Crossfit Tel Aviv

It's pretty crazy to me that we are coming up on four months of living out here. A third of a year?? Time flies.

I like to frequently take time to reflect and make note of what's worked, and what hasn't. What was harder than I expected when moving to a new country, and what was easier than expected.

It surprised me how difficult I found starting at a new gym to be.  It wasn't like in the past; I wasn't going into crossfit with zero experience, and (for the most part) I felt confident that I knew what I was doing.

I don't know if it was the occasional language barriers, the overwhelming-ness of the move as a whole, or what.  But for the first several weeks, every other time Andrew and I had plans to go workout at a certain time, I had an aggressive internal battle with myself around why I didn't want to go.

Yet the quote 'Life begins at the end of your comfort zone' has continued to hold true throughout this transition, and the gym was no different. It took awhile, a few moments of awakening, but it began to get easier.

One day while walking home from a workout in deep reflection, I realized something important.  And it's obvious, but it's something that I lost grasp of somewhere along the way, and I think it's something we as athletes all need to be reminded of.

The "rules" of crossfit aren't just something that are sacred to your gym, or your region, or even your country.  The rules and expectations of crossfit apply worldwide.

You cheer on every last teammate - even if you know damn well they may not know English - clapping works right?  And you don't put your equipment away until every teammate has finished the workout.

 You will continue to be pushed outside of your comfort zone, whether you are a new or old athlete, and you don't take that personally.

And there's no feeling sorry for yourself.  Which believe me, I had moments where I tried.  The extreme attention to the details of lifting form took me awhile to get used to (and not take personally) and eventually I've slowly come to appreciate and value it.

But I won't lie, there were frustrating moments that had me on the edge of tears.  

Slowly the coaches are getting to know me; when I'm being a baby about heavy weight and when I actually may need to scale.  Just last week I was encouraged to do Grace at Rx weight (which as a side note, figuring out what I'm actually lifting in Kgs vs. Lbs has also been a struggle) and I surprised myself by finishing under 7 mins.

Yet if I've really been shown anything the past four months, it's been that the one thing that sets CrossFit apart (worldwide) is the instant induction into a community that cares about you.  Whether you fluently speak the same language or not, have the same president or not, have the same goals or not.  Without what has come to be the safety net of a little gym on the beach to go to every day, be greeted warmly, and work with others towards getting better... this move would have been a hell of a lot harder.

Cheers - 

Kait

Community

It's funny, because I almost published this exact same post after I first moved to Baltimore.  I even went back to my drafts to see if I had saved it; I'm sad that I didn't.

When you move to somewhere new you kind of get used to feeling invisible. Not in like a.... oh poor me I'm invisible feel bad for me sort of way, but simply because the odds of randomly running into someone you know when you in fact don't really know anyone is... low.  At least for the first month or so.

I'm out and about several times a day between part-time work, going to the gym, running errands etc. My doormen probably know me as the tall American who talks to her husky and wears shorts during 'winter.'  Yet outside of them, typically while walking the dog or lugging home ten tons of groceries in my backpack... I'm pretty much in my own little world.  Especially since I don't understand the language surrounding me 90% of the time; I just kind of zone out and do my thing, sometimes even sing country music out loud in hopes that it will catch on.

I run Kai along the beach on M/W/F mornings -  and by run I mean I usually am either sprinting, or dragging her at a snails pace as she tries to hunt pigeons. I'm really glad that I left my headphones at home this past Monday and opted for the Mediterranean waves soundtrack, because otherwise I might not have heard this -

"Kait!"

I pulled Kai to a screeching halt.  "WHAT no one here knows who I am and Andrew is at work this is confusing", said my brain as I turned around, half expecting to have misheard my name for perhaps some Hebrew word.

But alas, it was a fellow gym member who had recognized me.  Instantly I grinned and waved and then let Kai continue to drag me along.

(That stupid grin lingered for at least a half mile.)

Like I said, you just kind of get used to not running into people, not having random encounters and catch-ups with acquaintances. But when that starts to be broken - when you build those relationships, force yourself into awkward get-to-know-you situations that you may hate in the moment, but know it will eventually pay off...

When you start to randomly be recognized, and realize hey maybe I'm onto something here... it's pretty darn cool to slowly see the rise of what may be your next community(ies).

As a side note/plug, right here is also reason four million as to why I love crossfit - whether you want to be noticed or not, you'll be noticed, and accepted into the gym fam  :)

So yeah, I just wrote a blog post about how being recognized in public made me happy.  To wrap up, other things that make me happy: it's December, and it's actually cold and rainy here today.  Mother Nature must have taken my post earlier this week personally.

Happy Friday!

Kait

3:15

3:15 AM.

The time we finally landed in Denver this past Friday morning to start off our weekend. The same time we left Fort Collins for the airport this Tuesday morning to fly back to Baltimore, and end our weekend. Our Thursday night 5 hour flight delay out was super brutal  but lucky for us we had this little dog to entertain for awhile...

Weekends like this always wreck me. Not because of the pounds of pizza and froyo and beers and wings – I mean sure, those physically ruin me for a week or so. But I’m talking emotionally.

I’ve realized, more over the past year and a half just how important a present community is to me. Like probably top 5 things in my life kind of important. And I don't think community necessary equates out to just the word friends, although friends are awesome don’t get me wrong. I'm talking community. Your crew, who puts their arms around you and are like no matter what stupid ass crap you decide to pull, they are going to call you stupid but still love the heck out of you.

Side note: this trail we ran in Fort Collins will continue to forever and always break my heart

I have a lot going on in life right now, in a couple of different areas. And if we are being straight up honest, I've found myself saying over the past couple months... maybe I don’t want to write on here anymore? Posts lately have felt a little bit flat, a little bit pointless. I’m not looking to waste anyone’s time, and I’m certainly not looking to waste my own.

Looking forward, I'm seeing some changes and trials coming up this next month or so, and to say I’m currently facing them with stark confidence would be a bold face lie. Don't make me a liar people. The problem is, until today my mindset was ‘Welp I’m just going to worry about it/figure it out/deal about it post-Memorial Day.'

Word on the street is, Memorial Day is over (hope yours was awesome as well). Last time I checked my calendar, June is three days away.

Holy hell.

I have to apologize, this post is bouncing all over the place. It's kind of how I want it - it’s a rant and it’s my emotions. It’s a blatant, unmasked combination of fear and joy. And as I stand here and pound away at my keyboard, I remember why I started writing in the first place. To share this crazy-ass journey with you guys.

the trail of my life.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m pumped for summer. Super pumped. I think it’s going to be chock-full of some straight up awesomeness. But I also foresee a couple handfuls of tears. So there’s your vague disclaimer.

Love you guys, thanks for listening.

Cheers!