My best score in the Crossfit open was 10.



No, it wasn’t my highest score, but it was the one I was most proud of. I entered the gym that day after deciding that I would be happy with just 1 squat 20 lbs above my P.R. When I got those 10 overhead squats during 14.2, I just couldn’t contain my joy, much to the dismay of the coach on the receiving end of my sweaty hug.

I decided to sign up for the Open the day after 14.1 was announced. I had never seriously considered it till then – I was just shy of my 2 month crossfit birthday and barely had a callus to show for it. In fact, I was, and still am, so green that it took me till about 14.3 to understand that the 14 stands for “2014”.

But part of me did want to prove to myself that I have the strength inside me to face the challenge. Beginners were being encouraged to sign up by the coaches, but I assumed they meant other beginners, like the ones who actually RX workouts (a rarity for me) or those beginners who joined crossfit because they were taking a break from their professional gymnastics career. After reading some inspiring words on the CrossfitNYC website about the tremendous progress members and staff had made since their first Open, I changed my mind. I decided to sign up – not so I could be competitive in 2014, but so I could destroy it in 2015. I had only two very humble goals – to do my best, and to score above zero in every workout (well, three goals if you count getting that t-shirt)

Much to my surprise, in the last 5 weeks I kicked a small, yet significant amount of ass.

Because when you come in to it expecting to beat only yourself, you’re going to be pleasantly surprised.

I hit a P.R in almost every workout, which is easy to do when you’re previous record sometimes was just showing up consistently. But believe me, the pride you feel and the encouragement from fellow cossfitters does not decrease in intensity whether you’re deadlifting 155lb for the first time or 300. And so I grew stronger with every workout, physically and mentally. Every open WOD made me feel like a little Beyonce, even if compared to the rest of the class I was more of a Lindsay. By the time I got 42 toes to bars in 14.4 I felt so strong I was pretty sure I could beat Samantha Briggs in a drunken bar brawl.

And then came 14.5. By then I knew I was an expert crossfitter, because I was watching the live announcement online and tweeting about it (first rule of crossfit: Always talk about crossfit). But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified before that workout. I walked in and shared my fears with the staff, who reassured me that this indeed is going to be the worst thing to ever happen to me and that all my fears were going to come true. The 31 minutes and 41 seconds that followed were a blur. There was a lot of self-doubt, near-crying, mild hallucinations and mumbling. Boy, was there a lot of mumbling! I am pretty sure I sounded like rain man, repeating the same words over and over to myself (It sounded something like: “nine, nine, nine, I can’t, I’m not finishing, Peter, Peter, six, six, I can do this, Peter, three, three, Peter). But I achieved my goal: I finished it. And I used the last of my strength to grin like an idiot from the floor of the box.

A good nap and a hot bath later, I offer my advice to all beginners out there, from an advanced beginner – You are never too new to set a goal, and you may be surprised how quickly you can crush it. Barely put a dent in it? You showed up for the WOD which already makes you a champ. Remember that everyone started somewhere, everyone feels the same burn when they hit a wall no matter their level, and everyone – even if they only got 10 overhead squats – gets that Tshirt.

Special hug for those who cheered and yelled at me to go on – the Upper West Side crew, coaches Peter and Kevin and especially my crossfit mommy and daddy – Kasey and David!

Yael Bar-tur is currently the 48,398th strongest woman in the world. Take that number 48,399, Karen Cook! She tweets about things other than crossfit sometimes at @Yaelbt