My 1st Crossfit Competition - more than barbells and burpees

I'm not even sure where to start writing about my 1st crossfit competition. I've had a whirlwind of emotions and thoughts about it so I hope you'll stick with me as I write this. 

For starters - I'm thankful for crossfit but it is hard. There is just no way around it. I've been doing crossfit for almost a year now and it's still tough. 

Second, the day of the competition I was a nervous wreck. As in 'nervous' I had tears kind of nervous. I'm always like that before a big event. I was like that before my first 1/2 marathon and full marathon. Once I got started on each event I was fine. I also had a good support system to cheer me on. Dave stayed with me the whole day, I had a friend I knew there to cheer me on and my sister-in-law made it out for the last event. 

The competition started at 9am. It's a full day event as you wait your turn to compete and I was there for about 8+ hours. However, my total time working out, split between 3 events, was 18:33. That's it peeps! BUT those 18:33 seconds were really hard! 

The competition had 3 events. All together I did a power clean ladder, rowing, pull-ups, box jumps, burpees, thrusters, a sled push and jump roping. Mind you, I had never pushed a sled by myself and that made me more nervous too. 

Throughout the day I refused to look at where I was placing. I knew I wouldn't place super high and looking at results would have messed with my brain. Anyways, the events in and of themselves were great. They were hard, challenging, but fun at the same time. As soon as I finished my last workout we left. There were still other people who needed to compete but we went ahead and left. 

Well, Monday morning rolled around and right before I left to attend my normal crossfit classes they posted the results. You guys, I got 34th out of 35th place. I cried. A part of me felt like the biggest failure ever. I've never placed so low in anything in my life. I know crossfit is a battle against yourself but I was just struggling. On the way to crossfit I had this conversation with myself:

boo-hooing Beka: "I'm so embarrassed! 34th out of 35th??? I'm not telling anyone, ever. Except Dave, and Kirsten and my Mom. whaaaa!" 

Spiritual / logical Beka: "Um, 34th place? That's not a big deal. You went out there and worked hard. Why does this even matter. I'm a Christian and of all things I should be glad my name is written in The Book of Life. Jesus saved me. I have friends and family that support me. It's not a big deal."

boo-hooing Beka: "I'm gonna cry anyways and I'm definitely not working out today! I'll pull the 'I'm tired from my event' card."

Spiritual / logical Beka: "That's ridiculous. You are going to come back and work harder."

Yes, I have conversations with myself. Anyways, I got to my gym and people asked me how it went and I replied with a simple "fine." Sorry, crossfit family but I was holding back tears so that's why you didn't get a good answer. I told one friend how it really went and she was nice and understanding about it. But mind you, I still didn't say much because I was still fighting tears. I worked out and felt better but was still upset. 

THEN I went home and opened up Instagram and WALAAAA! I had won an IG giveaway! I teared up again! This was God's way of picking me back up. I looked at the t-shirt and immediately was humbled. It was if God was saying "Beka, life isn't about barbells and burpees it's about love, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, etc.". Oh, it was humbling you guys but I'm so glad God showed me that. I went to the website to further check out the shirt and it is a print of Colossians 3:12-14! GUYS!!! I just finished memorizing Colossians 3! No lie! I was blown away. God's love and timing is just perfect and I'm so thankful. 

So yes, I got 34th out of 35th place but in the big grand scheme of life I'm not going to let that get me down. God has clothed me with strength (hence the shirt I wore) and I'm pressing forward. I think this event was a big spiritual lesson for me. It was a reminder to put on Christ day in and day out. 

Also, I secretly want to do another competition. Just because I learned something from where I placed doesn't mean for one second I'm not going to train harder. Fitness isn't everything to me but when I am being physically active I hope to give it all I have. 

Ok, here are some pictures from the event. 

workout 1:

power clean ladder - basically I had 90 seconds total! There were barbell stations with weights and each station increased by 10 pounds. The first station started at 55 pounds. You had a total of 3 attempts at each station. I ended up getting to 95 pounds and managed to get 2 reps in. 

workout 2: I don't have pictures of this. It was 12 minutes long. It started out by rowing 1,000m. With whatever time we had remaining I had to step up 10x to a 20" box, do 8 jumping pull-ups and do 6 burpees. I got to repeat that over and over until time ran out. I don't know what I scored on event 2.

workout 3: 

15 thrusters with a 45 pound bar, sled push, jump rope, sled push, 

9 thrusters, sled push, jump rope, sled push

6 thrusters, sled push, jump rope, sled push

*I finished this in 5:03

*the sled weighed 50 pounds and they added on 75 pounds. After each round we got to take 25 pounds off. 

*thrusters - I have no idea why crossfit calls them this but a thruster is basically a power clean that goes into a squat then you have to stand back up and lock your arms over your head. 

So that is my story friends. As much as I struggled, I'm proud of the work I did and I'm thankful God has given me the ability to do it. As much I would have liked to have placed higher I don't think I would have learned what I did if I had placed higher. 

Also, a big huge THANKS  to Dave for waiting around and for cheering me on all day. A big huge thanks to my friends there who cheered me on and a big huge thanks for everyone who cheered me on via social media / text messages / etc.