It was quite a rush to be back out in the arena alongside current firebreathers and a few old friends as well this past weekend at the Northern California Classic in Sacramento!

As Rob said yesterday, Coach Kim was amazing. The first night she won an event with burpees and deadlifts working up to 155 lbs, and a few minutes later followed that up with an event win involving rope climbs and berm runs. Saturday morning she woke up and won a 5k, then won a chipper involving her first ever experience with an Assault bike, conquered her double under nemesis, threw in a few box jumps for good measure, then did 30 toes to rings (never having done them before) and still had time to complete 6 muscle ups, finally getting to show off a skill she’s spent a lot of time perfecting.

Having won four out of the first four events, she was sitting pretty in the lead as she went into the second half of the weekend, but stayed calm and collected to approach each event with the same level of grace, grit and determination we all have the fortune to witness day in and day out. She closed out Saturday by nearly tying her clean PR (despite being required to take a 10 pound jump to get there), and finished in 5th place. Sunday morning she woke up to a chipper involving a heavy sandbag and kettlebell carry, sandbags over the shoulder, burpee wall climbs well above her head (she was pleased she could reach!), and finishing with handstand walk. Despite none of this particularly being in her wheelhouse she stayed calm, did what she could, and managed to tie for second. Then, she had the opportunity to face a goat paired with a strength in the form of “Death By” 14 pound wall balls to a 10 foot target, and pull-ups. She did the wall balls in strong sets, and the pull-ups unbroken and managed to get through 15 wall balls in the round of 15, finishing 3rd. In the final event, she sprinted 36 calories on the assault bike, and did 16 dumbbell snatches all in 2:33 which i found incredibly impressive. Again finished in 3, but the placing was practically irrelevant given the complete grit she showed.

She tied for 2 in points, and although they announced her as the third place finisher we’re pretty sure she finished 2nd based on a tie break of more top finishes than the woman she tied with. But either way, a podium finish and quite a few victories in a field including a woman who will be competing at the Games this summer for the third time.

Guys - you train with a superhero day in and day out. We’re lucky to have her in our community. She may be mini, but she’s a force to be reckoned with, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for her.

As for me… it was an honor to be back out there on the floor as a member of the Northern California Original Elite Team. I’ve spent so much of my life out there, or training to be out there, so to be able to be back in an elite field, on a team of incredibly talented, humble and kind athletes (Katie Hogan, Troy Stinson and Dusty Sulon), alongside OG friends like CrossFit 209 was really special. As the parents out there know, it’s quite an ordeal to even just train consistently with a little one (particularly one who makes a habit of partying all night), and it’s been an adventure to figure out how fast to try to make a come back given the transition my body has been through. Thank you to all of you who’ve asked me about the training, who’ve encouraged me to get back out there, and who’ve given me votes of confidence. Competing is part of my soul, and being able to do it again was a great joy.

As for my performance, I’ll give you the brief highlights from my perspective:

Event 1 - I’m not very fast at synchro burpees, but I can still deadlift 225 pretty fast!
Event 2 - I can still legless rope climb, and so can Katie! But man running stairs is tiring.
Event 3 - My muscle memory still thinks I can run a 5k kind of fast. My side ache disagreed.
Event 4 - My team was so good at muscle ups they did 100 before I had time to finish the 4th leg of the chipper part of the workout (as I was carefully saving my energy to contribute to the muscle ups). Turns out 30 squishy box jump overs for time is a great way to make your legs burn. A lot.
Event 5 - I SQUAT CLEANED 225 and so did Katie! We both cleared the ladder! I haven’t even front squatted 225 recently, so that was a pretty cool moment of digging into my athlete soul and pulling out a performance my team needed from me.
Event 6 - I handstand walked nearly 150 feet kinda fast!!!!!!!
Event 7 - I did a lot of static hanging without dropping off the bar early or even getting angry at anyone. And I HATE static hanging. HATE.
Event 8 - We crushed! Dusty predicted for our team, despite 32 70 & 100 pound dumbbell snatches this workout would come down to our time to complete 170 Assault bike calories. So, we sprinted so hard on the Assault bike and managed to finish 3 overall, our top finish of the weekend. Leaderboard says 1, but that’s a bit of a typo.

We finished in 6 place overall. Not bad considering three of us became masters somehow since the last time we competed, we’re all parents, and we’re training mostly just to not suck at life. And wow, the level of the field and the caliber of the competition was amazing. Anyone wanting to do a fun competition should definitely consider this one next year (but bring sunscreen!)

WOD for 07-02-2019:

Hang Power Snatch:
3-3-3-3-3

-then-

For Time (12 Min Cap):

21-15-9

Wall Ball @ 20/14 lbs. to 10/9 ft.
Front Rack Lunge @ 75/55 lbs.
Hang Power Snatch @ 75/55 lbs.

NorCal Classic Recap

WOD for 07-02-2019: