Feeling fitter

This weekend I participated in a competition at my gym. I'm not a very competitive person, and I actually only signed up for this because it was a fundraiser to help send our team to the Crossfit Games in California (Note: they're there now and ready to make Western Queens proud!). Anyway, I put in my $15 and wasn't super concerned about actually having to participate in the competition because there was a four week qualifier and only the top 20 men and women from the gym would move on. What I failed to take into account is that those four weeks occurred in the middle of the summer when most people (except for those of who had just blown through all their summer travel plans on going to Thailand) tend to travel, so not everyone completed all four weeks.

Thus, I wasn't terribly surprised when attending the Dynamix Class Wars became part of my Saturday; however, the other thing I hadn't considered was that it would be nearly 100 degrees out at the time (for reference: Crossfit Dynamix is in no way air-conditioned). I figured I would only have to do the first workout because only the top ten people advanced to the second workout, but somehow the spirit of competition came alive and I ended up placing 7th and moving forward. (I think part of that was less the competitive edge and more "if I get through this faster I won't have to do it anymore" because the workout in question involved 36 deadlifts (at 135 pounds), 72 pushups, and running the better part of a mile in the aforementioned crazy heat).

Anyway, I didn't do nearly as well in the second workout and the proper order of things was restored, but I'm still pretty proud of my performance. I try not to talk about Crossfit on this blog or on Facebook (except in a Facebook group with just my Crossfit friends) because I don't want to be one of those Crossfitters, but over the last year it has become something I truly enjoy. It was also fun to do this competition because Sam came along and got to see what it is I do every day during the hour or so before he's awake. Also, he was around to take some pictures of me:

This is me hitting a personal best: a 100 lb clean.

This is me not hitting a personal best as I failed to do more than 5 handstand pushups. I blame it on the work earlier in the day though because we did handstand pushups in class today, and my performance was much less embarrassing.

After the competition, and a much-needed shower, we celebrated over at the brewery around the block from the gym. (Yes, Astoria has nice things like craft microbreweries now; hang on to your rent stabilized apartments people because we're pretty much Brooklyn). All in all an lovely Saturday.