn't really keen on the idea of someone else being there with me, however when he walked it he seemed nice enough. I tried not to let it bother me, or least seem like it bothered me. The fundamentals went pretty well surprisingly. Ian was very good at making sure I was doing everything right. When the three days were over I had about a week of summer left then it was back to school. So I decided to not join the box right then. When I got back to school, I settled into my place and got right back into school mode again. However, in the back of my mind I was crossfit, and also the 145.00 that I had spent on fundamentals. So I went online and typed in the city and crossfit. The first one that came up I called and made an appointment.That day I walked in there was a guy and a girl there, I was relieved to see a girl there. The guy was skinnier than Ian but still cute. The girl who I found out was named Monica was really nice. She was one of the trainers and she was going to help me, and another guy named Jared with fundamentals. I told Monica that I had been through the fundamentals already, and she decided that I would only have to go through one day of them and then I could finally get started. That next day I walked in and to my surprise so did a lot of other ladies. I was excited to get started, but nervous for the work out. I was out of shape, and I knew it. I came to find out that most of the people in their were like me and kind of out of shape and struggling just as much as me. Even the people who looked like they were in shape. Each day I went I got better and better. I felt better about myself. The people that were complete strangers at first were becoming my new best friends. Most of the people were a lot older than me, and had families and it seemed like we would have nothing in common, but it was just the opposite. Since being so far from home, I couldn't always get home for certain holidays and other occasions that one would spend with their family, like thanksgiving, and the superbowl. My CrossFit friends would invite me to there families get togethers and it felt like I had a family away from home. Not only did Crossfit get me back in shape but it helped me get through school so far from home. Its getting close to graduation, and I am considering staying at the university for a job that travels a lot. My overall point of keeping this blog is, if I get this job or not, I want to go to crossfit boxes all up and down the east coast share my experience at each one.
