The last month or so of my life has been a bit busy to say the
least. My apologies for not being as active with my blog as I
(and hopefully you) want. My intention with this blog is to
keep you all updated on my life and as of late, I've not been
living up to my expectations...but here's to starting a long cylce
of up-to-date blogging! :)
Being a "newbie" last year to the CrossFit community I was so
nervous to be standing next to Chyna Cho, Annie Sakamoto, Elyse
Umeda, Laurie Galassi, Danielle Edmundson and so many more
well-known phenomenal CrossFit women at the Norcal Regionals.
I had only competed in a couple CrossFit competitions up to that
point and nothing even close to the same league as I was about to
dive head first into. Needless to say my nerves were out of
control, I was completely in the dark at what to expect, and was
feeling a bit lonely being the unaffilated new girl on the block as
I watched the other girls reunite.
As most of you know, the 2012 Norcal Regionals just took place
May 18th, 19th adn 20th in San Jose, CA at the Santa Clara
Fairgrounds. Going into the weekend all the athletes had
known of the workouts for a few weeks so we each had that time to
prep for the movements, the workouts, and how we would plan to
tackle the weekend. However, there was nothing that could
have prepared me for what I was going to experience outside of the
workouts.
This year, I didn't know how I was going to feel since I was now
friends with these girls and so excited to be competing against
them. Were the same nerves going to hit? How was my
body going to react to the workouts? How was I going to deal
with the pressure of being a "known athlete" now? These
questions all raced through my mind, but much to my surprise, they
didn't play a role once at the arena, amongst the best of Norcal,
and surrounded by screaming fans!
As far as the same nerves hittting...well there were defintely
nerves but this year the nerves weren't from the unkown, they were
from having expectations to do well for myself and for those who
have helped me and supported me through my journey. Obviously
last year I wanted to do well, but I honestly had NO IDEA what was
going to happen. This year, I knew I could do it and I wanted
to take the whole shebang!
My body reacted well to the workout...of course my quads were
wrecked and my body was fatigued, but with the internal drive to
succeed, my family and friends there and the roar of the
crowd..adrenaline was flying high all weekend. The body is an
amazing machine that will do so much more than we think it can if
we just let it.
Although this was a big competition, rather than feeling like I
was "competing" against these girls, I felt like we were all just
out there working out together. I'm not at all trying to
discredit the competitive nature of regionals because that
definitely was there...but now looking back I feel so lucky to have
thrown down and gone through the blood, sweat and tears with these
phenomenal ladies. The spirit of the Norcal women is
something spectacuiar and I feel so fortunate to be a part of
it. I remember when I was finishing my last set of handstand
pushups hearing Annie screaming at me to keep going. After my
final attempt at the snatch ladder, Miranda Oldroyd was right there
to hug me and comment "Jenny you're supposed to stay on your feet."
Ha! After finishing the Squat/Pullup/Shoulder-to-Overhead
workout I remember dropping my bar and heading over to cheer Elyse
through the last of her battle. This is what I am talking
about that nothing could have prepared me for what was goign to
happen at regionals...the Norcal women are a team in
themselves. The nervous, intimidated feelings from 2011 were
long gone and changed the whole experience for the better.
For me, the weekend ended on the podium with Annie Sakamota and
Candace Hamilton-Hester hugging each other and waving at the fans
absolutely extactic and honored to be returning to the Home Depot
Center in July.
And now...3 weeks out....the work has been done...we will see
what July 13th, 14th, 15th holds for The 2012 Reebok CrossFit
Games.