2015 Reebok Crossfit Games

When I was in school there were no sports for girls - that's how old I am: 61.

At age 16, and again at age 39, I had breast cancer. Having survived treatment and wanting to celebrate remission, I decided to train for sprint triathlons that honored breast cancer survivors. I had to learn to swim and run and was soon competing in local triathlons. Eventually I completed close to 15. I mixed things up by competing in half marathons and duathlons usually coming in second place. I love second place - there's no pressure to win.

At age 53 I decided to try a new gym that was a Crossfit gym. Since I am a breast cancer survivor, I told the coach I was not able to lift over 50 pounds per my oncologist. Within a few months, under close supervision, I was lifting over 120 pounds without incident.

At age 54 I told my coach I would like to train for the Crossfit Games. Instead of laughing at me, he started me on a weightlifting program in addition to the daily crossfit workouts.

At age 56 I qualified for the 2015 Crossfit Games in Carson, California. While I achieved my goal, shortly before the July Games I started bleeding. I was utterly confused about this symptom and pushed it aside until after the competition. Once I returned I contacted a GI for a colonoscopy, was diagnosed with UC and told to check back in 10 years for another colonoscopy. By January 2016 the bleeding was much more severe. I switched GI drs, had another colonoscopy and was prescribed Lialda. The bleeding came and went over the next couple years.

Pretty much I was in major denial about UC.

I pushed it to the back of my mind and kept up my daily 2-3 hours of crossfit training. I simply did not understand that this was a chronic autoimmune disease until just a few months ago. In the spring of 2019 I was ranked 5th in the world, in my age division 60+, but having strong flares. I begged for prednisone. It stopped the bleeding, but my ranking fell to 13th and I missed the Top Ten cutoff for the 2019 Crossfit Games.

Having now come to terms about the life long impacts of the disease, I contacted a naturopath to start some different treatments. (My GI wanted to start biologics as my disease is now in my 20 inches of my colon.) I also switched to competitive Olympic Weightlifting as it seems to have less impact on my body. Currently, I have qualified for the 2020 Nationals in late August. However, with the current state of Covid, I am taking the stay-at-home orders very seriously and not leaving my home. I will have to decline my invite to this competition.

During my meetings with my naturopath we discussed Elite Athletes. I asked if UC was a death sentence, end of the road, for competitive athletes as I searched and have found none.

Having survived breast cancer I was not expecting to be faced with another major health issue. I have since retired from teaching special education and feel less stress associated with working.

I would love to know if there are others who are able to keep up with a regime of training to allow for elite competitions.