Athlete of the Month: Meghan Keeley McCoy

Athlete of the Month: Meghan Keeley McCoy

Birthday– November 30, 1991
CrossFit Birthday– May 1, 2011

How did you hear about CF?
I play soccer a Grand View University and my freshman year I had an assistant coach who walked up to me one day as we were getting on the bus for an away game and asked me if I had salt in my dorm room. I’ve never had a coach ask for salt before so I asked her why she needed it. She proceeded to show me her hands which were all torn up and disgusting. I was obviously concerned about her mental state and asked why she did that to herself, she said her workout had 100 pull-ups in it. I immediately rolled my eyes and said “bull-shit, there is no way you did 100 pull-ups in one workout”. She said “yes I did and it was awesome, and you would love it” then proceeded to put the salt in her hands and hold back tears. For some reason after this experience I decided to look into CrossFit, and I watched every video 515 posted to youtube (thats a LOT of videos). And I decided to give it a try instead of doing the boring summer lifting packet they gave us. It looked really hard and quite frankly it scared the heck out of me. For the first couple months I was always worried I wouldn’t be able to do something or wouldn’t do very well at the workout. CrossFit humbled me and I learned to just do my best and the rest takes care of itself.

How has CF changed your life?
I could probably write a book about how CrossFit changed my life but I will try and paraphrase. I had a club soccer coach tell me one time “you can turn an athlete into a soccer player, but you can’t turn a soccer player into an athlete, and Meghan you just aren’t an athlete”. That one stung a little and unfortunately I believed him. Basically I just needed to find the right training program and CrossFit made me the athlete I never believed I could be. In CrossFit I found a community of people who are driven and determined, that energy is infectious and is so great to be around on a daily basis. I don’t know another gym in town where the members would go watch a women’s college soccer game on a chilly Saturday afternoon, or hang a poster up on the front desk but thats the kind of people we have at our gym. And there aren’t really words to describe how much those things mean to me. I am still pretty young and to have role models like I do at the gym has been such a blessing for my life. The guys rock but the women especially make an impression on me everyday. I see moms and working women going in and doing incredible things. They are so gracious, so generous, and so encouraging, I can’t tell you the number of times I have thought to myself “wow I want to be like so and so when I grow up.” Without a doubt CrossFit has helped shape the person I am now and helped me narrow the focus on where I want to go in life. CrossFit lights a fire inside that seems to fuel so many aspects of life, and I believe that the people who experience it know that they have something very special.

Favorite or least favorite movement?
I feel like sometimes you have an experience with CrossFit where a movement can give you so much trouble that it’s almost traumatizing. It is then human nature to try and avoid it. For some reason I have a lot of those experiences with wall balls (Karen is my least favorite workout). I also don’t like GHD sit ups. But my favorite movements come from those experiences where I felt like I broke through and accomplished something. Rope climbs, double unders, and bar muscle ups give me that feeling.

Job info:
I have recently embarked on a new employment adventure as the CrossFit 515 intern. It was a pretty intense process to get the job but it’s all about who you know with these things;) So far the hardest part of the job was a static hold of 135# in the front rack position while Van did 20 wall balls, 15 toes to bar, and 10 hang cleans for 4 rounds. The best part is hanging out with my favorite people all of the time and watching them do amazing things on a daily basis. I also work at the best restaurant in Des Moines, Flying Mango (very paleo friendly and the brisket will make you think you died and went to meat heaven). I am a part time nanny for a 4 month old little nugget named Violet. I am the Assistant Director of The Academy for Iowa Rush Soccer Club. And I work at Sun Seekers Tan Spa part time as well.

Something funny or interesting about me?
I really want to become a Firefighter when I grow up. That is what I plan on doing after I graduate from Grand View in December.

Favorite saying?
I absolutely love inspirational quotes and sayings but my favorite is actually a piece of scripture. “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him or all he has done.” Phillippians 4:6

Most/least favorite song to WOD to?
My favorite song is Call Me Maybe but Bobby changes it every time it comes on for some reason. So I guess it would be Not Afraid by Eminem. Least favorite is Porn Star Dancing.

Favorite movie?
“Aint Nobody Got Time For That” staring Sweet Brown.

What movement or skill were you most excited about when you were able to do it?
I will let you know when I can finally do a muscle up on the rings.

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