I was supposed to write my blog post on Monday, but instead of waking up to a normal day, I woke up going into labor with our daughter! I was thinking about writing a post about (as cheesy as it sounds) how doing CrossFit before and during my pregnancy prepared me well for childbirth (which it totally did and that can be a whole other topic for discussion another time).
Instead, as I reflect over the past several months and days what keeps coming to mind is how important our family from the gym is to us. People who ask me what CrossFit is usually get the standard constantly varied, high intensity, etc. etc. answer. But for all of us from CFABQ we know that it’s so much more! The personal relationships we build in our community extend beyond just showing up for an hour to sweat and get strong. When I joined just over 3 years ago, I had no idea how important the friendships I built would be in my life.
Leading up to having our baby, we received excellent advice and support from Dr. Mike Ruma, Tanya Bettis, and Tasha Abruzzo (all members from the gym who work in the field of having babies). During the stay at the hospital my mom could not get over how much care and concern we had from these 3 amazing people, as well as our other friends from the gym, and she kept remarking about how lucky we were to have that support. I think she finally realizes why I spend so much time talking about the gym! The majority of the messages, flowers, visitors, and phone calls were all from our friends from CFABQ. All of this has been on my mind today as we settle in at home with the baby. There is no way that I could truly describe what CrossFit is to me to someone who hasn’t experienced it. For many of us, it extends so much farther then just working out. A lot of us drive from across town to CFABQ for a reason. Aside from the excellent coaching and programming at our gym, we are all a part of a big family. We not only train together, but we experience all of the ups and downs of life together. And as a coach, I get the added benefit of getting to know many of our members at a more personal level as well.
So as I look back on the past several days, I can’t help to get teary eyed when I think about how much love and support we got from everyone at CFABQ. So this blog post is not very educational today. I just really want to thank EVERYONE from my closest friends at the gym to all of the wonderful members that come to my classes that have been so concerned and supportive during the past year and especially the past week. Rob and I both are overwhelmed and thankful and want to let you all know how much we love you all! Our gym is truly the best in Albuquerque in so many ways!!!
Avielle Sophia Jaramillo
