July Spotlight Athlete of the Month- Patricia Rarick

We are excited to announce that Patricia Rarick is our July Spotlight Athlete of the Month! She is a mother, soon to be grandmother and one fierce MASTERS 55+ athlete!  Patricia is a regular at the gym in the evenings and rarely misses a day. She always pushes hard, never gives up and accomplishes something each day she steps foot inside our gym! Her drive to reach her goals is beyond impressive and we look forward to seeing her get there! Congratulations Patricia!!

Crossfit open 2018 18.4

Crossfit open 2018 18.4

 I am the "Old Lady" at the box.  I am a mother of four grown children, a 33 year old son, twin almost 32 year old daughters and an almost 21 year old daughter Clarissa who has been a drop in at the box a couple of times.  I expect to become a first time grandmother at the end of August.  My fitness journey began in February of 2015.  I started outgrowing what I called my "fat" clothes and refused to buy clothes any bigger.  I come from a family with a history of severely overweight to obese people, and realized it was time to make a change or two.  

1. I cut soda out of my life (which was really hard cause I could drink a ton of diet coke in a day).  

2. If I needed to go somewhere that was within 4 miles of my house I either walked or rode a bike.

By July I had lost 27 pounds and was down a little more than one clothing size.  I happily continued my way through the summer, then came the fall, the weather got cold, the holidays came, and I lost traction.  By September of 2016, I had regained 17 of the 27 pounds I had lost, and was back in my "fat" clothes.  

Here begins my CrossFit journey.  I saw a post on Facebook for an "Over 50 – 6-week challenge" posted by another CrossFit box.  I filled out a form and went.  Their challenge required that I be available for a specific class, three set days a week.  This did not fit my schedule was told I could join their regular CrossFit instead.  I had remembered seeing one closer to my house, and figured with it being closer, I would have less of a reason to find excuses not to go (ie. traffic) so I decided to check out the internet.  I found the name of the one close to my house was Drop Box, so I went to the website to find out more.  That is when I discovered that it was owed by my co-workers Art and G.  Needless to say I was very surprised.  I filled in the contact information for an intro class.  Art and G were very surprised that I was checking out CrossFit.  They weren't scheduling an intro class any time soon, so Art told me I could drop in to one of his classes.  I dropped into a class after work the last week of September when Art was coaching.  I was impressed with the ability to scale any workout to the athlete’s level.  Believe me there was a lot of scaling that day.  I loved that there was variety in the movements during the class, and that the classes were different every day.  I figured it would never get boring.  Needless to say, I was very sore two days later, but scheduled the fundamentals course.  I was so out of shape it took me three sessions over multiple days to finish the class with Coach Stephanie, but I did manage to get through it, and I was sore every day.  On my final day, I met Jamie who was finishing fundamentals as well. 

At the time I joined, I hadn't picked up a jump rope in probably 30 years, and I could barely jump onto a 10-pound plate.  I could lift the trainer bar but couldn't get the 35 lb bar out of the rack, there was no up in my pushups and air squats were a challenge.  I'm pretty sure Art and G figured I would give up and quit at some point.  I am not a runner, but Art talked me into the Surfin’ Santa race in 2016.  I was interested in being part of a Guinness Record, and I hadn't seen the lights at the beach in a while, so I registered with my daughter.  Everyone from the box finished way before us, but we had a great time and that was my first of many races for a "non-runner". 

In January of 2017, I entered my first nutrition challenge, and in February my first CrossFit Open.  I think it was the first time the box had a 55+ open participant.  That is when I found out I was the oldest person at the gym.  I learned in my first nutrition challenge that sugar and processed foods are not optimal for the diet.  Sugar was one of my favorite food groups, so I had to work hard to reduce the sugar.  I lost 20 pounds during the challenge and was comfortably out of my "fat" clothes.  They have been put away now for over a year.  In October, I entered my second nutrition challenge.  I had gained about 8 pounds back and needed a jump start.  During this challenge I learned to drink black coffee.  I had been working on lowering my coffee additives since January, as they all have sugar, but made the leap in October to no additives.  The challenge was a team challenge and required a little more participation in WOD workouts.  In, January I entered my third nutrition challenge, and in February my second CrossFit Open.  I knew my skill level was higher this year than last but I still had a long way to go. In April, I entered my first CrossFit competition “Festivus”,  my fourth nutrition challenge, the 5K run challenge during which, I participated in a 5K race and the Life's a Beach Triathlon but was out of town for the actual DB 5k Challenge race.  In May, I participated in the gymnastics course where I achieved my first kipping hand stand push up. 

1st Competition in April 2018, Festivus Games at host box CrossFit Cafe. 

First pull-up

What I have learned during my journey is that in order to make gains, I need to exercise 5 to 6 times a week.  Stephanie says, "you have to plan your cheats".  If I want to make gains, I have to limit my cheats.  I love cake, but cake doesn't love me.  I loved the last challenge because we had a daily tracker log.  I wanted to meet the challenge so I made sure I followed the plan to WOD 5 times and week and have an active "rest" day 1 day a week.  It forced me to make time to go to a WOD.  I have achieved a lot in the last 21.5 months, I went from a 15 pound weakling to being able to push press 75 pounds my new PR.  I still have a long way to go and a number of goals yet to achieve.  I want to be able to rope climb well during a WOD.  I can climb, but it is still a struggle to be consistent.  I am working on pull ups and hand stand push ups.  From not being able to jump on a 10 pound plate, I can box jump 15 inches, but I still have 5 more inches to get up to.  I am getting way more consistent at double-unders and this week achieved my first official WOD where I didn't scale the doubles, but I have to do single double single double.  I haven't mastered a double double yet.  From my first class, I drank the kool-aid.  My muscles have complained a lot, but I have loved every minute of the last almost two years.  I look forward to the day when I can RX every WOD.  It may not be tomorrow, but it gets closer every class.  I have made some great friends at the box.  I love the partner WODs and the chance to meet new challenges.  I appreciate all the hard work the coaches put into our classes, the encouragement and corrections they offer and the support all Drop Box members provide each and every class.  I wouldn't have gotten where I am today if it wasn't for the constant encouragement. 

What CrossFit has taught me:

·         New acronyms: DU, SU, HSPU, SDLHP, PR, …

·         Age is a number, not a limitation.

·         We are not defined by our physical capabilities but by our determination to overcome and concur them.

·         Change does not happen overnight, but with continuous work and effort it does happen.

·         Set small goals and achieve them, with each goal achieved a once out of reach one will move into reach.

·         Scaling isn’t a sign of weakness, its an opportunity to do the workout at a better skill level and master form.

·         Don’t give up.  Be patient. Keep coming to class.  

London, 2004

London, 2004

with daughter Clarissa

with daughter Clarissa

triple dog winners! Patricia ran the wicked 10k, Harbor 1/2 Marathon and the santa 5 Miler!

triple dog winners! Patricia ran the wicked 10k, Harbor 1/2 Marathon and the santa 5 Miler!

Surfin Santa 5 Miler 2016

Surfin Santa 5 Miler 2016

finished fundamantals (left), PR strict press 2018

finished fundamantals (left), PR strict press 2018

trish 6.jpeg

Feb 2017, her first CrossFit Open 

Gymnastics class

Gymnastics class

Spartan Race 2018

Spartan Race 2018

dbcf post wod pic

dbcf post wod pic

Julie Paler Comments