Something has been missing...

Without feeling like I am listing the 101 reasons I haven't been living the CF life I will just say that after a long and complicated May and June, I finally made my way back to the box this past week and it was mid burpee that I had an epiphany: I LOVE CrossFit, I MISS CrossFit, I NEED CrossFit.  For anyone who ever struggled to start and stick with an exercise routine they can relate to how I felt.  CrossFit was losing its appeal, I wasn't feeling as excited as I once did about working out and it was getting stale.  I was still following a strength program, WOD'ing regularly, typically just doing the workouts posted on Ignite's main page and doing my best to eat as paleo as I could, truth it was more as paleo as I wanted to :).  But the spark was gone.  The magic had faded.  What had changed? Something must have been missing?

And it wasn't until spending last Wednesday sweating through Special K's very "special" birthday WOD with a few of my very favourite CF Red Deer mommas and one special Ignite dad that I was reminded of what made CrossFit so unique compared to other workout regimes that I had tried and failed to maintain.    It's the people, the conversations and the relationships that fuel my love affair.  It's the momma who finishes her WOD before you, picking herself up off the floor and coming over to scoop up your screaming son to wipe away his tears. It's knowing each others birthdays and celebrating with a disgustingly ridiculous WOD.  It's the warm up that takes way too long because the conversation is way too good.   Sure the workouts have whipped my soft, weak body into shape but it was the connections I was making to the people that whipped my life into order.   Trudging through workouts alone in the garage is more convenient and definitely easier for the little people in my life but its the community of people that has made CrossFit something more than just a workout.  I am realizing that if I am going to maintain the CF lifestyle that I am so keen on doing then I need to foster what makes it so special and make a conscious effort to be part of a community that has given me so much.