Q. Alright Julie, so what does being healthy mean to you? Why is it important to you?
A. Being healthy means being able to be active and keep moving through my day. I work with young children and am constantly chasing them around and getting up and down from the ground. I want to be able to keep up at work and maintain an active lifestyle outside of work, hiking, walking my dogs and participating in anything my children or friends want to do. I started CrossFit to have something in common with my adult children, now I want to be able to take a classes with them when I visit them and I’m excited to say my daughter and I are doing a competition together. To me, being healthy is to be able to be an active participant in whatever life brings.
Q. What are your current health and fitness goals?
A. I hope to keep moving. As a masters athlete I want to keep learning new skills and building strength for as long as I can. A health goal is to work on eating best to fuel my body and improve my sleep patterns.
Q. What would you say has been you greatest achievement thus far?
A. When I started CrossFit, I wanted to be able to do a pull up and a rope climb. While there may have been 6 months of drama and bloody hands when I was learning how to do kipping pullups, I can do them now. And, I am able to climb the rope.
Q. What have been your biggest obstacles in the past?
A. An obstacle is that I am an over thinker. I overthink everything in life including CrossFit. I have been trying for years to learn how to do double unders. I have tried different programs, different ropes different shoes and nothing works. I think if I could just relax and not overthink them, they would come.
Q. How did you overcome these obstacles?
A.. I feel as though the support of my friends in my 5:00 AM class has contributed greatly to my CrossFit personal successes. They inspire me, encourage me and push me out of my comfort zone.
Q. What would you say have been the key factors to your successes?
A. I have done a variety of sports my whole life from riding horses competitively to running. I have never felt the power of a sport as much as I have with CrossFit. It makes me feel strong and pushes me out of my comfort zone on a regular basis. I feel the exercise part of it in terms of my cardio endurance and functional fitness. The mental part of CrossFit/exercise is what I find so valuable. I am so happy when I can complete a WOD that I had doubts about, use more weight than I thought and beat a time I did not think I could. And, I feel like regular exercise in the morning makes the rest of my day more productive and makes me more “tolerant” at work.
Q. What do you love most about exercising?
A. Exercise has always been a very important part of my life. The hardest thing for me is accepting that I am an older athlete. I want to keep the balance of pushing myself and holding myself accountable but accepting that I am not going to be able to compete with those so much younger and I certainly don’t want to hurt myself. It is hard always being sore and just the general body aches.
Q. Does feeling and looking your best contribute to your overall happiness and if so how?
A. I think that feeling and looking my best contributes to my general sense of well being. In addition, I feel more energized for life.
Q. What advice would you give to others with similar goals to yours that are facing obstacles, struggles, and maybe little to no support from family or friends?
A.. I think the first step is to just move. Do whatever you need to do to get into a gym. I support people joining a CrossFit type gym/program so that they can connect with other like minded people and join a community. Make your world big and go for it, no matter your fitness level age or athleticism. There is never going to be a better time to start.
Q. Favorite health food?
A. Smoothies in my Ninja Creami
Q. Favorite cheat food?
A. Cheat food- anything Taco or Margarita
Q. Favorite exercise?
A. I love chippers, I can go at my own pace, slow and steady. I love pullups and cleans
Q. Give me a one word answer when it comes to the following:
Running- cardio
Diet- moderation
Happiness- family and dogs
Impossible- dedication
Future- anything
CrownTown- community
