My journey as a runner has been that of a secondary nature. I have always run as a way to train for the game I love most: soccer. Running was the means by which I could play the game with endurance, speed and, now that I am approaching 40, longevity. No matter the motivation, I fell into at least one annual race a year, starting out small with a tough trail 5K, and then graduating to the 10K version of the trail race. I will preface that I have never been a fast runner, I am the tortoise rather than the hare. This is the point at which CrossFit entered my story.I had been running 3-4 times per week, supplementing with a popular subscription-based HIIT program for cross-training (and using my “rest days” to play soccer on the weekends). A brave and persistent dear friend had been pestering me for over a year to join CrossFit, insisting I would love it. She had done me a favor by joining my soccer team, so I felt the least I could do was entertain her and show up to a Friends and Family introductory workshop. I had felt fairly confident in my fitness level, that subscription video even advertised one of their programs as a great way to get in shape if you plan to join CrossFit (myth #1). My first class was very informative, but I was openly skeptical. Up to this point my journey in fitness was a treasured solitary time of trail runs and mental challenge, and my introvert self did not love the idea of groups of strangers intruding on this. By the end of the classes, I had decided, mostly to be a good friend, I’d sign up for twice a week in order to get some accountability with the half marathon I was shooting for next. However, much to my frustration, I had overused my tendons due to poor running stride and abused much of my body during my weekend soccer games, and thus began dealing with Achilles tendonitis.By the time I set foot in my first actual class, I had trained up to the mileage I needed for the 10K race 5 weeks away; however, my Achilles was limiting my running, and I found myself both apprehensive about backing off my mileage to allow myself to heal and pushing through it risking a much larger injury. Coach Parker challenged me to drop running altogether and to press into the training at CrossFit. He felt confident I would allow my tendon to heal and maybe even get a faster time than if I simply stuck with my running schedule. I decided to risk it and give it a whirl, as I felt completely out of options. CrossFit myth #2 dispelled: this experience has been one of healing and correction, rather than risk and injury.I have trained for three 10K’s, two of which were canceled by the pandemic. My first 10K I completed in early April, getting my best time after having run the course dozens of times throughout my training. Two weeks later, I ran another and again beat my time, shaving off only a couple seconds off my original 10K mile time. Still, faster is faster. I will say, during this time, Coach Parker had been analyzing and working with me on correcting my running stride. Each race, I was focused on only two things: finishing without stopping and working on correcting years of a now ingrained running stride.My CrossFit journey has morphed from something to entertain a friend, and then something to do on the side, to now a way of living. I have yet to do more than a handful of training runs in a month and jumped into my last 10K with some trepidation, having not run in nearly 6 weeks. My goal was to just run the entire thing and not die. My results, however, were something I could have never anticipated: I took 25 seconds off my mile time, running by far the fastest pace and furthest distance I have ever done, even in my early years as a late teen. CrossFit is truly a place for everyone, a place that is just as challenging for the elite athletes and the varsity couch potatoes alike. I look forward to the doors that will continue to open for me in this journey with the coaches and CrossFit family I feel so at home with.