How long have you be CrossFitting:
I have been CrossFitting for about 2 years! Before CrossFitt I was a long-time indoor cyclist and attended as many yoga classes as I could all around the city. I’ve also been a faitful member to lots of traditional gyms.

A little about yourself:
I’m 38 years old and live in Cranberry with my sexy husband and kick ass kiddo. I make the long commute to Downtown Pittsburgh and work in a high school as a College and Career Counselor, helping high schoolers go to college, complete financial aid, go to the military or go directly to employment. I grew up in the North Hills in Pgh and moved to Philly from 2004-2014. I love eating cuisines from all over the world with my favorites being Vietnamese and Korean. My husband and I take our now 6 year old daughter, Vivian, on all of our trips. Our favorites have been Iceland, the Azores, and Turks and Caicos.

How did you get started in CrossFit:
I had 3 family members who went to BP and after moving back to the area, I was able to see how CrossFit impacted their lives and their bodies. After completing my treatment from breast cancer in 2016, I worked up the nerve to attend a Saturday morning class and I loved it. I was always unsure of what to do at a traditional gym because I never had the time or energy to create a training plan and the ones I found online weren’t great. I also hated waiting for machines or feeling like I was making mistakes with form when I went to a traditional gym. I also loved that at BP the coaches showed me how to modify movements and weight to best suit my needs because I had a unique set of what I thought were limitations coming out of majors surgeries and treatments for breast cancer.

How has CrossFit helped you outside the gym:

CrossFit has made me finally feel strong. I feel like I have spent my whole adult life trying to get it right at the gym and CrossFit, especially Beyond Parallel, has finally helped me become my best athletic self. After my double mastectomy and lymph node removal as well as the many, many rounds of chemo and radiation I was a fraction of the athlete I was before my breast cancer diagnosis. Health and fitness protocal are not part of most breast cancer treatment plans and in fact, my doctors told me not to do strenous activity afterwards. I know my body and I knew that I needed to work out to improve my physical health but also to get my mind right. I would say that I had incredibly improved strength within 3 months of beginning and I just felt better about myself. I was taking back control of my body and it felt really good.
Results!
I have had countless check-ups and scans and tests and one of the best indications that CrossFit is working is that my oncologist told me that I have 0 evidence of decrased bone health which is awesome because osteoperosis is a huge risk with my treatments and the weight lifting is keeping my bones strong. I’ve lost all of the weight I gained during treatment and have increased my mobilitiy to what it was or even better than it was before my diagnosis.

Any advice for someone looking to get started:

When I initially began, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to participate as much as everyone else but that was not the case. The coaches showed me how to modify movements to suit my ability and they helped me push myself. I have had a few surgeries since starting CrossFit and each time I came back and the coaches helped me rehab and modiy movements and weights as needed. My best advice to anyone looking to get started is to come to a Saturday morning class because they are slower paced and less intimidating. New members should also ask questions, lots of questions! I still ask lots of questions!