By Ashley Smith
Alas, the long, stressful and dramatic….yet exciting, self reflecting and challenging 2014 OPEN is done! I feel a sigh of relief, but know deep down its a bitter sweet ending! As much as I’d love to be along side them, I am very proud of my ladies who have made it to Regionals, regardless of the endless hours of their craziness over the last 5 weeks! I am very excited to watch them crush Regionals this year!
As tough as it is to be on the sidelines watching instead of competing, I am absolutely ecstatic with a top 100 placing this year! Knowing that I am capable of that placing, with injuries and at half capacity, makes me very excited and even more motivated to have a fully healed shoulder and back, and to really zone in on weaknesses this season. Watching the leaderboard, talking with my CF girls, and now going to watch them at Regionals is a major fire in my heart to push me even further for next year.
Although this is only my second Open, I can certainly tell how much more fierce the competition has gotten in just 12 months. Seeing rather well known individuals, on both the mens and women’s side, struggling and having to really fight their way for a few extra spots. For some, missing out on top 60, when normally it would be a shoe in for them, speaks volumes to me for what this year has become, and for what to expect moving forward.
Last year, the Open was just a ton of fun for me! It was my first experience with CrossFit, first Open, first real competition. I didn’t know who anyone was, I didn’t really care for stats or the leaderboard, and didn’t even really know I had qualified till 9:10pm after the deadline last year! It was fantastic! However, this year the fun was taken out of it by a lot of drama, ridiculousness and selfishness of people. It was very eye opening to see just how silly people can get with the Open. The excessive “redo-ers”, the “last minute posters”, the “cheaters”, the“Facebook drama queens/kings”. The list goes on and on. I certainly gained a new level of respect for some people, and lost a great deal of respect for others. I realize that I made the choice to allow these things to get to me, when I really shouldn’t have. Within all of this, I learned more about what kind of athlete I am, and what kind of athlete I will continue to strive to be.
It also reinforced my real love for CrossFit – all within the four walls of our box at CrossFit St. Catharines. Seeing people who experienced the Open for the first time last year, and came out a year later; better, stronger and faster. More excited and more determined. They set goals a year ago, and witnessing their journey of failures and success, and reaching those goals has been incredible. Watching our new members face their fears and throw down the Open WOD’s when they kept saying ”but… I can’t”, then they turned around and THEY DID! Being surrounded by this community who came together as a family, brought me so much more joy and fulfillment as a coach, that there wasn’t any room to be burdened by disappointment as an athlete.
As of yesterday, my 2015 program planning and outlook began! I sat down with a nice cup of coffee, good acoustic tunes and Nova. I felt excited to plan and refreshed to open my mind. Although I will mainly follow CJ Martin‘s programming at CrossFit Invictus, I thoroughly mapped out how to deal with my nagging injuries, how to attack my weaknesses, develop my strengths, and achieve my goals. Adding in different things at the track, the pool, trail runs and other ‘out of the box’ training to broaden my outlets. I am beyond excited to see what I can accomplish and how far I can push myself in the next 11 months!
Our lives hold endless possibilities that are beautiful and exciting when others believe in you, and you finally begin to believe in yourself!
Speaking of which, I think its now finally safe to say…. Along with those endless possibilities, another reason Regionals wasn’t in the works for me this year, is because I am very excited to have accepted an incredible opportunity to teach CrossFit in other countries! Almost everything has been finalized, but until the other party is ready to release all details… thats all I can say for now! 🙂
Stay tuned if you want to keep up with the amazing adventure I am about to embark on!
CONGRATS again to all those who qualified for Regionals, you deserve it!