On or about this day in 2004, Dave ran the first Twelve Days workout at CrossFit North. I went at six PM, I remember, because I got out of work late. It was the longest workout I'd done, by far, and I was only three months into CrossFit, having started as a total beginner to strength training and so on.
During the workout, I felt like I was on an adventure race! It was all so new. Focus on one move at a time and the goal of finishing gets closer and closer. Some of the exercises were easy for me, like the 3-second handstand against the wall. Others loomed like a 15-foot wall each time they came around in the cycle. It was the first time I'd tried ring dips. My modification was to jump to support. What a sense of accomplishment in being able to do it! Each time, of course, I was shakier.
I know the phrase "beginner's mind" and don't know exactly what is meant by it in its spiritual context, but I often think of that phrase when I'm nervous about a workout that I know is going to be hard. These days, as a trainer, I want to provide a good example and set a somewhat ambitious standard for other women. Those are good intentions, but it's a source of pressure I'm putting on myself. Healthy in some ways, yet what is fun is when I can recover that sort of innocence when approaching a workout: "I don't know how this is going to go, but I'm gonna do one thing at a time until I get through it!" I need to hang onto a balance of those two feelings forever. Setting a good example seems valuable, but enjoying the process is the fun part.
The 12 Days workout is good for enjoying the process because of its length. Even being used to hard workouts, this one still feels like an adventure race. And I love the ritual of doing it every year.
Last year I accidentally did twice as much bear-crawl as I was supposed to. This year (today) I'm going to get a more representative time result.
Very late update: My time for 12 Days was 41:20.
