Age Group Online Qualifier Recap

As many of you know, our very own Kim Tom recently competed in the CrossFit Age Group Quarterfinals. She qualified by finishing in the top 10% worldwide in the CrossFit Open back in March. Over the course of the weekend, Kim completed 5 advanced workouts that included muscle-ups, rope climbs, so many burpees, handstand pushups, and max lifts in the deadlift, press, and back squat.

Perhaps the highlight of the weekend was Kim’s performance in Workout 2, where she finished 26th in the world! It was a long chipper: 50 overhead squats, 40 bar-facing burpees, 40 back-rack walking lunges, 30 bar-facing burpees, 30 cleans, 20 bar-facing burpees, 20 weighted box step-ups, and 10 muscle-ups with a 20 minute time cap. But knowing her strength with muscle-ups (an advanced movement that many in her age group would not be able to do), Kim pushed herself through the WOD and the many, many burpees to get to the rings. And once there, she fought for SEVEN muscle-ups! It was a gutsy performance and showed off the determination and passion that we love about her.

Overall, Kim placed 110th in the world – in the top half of the top 10% from the Open. We couldn’t be prouder of her. Congratulations, Kim, you are an inspiration to us all!!!!

Getting Personal with Kim Tom

We asked Kim a few questions to get to know her better and how can you not just love her more after her responses.

Q: How did you get into CrossFit and into competing?

Back in 2012, I was doing lots of marathons and long distance triathlons in my 40’s and started to develop injuries so my coach at the time recommended cross-training which led me to Google, which led me to videos of Camille LeBlanc Bazinet doing multiple ring muscle ups.

I did an onboarding at San Francisco CrossFit and after a few 10 packs and traveling across the city for 5:30am classes, I decided to find something closer to home. After just one 6am class with Rob and Sarah at Arena Ready, I was ready to pack away my bike and my swimsuit! I had so much fun that day, even with one of the movements being the dreaded wall ball.

The competing part came naturally, as I had played team sports through high school and then intramural sports in college. And when I raced triathlons or marathons, I was usually trying to qualify for something so I was always very goal oriented.

Q: Outside of working out, how do you spend your time?

Lately, Kathy and I have been doing more golfing. We also have our wonder dog, Ripley, who loves to go on long walks and enjoys her alone time without her kitty sisters, Tashi and Tomo hogging all of our attention. We also have senior parents who enjoy the food we cook for them and I feel lucky to have more time these days to visit and take them out for their errands! Oh, and I am an optometrist with a private practice in Noe Valley. I’m very lucky to love my work almost as much as my fun!

Q: What advice would you give to someone who is on the fence about competing in future CrossFit competitions?

The cool thing about competing is that we learn so much about ourselves and our capabilities when we put ourselves out there. It’s a way to measure how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go! The Open is always so exciting and filled with firsts.

Local, live competitions run well and are thrilling and adrenaline can help you add an extra 10 or 20 lbs to the barbell! Team competitions are so fun as you just try so much harder not to let your teammate down. In addition, you can let them do the stuff that you can’t do as well and vice versa! I promise that you and your teammate will likely be friends for life after doing a comp together!

I love having a goal to work towards, it keeps me focused and especially during the winter months, when it’s really hard to drag myself out of bed, I know that working hard on all of the things will reap rewards come “go time”.

Q: Which CrossFit athletes inspire you?

I’ve always felt that Annie Sakamoto embodies the spirit of CrossFit. Her mini size, her big heart and her never give up/never let anything scare you attitude make her a great inspiration to me!

Q: If you could give advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Wow, I did this exercise back in 2017, just before I had rotator cuff surgery. The thing I remember the most was this. The road ahead may not be filled with butterflies and rainbows. Some of the people that are here right now that you love and that love you, are not going to be here in 20 years, so love them hard and love them often.

Despite all of this, you will make new friends, develop stronger relationships with your loved ones and you will do things you never imagined as long as you keep an open heart and an open mind.

Q: What CrossFit movement is your Achilles heel as in you really struggle with it or have to work extra hard on it?

Whoa, how many paragraphs do I have??? Wall balls, double unders, snatch, rowing, HSPU, omg the list goes on forever, but I suppose that’s what keeps it so fun.

WOD for the Week:

WOD 5/2 - 5/7: Athlete Feature: Our Mighty Mini, Kim Tom!