Thanksgiving

For the first time ever, I actually worked out before Thanksgiving, twice!  We started by running in the Give 'N Gobble 5k in Sherwood.  The CFA family had a pretty good showing even though it was freezing outside!!

Trying to keep warm!

Once we all finished the 5k we headed over to Starbucks for some much deserved and needed coffee to warm us up.  Work out #1 was done and #2 was just around the corner.  We headed back to CFA and dug deep to find the motivation to finish a second workout.  Coach Rich had us do a team WOD which helped all of us work harder than if we were on our own.  The workout consisted of: 20 deadlifts (135 lbs for women), 100 pull-ups, 20 thrusters (75 pounds for women), 100 box jumps, 20 hang cleans (95 pounds for women but I did 75), 100 situps.  Only one person of the two person team could be doing a lift at a time and all reps had to be complete in order to move on to the next.  My teammate and I decided to split everything pretty evenly, which made for a tough workout!

Thrusters! 

Matt and Kerri working on their box jumps

I love this picture, I look like I'm levitating!

Kerri's turn!

Janessa working on the box jumps

Hang cleans....no fun!

Kicking butt on the hang cleans!

Powering through the sit-ups!

The group that did the second workout of the day!

Also, for probably the first time ever, I woke up early and did a post-thanksgiving workout the morning, called the Filthy Fifty.  It sucked so bad and made me not ever want to stray away from my healthy eating :)  Well not ever, but I was paying for it this morning.  We had to do 50 box jumps, 50 jumping pull-ups, 50 kettlebell swings, 50 walking lunges, 50 knees to elbows (think hanging from a pullup bar and bringing your knees to your elbows),  50 push press (35 pounds for women), 50 wall balls (14 pounds for women), 50 burpees, 50 double unders (with the jump rope).  Then we all had the wise idea of running a mile afterwards, just for fun. 

I'm sitting here with ice on my shin, but I'm proud of everyone that came in to CFA these past two days!  It is so motivating to have a group of people right there with you, pushing you and encouraging you to finish when it was hard enough just getting out of bed on time.

So while I may have strayed from my diet yesterday, I am so thankful for my CFA family, as well as my friends and family who I got to spend Thanksgiving with.  Now its time to get ready for a day filled with college football, Go Ducks!!

Oh - PS: I have now run 28.1 miles, 71.9 more to go and have rowed 13,500 meters, 36,500 more to go.  I was also down 6 pounds as of yesterday and my goal is to be back to that number within a day or two.  Have a great weekend everyone!!

This is what happens when I take a day off!

You know what I love about Crossfit?! As soon as you get good at something, or feel you are good at something, coach introduces the next challenge and brings you back down to planet earth!  I can finally do pull-ups and what does coach Rich ask us to do yesterday, chest to bar pull-ups.  You'll notice in my pull-up post the other day that my chin is above the bar, my chest is far below the bar.  In order to complete these (70 when all was said and done) I had to go back to the green band and do one at a time.  Talk about feeling crushed!  I took it well though, I may have cursed the band a few times but I only punched it once and pushed through the workout.  On a positive note, I did double-unders with the jump rope instead of singles (this means the rope passes under your feet twice before your feet touch the bar again, vs. just once.)  I remember in elementary school doing the jump rope for heart (or something like that) fundraiser and I'm pretty sure I could do any fancy jump rope trick out there.  Now, well I've been working on getting the double-under down since I started over a month ago and was finally able to do it for the whole workout!

Anyways, I am rambling.  However, my point here is that there is always room for improvement.  The challenge, and what I'm learning to accept and nuture, is to be okay with knowing you will never be the best at something (well the majority of us won't) but you can work at being your best and that fitness doesn't occur over night, in a few months or even in a year.  Fitness is a lifestyle and everytime I achieve a goal, I need to set another one in order to keep pushing myself.  I need to learn to live with and appreciate when things are hard or difficult because that is where I learn to grow.  I, like many others, tend to hit the freak out button when I start to get out of breath, get tired, feel like I'm going to pass out.  I am trying to learn to live in that moment and push myself a bit harder because it only lasts for a moment.  The workout will end, but if I don't learn to push myself beyond that freak out point, I'll only be okay at most things, but never good, or great.  What I find motivating is learning what my weaknesses are (and trust me pretty much everything is a weakness right now!) and going home, thinking about them, watching videos, studying how to do it better the next time, then going back to the gym and tackeling it head on. 

I have tons of mini goals right now and things I'm trying to improve so I can build a strong base for crossfit.  I need to be able to do several non-assisted pull-ups.  I need to be able to do several non-assisted ring dips (yeah, the Olympic type rings), I need to be able to do a few handstand push-ups (I'm a soccer player, I like my feet firmly planted on the ground so this is a big one for me!), I need to perfect my overhead squat technique and my squat clean, I need to lose weight, I need to get faster, I need to run more, row more, jump more, lift more....  Normally this is the point where I would get discouraged.  I've said it before, I want overnight results.  I want to try something and be instantly good at it, otherwise why try it at all, right?!  I want to lose weight instantly.  If I work hard for 1 week I feel my body owes me something more than it's giving me.  This is where I am learning to grow, it's been a month and I've achieved some small goals, but what I'm most excited about it taking on the challenge of identifying all of my weaknesses and then figuring out a plan to improve upon them.

Long post, I know.  I had to take today off from the gym (I was at 8 days in a row, WAY too much for healthy recovery) so now I have all this energy and all I can think about it getting back in to the gym tomorrow.  For now I'll end with this commerical for the 2010 Crossfit Games.  I love it!  It inspires me and hopefully one year (2012?!) I'll get to go to sectionals and get a small taste of the Crossfit Games!

Progress

So it's been a week (+2 days but who is really counting) since embarking on the new diet as well as the 7 week challenge from the gym (only +1 day for the challenge).  I think what I'm most excited about is the amount of miles I've run!  I'm really proud of myself and Matt.  I've clocked in 20.25 miles so far, which is way more than I've ever run in a given week, even when I was pretending to train for the marathon!  I have 79.75 miles more to go and about 6 weeks to do it in, I'm not at all worried I won't be able to achieve that goal.  Matt is only 4 miles behind me, and given his work/training schedule it is amazing he found the time to run at all!  Below are a few pictures from Warrior Dash this year, hopefully we'll get to do this race next year as well.  We'll be ready for it with all this running!

Warrior Dash 2010

I felt I needed to jump as high as possible to not get burned!

Effortless

The second thing I'm most proud of is that I can now do 6 pull-ups in a row!  I need to be able to do 10 on Dec 3 (if you remember it was originally the 4th but now we'll be doing the challenge on the 3rd).  I'm pretty confident I can do it, I just need to get over this cold so I can be strong and focused!

The third thing I'm most proud of is that I've lost 3.8 lbs!  What's odd is that this normally would have been the 1st thing I was most proud of...but now I have so many other goals the weight is just another goal vs. my primary goal, very refreshing!

Pull-ups

**Update - I wrote this post several weeks ago, but REALLY wanted to get some pictures of me doing pull-ups before I posted it.  As an update, I can now do 6 pull-ups ALL ON MY OWN!  My goal is to do 10 by Dec 4th, and it's looking like I'll be able to achieve that goal.  Also, I only use the small purple band now and try to start every workout without it until I can't do anymore!!  I've added REAL pictures from the gym below, enjoy!**

For years I've been telling Matt I want to be able to do a pull-up.  For whatever reason, being able to do a pull-up was a symbol of strength to me.  Over the years I never really focused on it until this past year when I started working out at Team Quest.  I was banished to doing negatives (jump up and slowly lower yourself down) because I couldn't do the real thing.  When I started Crossfit, my first workout ever, had a pull-up combo of 21-18-15-9-6 (or something like that).  There are all kinds of resistance bands that you can use to help with doing pull-ups.  There is a BIG purple one which I think provides the most assistance followed by a BIG black one.  Then its goes something like green band, small purple band, small red band. 

My first workout was with the black band and it took me quite some time to do the pull-ups with that band.  My next two workouts with pull-ups also used the black band.  I then went to a combo of green and red bands and at this point started to watch YouTube videos to learn how to do kipping pull-ups.  I studied and starting trying to learn at the gym.  Each day I was there I would practice just a little bit, ask for advice and watch in amazement as others busted out pull-ups like it was nothing!  Next thing I know I'm only using the green band and I'm stringing together 5-10 at once.

From right to left: Mr. Black Band the mac daddy (well there is one bigger one but I never used it), slimmed down green band and my long time friend small purple band!

I practiced kipping some more, and after being called out for not 'really' trying, I tried.  I got 1 then 2 all on my own!  I had to ask, were those real?  Did those count?  Yupp, those were REAL pull-ups!  I can now do 3 pull-ups with NO assistance, no bands!  My goal is to do 10 by December and I am hell bent on getting there!  Granted I still need to use bands during workouts, especially ones like max pull-ups in 2 minutes.  However, I have graduated to a combo of small purple and small red and soon, very soon, just small purple and then hopefully nothing!

Here is me, yesterday, AFTER doing 6 pull-ups in a row as part of my WOD.  Mind you the WOD included 30 pull-ups!

The kip....



...and the PULL-UP!



Badass Women!

Just some videos that inspire me and should be what girls should aspire to be, strong, fit, healthy, powerful women!

What Is Fitness

I am a Crossfit junkie.  I have printed out calendars for November and December so I can plan how I'm going to achieve 100 miles and 50,000 meters (row).  Side note, I've run 5 miles and rowed 1500 meters so far (challenge started on Monday and I haven't worked out yet today).  I watch YouTube videos of amazingly strong men and women doing what I can only hope to be able to do half as well.  I read articles and subscribed to the Crossfit Journal so I could read even more.  One article is often referred to and that is the article titled What Is Fitness.  You can download it for free (by clicking on the title) and read it, which I recommend if you are a Crossfit junkie like me, or interested in fitness, want to understand what Crossfit is about etc. 

I've had a few people ask me what Crossfit is and here is a quick breakdown of World-Class Fitness broken down in to 100 words (from the Crossfit Journal):

World-Class Fitness in 100 Words:

■ Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds,
some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep
intake to levels that will support exercise but
not body fat.

■ Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean,
squat, presses, Clean & Jerk, and snatch. Similarly,
master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups,
dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to
handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds.
Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast.

■ Five or six days per week mix these elements
in as many combinations and patterns
as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy.
Keep workouts short and intense.

■ Regularly learn and play new sports.

That pretty much sums up Crossfit :)  Now as for fitness.  The article talks about how endurance athletes are often hailed as being the fittest people (think Ironman etc).  However these people often sacrifice strength for endurance and although can run for days, likely can't do a a decent overhead squat, clean and jerk or deadlift. So how do you figure out who the fittest person it?  It probably isn't one of the strongman competitors either because although they are really strong, they likely couldn't compete in 3 back-to-back WOD's at the level elite Crossfitters can. 

So how does Crossfit define fitness?  Well read the article! It pretty much covers all areas I can think of and is a great motivating factor as it shows everything I need to work on it order to achieve true fitness.  As I said, I'm a junkie, give it a try and you will be to!  Thoughts/comments?  Bored yet with my Crossfit posts?! 

Look for my week 1 summary of the new zone diet, focusing on myself rather than what others can do, my progress against the 7 week challenge etc this weekend. 

PS - Attempted my first hand-stand push-ups last night.  I can't do a hand-stand, yet, so had to modify the workout.  It was a killer though!  21 handstand push-ups, 21 ring dips, 21 push-ups, then do everything again for 15 reps, then do everything again for 9 reps.  Then hey, why not run 1 mile for fun?!  I am taking today off from lifting (although plan on working on form/technique with no weight) and will be rowing 6500 meters since I didn't row quite as much as I needed to yesterday.

Since this post needs some pictures, here are a few more of my pictures from Crossfit Absolute. Please note although I'm wearing the same thing I do have other workout clothes :)







Burpees at 5:30 am!



Ring dips as part of last nights workout.  I look crazy because it was a CRAZY tough workout :)

Goals - Part 4

Okay, so as promised, below is a snapshot of what I ate yesterday as part of the Zone Diet, prescribed by Crossfit.com.  Now this isn't perfect and probably isn't quite ideal, yet.  But its a start.  I'd like to highlight that I opted to have hot chocolate (made with fat-free milk) for my evening snack as I needed some chocolate.  That is not a Zone snack and is not recommended, however one day at a time right?! 

One thing I'd like to point out is that I try to underestimate how many calories I've burned while working out.  I would rather underestimate than assume I burned more and in turn eat more than I should.  So when all was said and done yesterday, I netted just under 1000 calories, and felt pretty good.  I did drink a bunch of water, just didn't feel the need to track it. 

The target is that each meal, and therefore the total for the day, is comprised of 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat.  I'd say I was pretty dang close to hitting the target.  My protein percentage was a little low and my fat a little high, but that's okay.  From what I've learned by researching nutrition, especially nutrition around trying to also build a strong body, that fat is a key element.  So you'll likely see me adjust my fat consumption and possibly sub out cards for fat.  For now I'm going to stick to the plan as much as possible for the next few weeks to see how my body adjusts. 

I've included the link to the article I read and have been following (note there are new block suggestions around veggies (cards) which basically means you can eat more (volume) of veggies) The Zone Diet

Taking the Zone to Work

To me it's easier to stick to a diet when I'm not at work, not in front of a computer, not stressed.  I started the Zone (Crossfit) diet on Sunday and didn't have to work (much) on Monday.  So I got two days at home to learn about and try to adjust to the new diet.  Today is the first day I take it to work.  Its 10:15 and guess what, I'm hungry.  Well, I'm probably not hungry, rather my normal habits would have me eating a snack right now.  I'm not going to cave though, instead I'm writing a quick blog and going to fill up my water bottle!

On another note, today's workout sounds horrible and awful and did I mention, horrible!  Tabata sit-ups, then tabata burpees - that's just the challenge before the workout.  Then the workout, 21-15-9 hand-stand push-ups, ring dips, push-ups.  That means you do 21 reps of all three, then 15 reps, then 9.  I'm not even sure I can do a handstand to begin with.  On top of that I need to row for about 15 minutes in order to make a dent in the 50,000 meter row challenge.  I'm excited for the challenge though.  I'm really working on staying positive and focusing on myself and what I can do, and NOT what everyone else is doing (although its nice to be pushed by stronger, faster people). 

Hope everyone has a good day!

Goals - Part 3

The 7 Week Crossfit Challenge started today!  Run 100 miles and row 50,000 meters by Dec 31st.  I started off by running to/from the gym which totals 4 miles.  Seemed like a great idea until I had to do the challenge (max deadlift) and the WOD (21 back squats (95lbs), 21 pull-ups, 15 front squats (95 lbs) 15 pull-ups, 9 overhead squats (65 lbs) 9 pull-ups.  Yikes!  I ran home though, even if it was barely faster than a walk!  4 miles down, 96 to go!

Running isn't something new to me, I've ran a few 5k's, less 10k's and three half marathons.  However, I've never been good at maintaining weekly miles so this will be a great challenge and will force me to get in better shape ASAP!

All the girls before the race.  We look so happy because we don't realize how bad the Helvetia 1/2 marathon is going to hurt!

This was from the Helvetia 1/2 marathon last year, right before the finish line!



Today is day 2 on the zone diet and honestly, I feel pretty good.  I wasn't able to PR on my max deadlift, but I did lift my max, which is 225 lbs.  I'm prepared that for the next few weeks I may lose some strength as my body adjusts.  I am still going to work hard and push myself and can't wait to come out on the other side of this with my weight down and my strength up!

I wanted to put up a screenshot of my meals, but I don't have wireless internet at my house and the nifty tool to take a full, scrolling screenshot is on my laptop.  Off to Best Buy I go to get a wireless modem and hopefully I'll post more tomorrow.

PS - My shortest term goal is to do 10 pull-ups without assistance by Dec 4.  Today I did all of the pull-ups using the small purple band, which doesn't provide much help at all.  I can do 2-3 unassisted in a row and could probably do 10 with taking breaks.  However I want to do 10 without taking breaks, so obviously my focus over the next two weeks will be PULL-UPS!  I PROMISE to get some picture of me doing my pull-ups because I am REALLY proud of what I can already do and am going to be even more proud of myself when I achieve this goal!

Goals - Part 2

Another quick post as I am waiting for the oven to preheat and we are taking a dinner break from our endless day of tiling.

So I have been struggling with measuring myself against the successes and times and weights lifted of others instead of feeling proud of myself for what I succeeded at, what I lifted and how fast I was able to complete a workout.  I also struggle with feeling that I have to watch what I eat so much more carefully than others.  All of this is a mindset I am working on overcoming, one day at a time.

Crossfit recommends a diet called the Zone Diet.  I hate diets and dieting but I KNOW without a doubt that I need to get control over my nutrition in order to continue making personal strides at CFA.  The diet breaks everything down in to blocks, which in my opinion actually makes it really easy to put together a balanced meal.  Today is day 1 of trying this approach and although the food we've eaten has been really good, I feel like I'm never quite full and always just a little bit hungry.  Its an adjustment and will take some fine tuning, however as part of my goals I need to lose the weight that slowly crept back on since last year.

My goal is to lose at least 1 pound  a week while maintaining my strength at the gym.  Losing weight just to lose weight isn't quite as hard as losing fat while trying to build lean muscle, all while trying to run 100 miles and row 50,000 meters and make it to the gym 5 days a week :)

Time to get serious!!!

Goals - Part 1

So when I walked in to the gym Friday evening after being gone for only 4 days, I noticed a lot had changed.  Most important was a section on the white board regarding goals.  I quickly knew my first goal would be to do 10 unassisted pull-ups by Dec 4 (our next baseline, I'll explain more in a later post).  I got to thinking and quickly thought about all the lifts I can't do at the prescribed weight yet and made another note as a long term goal (again, I'll go in to this on another post as well).

Then there was another section of the wall which said 7 Week Challenge (Nov 15-Dec 31).  One side had 100 miles, the other had 50,000 meter row.  Wait, WHAT?!?!  After quickly doing the math we all realized we would have to run a little over 2 miles every day from Nov 15th until New Years Eve to achieve this.  CRAP!  As for the row, if you haven't rowed on the C2 machines then this won't mean much to you.  However, rowing is hard!  It took me 21 minutes to do 5000 meters and I was working my ass off!!

At dinner tonight I sat down with Matt and started playing around with the numbers to see what it would really take to meet these two targets.  Its not going to be easy, it's going to take up a decent amount of extra time OUTSIDE the normal time spent at the gym and when combined with my other goals which I'll discuss later, it means its time to get serious!

Over the next week or so I'll go in to my game plan for hitting 100 miles run and 50,000 meters row by Dec 31st as well as dive in to some of the goals I know I have and some of the goals I am discovering I need to have. 

Have a great weekend and Go Ducks!!

The Crossfit Addiction

Whenever I tell people I workout at a Crossfit gym, most ask "What is Crossfit".  Better yet, some say "What is a Crossfit"  as if it is a singular thing rather than a concept, a community, a place, an addiction!  I'm an active person, but not until I joined Crossfit Absolute did I feel addicted to what I was doing.  Its a weird thing to say, that I'm addicted, but I know I'm not the only one.  Almost everyone at our gym is addicted.  How do I know this?  They come back in, day after day, sore as can be, ready for the next challenge, the next WOD (Workout of the Day). 

How do I know I'm addicted, I did the unthinkable!  I asked for a make-up workout since we couldn't go on Saturday and actually went to the local track and did the workout!  I know this doesn't sound that amazing, but for me it is!  One, I hate running!  Two, I hate running on tracks even more than just plain running (left over from my middle school/high school track days).  Three, it was Sunday, I usually rest on Sundays!

It's not easy to explain what Crossfit is because its not just one thing.  However, what makes it addicting is the ability to push yourself every day, the community cheering you on as you do something you never though possible (think pull-ups, to come in another post once I can get a picture taken!), its tracking and recording what you are doing so you can actually measure your progress by something OTHER than a scale, it's your coach telling you to stop sand bagging (that's for you Rich) even if you are working your hardest and for sure when you aren't.  It's a feeling and something that no one seems to be able to get enough of.  And no, Rich is not paying me for this post.  I just realized how addicted I am because I asked for some hotel friendly workouts for when I'm gone and know I will for sure do them.  Had this been BC (before Crossfit) I would have packed my workout clothes but would have probably only worked out once, for like 10 minutes, enough to be able to say I worked out but not enough for it to make any differece.

Muscle Milk and Ducks

This weekend Matt and I got to go to the UO/UW game, our second game this year!  Having weekends off together has been such a blessing, it's hard to believe its been about 6 years since we've had weekends off together, without someone having to take time off work.  I love Duck games, and not just because they are currently ranked #1 (was asked this while donating blood, not cool!).  This weekend did not disappoint.  Played a few beer pong games, BBQ'd, spent time with good friends and even managed to work out!  Now if only I could find tickets to the UO/Arizona game...anyone?  ANYONE?

This is my favorite picture from the weekend, yes that is a yellow keg cup filled with Coors Light and yes I am holding the push-up position for this photo op, love it!

Also, love this people!  While we may only hang out with Luke and Sara for sporting events (think Duck's and Blazers) we still love them, haha!  Sad but true we have only hung out together in the last two years it was was related to the Ducks or Blazers, we intend on changing that this year!



Oh yeah, also doesn't hurt that we're #1!!  Go Ducks!!

Healthy Recipe Alert - Slow Cooker Italian Pot Roast

I got this one from the Primal Blueprint Cookbook.  I made alterations to it and it has fast become a weekly staple in our house!  In fact, I am leaving Monday morning, SUPER early, so whipped this up real quick and put it in the crock pot so Matt will have a nice home cooked meal for the entire week while I'm gone! Its funny though, when I was a kid I would have thrown a fit if I had to eat this for dinner. 
Ingredients

4 lbs chuck roast, removed from refrigeration 1 hour before cooking (I've been using 3-3.5 lbs)
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed (I buy canned, minced garlic, so much easier!)
4 inch sprig fresh Rosemary (I use more because I love Rosemary!)
1 cup beef or chicken stock (I've used both, I add more if I am going to add red potatoes to the pot)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cups finely chopped tomatoes (I use 2 cans)

Put everything in the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.  That's it!

I have added potatoes that past two times and I put them on the bottom/around the side of the meat.  I usually add a bit more chicken/beef stock when I do to ensure nothing burns.  You can't ruin this though, the longer it cooks the better it tastes!  Enjoy!!



Everything in the crockpot, now just have to wait 8 hours!



Healthy Recipe Alert - Slow Cooker Fajita Stew

My fajita stew turned out amazing, in my opinion, the hubbs said it was good as well!  Its super healthy: lean protein, veggies, low carb, what's not to love?!

Below is the recipe and then my modifications to it:

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs boneless beef top round steak
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
14 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 oz. fajita seasoning mix
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup water

Preparation
Trim excess fat from beef and cut in to 2 inch pieces (I did this the night before so I wouldn't have to deal with it in the morning).  Combine with onion and garlic in a 4-5 quart slow cooker.  Mix together fajita mix and undrained tomatoes and pour over beef.  Place peppers on top.  Cover crockpot and cook on low 7-9 hours.

Combine flour with water in a small bowl and stir well to mix.  Add gradually to crockpot and stir well.  Cover slow cooker and cook on high for 15-20 minutes until thickened, stirring occasionally.  Serve stew with hot cooked rice or hot couscous.

My changes - I added 1 can reduced sodium black beans and 1 can no sugar added corn.  I mixed this with the tomatoes and fajita seasoning.  I also added cayenne pepper and red chili pepper flakes to the sauce mixture.  Instead of 1/4 cup water I used chicken stock (the rest of my container which was probably 1/3-1/2 cup) and poured it in with everything else instead of waiting (didn't want anything to burn).  I then added about 1/2 cup flour total and poured it directly in the crock pot and stirred.  Turned out GREAT!!!!  Hope you enjoy!!



Not my picture and I didn't serve mine with cheese, however this is pretty much what it looked like, yum!



Stall Selection - Really?!

Okay, so I know this is a random post, however this is something I've been wanting to write about for awhile, public restroom etiquette, specifically stall selection! 

In my opinion, stall selection is something that everyone should understand.  Lets use the picture below to illustrate stall selection

For sake of illustration, lets pretend this restroom has 4 total stalls, three in view, the one on the far left is cut off and is a large/handicapped stall.
Scenario 1 - You are the first person to walk in to the restroom. The correct stall to select is the one on the far right, which has a wall for one side and shares a side with the stall next to it. This stall provides the most privacy and allows for proper stall selection for the next people to join you.

Scenario 2 - You are the second person to walk in to the restroom. The ideal stall is taken so you take the next best choice, the third stall from the right. It creates a 1 stall buffer between you and the other person and does not take up the large stall reserved for people who may need a larger stall.

Scenario 3 - You are the third person to walk in to the restroom. You have a choice to make, if this is a true public restroom at a store, you should take the 2nd stall from the right. It puts you right in the middle of two people, but you are doing the politically correct thing. Your choice is to take the large stall as it also have a wall and only creeps in on one person, not two. Take this stall if it's your work and you know that no one needs it, you only have to pee and will be really quick, or could care less about being politically correct.

Scenario 4 - You are the 4th person, there is only one stall left, so you take it.

This logic applies to men and women, children and grown-ups. Its not rocket science. I may post this in our restroom at work because a lot of women don't understand this logic. I hope I'm not the only one with these standards!

I also am a firm believer of walking on the right side, just like we drive.  Grocery stores, malls, public events.  I want to punch people who elect to walk on the wrong side, its annoying, so just stop! 
That is all.

I'm back!

Sorry for the long time away from my blog.  I honestly lost motivation, direction and didn't feel like I had anything interesting to post. 

What I learned about myself is that I need change, I like change but sometimes it takes me awhile to figure out what that certain change is that I need.  I recently joined Crossfit Absolute in Sherwood and let me tell you, I am addicted!  I love it!  I am challenged each day, I learn new lifts, surprise myself at what I can do, am humbled by what I can't do and am encouraged by everyone else at CFA to push myself to do more.

For a few years now I've been telling Matt I want to be able to do a pull-up.  Just one measly pull-up without assistance.  Well guess what, after about 3 weeks at CFA I did 3, count it 1...2...3 pull-ups in a row WITHOUT any kind of assistance!  I am so excited.  It makes me want to go back in each day and see how many more I can do.  The goal is to get 10 together before our next baseline test sometime in December. 

If you have not heard about Crossfit, google it, watch some YouTube videos and most of all come try it out.  You can come do a free workout at Crossfit Abolsute (and probably most Crossfit gyms).  Once you try it you'll get addicted.  Who doesn't like bettering themselves and seeing progress on almost a weekly basis!?  We recently did a fundraiser called Barbells for Boobs in which over 300 Crossfit affiliates participated.  The workout was called Amazing 'Grace' and was 30 clean and jerks for time.  Such a fun day!

The group after the Barbells for Boobs Fundraiser.  30 Clean and Jerks for time!

Me doing 85lbs, my face shows the pain but it was a blast!



My good friend Janessa doing 95lbs (prescribed weight and badass!)

A quick summary to the changes in my life lately, I am no longer teaching cycle classes.  I have to travel a bit for work and it was difficult to find subs at the Hillsboro location.  If something else opens up I may be able to get another class and I may try to sub every now and then for as long as they let me.  I also had to take a break some my soccer team.  I was struggling with a knee/IT band injury that just wouldn't go away.  Its now been 2-3 weeks since I've played soccer and cycled and its feeling a lot better.  Matt now works for Salem rather than LO, so we're just beginning the process of adjusting to that.  I am very proud of him and excited for the opportunities he'll be presented with at Salem.  We are on a remodeling binge at the house and I am excited to finish everything up and take pictures for everyone to see! 

Of course I'm still obsessed with our animals and have been trying to convince Matt to let me adopt a deaf pitty mix puppy....guess we need a bigger house first.  Here is beast and mini beast dressed up for Halloween:



Po is not happy because he'd rather be wearing the tutu and fairy wings instead of the devil wig!

 So you can expect a lot of Crossfit posts, and dog posts, and house remodeling posts and I'll probably change the name of my blog again....hope you enjoy!