1. Tell us about yourself outside of Daybreak Crossfit North.
At home, I’m a mom to my 2 year old daughter, Elyse, with daughter number two arriving soon. After Elyse was born, I decided not to return to my corporate job right away, and instead focus on our growing family.

My husband, Nolan, and I met when we were both working at the Staples office in 2011 and have been married for almost 4 years.  From what I remember, we used to enjoy traveling, going to concerts, golfing and eating at nice restaurants, but as of recently my bedtime isn’t much later than our toddler’s. I am looking forward to doing those things again once baby #2 arrives.

2. Tell us about your CrossFit journey so far, what have you learned about yourself, and what keeps you coming back?
In college I ran track and xc competitively followed by years of half marathons, marathons, and century cycling training.  It wasn’t until a friend who used to see me running all the time and in the gym cranking out thousands of reps with the smallest weights possible, “to get toned,” changed my life by inviting me to bring a friend day at CF Cladagh on July 6, 2015.  After that first class I fell in love, instantly wanted to get stronger, and dropped all of the silly ideas that lifting heavy would make me bulky (as if that were a bad thing).

I’m a competitive person who likes to find my maximum thresholds in all aspects of life, so pushing myself to the limit through cf has been an amazing experience, and it has allowed me to build strength I never thought possible.  One of my proudest cf moments came last summer at my first individual Rx comp, hitting a PR 1rm snatch, while through blaring music, distinctly hearing my 15 month old screaming “go mommy”.  That day I completed 6 workouts (Diane was #6…wowza), it was the hardest I had competed since racing in college, and taking 3rd place for women overall was an incredible feeling that came through testing my limits in the best way possible.

Over the past few years I’ve learned that cf is not just something you do for an hour a day, it’s preparation for larger things both physical and especially mental.  It has gotten me through incredibly stressful times, the birth of our first child, and has become my outlet in many ways.  A huge part of what keeps me coming back to Daybreak CF North is the community that encourages one another to push past our comfort zone and be better in every way possible (team spaz), the amazing coaches, and my competitive need to chase PRs in booty shorts.

3. Tell us something that would surprise us to hear you’ve done.
Something I think would surprise people to hear that I’ve done, based on my fear at the top of a bar muscle up, would be skydiving.

4. What’s one of your guilty pleasures?
In general I’m pretty dialed in with my macros, but every once in a while jalapeno pizza….and I’m saying an entire jalapeno pizza is eaten. Speaking from experience, post-CrossFit competition jalapeno pizza tastes the best.