Announcing our rock star of the month! Shirley Fowler! We go a ways back and it is a joy to coach you in your journey! From CrossFit, to half marathons, to coaching swim lessons. You are amazing and impact so many lives. Keep yp the hard work Shirley!
Name: Shirley Fowler
Age: since this is going to be posted on Facebook I would rather not say.
Family: My mom is still living but my Dad is deceased. I have 1 sister, 2 nephews, and 1 great nephew.
How long have you been CrossFitting?: Almost 3 years. I started on May 7th, 2012. My first WOD was a 6 min AMRAP of 5 push-ups, 10 squats, 10 sit-ups, and 20 jump rope jumps. I finished 3 rounds plus 5 sit-ups. I officially started with JCCF on 1-4-13. On 1-5-13 we did the WOD “Grand Franing”. Fran is 21-15-9 of thrusters and pull-ups. I finished in 6:35 with a 35 pound bar and doing ring rows. That was a PR from the first time I did the Fran WOD though.
What time do you come to WOD normally? I normally come at 5:30 PM. I get asked all of the time if I go to the 5:00 AM class and I tell people no way, not going to happen!!! I am not a morning person!
Favorite Lift: Hmm, maybe the Clean, even though I still need to work on it! It feels great when all of the little things come together to complete the lift.
Favorite Met Con/Cardio: I think if I could ever do double-unders that would be my favorite cardio move.
Favorite Gymnastic/Body weight Movement: My favorite body weight movement probably has to be sit-ups.
Tell us some about your journey, greatest accomplishments. Like what was your reason for starting, why you stuck with it? What makes you keep coming back? Tell me some of your greatest accomplishments at the box: My reason for starting Crossfit was that someone told me about it and told me I should try it out, so I did. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. I stuck with it because I liked it and I enjoyed the challenge and variety of every WOD. After 3 years of doing Crossfit I have done very few WOD’s that are exactly the same as another WOD. I keep coming back because I enjoy the challenges, the variety, and the support and encouragement of the other athletes. At JCCF no athlete ever completes a WOD alone, even when you are the last person to finish. Someone is always cheering for you or even finishing the WOD with you. Some of my greatest accomplishments were the first time I completed a double-under, the first time I did a handstand against the wall without help, and most recently getting 2:00 minutes on a 500 meter row. I continue to get PR’s and that is a great accomplishment every time!
If you could give any advice for a person new to CrossFit, what would it be?: Don’t give up! It’s hard but you can do it and it is worth it. There are modifications for every move so anyone can do it. You just have to want to do it!
Favorite Quotes: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” — Philippians 4:13. “Don’t quit!” “Never give up.” “You can do it.” “Dead last finish is better than did not finish, which greatly trumps did not start!”
Anything else you wish to share that your heart desires: In my “spare” time I LOVE spending time with my family. My family means the world to me and I am so glad to have each of them in my life. Sometimes we don’t get to be together as much as we would like but I cherish every moment we are together. I enjoy spending time on the farm, seeing baby calves being born, and helping out with things that need to be done to keep it going. We have 2 new babies right now and my mom and I got to see the 2nd one make it’s appearance into the world. It is so much fun to watch baby calves run and play. I have always enjoyed going to my nephew’s events, whether it was a sporting event, a school event, a church event, or whatever. I enjoy being with them but now we go to more events together, rather than me going to watch them. We all enjoy watching sporting events together too. Some day soon I will be going to my great nephew’s events and I can’t wait. He has already started taking swimming lessons and I hope I can watch him sometime soon.
I enjoy sports of all kinds but one of my favorites is swimming. I have been swimming all of my life. I was on the swim team for several years, I was a lifeguard, a swim instructor, and an assistant swim team coach for one year. I currently teach swim lessons to all ages and it is a lot of fun. My sister, both of my nephews, and a couple of cousins also all swam or are currently swimming on a swim team.
Maria mentioned that she is impressed with all of the half marathons I have completed. I didn’t start running until a little over 3 years ago. When I was younger I hated running and I sometimes still do. However, in the past 3 or so years I have completed numerous 5K’s (3.1 miles), several 10K’s (6.2 miles), one 15K (9.3 miles), and about 11 half marathons (13.1 miles). My favorite half marathon up until this point is the Disney World Half Marathon. It was my second half marathon but it was a lot of fun. There were Disney characters every mile or so and you could stop and have your picture taken with them, with your own camera even. I think I stopped every time. There was usually a line so I had to wait but I really enjoyed it and I have pictures and memories to last a lifetime. At one point we were running through one of the parks and blaring on the speakers was the song “It’s a small world, after all”. That’s a catchy little song too that will be stuck in your head for hours after you hear it! A lot of people said you can’t get a PR at Disney but I did and that still remains one of my best half marathon times to this day. I got to spend a little time at the parks and I loved it. That was my first and only time to Disney World and I enjoyed it just as if I were a little kid. I would go again if I ever have the chance.