From There to Here (Part 1)

To tell the story of how I got to the point of chronicling my crossfit journey, we need to go back a bit. Back to 2012.  Not December 21, 2012 (glad those Mayans were wrong!), but to late August and early September.  I had just come off the crazy experience of a week long survival course.  We spent time in south central Utah hiking, navigating, sleeping under the stars, building shelters, and generally learning how to survive with minimal gear. All the while eating very very little, hiking very very much, at about 7-8k above sea level (not optimal for a flat-lander). Going into this experience I was in solid shape around 170lbs.  I was walked 9-12 miles 4-5 days a week, eating well and feeling good. I felt prepared for this trip.  I lost over 9 lbs on the trip and came back at 160 lbs.  I also came back with giardia.  Not pleasant for the next two weeks, but wow, that place was beautiful....

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From that fall through spring of 2014 the exercising was sporadic and lacked focus or determination. Then, after a move from Stillwater, Oklahoma to Saint Joseph, Missouri, I renewed my efforts and made solid progress. The method was a boxing gym and after about a year of membership and six months of solid 3+ trips a week I was down to about 175 lbs again.  Boxing is good and really does work the cardio, but it just wasn't for me.  I became bored, busy, was bowling more, and generally started to dread going.  Finally in late fall of 2014 I canceled my membership.

The picture below is about as good as my physique got. It was taken over Labor Day weekend with a couple friends of mine on an awesome four day--three city baseball trip.  Hat tip to Chris Laws and Delton Gordon! Unfortunately that trip marked my highest level for fitness for the next 18 months.

The following year really just encompassed a lot of weak effort, floundering motivation, and way too much late night food and craft beer.  For the first time, in the fall of 2015, I had hit the 200lb mark.  And it wasn't a good 200lbs.  This put me a full 75lbs above my playing weight from high school.  Dissatisfaction with how I felt, my energy level, and the ole mirror test really set the stage for "the bet".


Next up, the Crossfit journey begins.
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