THUR: Become More Stories with Megan Barrett

Dave asked me to think about the question: “Why do you make fitness a part of your life?”

The answer came to me easily, but is broken up between different reasons, each that fit into different parts of my everyday life.

When I was a young child, I was constantly active, but in an adventuring, climbing type of way, rather than a organized sports kind of way. I was often perched in a tree with my nose in a book or trudging through thigh high mud on hikes with my gran and her dogs. I was never pushed into sports, so I found them later than a lot of kids.

My first sport was swimming. It fit me well, I joined a summer team, and used my affinity in water to grow a competitive spirit. I loved that team, and stayed active on it, first as a teammate and later as a coach. Swimming was a big part of my life through school, as dark, early mornings became the norm and I readily embraced my identity as a swim-kid. Any swimmer will know, that identity is with you for life. I quit swimming my junior year of high. I was burned out, and ready to explore other things. My athletic identity floundered for a while after this. I ran for a few years, and then found climbing. I loved the puzzle of it and I loved how strong I felt.

Fast forward a few years, I was in a bit of a rut athletically. This had a big affect on my mental health, as regular exercise really helps with my anxiety. I was really looking for more of a routine, climbing and running here and there and getting in the water daily were things that I loved, but I needed something more challenging that I could do on a regular basis. My boyfriend Jack (also a member) had competed in CrossFit in the past and after feeling intimidated by the idea of it for a long time, I got over my fear and dropped in on a class up in the Bay Area. I loved the challenge of it, and after a few more classes I realized that range of skills required to be proficient would keep me coming back day after day.

Back down in San Diego, I tried out a few different CrossFit gyms, but none had that same community feeling that I had felt at the Berkeley gym. I kept looking, expanding my search beyond the CrossFit name, and decided to drop in at Performance360 in Pacific Beach. I instantly liked the community that P360 had all kinds of people with all kinds of athletic backgrounds. Dusty was a great first coach to have and after that first class, I felt like I had found my gym!

Almost one year later, five or six mornings a week begin at sunup with the 6am class at either Pacific Beach or Crown Point. My conditioning is the best it has been since swimming two practices a day in high school.

More importantly, my mental health is the best it has been in eighteen years.

I look forward to the challenge each morning, and even on days when it’s hard to get myself out of bed, I am so happy after each workout and truly feel mentally and physically prepared to face the rest of the day.

-Megan

Thursday, 8.23.18

4×6’ Density Circuits (2’ Rest)

(1&3)
3/s DB Snatch
3 Burpees
6 Gob Curtsy Lunge
100m Run

(2&4)
6 Renegade Rows
6 Skaters
6 OHKBS
6 Cal AB

Finisher:
w/a partner
60” Weighted Plank
(x3 each)