That was the joke some of us had yesterday as some were getting ready to leave and taking off their “running” shoes. Then some of us were putting on our “lifting” shoes because we were about to do some squats. We look like we know what we’re doing. We look like professionals. We are CrossFitters. We are AWESOME.

Then Jeff, he’s 6ft forever and backsquats close to 500lbs, says “I have all these shoes in my bag. It’s crazy. And I’m not even that good at CrossFit!” I laughed. I was in total agreement. I’m not that good either but I look the part! I have 2 pairs of Nano’s which I love for most CrossFit things and for everyday use. I have Oly Shoes for the Oly lifting and I have 2 pair of Inov8s that I just busted back out for when we run, hoping they’ll be magical enough to make me be a better runner! Ha! I promise I know it’s not the shoe, it’s ME.

I received a lot of encouragement after yesterday’s depressing post. Thank you all! I love the support I have from my blogging buds and faithful readers. I know I’m a work in progress and I always will be. Once you get something figured out, you gotta move on to the next thing and sometimes you just go back and forth for a while and sometimes you just “get” it. I do love CrossFit and it has made me better physically and mentally. I’m tougher than I ever would have been had I just been sitting on the couch the past 2 years. Let me rephrase, I HAVE MADE ME BETTER. But CrossFit was definitely the driving force behind it. No matter how much I cry or whine, I still come back and take the beating. Hoping to grow, learn and get better. And I keep coming back because I have great coaches and a great CrossFit family who are AWESOMEness!

Moving on to today’s WOD. Which of course had more running involved, so guess what? Inov8s!!! The Skill was RUNNING and the MetCon had short runs. Oh boy, I guess I’ll get the work I said I needed. But I’m still not ready!

Coach had us hopping in place and leaning forward to get forward motion. Then he had us running in place. Knees up, feet pointing down, lean forward = move forward, upright = jogging in place. I pretty much sucked at that. So he busts out jump ropes. Jump rope while running forward. Now you have to have good form or you get tripped up on the rope. It took me a few tries but I finally got it down. The whole time Coach says don’t forget to apply this when we get outside. Are you kidding me? I’m struggling with the small isolated movements. Put me out in the wild and I’m supposed to still do these things. Let me be clear, all of this feels silly. Not one bit of it feels normal or comfortable. It’s almost as if we’re prancing. I know when I’ve learned to get all of the technique down I will be a better runner in the long run, but right now I’m just looking like a HOT MESS!

So it’s time for the MetCon: 400m run, 50 thrusters (35lbs), 400m run. Well I got thrusters at 35lbs. Not sure how I’ll feel after the first run, but it’s a light weight. I’ll be ok. And I was. Besides my calves wanting to explode off my legs. Not sure if Inov8s are hurting me or helping me at this point. But I get through my Thrusters 15, 10, 10, 7, 8 and back to running. I really tried to focus on all the things we just worked on but by the end I was just trotting along, walking, trotting. It was horrible. Time 10:03.

Post WOD I just rolled out my calves. Besides the normal aches and pains I get, it was my calves that were dying. I’m just hoping tomorrow brings NO RUNNING or sprints if we must do some sort of running. And no 400m will never be a SPRINT in my head.

One more day to go of getting up early and getting back to this routine I was so dedicated to in the past. It sure has taken it’s toll on me this week! I sleepy! But I’ll be ready to kill it next week at 5am. May even attempt to make it to tomorrow’s class instead of waiting till Monday.

That’s all for today. Happy Happy Day. Don’t forget to smile and laugh today! It only makes you more AWESOME!