Fenrir's Mayhem: God of War, Part 1/n

It was an epic adventure today! I did finish last today, but I put up one heck of a fight and held my own as well as apparently dominating WOD 1, at least from what people have told me.  All I knew was that I just kept moving and heard my judge and my ride-or-die buddies yelling at me to NOT die.

Many more photographs, obviously will show up, but here's the first cut...

I didn't make this one, but I gave it all I got.  My shoulder-to-overheads have been suffering a fair amount in my transition in form, but the sacrifice now with recommended changes from Coach J will most likely translate to a much longer lifetime of lifting aggressively.  I have learned this past year or so that if Coach J recommends something, it's a good idea to listen to him because I have seen many athletes get injured when they *don't* listen to his advice, and he has not had any significant injuries in the time I have known him. 

Ugly, but I succeeded in doing Snatchsquatch.  I had to remember all the cues that Coach J had given me for this, including waiting on my second pull until the barbell hits my hip crease. Yes, it did take some physical cues from him and some questionable verbal cues along with addressing things unique to martial arts and music, but it's slowly working. 

I was surprised I even came close to finishing the Ride to Hel!

And then the Hounds of Garmr ate me alive...

So today was the main workouts themselves... first let me introduce a handful of characters to my little epic...

First there's Coach A, the "Lion of Iron Legion", who has been like the "younger older brother" at the gym with his wisdom beyond years.  He also took second place in the male individual RX. Suffice to say not only is he a very capable athlete, especially in weightlifting, but he's also highly intelligent with a knack for putting people back together.

And then there's the one and only Coach J, who has been my primary mentor figure at the gym as well as my weightlifting coach and all-around geekiness arch-rival. He's played a huge role in getting me not only to lift more safely, but also helped me build up my endurance and inspired me to get back into music again, which has also boosted my athletic performance. There's a reason why I see him as a strong mentor figure at the gym for me...

The head Viking himself who started this wonderful community and got me started on my weightlifting journey even if I had already started to do some CrossFit already...

And then there's my "sister" of the matching pants and fellow scaled athlete, although she did end up destroying me this weekend in all but the first WOD, which was the one that involved a good couple of sprints.

And then there's Rothgar, the head Viking's trusty canine. He simply makes my day with his cuteness!

And then there's my ride-or-die training partner, T, who has also been very much like a mentor figure in the gym for things that a highly intelligent, super-geeky, very technical 37 year old male can't exactly help with...