Katie Layman 2/14/2010

When I started CrossFit I was 255 pounds, and I was out of breath if I jogged across the street. I’ve never done anything athletic since I graduated high school in 1975. No softball, no volleyball, just 12 ounce recliner presses.

My first CrossFit workout was Thursday 9 July, and then my first Saturday workout was 11 July.
http://www.crossfitdenver.com/2009/07/saturday-7112009-wash-park/

The workout was five rounds of 50 squats and 100 rope skips for time. I could only do two rounds and then I went home, flopped down and slept
solid for the rest of the day.

My next Saturday workout was 25 July. I had just turned 52 earlier that week.
http://www.crossfitdenver.com/2009/07/saturday-7252009-tabata-running/

The workout was Tabata running, around the entire outside of Washington Park. Run twenty seconds fast, then walk ten seconds, and repeat until
you’ve gone all the way around.

Twenty seconds was as far as I could run, period, and not at all fast.  So I slogged for twenty seconds, and then walked for a minute. By the time I’d reached about three quarters around, everyone had finished and a search party ran back to find me. But I did finish, twenty seconds and a minute at a time.

I’ve been going about three times a week since then. Now it’s November, and my performance in the workouts has changed from impossible, to really difficult, to better each time. I’ve lost 15 pounds and three belt notches.

I’ve also recently begun running on my own, outside of CrossFit. Because I can. I’ve marked out distance goals on a map of my neighborhood, at 1000 foot intervals up to a little over a mile. Today I got almost to the 2000 foot mark before I had to walk, in about four minutes. I did the whole mile and something at 11:10/mile, walking and running.

Running four minutes isn’t that big a deal, but for me it’s a 1200% improvement over twenty seconds back in July. As I told Randy and Steve recently, I’m not good at anything, but I’m better at everything.

I’ve tried the big box fitness places once or twice (as I said, I’ve never done anything athletic) but the only thing I ever got good at was watching TV and pedaling at the same time. CrossFit is the best thing I’ve ever done.