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“The great virtue in life is real courage that knows how to face facts and live beyond them.” 

~D.H. Lawrence

  

I want to honor a hero, to honor someone who was stronger than anyone I’ve ever known.  

“Maybe that’s the real key to happiness – 

not giving a damn, 

laughing with those you love the most…. 

It’s almost like making them smile or cheering them up or doing something sweet for them makes me feel more alive. 

That’s what it’s all about, I think – just loving on people.” ~ Kat Gorkavchuk

Tonight I will regretfully have the privilege of attending the memorial service to celebrate Katya Gorkavchuk's remarkable 27 years on this earth. I, like thousands of others, had the privilege of being touched by her life and by her extraordinary story…

Katya Gorkavchuk 2/5/85 - 8/25/12

Even from the beginning this hero had an amazing outlook on life. She was human through and through, with the same emotions and fears as the next person, but she didn’t take life for granted. 

 
The post below was written 2 years ago on June 22, 2010 by Kat.  

 

“Now the trumpet summons us again

 – not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; 

not as a call to battle, though embattled we are;

 but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, 

year in and year out,

 ‘rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation’, 

a struggle against the common enemies of man; 

 tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.”   

~ John F. Kennedy

Riding the Pine

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 I am currently in the middle of my second doctor-ordered hiatus in the past twelve months.  Last spring I was determined to have a dorsal wrist impingement. 

If you're like me, you're probably thinking that sounds like something a dolphin would get.  A dorsal wrist impingement is a chronic injury resulting from repetitive combination of hyperextension and axial loading. It is the most common injury among gymnasts. The commonness doesn't provide me with much consolation, as nearly everyday I notice the little ways it affects me.

As a Crossfitter, this is especially disheartening because of the many ways we use our bodies in this manner: push ups, burpees, front squats, overhead squats, wall climbs, cleans, wall balls and handstands. The list really could go on and on. Even low-impact athletics like yoga can be tricky.  The things that are supposed to help us feel our strongest, at times only shine a spotlight on my weakness.  

I started using braces, Shock Doctors with rigid internal stays, for movements that were particularly bothersome.  I have progressed to using them for almost everything. I can often be heard unlatching six noisy Velcro straps during final savasana (can you think of a more soothing sound as you reflect on your practice?). 

I'm told that it is of great importance to mitigate any repeated inflammation as my family's history of arthritis, particularly the auto-immune Rheumatoid Arthritis variety, puts me at increased risk of accelerated joint degradation.  

So is there a silver lining here? Well we all have limitations. Just because I can't do everything doesn't mean I can't do anything.  I'm using this rest period for both physical and mental re-booting.  I plan to return to CFCB with a renewed focus and determination to be the best athlete that I can be.

Rise Again

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Life happens…

You can’t speed it up, or slow it down and normally you can’t change it… much. For the most part we are forced to just roll with the punches. Some punches turn out to be a love pat but often they connect and knock us to the ground.

I’ve been reading the training guide in preparation for my Level 1 Crossfit Certification test in September. For the last 10 pages Coach has been trying to define fitness. 

He says “Done right, fitness provides a great margin of protection against the ravages of time and disease.” He’s been explaining that true fitness is not specialized.  He says “Crossfit advocates and develops broad general and inclusive” training. “Our specialty is not specializing.”  

 I’ve lived enough that I have a bit of "LifeFitness" under my belt.  But like any other good fitness training regiment, you have to always keep working, advancing and becoming more agile day by day. Each of us has our weak areas that we hate facing and do our best to avoid. We’d rather cherry pick our problems and face things we feel more confident in and avoid the more inconvenient aspects of our weaknesses. But “LifeFitness” doesn’t come from hiding from those parts and specializing in our strengths, instead we must face all life's difficulties head on.

We are setting goals at Crossfit Legacy and posting them for all to see. We are taking a good look at ourselves and admitting personal weakness and becoming vulnerable to our fellow athletes so that they can love on us, encourage us, keep us accountable, push us, pick us up off the floor, and just be part of our process until they are no longer weaknesses. I think this is healthy exercise to do in every aspect of our life so that we can become better equipped for what life has to offer. By taking an inventory of ourselves and with a little help from others, we can become more complete, stronger and more agile in our response to the difficulties that come at us.

We must wake up every day with renewed hope and awareness so we don’t succumb to the negative we see all around us.  By realizing that life is an adventure and every chapter in that adventure has ups, downs, scary, and happy times we can have hope when looking toward what will happen next.

So what are some of the things in my life that provide my margin of protection against the ravages of life? 

1.        A relationship with Christ. I’m told in Philippians 4 that I shouldn’t worry about anything and when I turn to Him when I’m in need, I will experience His peace which exceeds my understanding. And it will guard my heart and mind as I live.

I have seen this play out in my life and know that this is the most important sword and shield one can possess.

2.     Faithful Friends. These are the people that wipe the sweat off my brow, bandage up my lip, give me a sip of water, pat me on the butt and send me back out to face the world just a little bit stronger.

3.     Family Ties. I didn’t choose them and they didn’t choose me, but there is no turning away from it. They are family and they will love me unconditionally. A cultivated healthy relationship with family members can give you the gift of honesty while also proving a haven when times are tough and the world seems cold.

4.       Life Experience. One of my favorite quotes is:

 GOOD Judgment comes from Experience.

    And Experience comes from BAD Judgment.

Each tough situation that I go through reinforces the importance of utilizing each aspect of my margin of protection. Each defining turn in life is an opportunity to be more prepared for the next one down the road. If I’m watching and taking notes I can slowly become "LifeFit" and learn to better navigate through this adventure.