For Mark Freeman

Leave a comment August 18, 2015 drworobec

We went to a friend’s 40th birthday party on Saturday night. He’s a Phys Ed teacher, and it was a costume party- the theme being Phys Ed wear through the ages. You can imagine the hysterical possibilities.

“Why don’t you ever blog about me?” he asked me. “Not even a shout-out?”

“You got a shout-out when the Burlington flood happened,” I responded (you can read that here).

“Yah, but that wasn’t about me, that was about the flood,” he said.

Fair point.

So to you, Mark Freeman, I dedicate this entire blog post. Happy birthday my friend. Allow me to get sappy:

Mark and his wife Jacquie have become wonderful friends of ours over the last ten years. They are the kind of people who you can count on. The kind of people who come through when it really matters. The kind of people who offer to help you move, who pop by unannounced for an afternoon visit, who bring you fuzzy pajamas and cozy slippers when you’re strugging the most (true story).

We love you, Mark Freeman, and we hope you had a great birthday party. Wishing you many, many more years of health and happiness!

Now how’s that for a shout-out?!

148577-Happy-Birthday-Im

Religion and Politics

2 Comments August 11, 2015 drworobec

I’ve been writing this blog regularly for more than three years now. And I have yet to write about religion or politics. The best way to ruin a dinner party? Talk about religion or politics. This also applies to blogs. However, I saw an image floating around online that really made an impression on me, so I thought I’d share it here:

pope francis

I went to church regularly throughout my childhood, my husband is a Catholic schoolteacher, and I certainly believe in a higher power. But for the last few years I’ve been struggling to actually make it inside a church on a Sunday. With a young family and the demands of a busy life, carving out a couple of hours on a Sunday morning seems a bit too much to handle.

Sunday mornings are often spent cheering on my husband at his touch football games, going to the gym, or heading out for a family walk in the trails. They are spent doing things that nurture my spirit, but not within the traditional four walls of a church setting.

I’m a kind person. I raise my kids to be kind people. For now, our ‘church’ is our daily life; our friends, our family, our activities, our backyard. Our church is welcoming to all and nurturing to our hearts and minds. Our church has music and laughter and love; a whole lotta love.

And it makes me happy.

Preach.

Oh Boy, I Hate That

2 Comments August 4, 2015 drworobec

It was the annual CrossFit Games a couple of weeks ago. Kind of like the “Olympics of CrossFit,” this annual competition is held in California every year, and hosts the best CrossFitters from around the world to determine the title of “Fittest on Earth” through several days of grueling events. For the average CrossFitter like myself, it’s a chance to marvel at the athleticism involved; competitors performing movements that we do day in and day out at the gym, but doing it far faster and far heavier than we can ever hope to do. But we hope anyways. And we cheer. And we dream.

CrossFit has a big presence on Social Media, so there’s lots of public opinion on display. And I’ve been shocked and saddened at some of the comments about the appearance of the female competitors. “Too muscular,” “too manly,” “not feminine.” Predictably, I did not come across one negative comment about the bodies of the male athletes. Oh boy, I hate that.

Brooke Ence, a 25-year-old rookie CrossFit Games competitor, won the one-rep-max clean and jerk event. She cleaned a 242lb barbell up to her shoulders and jerked it over her head. 242 pounds. My max deadlift is 226 lbs and I have been doing CrossFit for more than five years- and she took 242lbs and put it over her head. This is a display of athletic power that few people can ever hope to achieve. It was also a 12-pound personal best for her; a testament to her training and the influence of an energetic stadium crowd.

brooke ence

I think she looks like Barbie. But not a Barbie that is so disproportionate that she would tip over if she were a real person- rather, a Barbie that has worked hard to make herself into an incredible athlete and reach her goals doing something she loves. Yes, she has more muscle than the average woman. And it’s that muscle that allows her to do these amazing things. She has trained for years for that muscle and I wish that the naysayers would look at it from another side. I’m looking at it from the eating disorder side.

It’s no secret that I’ve battled eating disorders and body image issues throughout much of my life. I’ve also been successfully fighting this battle since I began CrossFit in 2010. I no longer view my body as a series of measurements and numbers on a scale- I view it as capacity in the gym and in my life. I look at how fast I can run, how much I can lift, how high I can jump. I look at how my fitness transfers into living a healthier life.

I strive to be strong instead of striving be skinny. This is a big shift for me. Imagine if we could make this shift happen for the thousands upon thousands of teenage girls and adult women watching the CrossFit Games. Could we change the world? Well, we could change their worlds.