Happy September & 31 Heroes

Hi guys! It’s taken me all day to get this post up, sheesh – sorry!
First of all: it’s September!!!!!!!! Cue the confetti! And the pumpkins, sweaters, and football season! 🙂

Are you ready for Fall? I’m seriously *so* ready! Even though it’s still hot as blazes in DC, I know the cooler temperatures are coming — soon! With them, our annual trip to Tennessee, lots of Fall favorites (colorful leaves, knee-high boots, scarves, and pumpkin-spice lattes) plus, eventually, the holidays! Eek!

So how did we spend the last unofficial weekend of summer? Doing 31 Heroes — a partner workout and fundraiser sponsored by our CrossFit box. Have you heard of it?

31 Heroes is a “CrossFitters moment of silence.” The workout was created specifically to honor the 30 men and one dog that gave their lives for our country on August 6, 2011. It is 31 minutes long—one minute in remembrance of each hero and the rep scheme is 8-6-11, the date of their ultimate sacrifice.

“31 Heroes”

AMRAP in 31 minutes of:
8 Thrusters (155/105)
6 Rope Climbs (15′)
11 Box Jumps (30″/24″)

Like I mentioned, this is a partner WOD. Partner #1 performs the work listed above while partner #2 runs 400 meters with weight (45/25). Once partner #2 returns from the run, partner #1 begins their 400 meter run and partner #2 continues work wherever #1 left off.

I partnered with my hubby, Aaron and I think we did great! Both of us decided to scale the thrusters (um, 155/105? No thank you!) and ended up doing 125/75 lbs.

Photo by Kx Photography

Even though it was just a fundraiser, I was nervous about the workout and especially, the rope climbs. The ropes at our sister box (where the fundraiser was held) hang 15 feet — 5 feet higher than the ropes at our box. Not only that but six sounded like quite a lot! I’ve only ever done one, maybe two at a time, but all that changed Saturday: I got a total of 8! EIGHT!

Who am I???

The rope climbs were tough but getting my footing right made all the difference. There’s a lot of different ways to climb a rope but I’ve only ever been able to do so by positioning my feet in what I believe is called a “j hook” (it kinda looks like this; similar to Aaron’s footing in the photo below).

Photo by Kx Photography

I started with the run and when I returned, Aaron told me there were three rope climbs left! “Welp, it’s now or never” I thought and I certainly didn’t want to *still* be doing rope climbs when he got back!

Adrenaline? Excitement? Panic? Something happened and I shocked myself getting three right off the bat! I think getting one and hearing encouragement from the coaches and crowd gave me the confidence to keep going.

I honestly can’t remember how it all played out after that first round but it definitely felt like all rope climbs! I think I got another set of three and then two — the last round was a bit harder because I had developed a nasty rope burn, which was my own fault for buying cheap ($1.50) socks from Target, not real CrossFit socks! I think Aaron got a total of 16 climbs! Amazing!

In the end I was really proud of myself! With CrossFit I truly believe in the motto “feel the fear and do it anyway.” Being scared of something shouldn’t stop you from doing it — or at least from trying to! Because you know what? You might surprise yourself!

After the workout we took a picture with the others from our heat — we’re in the center, third row down. Partnering with Aaron was awesome; I love sharing this sport with my better half!

Photo by Kx Photography

We ran some errands when we left, which in hindsight probably wasn’t the best idea! We were standing at the bank and Starbucks really, super sweaty! Lol! The bank teller even joked with a coworker that we’d just finishing climbing “like 300 feet!” It was cute! (He probably thought we were crazy!)

We spent the rest of the weekend house hunting — we’re looking to purchase our first home and I think we saw close to 10 properties this weekend — maybe more! We’ve been looking at condos close to the city and houses further, going back and forth about what’s more important to us, space or location! At the moment we’re leaning toward location.

Homeowners, I’m curious: did you go through this same debate? What did you chose?

Oh, and I did a lot of home decor pinning this weekend, too!

What did you do this weekend? 

Have you ever done a workout fundraiser? 

Have you ever tried rope climbs?