Congratulations to Chriss Sullivan for being April's Spotlight Athlete of the Month! Chriss started CrossFit with Drop Box over a year ago and has been crushing her personal goals ever since. It's been awesome to watch her progress. She gets in on a regular basis and you can often find her at the 8:30 AM class right after working a 12-hour NIGHT SHIFT at the hospital where she takes care of pre-term infants in the NICU at the hospital! After killing the WOD, Chriss often sticks around to work on other skills and its truly showing in her performance. She has an engine like no other and is an athlete you will want to keep your eye on in class for the time to beat! :) Most importantly, we very much appreciate the support she gives to her fellow gym members and especially the community at large.

How do you start writing about yourself and fitness when the two weren’t even a thing a year ago? I’m sooooo beyond surprised to be selected as the spotlight athlete! There are so many amazing and talented athletes at the gym. I’m so thankful for the recognition and opportunity to tell y’all a little about myself.

First, I was born in Lima, Peru (no I’m not Filipino). I moved here when I was 7 with my brother and mom. My mom worked her ass off to provide for my brother and I grew up in the FC district. Graduated in '99 . Intentions were to go college after a year off but surprise, surprise…I fell in love and got pregnant! I have two boys, Nathan 16 and Ayden 14. I’ve been married to my husband, Chris for 10 years. He also has 2 boys, Dylan 16 and Anthony 14. I work at Princess Anne hospital. I am a registered nurse in the neonatal ICU. I drifted from job to job for a while, not really knowing what I wanted to do. Sometimes it takes something drastic to happen for you to really know your place in life. The father of my kids passed away 11 years ago. There’s nothing worse than losing someone you love at such a young age but if anything, it taught me that life is precious and worth living fully! So…that’s a little background about me, now onto how the heck a miracle happen, and I am now an “athlete!”

Like I mentioned before, fitness and I were not such good friends till last year. I’ve always enjoyed playing volleyball and I would enjoy a run from time to time. When I was first introduced to CrossFit was the first time I can say I truly started enjoying fitness…that’s when I started drinking the juice! A close friend recommend CrossFit to me. She had been doing it off and on for a few years. First we dropped in to her gym and then we dropped in to DBCF since we both were friends of Coach Stephanie. I went… I sucked… but I was challenged and curious! I believe it was a day that snatches were programmed. I could tell by the look on Steph’s face that I was not doing them right. They are still my enemy!! But she continued to encourage me and continued to push me to keep trying. That’s all I needed to be convinced! I have to back track a little and be honest, I did try One Life gym about 2 years ago. I signed a year contract and went for about 3 months. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no direction. I walked from one equipment to the next not knowing what I was doing or what muscle I was even working out. The fact that there was a coach guiding me through the workouts and that the workouts were programmed, was a game changer! I didn’t have to think what I was going to “work on” because someone told me what to do. I didn’t have to think if I was doing it right because I had a coach correcting me the whole time. “Form first, weights later.” I remember every coach drilling that into me! I would be in the back with my trainer bar for a good 6 months while everybody was lifting these crazy weights and I’m so grateful that I did!

My one year anniversary of joining Drop Box is coming up. In that one year, I’ve challenged myself, and I have accomplished so much more than I thought my body was capable of doing. I’ve competed in one group competition and will be doing the Festivus Games on April 21. I participated in my first CrossFit Games Open this year. I don’t know if doing the workouts or watching everybody else do the workout was more exciting for me. I can actually do a pull up now! I can lift heavier than just the trainer bar...yeay! Still working on those snatches! It always amazes me what my 37 year body can do now. Everything I do in life, I do for my family. During the Open, the only person I looked for was for my husband and my boys. I wanted to get that hand stand push up but more importantly, I wanted them to see me fight for them. I think the best compliment my son gave me was when I came home and they said that I looked “swoll!” For the older generation, like myself, its the new term for looking muscular. They were surprised that I could lift their body weight. My oldest came home one day and said I saw you flipping tires today.

I’ve met some amazing people at Drop Box. Everyone at the gym is so encouraging and are genuinely happy for you to accomplish a new goal, whether its a new PR or even just finishing a workout. I have never felt so excited to get up and go to a gym EVER till now.

Thank you again for this amazing recognition! Thank you to all the owners and coaches that have made DBCF not only a gym but an amazing group of people going after the same goal….to be a better a version of ourselves! We all have our own stories and our own struggles but we all come together when we walk into those doors. We fight to beat our own times. We fight to lift heavier, to get our form right. Everyday we learn about ourselves. I truly feel like I have a gym family!

Chriss 20lbs heavier before CrossFit/childhood pic growing up in Peru/with husband Chris and kids

Festivus Games, Chriss placed 8th out of 37+ athletes!

chriss with her fellow drop box competitors at the festivus games hosted by crossfit cafe.

Chriss with some of her gym buddies:/Team Grit '18, very 1st competition/Out WOD, Richmond

Chriss with Coach Stephanie and DBCF co-owners Coach Art and wife Anna. This month marks her one year anniversary with CrossFit. Coach Stephanie taught her Fundamentals!

All Girl WOD, June 2017-with partner Jamie

Chriss RN, with her co-workers at Sentara Princess Anne Hospital

Chriss Sullivan-April Spotlight Athlete of the Month