Get Caught Up While You Enjoy Time with Mom

Good morning and welcome to the weekend edition of the Morning Chalk Up. This is Jessica Danger, your Managing Editor, to bring you a quick wrap-up of the major news items throughout the week.

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“When you observe kind and gentle mothers in action, you see women of great strength.” — Margaret D. Nadauld 

I have three boys. Three messy, hungry, dirty boys.

They fight constantly, come inside for dinner muddy, eat me out of house and home (you think CrossFitters eat a lot?!) and will look me right in the face and swear they did not, contrary to glaring evidence otherwise, do XYZ. It’s almost admirable.

But they also do things like pick me wildflowers, tell me I am beautiful, make me pancakes, and read to me.

One of our favorite things to do is sneak into the gym on Sundays. I coach at the same box I train in, so I have a key. On Sunday afternoons we often go into the box with the dog to work out. I’ll let the boys pick the movements they want to do and they’ll rock-paper-scissors for the rep scheme. We have a deal that they can choose the music, provided they keep moving the whole time. The second they stop, it goes to Mom’s playlist which they hate, out of principle.

There is always, always, always a light saber fight with the PVC pipes.

We don’t always go to the gym. We also hike and paddleboard and camp and go rock climbing. We play handball and soccer in the street. They love bike rides to the park or the library. Many times I’ve carried a child home with a skinned knee.

All the times they’ve fallen asleep in my truck and needed to be carried in, I was able to do it. All the times they’ve been sick to their stomach and asked to be carried to their room, it was me. When their science fair volcano wound up weighing a very fragile 47 pounds, it was Mom.

So many overpacked suitcases. 

I can remember, quite distinctly, sitting in a crowded room and hearing my youngest son brag to his friends, “My mom can do that. She’s the strongest person on the whole planet.” 

I can also remember, still quite distinctly, someone who loved me very much telling me that training as much as I do is selfish. That I was doing my children a disservice. That I should sit down and really reconsider my priorities. 

The voices that you allow in will be the voices that you hear.

I understand that it is not just CrossFit that builds strength of mind, of body, of character. It is a lot of things.

But I am a better person when I am training regularly. A better mother. A better partner. A better friend. A better coach, teacher, and writer. A better community member. A better servant.

When I demand the best of myself, I am able to offer it to those that require it of me. 

My children deserve that. 

So do yours. 

Here’s to always demanding the best and to being your kids “strongest on the planet” in all possible ways.

Happy Mother’s Day,

Jessica Danger

Managing Editor

Morning Chalk Up’s Tommy Marquez caught up with Annie Thorisdottir at the Reykjavik CrossFit Championship. Thorisdottir, who played both host and co-director during the event, revealed how she planned the event to best represent all the things she loves most about Iceland.

Late last week, CrossFit Invictus newcomer Chantelle Loehner announced that CrossFit informed her she tested positive for a banned substance at the Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge, which would invalidate their win from the April Sanctional. Invictus X has brought on Hayley Murillo to replace Chantelle Loehner and is scheduled to compete at the Brazil CrossFit Championship hoping to earn another invite to the CrossFit Games.

After a protracted battle with the city about noise ordinances, CrossFit Horsepower is closing their Hermosa Beach, CA location, stating the pressure the City has brought upon their business has made operating any longer impossible. 

It seems like every few days, there is another shakeup to the CrossFit Games roster. Four spots opened up on the womens leaderboard this week, bringing the qualifying place all the way down to 38th. This will also shake up Sanctionals invites from Wodapalooza and Strength in Depth.

Bjorgvin Karl Gudmundsson, Jacqueline Dahlstrom, and Team JST Compete found themselves on the podium at the end of the Reykjavik CrossFit Championship. With Gudmundsson and Dahlstrom already receiving spots to the CrossFit Games through the Open, the official invites from the event will end up in the hands of fifth placed Hanna Karlsson and second placed Hinrik Ingi Oskarsson.

Fun fact: Mother’s Day is the busiest day of the year for U.S. restaurants. So, here are eight things to do while you wait to get a table at brunch.

1. We went behind the scenes with Annie Thorisdottir and Katrin Davidsdottir after they watched the Dottir video in Reykjavik. 
2. Katrin Davidsdottir has a book coming out. 
3. Paul Tremblay snatched 305 pounds in Iceland. Tori Dyson snatched 198 pounds for a fifteen pound PR. 
4. Ben Smith overhead squats 340 pounds in Nanos.
5. Jenn Dancer broke her foot playing double dutch. That didn’t stop her from doing a ropes course with one foot like a boss.
6. Noah Ohlsen is engaged. So are Lauren Fisher and Rasmus Andersen. 
7. Apparently, ya’ll need help with rowing.
8. You got things to win this weekend folks. You can win a Black Rifle Coffee Company Fit to Fight Kit, a Concept2 rower and a case of O2 and WODBOM
   tactical vests just in time for Murph.