How and Why I Fell in Love with CrossFit in the First Place
Before I began CrossFit in April of 2017, the only type of workouts I had ever done were in-home, body weight HIIT-style, and if I were to ever venture into a “Globo Gym,” I wouldn’t even know where to start with all the machines. At CrossFit, particularly the gym I attend (shoutout to TTR CrossFit), the coaches were very clear with technique instruction, and patient in teaching me all of the movements. It was extremely empowering to have coaches meet me at where I was physically and coach me into doing things I never thought possible. I mean, I NEVER thought I would be able to do a pull-up, are you kidding?!
After only two weeks, I found myself watching all of the CrossFit Games documentaries I could find. I was in awe of the women specifically. Their muscles… could I look like that? Honestly, at the time, I thought if I worked out every single day for a few years, then yes, I could look like them. It’s a little embarrassing to say that now, but I truly thought so! Never mind the hours upon hours a day of training they do, the strict nutrition plans they follow, and all the other elements I’m sure I do not even know about. And although I laugh at these thoughts now, the naivety provided tons of motivation. I was fired up about CrossFit and my future body.
Over the course of the past four years, however, the excitement began to grow stale. I mean, I had been training 5-6 times a week for years, and still did not have “biceps like Briggs” or quads like Dani Speegle. I continued to workout, but the passion and excitement dwindled. For the first time, working out felt like a chore to me.
The Rogue Invitational
In September of this year [2021], a friend told me the Rogue Invitational would be held in Austin. I live in Texas, so this sounded like an easy event to attend, and I thought it would be a “fun little weekend.” Here’s the thing, though, I did not realize what the Rogue Invitational actually was. I guess I thought it was a big local competition with local competitors, so I was mostly excited about the vendors! After getting a few friends to agree to go and buying tickets, I followed the event on Instagram. The first athlete I recognized who would be in attendance was Danielle Brandon. I tagged my friend, Amy, in a comment on Rogue’s confirmed athlete post, “It’ll be cool to see Danielle Brandon there!” I remembered Danielle Brandon from the CrossFit Games that just aired in August as the woman who can walk across the world on her hands (ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration). The next morning, I saw another post from the event. Katrin, Tia, Annie, Sam, and Kari would all be there! This is one of those “IYKYK” situations, but long story short, the women I had seen in the documentaries, the exact women who had motivated and inspired me, were all going to be competing before my very eyes.
I have a tendency of keeping my hopes low as to avoid disappointment, so when I thought it would be cool to actually run into any notable athletes, I did not expect it. I also assumed since I bought the cheapest ticket available ($105 for general admission) that I wouldn’t even be able to see much of the competition. Guys, I was so wrong.
To clarify, the Rogue Invitational is a three day CrossFit sanctioned event with a notable cash prize for the winners. As implied by its name, the Rogue Invitational is an invite-only competition where only twenty men and twenty women are asked to compete.
On our first day at the event, I quickly learned that our “cheap tickets” were actually great. The event was hosted at Dell Diamond stadium, a baseball field, and our general admission tickets allowed us to choose any seats around home plate. It was first come, first serve on the seating for general admission, so as long as you were willing to nab a seat in advance of an event, you could potentially come face to face with the athletes on the field. We didn’t get that close, but close enough that we could easily see the entire competition field, and get a pretty good look at the athletes. I specifically remember during Event 7, we could hear the whirling or the weighted ropes!
It wasn’t until the second day that I realized just how amazing this event actually was. We arrived early to meet some other spectators, and after doing a little shopping in the Rogue popup store, we noticed a line forming. I’m talking about ten people standing in a line. One of our friends asked, “I wonder what this line is for..?” I turned around to look at the line. Starting from the end, I skimmed the people standing there, and slowly panned to the front of the line when I saw him. Mat freaking Fraser. Remember those documentaries I told you I had binge-watched years ago? Um, he won all of those CrossFit Games. Now he was standing only feet away from me. Obviously I got myself into the line as quickly as possible! My husband even bought me a separate shirt so I could have Mat autograph it. I was so nervous to meet the actual five time Fittest Man on Earth… like literally shaking. He was so nice though! He signed my shirt and even flexed with me in our picture together. In retrospect, I wish I had asked him for a message to bring back to my students (I teach high school by the way, so that would’ve been pretty cool). I just wasn’t thinking about my students in that particular moment, sorry kids!
I was on a high after meeting Mat, and thought that was well worth the price of the ticket right there. I honestly felt like I could just go home right then and be completely happy. Of course, we stayed, and throughout the day, we wandered from vendor to vendor, watched a couple of strongman events, witnessed some record-breaking contests, and even caught the Legends of CrossFit exhibition. Of course, we were sure to be present for all of the individual events, as well, but in the duration of the day, we managed to run across Rich Froning, Jason Khalipa, and even Katrin Davidsdottir who was competing! All by accident! Surely, this was due to the intimate nature of Dell Diamond. Had this been the actual CrossFit Games, there would have been too many people present to accidently come upon these inspirational athletes. I keep telling people that the Rogue Invitational was the Disney World of fitness (Mat was my Mickey!).
The excitement of seeing these incredible people IRL truly reignited all of that excitement I felt years ago when I began CrossFit. There is undeniably a sort of magic in seeing these people do such amazing things before your very eyes. All the photo-finishes, celebrations, and disappointments are all things we “normal people” experience in our own gyms, and seeing the top athletes having the same victories as well as the same struggles, really provided a spark that I had been missing in my own training. And while I now know that I’ll never be a top level athlete, I also am reminded that I can still work to my own fullest potential and possibly inspire others along the way.
