Happy Birthday to Evelyn

Morning:
The gym is always deserted on Friday mornings, so this morning I decided "what the hell" and took the lead test. Despite the fact that it was at Ironworks, which is notoriously difficult.

I failed. I fell off the climb.

I don't feel too bad - everyone fails the first time, and I feel pretty confident to try again (at the Power Company) next week. My tester was Peter, and he gave me the option of a 10c on the third pillar (short but technical), or a 10b in the cave (long and pumpy, but straightforward). I chose the 10b, which was perhaps the wrong choice - I wasn't expecting him to pull out a 10c! I thought it was going to be either a 10b on the pillar or a 10a in the cave, and I haven't mock led any c's.

The climbing went well, until the fall. I made it about 2/3 of the way up, and slipped off a lateral move that required me to use a small off-route hold (my route's hold had snapped off). I fell about 15 feet, and pulled Tor off the ground, but it was a clean fall into empty air, and happened so quickly it was over before I knew it. Peter said that his only comments were that I looked a little shaky (the route was nearly entirely overhung), but that my beta, footwork and clipping were fine. I then belayed Tor, and apparently was erring on the side of a TOO-tight belay, which I thought was interesting because I was freaking out about how much slack was in the system - apparently slack in lead climbing isn't such a bad thing. So I need to work on smoother, longer pulls to feed slack, and not worrying so much about keeping the rope tight.

So, the tally for the morning:

ML10b(c), L10b(DNF), ML10c(clean, but UGLY), 10d(f)

Next week you will be mine, precious. Oh, yes.

Evening:
Today Evelyn turns 37, in celebration of which fact we at CFEB got to do a special workout in her honor...one that bears a suspicious resemblance to the Filthy Fifty.

"Evelyn"
I did them in this order:

• 37 Box jumps
• 37 Pull-Ups (Men C2B)
• 37 Push-Ups
• 37 Deadlift 185#/135#
• 37 Jump Squats
• 37 Sit-Ups
• 37 Superpersons
• 37 KB Swing 1 pood/35# dumbbell
• 37 Double-Unders
• 37 Reverse Burpees

33:54 nonRX (subbed regular burpees for inverted)
(splits: 1:47 | 5:16 | 3:18 | 7:07 | 2:08 | 1:44 | 1:24 | 2:18 | 3:46 | 5:02)

It was a good chipper - quickly ramping up to medium-high level of misery and then just stayed there regardless of what you were doing. Evelyn, of course, smoked it in under 27 minutes - Max likes birthday WODs to play to the birthday person's strengths, and Ev is very strong at these sorts of workouts. Of course, to do it in TRUE Evelyn Rodas fashion, we should have started 15 minutes late and then done something unexpected and even harder immediately afterwards, but I didn't point that out to Max. The class was pretty chaotic - it was really crowded! - but once he lifted the restriction on what order to do things in, the workout was surprisingly fine.

Afterwards we had a really nice party at Alex & Rebecca's, overflowing with healthy, sugar-free food. I really like hanging out with our CrossFit friends for many reasons, but one of the strongest reasons is that I can EAT with them. Parties and restaurants with family and friends is such a pain, as there are so many things I won't eat there, but last night's food was perfect: fruits, nuts, cheeses, meats, THREE guacamoles, simple chips, sparkling water...Polly even made a sugar-free pie out of dates and coconut that I really want to get the recipe for. Delicious!