"Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle." -Christian D. Larson

Spartan Shape-Up, Day 269:

Saturday was a CrossFit morning for me. It was a beautiful, 70 degree, sunny morning, and we were doing our very first WOD outside for the season (YAY! Outdoor CrossFit FitPark!). After doing a warm-up of partner med-ball tosses (10#) for a few minutes, we ran a quick 400m to get our bodies working and settled down into our WOD. It looked like one that would not feel good the next day, but one that had me pondering something momentous - I *THINK* I can do this WOD prescribed (which, in the CF world means you're doing the WOD exactly as written, with no modifications). The thought of that was a little frightening, but I thought of a lot of the positive vibes that have been thrown my way lately, and decided to not give into doubt. I COULD do this would as prescribed, or I'd collapse in a puddle of my own sweat, from muscle failure, after trying really hard.

The WOD, as written:
- 50ft of walking lunges, with 30# overhead
- 21 Burpees
Repeat 5 times.

Seems simple enough, right? Let me tell you, BlogLand, 30# isn't a whole lot on a general basis, but have you ever tried to hold that (arms locked out straight) overhead for an extended period of time? Not to mention, when you don't have the longest legs in the world to do lunges with, that means MORE time that you must keep this over head to travel 50ft. I should also mention here that if you have T-Rex Arm Syndrome (as I do), that is the LONGEST 50ft of your life, because -particularly in round 4 and 5 - your arms and shoulders are screaming. Seriously, I think I could hear them.

Nonetheless, I positioned myself next to one of the guys that is a CrossFit animal. "Aja, why would you put yourself next to someone that's going to run circles around you, ON PURPOSE?" you ask? Well, because I have determined that those people are extremely good motivation for me. If I'm dying on burpees (I was), but he's doing burpees like a Burpee Machine, then I push a little harder - not necessarily to "keep up" - but because I can probably just do a little more, if he can do that much. Does that make sense? I'm always stretching to be a little closer to those people, then where is comfortable. Find your Crossfit animal, train next to them. Plus, when he finished 5 whole minutes before me, he did burpees in solidarity with me, as I dug deep to finish up. Yeah, CrossFit community!

Having said that, I totally completed the WOD AS WRITTEN!! I did it with the exact amount of weight, did all the burpees, didn't have to modify the lunges, etc. and was met with a time that I was proud of - just over 17 minutes.
I will not lie, the last 50 feet of lunges felt super heavy... not on my beastly bionic legs, but my shoulders (deltoids, the muscle that makes your shoulder round) felt like they were housing battery acid. I was making all sorts of faces and struggling to keep my wobbly weight plate overhead. But I refused to put it down. I made noise. I had to. It was the patented "I'm having an evil workout" scream/grunt. You know, "Aaaaahhhhrrrrrgghh!!!".  But I made it to the end. (and finished with the slowest, but steady, set of 21 burpees.).

I went to pick up my full Nalgene water bottle after class and my arm shook as I tried to get it to my face. I had a feeling that the next day would suck pretty bad (Embrace the Suck!)...