8 Things CrossFit Athletes and Marathon Runners have in common

CrossFit and Marathons… opposites right? Well, I’m a 5 time marathoner and a graduate of the level 1 CrossFit cert and I’m here to tell you that we have a lot more in common than you think!

[caption id="attachment_15518" align="aligncenter" width="514"]Running Hutch believes there's room in the world for Marathoners and CrossFitters to co-exist... what do you think? ;-)[/caption]

8 Things that CrossFitters and Marathoners have in Common

1. We love it. A lot.

You know that strong, powerful feeling you get when you put a little tension on the bar? How about the smell of chalk in your hands, or the satisfying clip of a good set of double-unders? It’s so good! You love it! I get it! I love the smell of the sidewalk after the rain, and the sight of the city at 5 a.m. when there’s nobody out there but me. I love the runner’s high and the sound of my footstrike when I nail a perfect tempo run. We love our sports. A lot.

2. We are chasing PR’s

Ever heard yourself explain that you are trying to take a few minutes off your Helen score? How about trying to explain the frustration that you keep missing that lift with an extra 5 lbs on the bar? I cried my eyes out because I ran a marathon a few minutes slower that I had hoped. A marathon. A few minutes. Your lift. A few pounds. It doesn’t matter. I get it. You get it. We have goals on our hearts that don’t make a lot of sense outside of our tribes. We are the same you guys: we are chasing PR’s.

3. We would rather take a bullet

[caption id="attachment_15517" align="aligncenter" width="455"]What did the CrossFitter say to the Marathon runner?[/caption]

Ask a Crossfitter to run 10km? it’s like asking a marathoner to do box jumps. We do NOT like each other’s workouts, this I know for sure! I can’t do wall balls. No, like I actually can’t do them. Yes, it’s a functional movement, I should learn. You should also learn to outrun me if you’re gonna keep chirpin about it! We should probably visit each other’s workouts a little more often, but for now, we’d rather take a bullet ;)

4. That’s a sweet kit

Damn, are those the new Inov8’s? No wait, sorry, Minimus. You better switch to your Oly lifting shoes for that WOD though eh? Seriously – that Hero shirt is sick. You like my new kicks? Ya? It’s an 8 mm drop, I run my LSDs in them, I prefer to switch to a 4 mm drop for my tempo runs. Lookin good is feelin good and feelin good is playin good! Hey! I ain’t judging, that’s a sweet kit!

5. Paleo zone carb loading IIFYM

Whatever. You think I’m going to get grain brain. I think you’re going to get gout. For all our chatter, we eat better than 100% of the people who aren`t trying to eat well, at all! I’m not judging that ribeye, and I don`t think you ACTUALLY care about my bagel. We`re eating for our goals, in our own sports and we are killing it. We eat well and we train well; people could learn a lot from us (especially if we stopped sharing our Instagram photos and hashtagging #paleo or #vegan! #justsayin)

6. We are super annoying

Speaking of Instagram…. did you just totally crush that WOD? Did you Instagram your callus? I hope you uploaded that score to SocialWOD and shared it to Twitter and Facebook. I just negative split the back half of my tempo run! Then I uploaded it to DailyMile, shared it to Facebook and then I instagrammed a FitSnap of my distance, pace and heart rate. Yippee! Nobody cares! Don’t worry, everyone has hidden us from their news feeds, because we are super annoying. But you be the judge... here's S*#! Runners and CrossFitters say... which one is more annoying do you think?

http://youtu.be/ef3cF6rln30

http://youtu.be/_q37fl9w-Tc

7. We have amazing heroes

Froning. Meb. Shalane. Camille. Wow. Just wow. We are. So. Lucky. We have incredible role models. These guys are all doing amazing things and they are blazing trails for us. They are getting after it, every day, like we are – chasing their PR’s, instagramming their calluses and eating for their goals. They, like us, are driven to chase the goals on their hearts and they giving us a gold standard to strive for. I’ll never run as fast as Shalane and you’ll never beat Froning (at anything) but you know – we can keep trying to be better every day and just doing it…just like our amazing heroes.

8. We hope they stick with it

I've met people who tell me that it’s their absolute dream to run a marathon someday. They tell me that they can’t believe I do it. I have met people in CrossFit who tell me that they are just dreaming of someday being able to do a WOD as rx’d. They tell me that it’s their dream to just do ONE unassisted pull-up. Whether you are a marathoner or a crossfitter, I will tell you that I know we share this in common: we hope they stick with it. We really do. We hope they fall in love with the sport like we have. We hope they like the smell of the chalk on their hands or the smell of the sidewalk after the rain. We hope they geek out on buying the right gear and we hope they show up tomorrow – because whether you are running marathons or crushing Fran – life is really sweet when you’re chasing those PR’s . So you see? We are more the same than you think. I love you Crossfitters. You`ve always made me feel welcome and you never make fun of my wallballs (to my face). You remind me that I love running. Speaking of running - if you guys ever wanna run with me sometime, I promise to slow down… and not make fun of you (to your face).

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Bio: Andrea French

Andrea is a mom, 5 time marathoner and recently completed her Level 1 CrossFit Cert. She is a teammate at Studeo55 and is training to PR at the Santa Barabara marathon in November. She still sucks at wall-balls. Connect, follow and engage with Andrea on Instagram and Twitter at @chezyvr