Quick Summary of Festivus

That was everything and nothing like I expected it would be.  I knew it would be hard, I knew I would be pushed...I had no idea I would respond in the way I did.  I now have enough material to do a post every day for a week so for those who were wondering how I did here is a really fast summary.

• Started on the Row to the max clean.  I did great int he row, coming in 9th out of the 24 competitors in my division with a time of 3:27 in 1000m.  

The very beginning of my first CrossFit Event 

• Moving to the clean was a nightmare.  My legs were completely shot.  I used 135 as my "lets get a score" weight and actually failed on my first attempt.  In my mind I started to panic.  I decided to take about 45 sec to just rest and was able to get it up no problem.  Moved on to 155 and got that on my first try.  Then came 165...see video's below.  missed it like 4 times before getting it in with about 5 seconds to spare in the round. Came in 20th out of 24 on this wod.  I knew coming in that I would not place well here.  

• The next WOD was the sprint to tire drag to walking lunges to shot put.  Holy hell my body wanted to quit here.  Sprint ..no problem.  The tire drag was HORRIBLE.  So much harder than I thought.  Then the walking lunges...my quads were BURNING.  Got to the shot put with about a minute and a half to spare. First throw 21 feet (ew), second throw 23, third 25, fourth 27 and fifth and final was 29 feet.  Not great but good enough for 14th place.  

The guy to my right came in 2nd overall

• Finally the final WOD.  The one that I didn't know too much about.  750 meter ski erg to 50lb sandbag over the bar.  Now I thought the bar was 6 feet.. no big deal.  Then at the athlete meeting it was announced the guys were throwing over an 8 foot bar.  Shit.  My stubby little frame was really gonna struggle with this one.  First the ski.  That was different for sure.  A great workout and taxed my legs more than I thought it would.  It's equivalent to rowing time wise ~2:00 for 500m.  Now to trying to throw this stupid bag over that bar.  Attempt 1..fail.  attempt 2...fail.  Now i have doubts I'll get one in...then I get really pissed and take a few steps and will that fucking bag over the bar.  Got 1...now time to get a bunch more.  I got to about 10 with 1 minute left before they brought me a new bag which wasn't "broke" in the middle.  Boom...banged out 5 with no problem.  Then with 3 second to spare I get my 16th (or so I thought).  I collapse and the judge brings over my card and it only shows 15.  I ask "did that last one not count?"  "yes it counted"  "well then it should be 16 cause I was going back over the bar which are always even numbers"  "oh, well you must have missed one"  me frustrated "well I guess you had a better count than me".   So my "official" score is 15 but I know it was 16.  Anyway I came in 15th on this event (that one rep cost me a point)

Had to really work to get that bag over each and every time.

All in all I came in 16th out of 24 competitors.  Final Results:  http://crossfitrelentless.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/festivus2-final.pdf

I never quit.  That I can be very proud of.  When it came to tossing the sandbags I took about 15 seconds off the rower then went at it.  I didn't toss and then break.  I tossed, went to get the bag (or pushed it over the bar) then picked it up and tossed again.  No break, just go.  

Thank you to all who supported me on facebook or in person.  It was invaluable in pushing me to places I haven't been before.  I have a lot to work on but now I know that I can do it and will keep pushing myself.