CrossFit Northwest Regionals

 

Last weekend I got my turn to head out of town for a competition and I had the best time at the CrossFit Northwest Regionals in Puyallup, WA. I competed in the team competition and got to watch some amazing individual athletes, including a couple good friends of mine, compete for a spot in the worldwide CrossFit Games. The competition took place Friday through Sunday with two workouts each day for teams, women and men. It was my first time competing in a CrossFit competition and I loved it! The team workouts were tough but fun and I loved watching my friends and the other competitors gut it out in the individual competition. 

The competition arena before the first workout

 

Women competitors from Eugene before the first workouts: Kendall, me, Cheryl, Lindsay and Chantelle

In the first team workout, each of the 4 chosen team members rowed 750 meters as fast as we all could then the team did 50 handstand push-ups followed by another 750 meter row each...

Sam rowing hard!

 My turn on the rower!

Go Chantelle!

 

I got 14 handstand push-ups in  a row my first attempt which I was happy with!

Our team after the first workout (Chantelle, Sam, me and Daren)

Later in the day our other two teammates (there are 6 on each team) had to lift as much weight from the ground overhead with one attempt at each weight. Here's Lindsay getting 105 lbs overhead...

Day two started with 45 heavy deadlifts (185 lbs for girls and around 300 lbs for the guys) and 45 high box jumps for time for Steve and Lindsay. I was glad I didn't have to do this workout...

Steve making lifting 300 lbs 45 times look easy!

Little Lindsay jumping up in the 24" box 45 times (after lifting 185 lbs numerous times)!

Later on Day 2 our team did Workout 4 which consisted of 250 chest-to-bar pull-ups, 250 kettlebell swings overhead (35 lbs for women), 250 double under jump ropes and 250 overhead squats (with 65 lbs weight for women/95 for men). It was a tough workout especially because our other gal, Chantelle, could not do chest-to-bar pull-ups so Sam, Daren and I had to each do about 80 each. Still I had fun doing it and it was great having a big cheering section from Eugene CrossFit (and Chad, Cade and Genevieve) cheering us loudly on...

 Chest-to-bar pull-ups, my first 20 were pretty easy....the last 60, no so much!

Waiting for my turn on the overhead squats

 My legs were very sore all week after all these squats!

 Excited to have completed this workout and I think we were 2nd in our heat!

Our team did not make top 10 (out of 30) after two days so we did not advance to the 3rd day of team competition but we had a blast together and got to cheer on the individual competitors on Sunday

My friends, Cheryl and Kendall, were so amazing to watch all weekend. They qualified as individuals. I am not sure how they walked after each day let alone competed more tough workouts. One day had them doing 100 pull-ups, 100 kettle bell swings, 100 double under jump ropes and 100 65 lb overhead squats as fast as they could (Cheryl and Kendall both did all of this in about 20 minutes) and a few hours earlier they deadlifted 215 lbs 45 times and did 45 24" box jumps (in less than 5 minutes)! Cheryl came from behind by winning the final workout and placed 3rd which qualified her for the Worldwide CrossFit Games in LA in late July. Kendall barely missed a spot in the Games finishing a solid 5th place. Very inspiring!

Cheryl gutting it out in her overhead squats

Kendall getting 160 lbs overhead

Go Cheryl!

Cheryl and Kendall both took lots of ice baths between workouts. Brrrr!

Cheryl cheering Kendall on the in the final workout

After each heat a crew came out to clean the blood from the bars from competitors ripping their hands on the pull-ups!

 

 

A very happy Cheryl after the final workout

The Eugene CrossFit competitors, coaches and cheering section! What a great group of people!

Go Women of Eugene Crossfit!

Finally a couple shots of Cade and Nev who joined Chad and me for the weekend. Also, I have to add that Chad was AWESOME all weekend watching Nev, giving me lots of  massages and cheering us all on!

 Cade had a lot of fun all weekend with Alex running around the fairgrounds

Nev sleeping with daddy in the stands :)

I Heart Cousins and Walks on the Dairy

Genevieve is happy as can be when her cousins, Jacoby and Nia, come to visit. And, it gets even better when they all get to go for a walk on the dairy, drive tractors and trucks and throw rocks in puddles! Here are some pictures of a recent visit.

Matching Crocs!

Talking in the Tub

Genevieve's talking has exploded in the past couple months (she's almost 2 and a half now). Nev has always been a talker, but now she holds good conversations that most everyone can understand. It's so cute to hear my words come out of her mouth like yesterday I was trying a shirt on and she said, "It's beautiful, Mom, I really like it" :) Here's Nev singing and talking in the tub. It's actually not the best representation of her conversations nowadays but it is pretty cute and something I'd like to remember. It is a private video that you can only see through the link below.

http://youtu.be/rULbJmY05AY

Jog-A-Thon

Today our three big kids ran in their school's annual jog-a-thon. In the past this has been quite the anticipated event. Cade would get very nervous about beating his lap count from the previous year and beating his classmates (both which he accomplished the last 4 years) and Gabrielle would also get a little nervous wanting to be the top girl in her class (which she has been since 1st grade). This year both Cade and Elle decided to take it a little easier. Cade's knee has been bothering him lately with tendinitis so he planned to walk it. And Gabrielle just decided she would run some and walk some because she had practice later in the day. Willem didn't say much about it (typical Willem). I was happy it would be a much more relaxed event without any kids stressing about it days and weeks beforehand and without me having to help pace the kids or even run with them.

Cade ended up walking but still did 18 laps in an hour (really 17 as they give credit for one extra). Gabrielle jogged much of it and also walked a little but still was the top girl in her class with 22 laps. 

And then there's Willem. He did not want me to run with him, he never complained the whole event and never even asked me how he was doing. He just ran and ran and ran. I was amazed he completed 29 laps in the one hour event! Without the 1st free lap, that's 28 full laps in an hour or seven miles for our little 7 year old! I asked him after if it was hard or if he got tired and he gave me an definite YES but you would never have guessed it watching him power through the hour running the whole time on his own. Way to go Willem!

 Willem cruising away in his indoor soccer shoes. Had I known he'd run so far, i'd have gotten him some running shoes. In the past Cade would stress about things like that but Willem just put on his soccer shoes and ran.

Gabrielle jogged with Kyndsi most of the time 

 Cade hamming it up for the camera

 Willem with some of his classmates after the run

Another Busy Soccer Weekend

Our Memorial Day Weekend was spent on the soccer fields in Eugene and Portland. Cade had games Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Portland with his Olympic Development Team in the Friendship Cup Tournament. And Gabrielle and Willem played in Eugene in the Memorial Day Tournament.

Gabrielle's U11 EMFC Athletica Blue team won the U12 Gold division! This was their first tournament championship after four or five 2nd place finishes over the past two years so it was very exciting for the girls. In pool play they beat CFC Olimpia U12 team 4-2, tied Willamette Maroon U12 1-1 and beat Corvallis Chaos U12 2-1. It was neat to see how much our girls have improved over the past two years; they lost to the same Corvallis team 10-2 in the 2009 tournament and 3-0 last year and now beat them 2-1. In the championship game, Athletica tied Willamette Maroon 1-1 and beat them in PK's. Gabrielle took the second PK and placed it perfectly! The girls were all so excited and Elle said she couldn't stop smiling after their win!

Gabrielle and Kyndsi

The winning team including their new coach, Jurgen!

Gabrielle working hard!

Elle taking her PK (look at her teammates faces)!

Anxiously watching their teammates take their PK's

So excited after the win!

 Smiles all around!

A cool view of the celebration from another parent's camera

Willem's U10 Rovers White team played in the U10 Gold Division taking 4th place out of six teams. He and his teammates worked hard all weekend and had fun despite their three loses, two of which were against strong Woodburn teams and the 3rd against the U10 Rovers Blue (1st) team. They had the most fun, of-course, in their win against Albany Heat! Willem always cracks me up with the pictures I get of him. He can be so intense but then silly as well. The first three are of him hanging out and a little bored playing goalie (the first half) in their win...

I like this action shot of Willem...

Will and his teammates' goal celebrations...

And here's Willem posing for the camera DURING THE GAME (yes there wasn't much action when he played goalie in the first half)...

Willem does often amaze me with his fearlessness and his leaping ability...

 

I do enjoy watching him play in the goal...

 

Of-course with my camera in hand, we got a few cute shots of Nev during the weekend...

And finally here are some shots of Cade this weekend. ODP has been a great experience for Cade. He made the 1st team for the 1998 age group for the tournament which is a big accomplishment as he is one of only three players born in 1999 on the state team. It is very challenging for him playing at such a fast pace and with so many big, talented players. He continues to be very motivated and loves getting to know all the players from around the state. I look forward to next year when he can play with kids his own birth year and hopefully more his size!

The entire 40 member 1998 player pool (1st team in black, 2nd in white - for this picture)

 

Cade is 5th black jerseyed player to the right of blue goal keeper in middle

Cade plays with such intensity!