Five on Friday

Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday!  Happy to be linking up again with April, Christina & friends!  Join me!?

1 - I noticed over on my blog archive on the right side of my blog that I have a measly 50 some posts this year.  Womp womp!  I guess that's what you get for taking 3+ months off blogging!  :( Lesson learned!

2 - How delish do these look!?

Orange Chocolate Coconut Clusters

I just pinned this recipe to my Paleo Pinterest board & I'm pretty sure they just went on my "to make for Thanksgiving" list!

3 - Speaking of Thanksgiving, I'm so, so excited for next week!

Brandon & I along with my siblings & their families as well as both of my grandmothers will all be down in Georgia at my parents house!  It's been a while since we've all been at their house together.  It will be loud, there will be 5 dogs, lots of air mattresses, and my heart will be full because we'll all be together eating lots of yummy food :)

It'll be nice to get away, too.  A mini family vacation couldn't come at a better time!

4 - Thanks so much for all of the kind words & SuperFit love!  I was definitely nervous going into my first competition, especially since it was sprung on me last minute & I hadn't been training too hard for it!  At the end of the day, it was a great experience & I felt so encouraged just to be in that environment!!

I shared my new Front Squat PR today on Instagram…

That was 115 lbs right there, almost my body weight!  For 2 sets of 5, so I was pretty pumped!  As I mentioned in the SuperFit post, I really am not sharing these things to brag, but to encourage anyone out there who might see them!  

There's a Facebook page called Women of CrossFit = Strong that posts tons of CrossFit stories from different women of all shapes & sizes who are doing something for themselves (for once!) and changing their lives, their bodies, their self image.  It's so encouraging!  And that's really what I hope to be, encouraging!

5 - Saturday, Brandon & I are celebrating our anniversary with a Spa Day, dinner & a little Christmas tree shopping!  I've never been so ready to have him home & for a relaxing day together, just the 2 of us!!

Happiest of weekends friends!

SuperFit Games - My 1st CrossFit Competition!

This past weekend I competed in my very first CrossFit Competition!!!  And I lived to tell about it!  :)

SuperFit Games

Brandon & Warren and Meagan & I participated in Team SuperFit Charlotte at CrossFit Steele Creek & it was an absolute blast!!

It was a very long day, starting at about 7am, with 3 total workouts.  None of us made it to the 4th & final WOD, but in the end, we were all ok with that :)  We all finished strong & are proud of our individual performances!

CFSC ready to go!

B & I - bright eyed & bushy tailed!

My awesome partner Meagan!

Boys getting warmed up

WOD 1 - 10 min AMRAP (As Many Rounds as Possible) of 10 Shoulder to Overhead (presses) and 20 Toes to Bar

The boys rocked it out!! They finished with over 8 rounds!

This is my "oh my gosh, have we started yet, I'm so nervous" smile.  And our fun friends from CrossFit Huntersville were in the lane next to us - Michelle & Lindsey :)

Meagan rocking the presses!

I was pretty proud of my T2B in the beginning, best I've ever done!  By the end, my grip was gone!

I love SOH!  It's my favorite!

Here's a video Brandon got of Meagan and me :)

We finished with 4 rounds + 9 more presses!  We wanted at least 4 rounds, so goal accomplished!

WOD 2 - 150 Double Unders (Single Unders for us scaled peeps), 50 Deadlifts, 25 Front Squats - 6 minute time cap

The guys did so great!  They had to complete 50 Deadlifts at 275lbs & 25 Front Squats at 185lbs!  Talk about heavy!  They finished in about 4 and a half minutes…strong men!!

I'm so proud of Meagan & I!  Meagan rocked that 135lbs deadlift - she got 20 right out of the bat!  We both cleaned 95lbs like it was our job & front squatted it like a boss :)  This was definitely our favorite WOD!  Us girls like to lift heavy ;)

WOD 3 - 10min EMOM (every minute on the minute) of 10 Hand Release Bar Over Burpees with max Power Snatches in remaining minute

Here's some video I got of Brandon & Warren getting after those Burpees & Power Snatches!

Warren took the burpees & B handled the snatches!  They finished with 72 total Snatches!

And here's a short video of Meagan & me!

I took all the burpees & Meagan rocked the snatches for us!  We had a total of 66 Snatches!  (Oh & yes, the lights powered down for a few just before our heat started.  GPP baby - general physical preparedness - we're even prepared to workout in the dark! Ha)

It was such an awesome day!!  I more than earned this beer :)

We treated ourselves to a big ol' gluten full, cheesy, delicious pizza as a reward for our hard work!

Who knows…maybe I have more competitions in my future!?  Either way, I'm so glad I did it!  I was never really an athlete growing up so competing is not something I'm used to, but it was such a cool experience!  I don't post these pictures to brag, but to encourage anyone reading!  Seriously, you can do anything you put your mind to, even compete in amateur CrossFit competitions!! :)

Happy lifting!

Spartan Beast Race

2 posts in one weekend!?!  Who am I!?  ;)

Yesterday, Brandon participated in his second Spartan Race and I think it deserves a blog post!!

He competed in the Spartan Beast Race at Carolina Adventure World in Winnsboro, SC.  This bad boy  of a race was about 13 miles with 25 obstacles!!!  

Sounds like death if you ask me!  Haha, thank goodness the one I'm doing in March is the Spartan Sprint, only about 5 miles and 15 obstacles, only. {Oh bless, who am I kidding!?  The Spartan Sprint could definitely be the death of me!}

You can sign up for it here, by the way!  Join me!? :)

Anyways...B was in the 12:30 heat so once we got down there we got him "tatted" up and took a few clean pictures!

Ready to go!!

And he was off!

I set up camp with my camping chair and a few magazines and waited out at about the 6 mi point where you can see the racers climb a rope and do the traverse wall.

B made it to this point at about an hour and 5 mins in which was earlier than I was expecting him!!  I'm really glad I happened to glance up & see him!

Just after ringing the bell & just before losing his grip!  Haha

Not the best luck on the traverse wall...so slippery.
Burpees it is!!!  Yuck!

After this he was off to complete the last half of the race and I wouldn't see him again until almost the end.  By this time, two 7 ft walls to scale, the archery throw, a mud pit and incline wall, the fire & the gladiators would be what separated him from the finish line!

Since he completed the 1st half of the race in just over an hour, I wasn't quite sure what to expect for the 2nd half, so I stood waiting for him after about the 2 hour and 15 minute mark since I didn't want to miss him!

The 2nd half had a ton of obstacles apparently & B lost his time chip at one point, so he had to backtrack about 10 minutes in order to find it - all adding about 20 minutes to his time!!

He made it to this point at almost 3 hours.

7 ft Walls

Didn't get the archery throw - he was an angry elf!
More burpees!!

Of course of the 2 obstacles he didn't get - the ones I could watch!  Haha, he completed all the others except 1 that he skipped and just did the burpees instead because there was a long line!

So muddy!

More mud!!

Over the fire!

Finisher!!!

And with a smile...that was only for the pictures!  Haha

He was hurting!  And continued to hurt last night and today.  There's been lots of icing and slow walking!

His medal!

B's already said he doesn't care to do this race again!  Haha, but the pain is worth the glory at least once :)  And well earned!!!

B finished 22nd in his age group, faster than all but 2 women & 70th overall!  Out of over 2,300 participants!!  Although, he should've been in the top 50 and beaten the fastest girl if not for losing his time chip!  Ugh!!

Still, lost time chip & all, I think it's pretty dang impressive!!!  Way to go babe!  Here's to never doing another Beast Race and dominating the Spartan Sprint in March!! :)

Remember when I used to blog!?

Well, hey there dear, sweet blog friends of mine!!  Are you still actually there!?  Still checking back to see if I've posted, updated anything, or am even alive!?

I assure you I am alive!!  Just super busy, living on caffeine & a prayer ;)

Remember when I used to have all this free time over the summer?  And before that, when I was in a good routine/flow with school!?  And when I actually, regularly posted on my little blog!?!

{Sigh} I sure do.  That was fun!

Between getting back in the swing of things (aka waking up at 520 everyday and working until 4ish), having a puppy, and trying to get my fitness on daily amongst the other gajillion things to do - there is so little time for blogging :(  wahhhhh!!  I've yet to even recap our weekend trip to Michigan :'(

I will eventually recap & share our pictures, but until then, I'll leave you with a little teaser...

Yes, Brandon & I are certifiably insane!!  Thought I was going to die!  But more on all that later :)

Ok friends, just bear with me while I get my school legs back on!  And don't worry, Stella Michelle will get her groove back ;)