November 2012

Name: Allie Chrismer
Age: 16
Occupation: High School Student

Hi, my name is Allie Chrismer and I'm 16 years old. I was diagnosed with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), a heart disease, about a year ago.  If I do things that get my heart rate up or drastically change my position, I could pass out.   My heart doesn't pump blood like it should.  A normal heart will fill up with blood and then pump that blood out and send it all over your body.  When my heart beats it doesn't always fill up the whole way.  So sometimes my heart beats faster to try to make up for the blood that my heart isn't filling up with.   

Normally a person with POTS will pass out after about 20 minutes of being up right. I passed out in 4 minutes. So you could say my case is pretty severe. After I was diagnosed I tried a bunch of different medicines. Medicines that made my blood pressure increase, and ones that made it decrease. There was at least 12 different ones I tried. Most with unpleasant side effects.  So once they had no more meds to try the doctors pretty much said, there's nothing else we can do you'll have to live with it.

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May 2012

Name: Melissa Guitron
Age: 25
Occupation: Coach at CrossFit San Mateo - Certified in: Level 1 CrossFit, CF Gymnastics, CF Football, CF Kids and Mobility

You know what you know and you don’t know what do you don’t know. Four years ago if you asked me to define beauty, I probably would have told you it involved weighing 120 pounds, wearing a size four and looking “lean and toned.”  Today, though I wear a size 4, I am proud to weigh a strong 150 pounds.  Before Crossfit I simply did not know.  In a world that tells us who we are is not enough, not thin enough, not pretty enough, not tan enough, not strong enough, it is hard to believe that you are enough.

When did strong become the new skinny?

I discovered CrossFit three years ago through my ex-husband.  When he returned from his deployment to Afghanistan he introduced me to CrossFit and a completely new world of, you are not enough.  While CrossFit motivates most people to want to better for themselves, I embraced CrossFit to make my husband happy.  For 12 months I had spent hours on the elliptical, counting calories and skipping meals, starving myself in an attempt turn my body into what I thought was desirable.  I thought exposed hip and collar bones was beauty, yet now I find myself envious of girls with muscles and strength because that is what my husband suddenly found attractive.  All my hard work was now, once again, not enough. It was no longer, you are not skinny enough but instead you are not strong enough.  I was now expected to learn to row fast, jump high and clean massive amounts of weight all while wearing booty shorts if I wanted to be enough for him.

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April 2012

Name: Susan Wallis
Age: 59
Occupation: Retired High School Teacher

1982 - A 29 year-old Susan Wallis runs a local 5k with a group of women from the school where she teaches high school math.  She’s hooked.

1988 - Susan qualifies for the prestigious Boston Marathon (26.2 miles) with a time of 3 hours and 19 minutes (7:35/mile pace).  Qualifying in 1988 was tougher than in 2012. Today, a 35 year old woman would “only” have to finish in 3 hours 40 minutes or better (8:23/mile).

1991 – An experienced training buddy tells Susan that she is in shape to do an Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run).  What a great friend!  With little knowledge of swimming or cycling, Susan signs up for the first Great Florida Triathlon, a brand new “iron-distance” race.

2012 - Susan is 59 years old, a mother of two, and a retired school teacher.  I’ve come to learn that Susan is as humble as she is talented and I can thank her daughter Chrissy for nominating her for Fashlete of the Month.

Since her first triathlon in 1991, Susan has completed AT LEAST one ironman per year, and at most THREE.  Her total to date is 36 Ironman/iron-distance races.  That’s 86.4 miles of swimming, 4,032 miles of cycling, and 943.2 miles of running… and that’s just the racing part.  Imagine the ground she has covered in training!

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