Here’s a letter we received from one of our athletes here at CFD, Laurie Polley. There’s no back story I can give you in a nutshell that can put her letter into the proper perspective, but many of the other CrossFitters out here know her. Laurie is a sweetheart, plain and simple. To say that starting CrossFit was terrifying for her is an understatement, and she’s needed plenty of pep talks to convince her that she belongs with us and to continue the journey that is making her better with every passing day. The following email is her realizing how that difference in her fitness level is enabling her to do the things she enjoys doing with friends and family. When I received this email on a Sunday and read it from my phone, it literally brought tears to my eyes and made my entire weekend. I hope this is as awesome a story to all of you as it was to me!
“Hi guys. I hope you don’t get tired of my emails letting you know of
how my life has changed since starting Crossfit, but I really wanted
to share this with you.
Last July a friend invited us to go boating. Yesterday he took us out
on his boat again. What a difference a year can make!
Last year they really had to coax me to even set foot on the boat, as
I was terrified to step onto something that was moving a little bit.
I had two patient men holding my hands and helping me into the boat as
I shook with fear. Once I got in my seat, I stayed in my seat. The
only thing I managed to do was break my arm. I was so tense and
holding on so tight that when we hit some wake and my body flew up,
the end of my radius cracked off when my hand came back down onto the
rail I had been holding. Getting me off the boat wasn’t pretty.
Yesterday I stepped off the dock and onto the boat with no hesitation.
I knew I was going to do it, and I knew that hesitating wouldn’t make
things better. I learned that from Crossfit. I didn’t even need a
hand to hold.
I drove the boat which meant I had to get up and move around – I
wasn’t glued to my seat like last year. I had enough awareness of my
body to relax when we hit wake from other boats, knowing that holding
on tight didn’t work so well last year.
I wore a swim suit and nothing else covering it all day long. Last
year there was no way I would have gone out in public like that. This
allowed me to swim. I actually climbed off the boat, got into the
water, and then climbed back on the boat and it wasn’t that much of an
effort because with thirty less pounds and a lot more muscle it wasn’t
that difficult. I even initiated a mud fight on the beach, not caring
about the attention it would draw to me.
The best was when the kids had to get off the tube to give me a
chance. I climbed off the boat and onto a tube – yes, it took about a
minute of talking myself into it and this time I did need hands to
hold, but I did it. If you knew how scared I have been of stuff like
that my whole life, even as a child, you would understand how
significant it was for me to do that. When I was slipping off the
tube, I was easily able to climb back on. I screamed my head off when
things went beyond straight forward tubing, but I was okay.
If I had to sum up yesterday in one short sentence, it would be ‘I
lived life.’
So thank you to you guys for helping me get to a place where I’m
finally off the sidelines. Thank you so much!”
