When I was a child, if you would have asked me what I want
to be when I grow up I would have listed out all kinds of careers. My dreams
started with being a mommy of twelve, then a teacher, later a journalist, even
later an accountant, a small business owner and finally a doctor of nutritional
sciences. Never in my life would I have ever answered, “I want to be a CrossFit
coach.”
I have said this before in my older blog posts but I have
never really been athletic. It is a running joke in my family that I abhorred
being sweaty. It was gross and uncomfortable and made my hair look messy. But
obviously all that has changed. I feel like now that I am coaching five classes
a day I am living in sweat and I am utterly amazed at how I got here.
I’ll admit that I never gave being a coach a whole lot of
merit. It just didn’t seem that difficult to me. But I am completely humbled by
all the work that it requires. I am obviously lacking hours under my belt in
coaching but everyone has to start somewhere, right? And I think because I lack
arrogance in my experience it makes me a better coach because I am constantly
reading and learning and diving into more information on how the body moves and
functions. I take this job sooooo incredibly seriously because this isn’t just
about giving people a list of actions to accomplish to make them sweaty but about
knowing how someone with fibromyalgia should scale the workout differently or
what mobility workouts someone with a shoulder injury should do, or how someone
with adrenal fatigue would need to tweak their nutrition. I feel like I cannot
soak up enough information right now and until time ticks by and I finally have
a lot of coaching hours logged I am going to take every opportunity to learn
all that I can and that means not only doing my own research but taking
additional classes.
Our entire coaching staff is actually really crazy stinkin’
excited about all of the CrossFit Certification courses we are signed up for in
the next few months. We have Olympic Lifting, Mobility, CrossFit Defense and
CrossFit Kids (which is the one I am most excited about and makes me want to do
a happy dance.) And on top of the CrossFit cert classes I am still pushing on
with school so that hopefully someday I’ll have those pretty letters behind my
name. Whew! That made me feel a bit tired all of a sudden! Goodness!
To be honest I may be a little insecure about how I am as a
coach. I am really good at book knowledge. I can take tests all day long but
putting something into practice is a whole new ball game and for a girl who
never even played ball this is unchartered territory. Fortunately for me I have
an ABSOLUTLEY INCREDIBLE team. We have several coaches who have experience
coaching in other boxes and I am so grateful to be able to rely on their
experience when I need some guidance.
In fact none of this would be possible if it wasn’t for the
wonderful people God has surrounded us with. I am in absolute awe that our Core
family has not only believed in our purpose and dream for the Hunt County community
but they have ripped up carpet, hammered in nails, begrudgingly put in
insulation, helped carry our burdens of worry and stress, and covered us in
prayer through this whole experience. Levi and I are so humbled by their love
and will treasure it always. The Core
and my dream of being able to participate in leading Hunt County in a healthy
lifestyle would not have been possible if I was doing this by myself so I want
to take just a quick minute and thank my sweet Core team:
To Levi: Sharing this dream with you has been such an
incredible adventure already. I love building and creating with you. You make
me feel like I could do anything and everything I put my mind to. I feel
strong, brave and powerful because of you. I am absolutely in awe of your
determination to see the dream come to fruition and it doesn’t go unnoticed
that you are the first one up and out the door to your real job and then you
put in countless hours at The Core until you crash late at night. You are
amazing. Plus you look really incredible in a tool belt…so all of this
construction has been totally worth it just for that. J
To Jack and Addie: You two have been amazing in all of this.
You have handled all the disappointments of canceling vacations, living on a
budget, and spending hours and hours at The Core all in stride. I am in awe of
how both of you have embraced Mommy and Daddy’s dream and have made it your
own.
To Jim: You were there to guide and challenge me when I
needed it the most. Your friendship and loyalty are priceless and Levi and I
both appreciate how precious of a gift you are to our family. We have said from
the very beginning we did not want to do this without you. Your incredible
knowledge, experience, energy for life, true integrity and pure desire to
educate people on health and fitness all add up to an incredible man and
amazing coach. It gives me such confidence to know you have my six.
To Mom: I cannot thank you enough for helping out with Jack
and Addie this summer. At times I am riddled with guilt for not providing the
kids a more exciting summer but I am so grateful that they have been able to
enjoy being with you and your fun vacation adventure. It also means the world
to me that you believe in what we are doing at The Core so much that you have
begun to attend our On-Ramp classes. I never thought you would do CrossFit and
it gives me assurance in what we are doing at The Core.
To Steve and Karen: You guys have always been there for our
family when we needed it the most. You are a rock for Levi and me. Being able
to walk across our fields and into your backyard for a chat and some guidance
has been such a source of security in our lives. Having your support in our
endeavors has given us conviction to continue on and to push forward. You will
never know how truly treasured you are in our hearts. We love you.
To Zoe: Thank you for coming up to The Core to watch all of our kiddos. You are such a blessing to all of our lives and I am so grateful you are ours!
To Haley, CJ, Curtis, Ashley, Christie, Benny, Dustin,
Amber, Cleve, Hillery: You guys are our family and I am overwhelmed at the
amount of time and effort you have put into our new group project. I truly feel
like The Core is yours just as much as it is ours. I have enjoyed our
get-togethers, cramming into my kitchen and cooking amazing meals, working out
in our teeny Lawson Barn box, hammering nails at The Core, playing with all of
our kiddos, and sharing in the excitement. We could not have asked God to
surround us with more amazing people.
To our On-Ramp classes: It means the world to me that you
took a chance on this new fitness center that hasn’t even opened up yet!!! You
all have given me confidence that what we are doing at The Core is special and
effective. I cannot express how much pure joy comes from seeing you all walk in
looking scared and nervous and then seeing that transformation take place as
you realize ‘I can do this!’ You inspire me to be a better coach and to
constantly be learning more. I adore you all and are just so stinkin’ proud of
the steps you are taking with your fitness and nutrition to be a healthier you
so that you can do amazing things with the body God gave you!
