Hungry Dog Barbell Podcast
Run with the pack!
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Hungry Dog Barbell Podcast
Lauren Conner
Lauren shares her journey balancing four kids, two gyms, and a breast cancer diagnosis, revealing how CrossFit gave her both a competitive outlet after her track career and the strength to face life's toughest challenges.
• Bringing her children to work at the gym, with her youngest two even creating their own workouts alongside her
• Starting CrossFit after a collegiate track career at the University of Arkansas, where she discovered her competitive nature
• Meeting her husband during a police traffic stop where she was his backup officer
• Opening CrossFit ARCS after moving to New Jersey, starting with bare-bones equipment and handwritten membership tracking
• Receiving a breast cancer diagnosis in October 2023 despite being fit and health-conscious
• Fighting through needle phobia and medical anxiety during cancer treatment
• Planning to attend law school to study food and drug law after becoming passionate about food quality and environmental factors
• Hosting biannual CrossFit competitions, including an upcoming same-sex partner competition in May
Get your workout in today. Just go do it!
Looks like you're at the gym also. Where else would we be?
Speaker 2:Right, right, do you have a studio set up over there? So you got the mic, you got the headphones, you got a little backdrop.
Speaker 1:I have a little setup here. Ask me if I've done anything with it.
Speaker 2:All right, so let's dive in. We're talking about, like owner life, right. Like where else would we be besides at the gym? Like tell me about your schedule. Like what does a normal week look like for you? How do you set up your weeks outside of just coaching class? Like, how do you approach all that?
Speaker 1:So I have four kids, right? So let's start there. So I have four kids. My husband goes to work first in the morning, so he helps me get their stuff together, but then from there the madness starts immediately. First thing in the morning, because I got to get all four kids out the door.
Speaker 2:How old is your oldest and how young is your youngest, Like what's the gap?
Speaker 1:We all four kids out the door. How old is your oldest and how young is your youngest? Like, what's the gap? We're 12, eight, five and four.
Speaker 2:Oh man, so a lot of different stuff happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so two of them are in school and then two of them come with me to work every day.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 1:Which is like awesome and really hard all at the same time. But I will call you next year, crying when they're both at schools oh man, when they're both at schools.
Speaker 2:Oh man, when they're both gone in the house, the house is empty. You're doing your own thing. So what's what's that like? And what was it like when you were first bringing them to like the gym to work? Like, did you do that?
Speaker 1:for all four. Um the everyone came. What I love about the gym is it gave me the chance to bring my babies with me to work.
Speaker 1:So there are photos of me doing Bergener, like with babies tied to me, like wearing them in the front, and I'm teaching Bergener and, like you know, I would tell them I'm going around my baby. But you're going to come straight up. Our clients are great about that. But yes, I brought everybody to the gym with me every time they were born. Every time they were born for at least like eight months. What's funny is I used to be a pretty big germaphobe, so when my first was born, I like wouldn't let him touch the gym floor. Even though we were like really serious about keeping everything really clean for a gym especially, I wouldn't touch the gym floor. So it was like once he wasn't in one spot anymore and he didn't want to be on the pack and play for very long for me to really coach. That's when we moved our firstborn over to daycare, which was great because he got to socialize my youngest. You know, things change as you have each child.
Speaker 2:You evolve right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so my youngest are all over the place. What's really funny is we have an hour we just started recently called Workout with Coach, and that's the first morning class that I am at. It's at 845. It's really awesome. It just allows people that want to jump in a workout with me. We work, we all work out together, and it's cool for me too, because it allows me to get involved on that side with the community.
Speaker 1:You know I'm always on the other side, but I think they like to jump into workouts. See that I'm hurting, just like they are. But what's really awesome is my five year old and four year old-year-old. I don't tell them to do it. I don't ask them to do it. They just start getting out. There are kids barbells next to me, start loading things next to me and they'll ask me to get a rower down for them and they just make up their own workout based whatever they see me doing. Yeah, that's really awesome.
Speaker 2:Dude, that's such a cool idea. That's probably going to be one of the things that I steal from the podcast. Right, like being able to talk with so many owners and coaches. You get things from like left and right all the time that you either implement a little bit of your own or like just take it wholesale, and I love that idea. You know, people always like it's the cardinal rule, you're not supposed to work out with the class, right? But people like that. They like when the coach is working out with them, and usually it's in a setting where you're not coaching the class. But to have that dedicated hour where it's like, hey, you probably have those times where you need to work out outside of class meeting a member. So to be able to come do that like, oh, that's such a good idea, I love that. And then you're instilling the values in the kid at the same time. That's great. So week, are you coaching right now?
Speaker 1:I am doing some days I'm hitting four, some days three, some days two.
Speaker 2:How many coaches do you have over there?
Speaker 1:I think we're at six right now.
Speaker 2:Damn, that's dope. So you said you had the oldest of the gym, right, the 12 year old. So you've been in CrossFit this whole time and a gym ownership this whole time. But how did you find CrossFit in the very beginning Like, tell me about that.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I ran track at the University of Arkansas which, unless you are a dedicated track nerd, you might not know that that is the winningest collegiate sports program there is.
Speaker 2:Let's go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so there's not a sport, a program that has won more national titles than the University of Arkansas. So what I'm saying is I'm very competitive.
Speaker 2:Oh, competitive, oh. So wait, tell us what events you did before you keep going I did.
Speaker 1:The half mile was really my specialty but I would run some 400s and some miles. I um was forced to do cross country to kind of help me for the track season um so when track was over, I really needed a competitive outlet. So it was suggested that I do CrossFit. And I remember I walked into the first gym, CrossFit Northwest Arkansas, NWA, and they were like oh, we do three free classes, you know, come check it out. And at the end of my first class I was just like take my money. I love this.
Speaker 2:I'm in, do you?
Speaker 1:remember what that first workout was. I don't, but I remember I got my butt kicked and I hadn't got my butt kicked in so long and like I thought that I was in shape you know, I was this runner that had accomplished these things and I thought, oh yeah, I got this. But I got my butt kicked and there was running in the workout too, like a little shuttle run, nothing crazy.
Speaker 2:But yeah, you thought you were going to like write it off and crush it that day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I got this. I've been working on my whole life.
Speaker 2:That's dope. So do you do you, did you? You signed up right away, Like, were you in the gym before that? Like, in the transition period from track to there, did you lift weights for track? Like, tell me about your experience at the gym before you found CrossFit.
Speaker 1:So, right, really quickly after I graduated I actually was hired as a police officer, so I was at the police academy and I won a physical fitness award there. So I was working out, but not like CrossFit. I had done a little bit of more like bodybuilding style. And my time at Arkansas and before I was at Arkansas I was at Iowa State for two years we did a little bit of hang cleaning was, I think, really the only Olympic lifts that we did. But it was thought more that we needed to stay out of the weight room because we needed to be as light as possible Cause I was mid to long distance.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's part of how I ended up owning a gym also is because, had I been put in the gym when I was in, when I was a track runner and allowed to build muscle, I think I just would have run way faster.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So part of opening the gym was wanting to see if I can help other people not make that mistake.
Speaker 2:So you, you get into the weight room, right, like I guess I should say that. Did you want to lift when you were doing track or were you just listening to your coaches? Oh, I loved lifting. I was always there's a little bit of a joke that I would get on the line especially in to lift when you were doing track or you just listening to your coaches.
Speaker 1:Oh, I loved lifting. I was always there's a little bit of a joke that I would get on the line, especially in high school, and everyone would be so skinny and I would like have all of these muscles.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah there is a joke that like I would be first off the bus because I guess in football they you put your most intimidating people, your most intimidating players, to get off the bus first when you would go to away matches. So they would joke around that like I'm first off the bus, so like that was like something I was proud of.
Speaker 2:So when you get into CrossFit, right, how do you feel about weightlifting? Like do you fall in love with that right at like, right at the beginning also.
Speaker 1:So, first of all, going back to your point, I definitely would be made fun of. First of all, going back to your point, I definitely would be made fun of mostly in like middle school and early high school, but I just was so into training and into competing and doing well that it just like it didn't bother me at all. I love that, but that definitely existed. As far as lifting, yeah, I loved getting my hands on the barbell. I remember doing the grace the first time and just I don't like I love that workout immediately.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's one of those where it's just like boom out of breath. You feel it right after the workout. You're like, okay, I understand what CrossFit is, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's basically like running an 800. How bad do you want it? How much are you willing to hurt?
Speaker 2:and that's grace and I love it. Just go ham. Is that your favorite workout? Do you have a favorite workout?
Speaker 1:um, I I don't know if I have a favorite workout. I think I have not favorite workouts. You know, like I don't even like I can't even think of it off the top of my head, but it's more like I'd rather do this over that. But I don't know. There's in every workout there's something that you can find that you're either working on or, like, really enjoy. Yeah, so workouts are really well balanced and that's what I love about crossfit it's never like a, like a oh I, oh I've.
Speaker 2:I've done everything. Now you know I'm great at everything. You always can get better at something.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Like I had the the polls last week about fitness right, kalsu versus Karen. And then the week after that I talked to another guy that's putting on a CrossFit comp partner comp and he's doing Kalsu as one of the workouts and I'm like, dude, that is my one. That's the workout that if I could try my hardest to stay away from it, I will never do it again in life Like the burpees, the thrusters with the time domain of like keeping it back to it. And another OG one someone brought up to me earlier the Bergeron beep test.
Speaker 1:I was just going to say that that one is so hard.
Speaker 2:So bad. My members don't even know it's coming at them soon. A lot of them probably have no idea what that is because they probably haven't been around that long. It's definitely coming up in the next two weeks.
Speaker 1:It's gonna be bad oh yeah, that one's really hard, that one will humble you real quick.
Speaker 2:So, dude, tell me about, tell me about the time period between you starting crossfit until you becoming an owner. How long did you do CrossFit before you opened the gym? Where did those thoughts first come from? Like, tell me about that stuff.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we're about to go real deep here.
Speaker 2:Let's go. It's my favorite thing to do.
Speaker 1:So I was a police officer going to CrossFit. I had a great group of girls around me. They're all way better than me. I think that's important too, to not always to not be the best in the room, Like you never want to be the best in the room. So I met my now husband actually on a traffic stop.
Speaker 2:Wow, you pulled him over.
Speaker 1:Not how you think. No, actually I was his backup. He worked for another department and he needed backup. So I joke around and tell everybody I saved his life because I was his backup. But so we started dating, kind of got into CrossFit, really together, and we decided that we wanted to move. Well, I decided that I wanted to move back to New Jersey and being the loving, supportive, supportive boyfriend at the time was like all right, I'm in. He had never really lived outside of Arkansas before. He's from Arkansas, that's a big move.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was really well established in his career, like he was a lot of years into law enforcement too. So we decided that we, well of like, started really making plans, and when we think about both of us being police officers, raising a family, it's not the safest job in the world. So one of us, we decided we would stay home, and that's really when we started to think about what we were going to do. Um, and that's really when we started to think about what we were going to do. Um, we would come home and try out different gyms, and the gyms just didn't give us the same feel from CrossFit NWA. So me being the type of person I am, I was like, well, let me just do this myself. I got this, let me create a community. Um, nwa just gave us such a great basis.
Speaker 1:Lee Kelly shout out to Lee Kelly. He's like one of the original CrossFit gyms. He does this like how I believe, like everything is done, meaning there's no shortcuts, hard work, you do things the right way, you do things all the way, and he just instilled those values into CrossFit. That made me think that that was just what CrossFit was and it was done that way everywhere. And then I started exploring different gyms and realized it's not always done that way everywhere.
Speaker 2:So that's really it's the person, not the place, right? They're using CrossFit as a conduit for all those things.
Speaker 1:Right. So different gyms have different focuses and I wanted to open up a place that was really truly health focused, and sometimes that means telling people the truth, having really difficult conversations, not pretending that things are okay. My husband has a joke that like he's like sometimes, lauren, you're like broccoli and people want candy.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I'm like, but people need broccoli.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's funny, you know. So I love that. The hard troops man, they're tough but like they're an important part of life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I have to say that, out of all of the things, probably CrossFit taught me about nutrition the most, like I said, I was at the winningest university program, but the nutrition. There was no nutrition guidance.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:My coach would. He wasn't allowed to talk weight with us so he would pull me into the office and just say, what do you think your fighting weight is? And all I knew was something was wrong with me. He wasn't really allowed to say more than that, but I knew if he's asking me about my weight then it needs to change and the thought, the very unhealthy thought in track and field, especially learn anything. I remember being taken to kind of like a discount health store and like I remember there being bins of bars and he'd be like there's great prices on these bars and maybe he's just used to working with students, just thinking about students and student athletes, and before all these NIL deals and everything going on we didn't have any of that. So maybe his thought was just finding cheap food.
Speaker 2:But cheap and easy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which I I have such a problem with. But that was the only thing I learned was where to go to the store and that the expiration date was fine. Then it was expired. That was all that I really learned. But through CrossFit is really where I learned about nutrition.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So what's the first steps that you take, like in your mind after you decide okay, I'm going to do it myself. To like what's the first step to opening the gym?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Um, so we found the location. I found the location before we even moved from Arkansas to New Jersey and I actually moved first. So we were actually pregnant at the time. We had just gotten married, we were pregnant and I came over to New Jersey first to give my husband a chance to like find a job. So that was really hard. I moved back in March. We got married March 1, march, like 12. I was in New Jersey, he drove back to Arkansas and he didn't move back to New Jersey until right before our son was born, end of October. So it was really difficult because I was figuring out business by myself, getting like loads of equipment delivered. I was also pretending that I wasn't pregnant when we first started because at the time I don't know anything and I'm like who's going to sign up for this crazy CrossFit thing with this pregnant chick? So I'm like everything's fine, nothing.
Speaker 1:So I'm like you know everything's fine, nothing.
Speaker 2:And at that time it's a whole different world, right, like it's maybe CrossFit's on ESPN like ESPN2, which is like helpful to get a lot of people in, but it's not all over Instagram like it is now. There's not all these YouTube personalities, right, that are like this is actually safe for you to do. You just walk in and see a pregnant lady and that's it, right, you know. So how does that first go in that five months, that March October time period, did you open or were you just doing construction at that time?
Speaker 1:No, we opened um, the first month we opened it was like bare bones equipment, no flooring on the floor, and I was just doing free workouts. Come check it out, come see what CrossFit kind of is with the equipment that I have. I mean we were doing great workouts like the chief and stuff, um, and then I remember none of those people signed up, people that came for that free time. It was a month we did for free, yeah, um, none of them signed up yeah, I went through that exact same thing.
Speaker 2:Well, I shouldn't say none. Some of the people signed up, but most of the people like 80, 80% of the people that came in over that time period did not sign up for my free month.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's tough, yeah. So what do you guys do from there? You keep going like tell me like early milestones, I guess you know you start to get members in. When does it start to feel like a jib to you?
Speaker 1:Man. I remember for the longest time I was writing down people's memberships on a like a yellow notepad.
Speaker 2:Legal pad.
Speaker 1:Yeah, to the point where there was. I had a lot of people. So we live at the Jersey Shore, so there's a little bit of people traveling in between. We also live near base. So between the Jersey Shore and the Naval base we get a. We get a good amount of people traveling through and an air base. Um, I was writing down the amount of times that people came in and then I would charge them. I would count it all up at the end and charge them accordingly.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And like for two months or two days a week, three days a week, four days a week or five days a week, like like every option under the sun. Just trying to figure it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I want to talk about that, but I forgot to ask you this Did you have any like prior business experience, or like anyone in your family that you were close to that was helping you out, like teaching you some of the steps, or did you just truly dive in?
Speaker 1:So I was a psych major. I think that part is helpful. But as far as business, no, my aunt and uncle have a very successful landscaping company and I think having them and just seeing that they started a business, it exploded. They do very well, they're people. I really respect that. I think, that perspective, I think I was just like, oh yeah, this is what happens you start a business and it takes off.
Speaker 2:Right away.
Speaker 2:That's oh, man. I'd like back to what you were saying, man, like writing it down hand by hand. A lot of people talk about right now, like the early days of crossfit and like the verse, the new members right. Like how people today have no idea about sharing wall balls, and like not the good for flooring and like barbells that like might fall apart. I just saw rich talk about he did grace and had to have a do with an Allen Rich next to him. Like tweaking the bar every five reps. Like the new people couldn't probably put up with that. You know 2025 people that are signing up for CrossFit, but the owners back in the day before you had like the great systems, like PushPress, you know, before you had all the online stuff?
Speaker 1:Or how about women's bars? We didn't use women's bars.
Speaker 2:I told my girlfriend that all the time. That is a new thing, babe, that people even know that women's bars exist, one, or that they're in all these gyms. That's crazy. So when did it start to feel like a gym for?
Speaker 1:you? Do you have any time period like that? I don't know. I don't know. I think that I'm the type of person where I'm always looking for more and try to make things better. I'm not sure. I know. We've had milestones like before COVID. We expanded, we went from 5,000 square feet to 8,500 square feet and added like a big kids program and a big barbell program, but then COVID happened, so we went back down to our original size and then we had after COVID, we opened a second location, but then, after being diagnosed and having difficulty finding coaches, we went back to one location. So we've had moments like that, but we pivot into it and then we have, thank God, successfully pivot out of it too, when it didn't work.
Speaker 2:Being able to pivot is one of the greatest skills out there. You know people that don't have that. They just get stuck in whatever position they are. That's I can't imagine. That's so tough to even think about. So let's talk about what you were just saying. Your diagnosis was around COVID time. Was it before or after? Like, tell me about that.
Speaker 1:No, it was November, no October of 23. Yeah, we opened our second location 2020, October of 2020. So it was the end of the year and by 23,. October of 23, is when. I was diagnosed.
Speaker 2:Success was like going up. At that point You're like oh, we're grooving.
Speaker 1:Yeah, people were moving down from New York. After COVID. We opened in Manahawken, new Jersey, which is right outside of LBI, so people are coming down to their beach houses and staying there for long periods of time and they were already well-established in CrossFit so it really made sense to us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's going well and you go into the doctor. Was it just a routine checkup where they like you need to come? In for something. Tell me about that Set the stage.
Speaker 1:No, I have a friend in Arkansas who had breast cancer and I am notoriously. This sounds so silly, but I am scared to death of doctors. I pass out a lot in doctor's offices or anytime there's a needle involved anywhere around me, I pass out. So I avoid the doctor so bad. So I was like in my head I was going to honor her in this way, that I was going to make this appointment for a mammogram. And a little bit my doctor was like, okay, we're going to do blood work and a mammogram. And in my head I was like if I do the mammogram, maybe he'll leave me alone about the blood work because I could skip the needle. So I'm just going in for this mammogram and I actually pass out during it. Yeah, so I pass out. It's like this whole thing, like somebody has to come pick me up. I can't drive, it's a mess. So they call me the next day and they're like we need you to come back.
Speaker 1:And in my head. I'm like they didn't get a good picture because I passed out in the middle of it and they want me to come back. I'm like they didn't get a good picture because I passed out in the middle of it and they want me to come back. Yeah, and I'm like I don't know. I still feel really nauseous, I don't know if I'm going to come back. And then I keep getting more calls, and more calls, and calls from different doctors, and their tone is no long is like I know something's wrong.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm like I guess I have to go back. So I go back and they tell me right away that they want to do a biopsy. And my husband is like, I know this person whose wife had to have a biopsy and she was fine and I know that person. But like in my heart I knew that something was wrong.
Speaker 2:Wow, so was. Were the calls like repeated over a week a day, like how long did you sit with the? Oh, they told me I need to come back before you actually went back.
Speaker 1:I would say a week, and I think it was finally that, like my gynecologist's office had also called because they called him who ordered it to be like she's not coming in.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So you go in and like what do they come back and say how do you react? Like tell us that.
Speaker 1:Um, well, I had to be prescribed um Valium to even go to even like to make it so that they could do the procedure, so that I wouldn't pass out. Um, and I'm like crying, I'm telling them they gave me Valium.
Speaker 2:it's not working how many kids are you?
Speaker 1:at this point, you have three no four four, yeah, all four yes, I have four kids um.
Speaker 2:The ladies are so nice yeah, I was just gonna say history being a police officer super fit like role model, like a badass chick at this time. Right, this is great for people to hear that like you were worried, concerned, you know. Oh yeah, that's a very human emotion, you know. Yeah yeah. But keep going.
Speaker 1:I remember I got the, I had the biopsy. I was trying to like crack a joke afterwards with the doctor and I was like, but there's a chance, like everything is fine, yeah, and he was just like. I don't remember exactly his response but I knew from his response that it wasn't fine, yeah. Um, then I got the call while I was at my son's cross-country meet and I just remember like pacing in the bus parking lot it was the only race I didn't get to watch him race. But it was like a friday evening and I was so grateful the doctor didn't wait till monday to call me. And I remember just pacing around the bus parking lot like sweating all over myself and just like spinning like my head was just spinning as he was letting me know wow, I know like you're, you're like have so much anticipation for it, and then it comes, you know.
Speaker 2:So what's the diagnosis? And tell me about, like, how you guys attack it, how you attack it mentally, more than just like the treatment and all that stuff?
Speaker 1:So this was really hard. It really took me off guard, like I was not expecting this. It was right after my birthday. My birthday is on October 8th. I was diagnosed on the 11th, so I remember I had taken a photo of myself and like in a sports bra and been like, okay, I haven't really been taking care of myself because at this point I have four kids, two gyms and I need to do better. So this is my before photo. I'm going to get these results back, find out that I'm fine. Yeah, because I can't mentally move on until I find out that I'm fine. I'm sure I'm fine, I take care of myself, I'm in shape.
Speaker 1:And then I got the call that I wasn't fine and that was really devastating. And what's hard is that I had to. I scheduled my surgery right away and you have to wait weeks I think I waited six weeks, eight weeks, something like that to find out where is it. So for the next like two months, I was just wondering is it everywhere? And then things start hurting and you're like I remember this pain, I remember that pain, and you start just like wondering where is it? Thank God it hadn't spread. So I was relieved to get that, um, to get that news right around Christmas, and then it was okay. How are we going to treat this? And that part is its own scary journey, because chemo isn't great for you.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:But sometimes it's necessary. I ended up not needing chemo and sometimes I just wonder like I'm just so thankful to God and I just with my phobia, really, of needles and I'm just like he knew that there was no way I could get myself through like a port and going through all that Like like there was no way that I could get through that.
Speaker 1:But then there is medications that I'm on now and I didn't take for eight months because I was so scared of it Like I was scared to even pick it up from the pharmacy because it's also toxic. Yeah, it's a carcinogen, it's from the pharmacy because it's also toxic.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a carcinogen. It's like actually listed as it will cause cancer. So my cancer medication will cause cancer. It took my breast surgeon crying and I know people have different opinions of that but I felt like she was being like just really caring for me in the moment and she was just started crying and was like I think about you all the time. I'm like will you please take this medication? Because I was too afraid to take it.
Speaker 1:I read a lot of people doing a lot of natural things. I just didn't know what to do. I spent a lot of time in prayer about it. I just didn't feel one way or the other about it and so I ended up finally taking the medication. Don't tell her, but I take a half dose. There's a lot of trials on it 10 milligram tamoxifen versus 20 milligrams I'm sorry, not grams, milligrams of tamoxifen so that is what I'm doing right now. I don't have side effects. I was so scared of theoxifen, so that is what I'm doing right now. I don't have side effects. I was so scared of the side effects, but that's part of the reason why I make myself work out every day. I know a lot of women who can't run. They can't do anything, and I'm just scared that if I stop I won't be able to do it again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you stop if I lose it. That's definitely a crazy fear.
Speaker 1:So did you have to have surgery? You, you, we were scheduling surgery. How did how? Did you mentally prepare for that? I wanted that cancer out of me so badly. I also really trusted the staff that I like really handpicked because you end up interviewing these doctors and I'm just, like you know, just a hot mess every time and they understood that I was scared to death of needles, so they like took care of me. Like the second they got the IV in me, they gave me something to like just bring me down, and I appreciated that.
Speaker 2:If you and you host speaking to women and like in your shoes a lot, so I want them to hear this If you were speaking to someone that just got that same diagnosis, they're leaving, or they just got the phone call like is what would you tell them? You know, about their next steps, about how to take care of themselves outside of the doctor? You know, because the doctor is going to handle a lot of it.
Speaker 1:I would say, to basically connect yourself to somebody who's been through it. I spent 24 hours a day either on the phone with a woman who has been through it, or just like constantly in text communication, and there's no amount of like you're so strong or you got this, or even like your husband can't even comfort you in that. Like you have to talk to a woman that's been through it, like even when I met you, and you're like, oh, my mom and I was like well, how is she?
Speaker 1:And you're like great, I was really expecting you to tell me like negative news, cause that's like the place I was in at the time and I know you don't know this but like you lifted me up so much by telling me like like a good story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cause you hear those like sad stories all the time. Man, it's like no, like I remember those moments so vividly because I was also like coming out of drug addiction at the time. It was like both those things wrapped up together. So to see like where she's able to get to now. Last week I my mom trains with me three days a week, so last week I had to do a jump rope workout and like, uh, she doesn't even understand how impressed I am by her being 60, like being a cancer survivor jumping rope. You know she has no idea, cause she just like tackles things. I had people reaching out to me like, oh, my mom works out, now she won't jump. You know, I'm like that's amazing. There is more than just surviving. There is you can build your life the same way that anyone else would at any point in their life. Right, like you can make 61 better than 60 still.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I believe that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, those that's what I believe too right, like those are the messages that I want to spread, that like, no, it's not just that you can survive this, like you can survive and build your life more, you don't have to, like, sit around. You know, it's amazing to see that stuff.
Speaker 1:Right yeah, and I have found, like I I'm getting through this in exactly that way, so I'm really big into what's going on with our food right now. I believe that food and environment are the cause of a lot of these cancers. Not every single June, I actually am enrolled to go back to school. I'm going to go to law school and I want to go into food and drug law so that I can kind of like tackle this in a new way.
Speaker 2:I love that, Like that's an amazing thing to share here. I was just thinking. I wanted to ask you is there a food you prioritize? Is there a food you really steer clear from?
Speaker 1:I would say that I used to think that getting organic food when I could and like what is the measure of when I can was, like, good enough, right, but now I won't. But now I won't. I try not to eat foods that aren't organic. I eat a lot of raw vegetables. Now. I will not drink out of plastic water bottles. I will not heat food up in plastic. Those are the things that, like, I will not do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm glad I have my girlfriend in my life because I never thought about having stuff in plastic containers before. She literally threw them all out, like when we moved in together. Damn, I guess you know that part of my life's gone now. Once you dive into a lot of things that they're doing, to the ways that we transport our food, the ways that we store and keep our food fresh is crazy. Like people, if you have fruits in your fridge right now, they should go bad. Your food in general should go bad. What's up, laura? Um, so that's the biggest key to like let you know if food's good or not. Right, if it's gonna last in there, like that old mcdonald's commercial that they have online about freaking a burger from like 20 years ago. Obviously that's crappy for you, you know yeah, I think.
Speaker 1:Uh, my husband was just telling me that somebody opened up a bag of lays from like 19, like 60 or something, and it was like it started chomping yeah, and it was like no mold, no anything ever. Each chip was perfectly fine yeah, oh man, that's terrible.
Speaker 2:That tells you what you put your body right there. That's just shit sitting in your stomach exactly, exactly so a little bit on the comp at the end. Right, we got, uh, is it crossfit arcs? Is that how it's? Yeah?
Speaker 1:it's arcs. It's so funny. I would be down, um. So I used to participate in regionals and I would be down on the floor and they would be like and from crossfit arx and I would be mid-workout and so zoned in, but I would still hear that and be like it's arcs so so CrossFit ARCS have a pairs comp right.
Speaker 2:Tell us about it, the date, tell us the genders, logistics, tell us that stuff.
Speaker 1:May 17th. We do two comps a year. Our May comp is our same-sex partner comp. We have an RX division scale division and then our novice division, which we call it intermediate. And then we have our October comp, which is a single comp Okay, so it's individual and there we also feature masters, which is so big right now. I love the masters getting after it.
Speaker 2:Let's go. So the May 17th one. Do you have a theme, a workout that sticks out? That's like your favorite, Like give us a little tidbit on something.
Speaker 1:So are the people that come to our comps really come often and they know if you come to one of my comps. We're going to be running, okay, so there's always a run and my two favorite things we run and we lift. You know you're going to lift heavy and you know you're going to run with me, so we got both of those things going on this year every year?
Speaker 2:Are the workouts all announced already?
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're all out. We open with a front squat, a three rep max front squat.
Speaker 2:From the rack or from the floor.
Speaker 1:From the floor. What other way?
Speaker 2:is there, let's go. Both partners doing from the floor three rep. Yeah yeah, oh, that's going to be fire. Yeah, oh, that's, that's what we fire. What's?
Speaker 1:the running, the running. So in the past it's normally a thousand meters, 800 meters, and then you got to come in and hit a heavy lift, yeah, so that is traditionally how we've done it, and we score it separately. This year I've put the run, I moved the run into WOD two, so that's going to be combined with pull-ups and light snatches, but high volume light snatches so it's only 200 meters each this time in total, or you're gonna have a repeat that repeat that they gotta
Speaker 1:repeat it but it's only 200 meters, but it's really fan friendly like they're running out around the athlete village yeah, so I love to see running crossfit comps oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:The funniest um event we ever did is we did or I would say like the most interesting, like not what you expect to see is we did sandbags over hay bales so we used to raise cows, pigs, chickens, getting back to like the natural food and that thing. So we're like let's get get hit, we need to get hay anyway, let's use it at the comp first. So we stacked hay bales and we did that cheese curd workout, essentially from the games I was gonna say is it inspired by that man?
Speaker 2:what a good, what a great era of fucking crossfit yeah when they're out there. Madison, it's got to go back. I feel like new york's not going to give the same vibe it's just hard to care as much anymore yeah, to be as into it anymore, and it's not.
Speaker 1:It's just not like the players aren't the same players that we used to see all the time, and it's just changed in that way and it's just changed so many times um, we need a.
Speaker 2:We need a rich fronin to come back. We need a freaking firefighter, jack dude that went to school for exercise science and it's going to win the games five years in a row, or whatever. There's no guys like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, laura, I feel like you have a whole story out there that can still be told. I mean fucking raising animals on the farm. Former police officer. I had no idea about that before. You said that at the beginning. Now, what is it Got to be? 13 year gym owner. I think we've started into our 14th year. Oh man, yeah, there's a lot going on.
Speaker 1:I have to get you back on for another whole episode dude. Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 2:This is great. Well, Laura, thanks for coming on this time. First iteration out there, everyone listening. Make sure that you tell her to come on again, Cause you want to hear more from her. Do you have anything to leave the people with at the end of this episode?
Speaker 1:Get your workout in today, just go, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm going to sneak mine in for 10 minutes after this class.
Speaker 1:Skip it, get it in.
Speaker 2:Hell yeah, dude. All right dogs. It's been another great episode we're going to get out of here. Peace, see you.