My Crossfit story starts at the end of 2012 when I happened across an old acquaintance, Sovita Corkin who I hadn’t seen in a very long time walking down the street. I’d popped out a couple of humans and she was expecting her second, little did I know this special lady was going to change my life very soon.

Early 2013 Sovitas Fitter Faster Stronger (FFS) intake ad popped up in my feed and I convinced a couple of girlfriends to join with me. Those ladies and I can attest to the life-changing programme that is FFS! At the end of that year Sovita started making noises about me being ready to transition to the mainstream classes at CrossFit Central Wellington (CCW). I didn’t want to leave my FFS crew but after the first intake of 2014 she made the decision for me and I put my big girl pants on and joined the big kids gym.

I started at CCW as a fully-fledged member in March 2014, a 5:30am early bird and proud of it! I have had an amazing first year here at CCW I’ve made some amazing friends, challenged (and surprised) myself and had some of the best fun I’ve had working out EVER!

As a wife, mother and business owner CCW is my place I go for me, to step outside of those roles just for a little and focus on being the me who wants to be able to overhead squat, string some pull ups together and most importantly have a laugh doing it with people who get it.

I’ve crammed a lot new experiences in the first year:

• Within a month of joining I competed in my first weightlifting comp and smashed my goal of making every lift. (I’m not a beast I basically lifted just the bar and some baby weights) Not too shabby for the only lifter that was born in the 70’s and the only mum to boot!
• Signed up to the 2014 CCW Winter Throwdown a couple of months later and decided this was going to be a goal setting exercise and that If I could come away with one PB I’d be super stoked. Most important I wanted to have some fun doing my first Crossfit comp with my crew, at my box, in a low key supportive environment and have the chance to pit myself against some other ladies from other gyms to see how I stacked up. I cleaned 60kg that day I’ll never forget the total and utter surprise and sense of achievement.
• Marshalling athletes for the Wellington Cup – Apparently being a mum and using “that” voice is what makes you a great marshal. I’m not so sure about that but it gets you up close and personal with some of the top international and kiwi CrossFit athletes which is pretty inspiring in itself.
• Trialled for the Scaled team heading to the 2014 Mount Team Nationals – I didn’t make it but I got some great feedback that actually made me a little hungrier for the next opportunity to compete with my mates.
• The opportunity came with the 2014 NZ fitness league. I basically harassed a few of the 5:30 crew to do it with me and again, we had loads of fun. If you can set realistic goals and go in with a plan I think you’ll always come away pretty stoked!
• Signed up for CCW’s Performance Block with my eye on the 2015 CrossFit Open – Learnt a ridiculous amount, got heaps stronger, and was happy in my skin even though I was heavier than what I thought previously was my “optimal weight”.
• The CrossFit Open 2015, this was the big goal and what I’d been working towards the whole year. The Early Bird crew totally made this experience for me and I came away content with 5 clear goals for the next year.
• Being shoulder tapped and accepting an Intern Coaching position with CCW! Probably the scariest and most challenging thing to date but so great to have an amazing team to intern under and a great crew of interns alongside me.

Its all come full circle now, back to where it all began. I now help out occasionally as an FFS Coach under Sovita, hoping that I can give back to that special lady who was there all the way back at the beginning.

So that’s my story so far and I cant wait to add some new chapters!