Congrats to our May Member of the Month, Caroline Parr!!
Caroline is a total inspiration; she is a busy working Mom to two and so much fun to have around! Her quick wit, outgoing attitude and hilarious asides keep the #locofam laughing. She really is fearless in the gym, too. She has her fears, *box jumps* but she faces them squarely every single time, until she conquers them. She’s amazing and I could go on and on, but I’ll let her tell her own story!
Q: What brought you to CrossFit in the first place?
A: About 10 years ago I was working with a personal trainer and after 6 months and some great results a friend mentioned a new gym that was opening up that he thought I’d like. There were only 10 or 12 members and we were basically meeting in a storage unit. That gym eventually had a lot of members and I stayed there for 2 years before my work schedule had me traveling too much to maintain membership. That was my first CrossFit experience and I fell in love with it because it was so different from any other ‘workout’ regimen I’d ever tried. I’m not sure I would’ve had the guts to start there without having had those months with the trainer. I’d say a strong desire for fitness and health led me to make exercise a regular part of my routine and luckily I found CrossFit in the process. As for coming to Park Circle CrossFit, I live in Park Circle, my kids go to school here, we go to church here, the community of people is amazing and I try to never leave unless absolutely necessary so Locomotion Fitness was a no-brainer.
Q: What was your first impression? How has that changed?
A: My first impression was that I was a little intimidated but only because the movements seemed hard, the components were complex, and I just didn’t see how I would be able to do any of it. What I quickly realized was that I could do hard things and discovering that was so empowering.
Q: What was your first “bright spot”?
A: After having been away from CrossFit, and exercise in general, I started at Locomotion in March of 2018. My very first class, with total strangers, was on a Saturday morning and Jay had us doing somersaults on the turf. I was kind of mortified thinking…”ok, so I’m about to bend over and put my big behind in someone’s face…awesome.” And to this day, I don’t think that movement has been part of any other warm up so I’m wondering if it’s just for folks’ first day? Anyway, that was a bright spot because I did it and it was no big deal. I think that in that moment I also realized how this gym is different from my old gym and that is because judgement is nowhere to be found! I’ve had lots of bright spots along the way and love that I’m getting better with age! A couple of weeks ago I had about 3 seconds of a real handstand and that was pretty awesome.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: BOX JUMPS. Dear Lord, please let me get box jumps this year.
*EDIT: Caroline got TEN Box Jumps since the writing of her article!* GO CAROLINE!!!
Q: What’s your favorite Locomotion Memory?
A: OPEN 2019! I’ve never considered myself an athlete but the excitement and energy pulled out such athleticism and it was really cool to be a part of it. I leapt out of my comfort zone and even did 19.2 at another gym in front of tons of strangers and got a PR for squat cleans in that workout.
Congrats Caroline! We’re proud of you and grateful to have you in our community!!
