Today is the day after my 26th birthday. It also happens to be 10 years after terrorists hijacked four planes and changed world events. Although some may be mourning today and the deaths of so many innocents, I want to celebrate life. I'm lucky to be here, and happy with how the last ten years have shaped me.
When I first started this blog, I wanted to document my recovery from my surgery. I did a poor job at that. I quickly became disinterested, coupled with an unstatisying relationship, home and life. I was having some fun, but I was pretty unfulfilled. My physical therapy went very well, but I finished with still some limited flexion in my left knee. Made it hard to do normal activities like crouching, squatting, even walking normally. Towards the end of PT I was doing more independent work and my trainer threw some random crossfit exercises in. I heard about crossfit from some friends at work. I even went to watch some games that a local gym put on. I was so intimidated by the work these women were doing that I only stayed for 10 minutes, dismayed that I would never be able to perform the way they did. I was jealous that their life was clearly better than mine and that they had worming joints whereas I had a quad the was smaller than the other and a knee that wouldn't bend all the way. The rest of last summer was a mixed bag of emotions, with a long distance boyfriend starting a new relationship before ending the one with me, interviewing for a job to save said relationship and realizing I was doing so many things for the wrong reasons, and just a general lack of energy. I had some fun, partying a bit and going on a few dates, but I wasn't really happy. And then I met Jon.
I'll include a longer version of our story later, but we met in Celtic crossing after I went to the fair with some of my friends. I had a bumblebee painted on my face. And this intrigued him enough to talk to me. We've been together ever since. He introduced me to his friend Doug, who owned the same gym that organized the local crossfit games. It is called Faction strength and conditioning, and three days after my 25th birthday I went to one day of their beginner fundamentals program, and became a member soon after. Since then I have learned to push myself past brinks if mental and physical boundaries, learned a ton about my body and nutrition, and I have found a fulfilling life. It includes an incredible man - he is the best thing that has happened to me.
So yesterday I turned 26. Last weekend I competed in those same games I spectated at a year ago. I did 30 days of no grains with Jon. I lost 4% body fat this summer. I still struggle with range of motion in my knee, but it has gotten better. And I moved in with Jon, we got a puppy and have essentially started a small family. So to explain what the next blog will be, Jon and I want to document our successes and struggles in our relationship, careers, education, nutrition, fitness, finance and life. I'll link the new blog to this one, and we will use it together. Hopefully it does as much for anyone else as it could do for us.
