We made it. One year. Time is weird. It’s like.. it flies by, but it also feels like we’ve known you forever. I guess that’s why they say “the days are long, but the years are short??”.. or something like that. It’s early and my brain is a little foggy. But I wanted to type this up to always remember this day by.
You’ve changed so much in a year. Your little 7 lb, 7 oz oz lanky frame is now a 23 lb SOLID toddler size..You were so fragile, and now you’re rolling, bear crawling, standing, and so close to walking.. which means you have no fear of taking a step and falling on your face. You love playing outside and throwing rocks (the newest thing along with being in the water) but you also love being in my arms reading a book, putting up with my singing, or watching a Moana song. I always wanted a kid to watch Moana with me, so I guess I put that on you by my own doing haha.
You’ve changed me too.. You’ve changed my perspective on so many things. I don’t see the world the same way with you in it. I feel proud, yet so inadequate at the same time. You have showed me that I am capable of more than I thought…even if it doesn’t look like I carry it well or have it all together (haha).
The last minute C Section wasn’t how I dreamed you’d come into the world, but it was perfect(and not that bad) – and a huge part of our story. It did make for a weird start, but your dad is awesome and took care of you and me for those first couple of hours when I was babbling to you and had a hard time holding you and connecting with you.
Being able to breastfeed you, even though our journey with that was just a short 6 months, made me feel like I could do anything. It was very, very tough for us at first. But I knew it was right for us, and we didn’t give up. You also excelled so much and did so well when it was time to use formula, and I am thankful for that. Getting formula for you wasn’t always easy, but we were the lucky ones and somehow always had what we needed. You loved food from the start. WOW. Avocados, sweet potatoes, and bananas were your first loves in life after your mom and dad.
Your little personality is unlike any other. Your smile melts hearts, and you can quietly stare into the soul of others. I always wonder what you are thinking and what you are seeing in others- haha. You melt me with the looks you give. We are in trouble.
You force me to see what really matters in this world – and that is remembering that there is only one of us in this great, big world, and there is always something to be thankful for. You help me remember to show love and treat others with kindness – in such a weird 2022 time. Sometimes that means holding people close, and sometimes that means putting distance between ourselves and them. I used to let some pretty insignificant things get to me, but looking at you reminds me that it doesn’t matter.
“Mom Guilt” has been real for me. The anxiety that comes with that isn’t the most pleasant, and hit me from day 1. But we are thriving and doing what works for all of us. I am so thankful that I get to spend the majority of my day with YOU, and I’m so glad you’re patient with me when I need to put my face in the computer and talk to other people or help other people.
I’m glad you are loving the gym as much as I do – or I think.. on most days at least. You are like me and love the gym more for the people there and the lessons that come from being there every day. From the day you were born, there have been some really awesome gym people around you.
I hope you always know how cool your dad is. I sometimes think he is more of a natural with you than I am..actually, I know he is all the time. Haha. I can’t get over how he looks at you and how he carries you, and the look of proudness that shines all over his face when you’re in the room.
So many people have come alongside me to just give a little bit of love, peace, and encouragement this past year, and it has meant so much.
Jaxon – we are in love with you and we can’t wait to watch you continue to grow into the person God created you to be.
Hi. Hello. I’m back. You couldn’t keep me away. I’ve been saying for weeks now that I wanted to get back into blogging – if not for any other reason, then just for myself. I got back on here the other day to find a recipe for a client from like 6 years ago. I ended up skimming through some of the posts- or at least read the titles of the posts. I felt like it was a gift to myself that these posts from late 2015/early 2016 were still alive. I was like- “wow what a gifted writer this girl is. She’s so funny.” No, JK. But it was cool to see my progress in fitness, coaching, and just life in general since then.
After that 2015/2016 era, I had a square space account (2016-2019 era), followed by an actual site (alisonstall.com – 2019-2021 era) that I paid a web developer to make back in like 2019 I think. Unfortunately, when I switched from square space to the professional Word Press account, none of my Square Space posts transitioned over 😦 😦 😦 And then, when my site was deleted about 6 months ago, I lost EVERYTHING. I could write a whole post about this misfortune, but then I remember that there is a good bit of weirdness and hate and overall uncertainty going on in the world right now and you probably didn’t come here for that.
I’d love to share a little bit of where I’m at NOW. Maybe one day I’ll get back to an actual professional site – one with a domain that is easy to remember like alisonstall.com was. But for now, this is more my speed. And there’s no fancy widgets and design stuff on here, so I can actually figure it out. The only downside is that it’s really tough to remember the actual link. But I’ll keep it in my linktree on instagram, so no worries there.
I’ll be talking about new ish mom life, my somewhat fit life, how great my kid is (even when he keeps us up all night right now, remote coaching, nutrition coaching, maybe some recipes, etc etc. I’m hopefully not going to be all wordy, as nobody has time for that. I sat down to do this during Jax’s nap time, so we’ll see how long this specific post lasts.
The biggest life change we have going on right now is that we are FINISHING UP and headed into the last few days of selling our home and moving back to Anderson. Y’all couldn’t get rid of us for long Anderson. LOL LOL LOL.
Also, can we all take a moment of silence to say God Bless to the realtors out there making it happen for people? Its a tough world out there in the home buying/selling world.
We are in a really good place, and while we love our home and neighborhood in Simpsonville, the change is very needed and necessary. Funny how life works, but within a few months of us moving to Simpsonville, Daniel got an AMAZING job in sales where he is in Anderson every single day. Didn’t see that coming. He is killing it and loving his job. We also have some amazing friends in Anderson who we miss seeing all the time. Simpsonville has been tough, but a great change of pace for us for a short time. I really wish we could move our house, as I had envisioned a lot of fun times watching Jax grow up in this house and this neighborhood. I also have some great friends in Greenville – mostly friends I’ve had for awhile – but some new as well! While Greenville (specifically the gym) has been almost a 30 minute drive, I am going to miss seeing these wonderful people most days. The good news is that our home in Anderson will be about the same distance to Greenville, and I plan to still see these people. Anyway, there is a lot going on with all of this, but I am excited about this change for us, and mostly for all the babies Jax is about to be surrounded by -in the gym and out of the gym.
If there is anything you want me to talk about on here, shoot me a message! UNTIL THEN – go enjoy these posts from 6 YEARS AGO YIKES
anddd enjoy these somewhat recent pictures 🙂
Jax set a personal record and kept these sandals on for 30 minutes. Go Jax!At my friends Lindsey and Andy’s wedding. It was a beautiful day and they looked stunning. Team Wilson 4ever. Also, the dance floor was on fire. I’m glad Daniel claims me at weddings. Also, I got this dress from Monkees – owned by my friend Jeni. She is one of the kindest, bubbliest people I know. Her store has thousands of bright colored dresses. I’m obsessed.Doing some heavy dubs at WZA back in January. Yes, I know January was a long time ago, but this is my blog. Also, time flies, so it feels like it was the other day. Baby right calf holding up strong in this pic. I really liked this workout – just not the logistics and how it was scored…hahah. NEON MINAJ FOREVERHYPE.Speaking of NEON MINAJ…great times at WZAWin or Lose – always hug it out.Met and had a great convo with Annie T – so that is worth documenting.Got to compete with JEN and she is my favorite. She is so focused in this pic. So determined. What an athlete. I love it. photo creds: stumped photographyJax’s first snow day(s) back in January. He got his helmet off on St Pattys day. His head was already perfect, but now it’s even more perfect. It also came in handy for instances like this where we went sledding in the yard.Easter Sunday. Jax is thrilled.They both wish these plaid shirts were floral Hawaiian shirts. But soon enough.Living for these sunny spring days.
Today marks two years since I ruptured/completely tore my achilles tendon. I went into the gym on May 26, 2014 – which happened to be Memorial Day- and because I did the hero WOD “MURPH” on Saturday, I did a workout named “Kelly” with a big handful of people at CFEC. Kelly is 5 Rounds for Time of 400 meter run, 30 wallballs, 30 box jumps. I was on the last 400 meter run when I felt my ankle tighten up a little bit. It was the same spot my coach warned me about (ankle/lower calf/achilles tendon area). I had been dealing with some tightness and pain there, mostly when I would run. My coach told me to make sure I was rolling it out and getting a lot of mobility in there because achilles tendons are important. I knew of 2 people who had torn their’s – both playing basketball. And I was like, “ha, that will never happen to me.” Well, I felt that pain, and my body immediately told me to stop. But why would I stop with one round left? (Jokes on me for being too competitive). So, I kept on going. I finished the run, did my last set of 30 wallballs, and then, when I had maybe 8 box jumps left, I heard a weird echo-y pop sound, and I felt this crazy pain in my right calf/ankle area. It felt like someone kicked me as hard as they could. I was convinced for like 30 seconds that my friend Tyler tripped and fell into my leg. I still give him a hard time about it to this day. People had to convince me that in fact no one had kicked me like I had convinced myself. Well, I couldn’t walk, and it scared me, so I flipped. Well, Nick was a fireman at the time, so he came over- probably wondered why I was flippin’ out, picked me up off the floor like firemen do I guess, and convinced me that I probably just tore a calf muscle or something. I tried to play off going to the ER because the ER is lllaaaaaaaaammmmmeeee, and I had plans to go to my friend’s pool and eat burgers, eat fruit pizza, and drink gin and tonics. Well, Daniel being the good, responsible man that he is, made me go to the ER. So, some my friends, Lindsey, Lia, Suzanne, and Lauren took me, and Daniel met us there. Look, here we are. (Great pic of all of us by the way).
The doc in the ER squeezed my calf, and nope, nothing flexed, so they knew that I had torn it, but I still needed an MRI (which came the next day, and confirmed that I had not just torn it, but instead, completely shredded it). Doc told me I would need surgery, but that he wouldn’t operate until the next week. He said that the best thing to do in my case was to use a graph (sew it up with someone else’s tendon- basically, give me a new one).
Initially, I was bummed – mostly because I felt like I had let people down. The job I was in at the time had me assisting a small team of people, and I hated that I couldn’t walk and be there to help them the best I could. I didn’t want to hold anyone back. I had also been doing CrossFit for about a year by this time, and I was getting more interested in competing. In fact, I was supposed to compete in a local competition the following weekend (Apex Games) and I was reeeaaallll excited about it, but obviously I couldn’t walk, much less do anything else athletic. So, the nice people running the event let Dan take my place.
Walking with crutches was pretty difficult, so my friend Hykeng let me borrow his bike scooter thing. The bike scooter thing ended up drawing a lot of attention to myself over the next several months. I loved it so much. I loved having to tell all kinds of strangers allllll about my injury everywhere I went. It was great…not.
But it got me to where I needed to go.
Here I am the day before surgery racing my bike scooter thing around at the gym. I had to fight all of the kids to stay off of it.
Surgery wasn’t so bad. The worst thing about it was I had to take my nose ring out, and because it lasted several hours, the hole closed up in my nose. So, no more nose ring 😦 But, apparently I told my doc I was Julie Foucher and that I could do 100wallballs unbroken (which I promise I really can- just not at Regionals). After surgery, Daniel, my mom, and my friends showed out big. I felt so loved. I had flowers showing up at my door, my mom kept giving me pain meds, my friends were constantly stopping by (which made the week after surgery when I wasn’t supposed to leave my house go by a lot faster). People brought over all kinds of good food, and Dan watched so much Parks and Rec with me.
Ok, so enough about the boring stuff. Here’s what I learned through it.
First, when it comes to injury – whether it’s something small like this, or something bigger and much more serious – you can either let it break you or help shape you into a better person. Only you can make the choice to not feel sorry for yourself. Get up. Figure out what you can do, and do it.
It’s easy to:
Give up.
Feel sorry for yourself.
Make excuses.
But I learned really fast that these three things don’t make you better, and they don’t make the situation better.
I learned how important it is to surround yourself with encouraging, loving people. One of the reasons I was bummed about being hurt was not getting to work out with my friends. But I had a choice – I could either sit at home. By myself. Or I could get my butt up, and go see my friends at the gym and try my hardest to keep up with them. So, I decided to not isolate myself in my house like a loser and make the effort to still spend time with my friends at the gym.
I had some pretty great friends that came through for me in a big way. One of those friends is Lia. She’s really good at CrossFit. And soccer. She played D1 – for Clemson, but she blew out both her knees in her career. That’s a setback. However, she was able to relate to me through it, and it helped me during the whole process. I remember having a meltdown in the gym one Saturday, because it was a partner workout, and I couldn’t do the workout, and everyone already had a parter. I cried like a baby, and she took me to the other side of the gym, grabbed a medball, and we sat on the ground and just threw it at each other as hard as we could. She also drove me to Charleston one day so we could just sit on the beach. We even did a workout. She took this cool pic of me doing a pistol.
Just kidding. I couldn’t do a pistol then. I couldn’t do one until a few weeks ago. I was falling down in this pic actually. But she worked out with me on the beach. I have some pretty great friends that would sometimes workout alongside me.
Here I am rowing with one leg – with my friend Lindsey, who was reeealll preggers at the time, and my friend Kelly, who was normal with no injuries or babies in her belly.
Being injured made me even more grateful for my friends. I hope I can one day help other people who are going through an injury.
The third lesson I learned is to listen to your coaches. They’re smart. My coaches warned me about this. They told me to lay off the running, listen to my body, roll out, and stretch, and I didn’t listen. Because I’m dumb. Listen to your coaches. They’re your coaches for a reason. And you’re paying them to be smart.
The last lesson I learned is that everything happens for a reason. I wish I could tell you that I handled every moment like a champ. I didn’t. I had a lot of breakdowns. I saw how stubborn I really was. I fought back when other people tried to help me. While I wish I could have avoided the entire incident, I 100% believe that there was a reason and a purpose for the injury. God used it to make me more grateful. Grateful to be able to move in the first place. If you are physically capable of moving, then do it. It’s a gift. Take full advantage of it. And when you are limited, make the most of it.
I decided to make the most of it, and I got stronger. It forced me to work on skills that I had put off – like rings dips, handstand pushups, and strict pullups.
And eventually(pretty quickly actually), skills started to come back…
(I don’t recommend doing the above video). There’s no need for 1 legged double unders. But, I do remember the day I started doing double unders in the gym again…and box jumps..It took about 6 months, but it was worth the wait.
And sooner than later, I was back out running. And then, soon after that (right before the 2015 Open, actually) I was back doing workouts as prescribed in the gym. I posted this on instagram during the Open in 2015 to show that even though I was hurt for the majority of the year, I still got better by making the most of it, sucking it up, and still showing up at the gym.
I remember the day my doctor took my boot off and cleared me to start taking steps towards walking. It had been a little over 3 months by this time. Praise. Here we are. His name is Dr. Divina, and he did a great job putting up with my stubborness.
And here’s how tiny my leg was when that big ole boot came off.
But it eventually grew back. I eventually got stronger. To this day, I still barely have a calf in my right leg. It’s weird. It bothers me sometimes – like if I’m on my feet all day (pretty much everyday) or if it rains for a couple days straight, it actually aches pretty bad. It affects my squats (I need to work on it), and I’ve been terrified of even trying to rebound my box jumps again. But all of these things help me remember what I’ve been through and how thankful I am to be where I’m at now.
I wanted to wrap this up with someone who is way cooler than me- Julie Foucher. She tore her achilles tendon last year while competing at Regionals. I love this video so much. Qalo is pretty great too.
The following is part 1 of a 4 part series, talking about what I got to be a part of May 19-May 22 at the CrossFit Games Atlantic Regionals in Atlanta, GA. It was my first year competing. I learned A LOT and had a whole lot of fun in the process.
THURSDAY. It’s here. I got up this morning pretty early because I had a brilliant idea- prep all my food to take with me to Atlanta. We’ll see if it was worth the 90 minutes it took to get it all ready this morning. I feel funny about it. So far, I’ve only had one of the lunches, and I’m already tired of cauliflower. Great. When have I ever wanted to stop eating cauliflower? I’m not incredibly Type A, but I had to be for this, so it stressed me out a little. We needed to be on the road by 11 ish to get to Atlanta in time for me to check in. I needed to move around a little bit, but I figured we would probably walk around Atlanta later, so I knew I didn’t need to do a lot before I left. I woke up reeeallllll excited. But stressed. But only stressed about food. And music. Daniel was making some food this morning too, so we debated on what music we were going to listen to. We settled with mostly U2 and a little bit of Eric Church and Zac Brown thrown in there….that’s pretty much what we agree on musically.
So, I decided to go play spikeball with my friends. After dominating (no, just kidding) for an hour or so, I headed back to my house to meet Dan and peace out. But first, he surprised me with the Anderson Independent. Turns out CFEC made the front page of the paper- and they talked a little about me going to Regionals. Haha, front page, y’all. Obviously there wasn’t much going on in Anderson today for little ole us to make the front page. I read the article, and after I got over the horrendous pic of me on the front, I loved it so much. It’s not everyday that someone says really nice(and truthful) things about you in the paper. That really meant a lot to me. Thanks Mike! Here’s the article if you haven’t seen it.
We got to Atlanta around 2. We walked all over the GWCC, before we found out where I was supposed to register. We found a lot of random hallways though. I decided that Sunday morning I can go practice my handstand walking in one of these random hallways – so none of the other girls will see me and be jealous of my skillz. No, I’m really just kidding on that. That wasn’t even funny. But I really am going to need to reserve one of those rooms to practice. Don’t worry though. I’ve been practicing for the past month since I got the invite. We got out of the car, and I noticed my lulu top was on inside out. That would have been a cute first impression. I totally played it off and changed in the middle of the road, right in front of the Georgia Dome. I’m also pretty sure that I was the only athlete that brought her Kavu bag to register. Everyone else had, you know, workout bags.
When I registered, they marked me, and gave me my new favorite tank. It says athlete in gold and everything. I can’t even believe it. The feeling just got way more real. I love it so much. I’ll probably sleep in it.
We drove to the hotel — about 2 miles away from the GWCC. Picture us rolling our huge cooler and microwave up in there. How else was I going to eat all the eggs, diced sweet potatoes, cauliflower and chicken I brought? Well, it took an hour to check in. Long story. It was 3:30 by this time, and I hadn’t had lunch. I got really close to plugging my microwave in and heating up my cauliflower right there in the lobby. But I remembered how bad it smells cold when you open the container, and I didn’t want to be a diva, so I patiently waited while eating spoonfull (s) of peanut butter. Everyone was so curious as to why the buffed up girl had numbers all over her body. One of the guys behind the front desk told me he wanted to look like me. Thanks sir. He was cool and complimentary about it though. Some people aren’t. That’s ok though.
We hung out in the room and watched tv. We haven’t had cable in awhile, so Dan was pretty happy with watching some tv. We decided to walk to the GWCC since by this time, I needed to be back for an athlete briefing in a little over an hour anyway. Man, I love Atlanta so much. We had our first date in Atlanta a long time ago – Braves game and then we ended up feeding homeless people sandwiches- that we made in my kitchen.We made a lot of friends that night. I’m pretty sure that if we had PB&J sandwiches in our bag now, we’d probably eat them. But downtown Atlanta is a great place to people watch. I just love it so much. When we were dating and Dan was looking for jobs, I kept praying he would get hired at a hospital in Atl because I wanted to live there. But good thing Anderson wanted him more. So, they got both of us. I’m pretty happy about the way it turned out.
Anyway, back to the story. There were tons of food trucks in Centennial. I was like, “cool. Food truck festival, same weekend of regionals.” Turns out it was a music fest – The Shaky Knees Fest. So, I was like, “Oh, cool. I like music festivals AND food trucks AND regionals.” Turns out, it was the weekend before. I dunno why they were still set up four days later. What a tease.
We stopped at the CNN Center so Dan could eat at Fresh To Go. I dunno why though. I offered him some cauliflower to eat earlier. But he wanted real food. We saw Asa in there with his fiance Angie. I was happy to see someone I knew. And then we saw them again in the GWCC. So, I sat by Asa, and getting to talk to someone I knew a little made me not as nervous.
Sidenote- Asa- you probably aren’t reading this, but if you are, I think you’re pretty great, and I can’t wait to see where this next year and several years takes you. Thanks for showing me a great example of what it looks like to step out in faith. You’re humility rubbed off on me, and I don’t see how it couldn’t have impacted everyone you came into contact with this past weekend.
Back to the story. Athlete briefing was great. It really is an incredible honor to be here, with these great athletes, judges, and other volunteers. I really don’t take it for granted. I’ve been saying that a lot, but actually getting to sit around them on the actual competition floor solidified that feeling.
Daniel and I walked back to the hotel. We met a guy playing the trumpet. He told me he wanted to play us a song. I was like – “Aw, that’s sweet. He’ll probably play something romantic.” He started playing the Rocky theme song. Awesome.Cool thing was it was the same song that was playing when I got my first real muscle up less than 6 months ago. So, thanks, sir, for setting me up well for this weekend.
Anyway, that’s all I got. I wish I could tell you we partied all night in the ATL, but our night consisted of Dan eating sushi take out and watching tv and me trying to do ROMWOD.
If you would have asked me a couple of months ago if I were a mentally sound athlete, or human in general, I would confidently say, “yeah, sure.” I can make myself keep going in a workout. I can somewhat stay calm, breathe, and push through when my body is telling me to stop – especially in a competition. Well, through this training process, I’ve realized that I in fact am not so mentally sound. In fact, I’m pretty much a basket case.
I never really knew how much of a mental case I was until I started training hard. I’ve flipped out to myself and to others more than I probably ever have before. It’s affected everything from my sleep to conversations with people because I’ve been so dang distracted. I’ll admit to you that I’ve noticed little character traits in me that I don’t like. I get uptight, and I have pretty negative thoughts about myself. And it’s made working out not as much fun.
But with less than a week left before Regionals, I’ve been trying to get that mind right. So, I’ve been trying hard to think more positively, pray, remember why I’m doing this in the first place, and honestly, I’ve just tried to suck it up.
Since then, here is how the past week has gone down:
I’ve been mostly flippin’ out about the first event. I hate snatching. I hit a snatch PR this past week. To the athletes I’m about to go compete against, it’s nothing impressive. But to me, it’s gold. It’s gold because it set me up mentally to meet my goal for Event 1, when honestly, I’ve been terrified of it. Although I’m not where I want to be when it comes to the ole’ snatch, Colin has been working with me on it, and I have improved a lot, and instead of getting down on myself and focusing on how I’ll never make it to the last set of snatches (or probably the set of weights before that.. or before that :)) I’m going to focus on that PR and the improvement I’ve seen in myself.
PS. I know this still isn’t considered a “great snatch,” but if you saw me 3 weeks ago, you’d agree that this is a win- jump forward and all.
Also, last Monday I went and ran on a True Form Runner. Most people hate this thing, and they make it clear (on their face, and by their words) that they can’t stand it. You are the motor. You power the thing. If you stop, or even slow down really, you feel it. Mentally, that would suck. Now don’t get me wrong- I’d much rather go for a casual run around a garden or something, but I have now somehow talked myself up to loving the True Form – even when it’s combined with deadlifts. This mindset has made me so excited to take on Event 5.
Another way I’ve been preparing mentally is this little game we play at CFEC called Nutmeg. If you workout at CFEC, you’ve probably heard of it. Either you love it, or you hate it. I’m not going to ramble on to you about all the rules, but it’s basically every (wo)man for themself – there are balls flying, people getting hit in the face, crazy glasses, Steve Perry, the best of 80’s Pop, dangles, handstands — if it doesn’t make you mentally stronger, I dunno what will. My friend, Shawn Hanna, is the instigator and has played a huge role in increasing my mental capacity over the past two years, really, but more specifically, the past month. Nutmegs aren’t a good thing. Basically it means the ball went between your legs. It’s the worst. But I’ve been on the quest (not on purpose) to 100 nutmegs in 2016 before Regionals. Well, good thing I not only surpassed 100 this past week, but I actually got 101. The purpose of me telling you this: Surround yourself with people who make you stronger mentally. Nutmeg has made me more mentally sound, and therefore, it has been an extensive part of my training.
Last, but not least – I did Events 3,4,& 5 yesterday. I woke up feeling great, but as I got to the gym and started warming up, I felt terrible. I wasn’t scared of the workouts, I just felt a lot of pressure to do reallllllly well on them. I’ve come a long way on skills like butterfly pullups and pistols, but I couldn’t find my rhythm on butterfly pullups, and then I tore my hand before we even started, and then I couldn’t do pistols when we were warming up. It was the set up for disaster. So, I just decided to do what was familiar to me, which is really humbling – all my pullups kipping, and I actually finished the workout that way before the time cap. SO looks like I’ll probably be the only athlete kipping pullups at regionals, and that’s ok because “kippin’ aint easy, y’all.” I then told myself that I could do pistols (as I did my first one 2 weeks ago) and I did way better on event 4. And then I told myself that I wasn’t too tired to deadlift 275 pounds 21 times, and I did better on event 5 from the previous week. All because I made a choice to just suck it up, and get it done.
Almost done- bare with me- people have been showing me way more love than I deserve, and I’m holding on to all the positivity. Words mean a lot to me. Colin keeps putting up with me (I dunno how he does it). Nick keeps telling me that he thinks I’m going to win (thanks Nick). Daniel keeps telling me he’s proud of me. And people at CFEC have been so encouraging to me.
Last, but not least, here is an article I read by Josh Bridges – who I’m guessing will probably win the Cali region in about an hour or so, and he should because of that mustache: Breaking the Mental Barrier- By Josh Bridges
The purpose of this isn’t to bore you, or to rave about what I’ve accomplished in the gym. But I want you to know that only you can control your thoughts. Here’s what I’ve learned through it:
Take every thought captive – only you control your thoughts. Your thoughts will either make you crumble, or they’ll change things for the better.
Figure out your “Why?” – and go back to it when you need to remember why you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place.
<— make sure you are a part of that “why.” At least some part of what you’re doing has to be for you (not necessarily all of it though).
Have go to’s – for me, I have everything from Bible verses(2 Corinthians 10:5 and Philippians 1:6 to name a few), to quotes, to song lyrics (Right now, I legitimately rap “make me proud” by Drake on the way to the gym everyday).
I don’t necessarily have to quit being critical of myself, but instead, if I am critical of myself to someone else, I follow it up with something positive.
Sometimes you just have to suck it up, get over yourself, and go for it. You’ll feel better when it’s over.
Don’t be afraid to be humbled.
I can’t wait to be in Atlanta in less than a week, competing with some pretty great people, with no expectations other than to do my best and have fun while doing it. I’m sure there will be times that I flip out, but I’m more ready than I was to control those thoughts, calm myself back down, and get my mind right.
Ok, have a great week, and be nice to yourself. No pressure.
Oh, yeah, and I almost forgot a recipe. I’ve been slacking with trying out new food lately. So, here is another recipe that we love from PaleOMG. It builds on that fried cauli I talked about last week: Chicken Bacon Rice Bowl
Happy Mother’s Day!!!!!!! I bet being a mom is really great. All you moms out there deserve to be celebrated today and everyday. I have some close friends that are moms, and I look up to them. Also, I’m reaaaaalllly thankful for my mom. Man, she’s put up with a lot of crap from me over the years – but especially in those first 18. It’s a miracle that we made it, but we did. I love you, mom! And then there’s Daniel’s mom. Over the past several years, she has shown me what generosity looks like. Here’s a pic of all 3 of us from my Bridal shower a long time ago. I bring it out every Mother’s Day. Love y’all!
In other note worthy news…Daniel and I celebrated 5 years of marriage yesterday. I never want to be a fake version of myself on here, so I’ll just come right out and tell ya..marriage is tough sometimes. We aren’t always the nicest to each other. I get on his nerves. He gets on my nerves. We disagree sometimes. But I’m learning more and more that those are the things that make being married to your best friend a beautiful thing. It’s always worth it. At the end of the day, my life is better because of Dan the Man. Man, we were babies in this picture. (Also, side note- this is back when I pretty much used to starve myself and then binge eat and over exercise to try and be skinny. I weigh the same now as I did on my wedding day, and I look way different, and feel a million times better – I’ll write more about that another time though.. moving on…)
Now we all grown up. This is one of my fav pics of us from this past year. It was on September 16th – Mexico’s REAL Independence Day. We just so happened to be in Mexico at the time, so we got to party with our friends there, and we played games, and we won this sombrero together.
Ok, that’s it. Moving on to food. That’s what you came here for anyway. I know, I know.. I talk about cauliflower a lot. But I really do love it so much. I wanted all of you to see how I’ve been preparing it for awhile now. It’s great to make on a Sunday evening and eat off of for a couple days. I call it Cauli Fried Rice.
Cauli Fried Rice
Makes 2 Servings (1 serving= 1.25 cup)
For Zone: Each serving = I block C, 1/2 block P, 1/2 block F
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Ingredients:
Whoops. Forgot to add the Kerrygold butter to the pic.
Organic Riced Cauliflower – from Trader Joe’s. (However, this has been a hot item at TJ’s over the past month. You have to catch them at a good time to even snag a couple bags. See, I’m not the only one who loves cauli THAT much. If you’re desperate and can’t find any frozen, riced cauli, you can make your own. Here is a blog I wrote awhile back that tells you how to do that. Go down to instructions, and follow what I say about making the mashed cauli. From there, you’ll follow the remainder of this recipe.
Coconut Aminos Garlic Sauce – 1 tbsp (you can find this at Whole Foods or Vitamin Shoppe, and I’m sold on it. It’s soy free, organic, no GMO, no MSG, and the sodium is lower than soy sauces.
Grassfed butter (we use Kerrygold). All you need is 1 tsp. (I forgot to include this in the pic).
1 egg.
handful of cilantro – pulled off of stems.
Instructions:
Turn pan on low heat.
Pour out entire small bag of riced cauli onto pan. Let sit for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. (If you don’t have any riced cauli already made, follow this recipe to make it. You can then take your mashed cauli and throw it on the pan.)
Once cauli rice is about halfway done cooking, make a circle (or in my case, a heart) in the center of your pan. Crack egg, scramble on pan with fork, and allow egg to cook about halfway in middle of pan.
Mix in egg with cauli rice. Keep stirring and mixing for about 5-7 more min.
When mixture is 99% cooked, add in 1 tbsp of coconut amino garlic sauce and a handful of cilantro, and allow rice to finish cooking on low heat, stirring occasionally
That’s it! See how it looks like fried rice? The egg and the tiny bit of butter makes this side dish pretty great.
Eat right away, or store in tupperware for the week. You can also double the recipe, or triple it.
Notes: One serving = 1- 1/4 cup. This recipe makes 2 servings. This is great paired with peppers, meat, goat cheese, and even a little bit of cottage cheese if you’d like.
Happy Cinco de Mayo! Unfortunately, for the first year in awhile, you won’t find me out late celebrating one of my favorite countries. I’m trying to be good. No margs for me this time around. But I’m making myself a deal. Instead, I’m going to have my own Cinco de Junio. Hold me to it. It’s on a Sunday, but you’re all invited to celebrate with Dan and me by eating tacos and drinking margs.
I did somewhat celebrate Cinco de Mayo by playing nutmeg with some friends and listening to some crazy Mexican tunes this morning, instead of working out. And right now, as I type this sentence, Dan and I are about to down somewhat of a Mexican dish– it’s just not chips and queso. Sad. But in happy news, today was an active recovery day for me. I never thought I’d actually get to this point, but I LOVE RECOVERY DAYS. Like I love them so much. Just some light moving and stretching. There’s no pressure. No competition. Even today, I was going realllllly slow, and Colin was peddling on that assault bike so fast and running so fast, but I let him just have the win. No pressure. And I like that active recovery days are outside. I’m just a much happier, more care free human. Here is what after active recovery looks like:
Moving on. Well, all 7 of the events for Regionals have been announced, and I am SO flippin’ excited about them! Well, I guess all of them except that snatch ladder. Which just so happens to be Event #1. While I may not make the best first impression in Event #1, I’m really excited to compete in all of the other events.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not excited about the events because they’re easy or anything.. they’re actually all pretttyyyyy tough. But I knew that going into this thing.
We’re going through each and every workout this weekend – on the same days and in the same order that I’ll be doing them 2 weekends from now.
Although they’re crazy hard workouts, I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I can’t wait to push through that feeling in my hamstrings after I go through three rounds of running on that True Form, and then do a whole lot of GHD’s really fast, and some heavy deadlifts. I can’t wait to see if I can handle legless rope climbs at the very end of the weekend – when my shoulders will most likely be fried. I can’t wait to see if I can actually walk 100 feet on my hands. I’ve never HAD to do that for an event or anything, so we’ll see what happens. I’m working on it. Also, as sad as it may be, I need to tell you that last week, I could barely do a strict handstand pushup. Now, I can. Also, I debated on putting this next piece on here (but it is what it is) – my PR snatch is 135 lb. That just so happens to be the first weight I’m supposed to hit in this crazy heavy snatch ladder. To some of you that may or may not sound impressive. But to me and to these athletes that are going to be there- it’s really not impressive. At all. And I have to snatch that 10 times in 2 minutes before even moving up in weight. But I accept the challenge.
Dave Castro posted something on instagram the other day, and I couldn’t agree any more. He said:
“The regionals programming is programmed for the top athletes to go to the games. It is not programmed for those who can’t. It’s programmed for those who can. I expect a lot of people to be stopped by the rings on day 1. That’s the point. And at the games. Expect events that will stop games athletes. It’s not about making your favorite athlete shine. It’s about testing them and exposing weaknesses in them. #stepuptotheplate.”
Well done, Dave. Weaknesses that I used to not care about have been exposed. But in all reality, I’m loving every second of it. For example, this whole time I thought I was doing strict muscle ups by just simply standing on a box, with my arms not locked out, and halfway pulling myself up and through the rings. Ha, my coaches (and the Event #2 standards) finally had the heart to tell me that I wasn’t in fact doing a true strict muscle up. BUT, now I know I can do a strict muscle up. I did some Tuesday morning. And I’ve been working on them since. I’ve never been more determined to walk on my hands. I’m tellin’ ya– I’m no natural when it comes to making my body do what I want it to. But I’m determined to not be that girl tumbling down the floor in front of thousands of people in 2 weeks. And the good news is, although I’m a late bloomer, things do usually end up clicking for me. And once they click. I’m on it.
Weaknesses exposed make you better – but only if you let them. If you don’t take anything else away from this. Take that. Being uncomfortable leads to growth. It makes you a better human. Embrace it.
Thanks, again, for your love and support – especially for all of the nice things you’ve said. I talked a lot about this here last week. But most recently, my little 4 year old friend Cat gave me $50 to help pay for expenses to make sure I’m ready. In her comment, she said, “Thank you for teaching me burpees.” I teared up a little. I love ya, Cat, and I can’t wait to watch all you accomplish in life because your parents put you in gymnastics and CrossFit as a small human.
No matter what happens, this experience has already been so great. I’m watching myself get better really fast. I’m watching myself do these skills that I’ve always put off. I’m watching myself not give up. This wouldn’t be possible without getting that miraculous invite to the Atlantic Regional.
I’m having the time of my life, I’m being pushed like I never have before, and I’m counting down the days until I get to compete with these amazing athletes that I look up to. I’m beginning to actually believe that I do deserve to be there. Competition is when the hard work I’ve been putting in combines with the miracle that only God could make happen for me, and ends up with me doing way better than I could have ever even expected out of myself. For real. SO, anything is possible!
These are getting better.
I’m gonna fight for every single one of these.
The feeling you get after that strict muscle up lockout
Happy Sunday morning! Don’t mind me, I’m just over here trying not to lose it after watching this video:
The video speaks for itself. It’s beautiful. I love it so much. This is why I love CrossFit. Fitness for everyone. No one should ever be held back from trying to better their life. Props to this guy for making a difference.
Anyway, moving on. This food post is going to be short. BUT I wanted to show you one of our favorite breakfast recipes. If you love sweet potatoes and sausage, this is for you to try.
I can’t take credit for it though. It’s from PaleOMG. Check out her blog if you haven’t. She has great recipes, she’s hilarious, and even if you aren’t the “paleo” kind of person, you can still modify the recipes to make them work for you.
If you’re wanting to prep some breakfast today to get you through the week, you should check out this recipe: Easy Breakfast Casserole. It really is so easy. And so dang good.
Here’s what a little bit of it looks like. We prefer no onion in our’s. And sometimes, we add tomatoes. And I could eat the entire casserole if I wanted to.
Well, like I said- short and sweet. Which is unlike me. But I bet you’re happy about that. Enjoy your Sunday. We’re off to church soon. AND today I have my first gymnastics lesson, followed by some (or a lot) or training! We’re going to do that 50’s Regionals Chipper from 2014— not a lot of skill involved, but a lot of go and burn, so I’m actually really excited about it. I’m weird. You already knew that. Ok, bye!
The weekend is here! You made it. Pat yourself on the back. Hope you were able to sleep in this morning.
Let’s talk about protein shakes. Man, that’s a lot of protein to keep up with. Protein shakes have been my new motivation for working out. They keep telling me I can drink a shake after I’ve had a hard workout, so I just keep working out hard. And then they give me chocolate shakes. Or I give myself chocolate shakes. But I’ve been told that’s good, and it will help. Where have protein shakes been my whole life?
But for real.. here’s what my past week has looked like: I’ve drank more protein shakes than I ever have. I’ve worked out with more determination than I ever have before. I’ve learned more skillz than I ever have before- (skills that I’ve always put off, so I take blame for that). I’ve been eating ALL the food. I’ve been watching all the videos, and I’ve been listening to my coaches more now than I ever have before. I’ve been getting body work done that I’ve put off since I started CrossFit. I even have my first gymnastics session this Sunday! – Thanks to my friend Jackie…Get ready Jackie. (Good thing she’s a good coach).
The past week has been a whirlwind and a dream all at the same time. That’s for sure. I’m learning a lot. Not just about how to improve my snatch or split jerk or finally walk on my hands or do butterfly pullups (about time, right?) But I’m learning a lot about life.
Because you know what’s been WAY cooler than getting better at working out?? Seeing my friends, CrossFit Electric City, and even the great city of Anderson, come together to support me. I’m incredibly undeserving, and it’s shown to be just another representation of grace in my life.
The very next day after I got that invite, my friends and my gym jumped right on it to help. Honestly, it was a little overwhelming. My coaches came together and gave me some next steps that would cost some money. But with that, my gym has rallied around me, helped me set up a GoFundMe, designed a shirt for me(Crazy! I haven’t had my name on a shirt since middle school PE!), people have bought shirts and tanks to support me, and local businesses have stepped up to “sponsor” me. Someone offered to take pictures of me. Another friend bought the rights to a new website for my blog, and is actually designing it for me. Another friend from CFEC designed the shirt. Daniel went behind my back and bought ALL kinds of new protein for me to try, as well as some cool little gadgets to help with my mobility and make living out of a gym a lot easier, and other people have just been really really kind and generous.
Businesses around Anderson have stepped up to sponsor me. Even another local CrossFit gym in Anderson reached out to me and said they wanted to help. That’s what CrossFit is all about. In the midst of the competition, it’s easy to lose sight of that. That meant a lot to me, and I’ll always remember that.
Last Saturday afternoon, Dan and I were straightening up our house to get ready for his parents to get here, and the FedEx man brought me a BIG Lululemon box. I dunno about you, but it’s not every day that a Lulu box shows up at your house, and I’ve never had a BIG Lulu box show up at my house! Inside was the coolest, hippest gym bag and a sweet note from some of my friends. They did it because they 1) love me 2) believe in me 3) didn’t want me to take my torn up, 3 year old Lulu shopping bag to regionals
And here’s the crazy thing.. I would have NEVER initiated any of this. This has all been done by people who love me and support me. I know I keep talking about my friend, Lindsey, but for real, none of this would be happening without her. She’s doing things for me that I don’t even know about. I don’t think she sleeps. Colin has had the most patience with me and knows how to kill me in a workout, yet not make me feel like sh*t after I don’t do so great. Which helps me hold my head up, remember that this is all for fun, and move on. My friend, Nate, took time to design a shirt/tank for me, and my friend, Jerry ran with all the details of that, along with so much more.
There are so many shoutouts and so many great people and businesses to name, but I’ll save that for a later post. Right now I just wanted to throw out there what I’m learning through it.
Because of the way people have believed in me, supported me, invested in me, encouraged me, affirmed me, and coached me, I am being pushed like I never have before to do my best. People actually believe in me. And that makes me want to do my best. It’s challenging me, in the best kind of way. I want people to know just how appreciative I am. It’s been incredibly humbling.
Now don’t get me wrong. I really would still be trying my hardest even if people hadn’t rallied around me. Don’t think I’m doing this just to make other people happy. I’m learning more and more everyday that this has to be for me after all. I’m learning that you have to make yourself proud before you concentrate on making anyone else proud. (I’ve always struggled with that- can’t you tell?)
I’m humbled. I’m grateful. And I won’t EVER forget this season that I’m getting to live out. The past 6 months really has been a step of faith. As I’ve prayed for this whole unexpected Open to Regionals thing to happen, I’m getting to train others more. I prayed for 5 people to train- (because I knew that was the perfect number of what would be challenging for me, yet I’d still be able to maintain and give them the attention they deserve, and I just got my 5th person last week!)
I’m praying and believing in God like I never have before. I’m being more real with him and with other people than I ever have before. I’m more thankful than ever for my friends and family. I am incredibly thankful for CrossFit Electric City. Man, there really is something special about that place. CrossFit is about way more than just getting in that hard workout so you can have that great summer bod. It’s about the people. I’m thankful to be a part of such a great place, with great people.
No one has had to do any of this. But it’s shown me the impact a group of people can have. This is what it looks like to “go after the one,” and it means the world to me that right now, I am that “one.”
Luke 12:48 is a verse about being ready and stewarding well what has been generously given to you. It has always stayed with me through different seasons. The second part of this verse says, “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return…”
I’ve been given much. A LOT. So what am I going to do with it? This doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to show up in Atlanta on May 20-22 and win every, or any event. BUT to me, it does mean that I’m going to show up prepared, ready to do my best. It also means that while I get ready, I do my best in every workout leading up to that weekend (which is actually pretty painful). I want to carry myself well, smile, have fun, enjoy the ride, and know that I did my best. These skills I’ve been working on, and the workouts Colin has been making me do, or even the workouts Nick programs for class, are exposing my weaknesses big time. It’s easy to want to give up. I would also love some pizza and beer. Or ice cream. BUT because of the way people have rallied around me, it makes me not want to give up or give in.This is an amazing opportunity, and the support has blown me away, so I’m going to give my best. It makes me excited to workout. Shoot, I’m about to head to the gym right now to do one of those Masters Qualifiers that I didn’t do on Thursday because it was my rest day (PTL for rest days!) all before training my friend, Stacy at 9:30. Then I get to workout again. I seriously love it so much.
Never underestimate what your time, resources, money, or simply words of encouragement can do for someone. It could be a game changer.
I’m working hard to go to Atlanta, show up, represent CFEC, Anderson, the Upstate, and last but not least, myself.
Thank you, again! Thank you for even just reading my blog. I’m starting to actually believe that this is just the beginning for me. And it wouldn’t be possible without you.
Although, SO MUCH support has already come in, here are the ways you can support me: GoFundMe.com/chasingstall
If you are a local business owner, you can sponsor me. Ask myself or Lindsey (lsweval@clemson.edu) if you want details.
We also ordered a few extra shirts, but not that many. If you want a shirt or tank, let me know, and I’ll add you to the list.
Just kidding. I couldn’t do a pistol then. I couldn’t do one until a few weeks ago. I was falling down in this pic actually. But she worked out with me on the beach. I have some pretty great friends that would sometimes workout alongside me.
The feeling you get after that strict muscle up lockout
Alison Stall 