Sept. 19, 2012

Who or what got you involved in Crossfit?

Once I graduated from UofA and finished my 4 years of soccer I didn’t know what to do for myself to keep in shape. I have always loved training for something so I tried running and trained/competed in a couple half marathons and shorter races. Once, I realized running long distance was not for me, I had got into figure competitions, which is isolation muscle training with extremely clean and restricted dieting. After two competitions, and getting married (to my trainer) I wasn’t happy that all the hard work I would put in did not show any type of athleticism on my part, just physique. So, with that said, my husband and I were watching the CrossFit games on T.V and were amazed at the athleticism of the competitors and from that day of July 2011 my husband said, “In a year, we will own our own CrossFit Gym” and the next day we spent all of our wedding money, built a CF gym in our garage and started training ourselves only CrossFit and have never looked back.

How important is your training for you as a former collegiate athlete?

Besides the fact that I am a trainer and own a CrossFit gym, the importance of training is crucial to maintaining overall health. I have been blessed by God to have a desire and passion to train hard and put my body through workouts the average person wouldn’t do and because of that gift I never do anything less, nor do I ever neglect it. I love training and the results I get from working out with intensity and eating properly, I know the training I do now will help me slow down the degradation of my body when I am old. God willing, I will be an old grandma still squatting, running, pressing, and living an active life without anyone’s help.

How do you stay connected to Arizona Athletics and other letterwinners?

I am and will always be a Wildcat. I am still very close with some of my teammates from college, in fact Jasmine Namdar was in my wedding and even though we are in different states we make it a point to stay in touch on a regular basis (and her family as well). I also try and keep updated on my teammates lives via facebook. As for the current players at U of A I like to check in on their season as much as possible and make it to at least one game each year. I hope we are able to set up an Alumni game in the future because I would love to see everyone together again.
Outside of soccer, I still keep in touch with other letter winners and enjoy seeing all of their successes.

You are part owner in this company, how did you go about taking on such a great opportunity!?

As I mentioned above, my husband set a goal and never stopped striving for until it happened. This opportunity did not come easy and it was not done on our own. I can’t even begin to describe how blessed we have been in the entire process by the help of family and friends that God placed in our lives, to just having discernment to know exactly where we belong and how to run our program. It has been quite a feat but it is totally worth it and we love every minute of it. I have to add that even though we have our gym running, I am also working full time at a Blood Donor testing lab on the weekends until I am able to transition 100% at the gym. It seems like a lot to be working 7 days a week, but the 4 days I am at the gym, are some of the greatest times of my “week off”.

What is your inspiration every day to do what you do? How has it changed for you (maybe it hasn’t!) since college?

My inspiration everyday is to just follow God’s lead and I know that this is where He wants my husband and I. Every member that walks through our door has been prayed for and whether it’s a workout, a nutrition lecture, mobility, whatever the case may be, we want them to be blessed in our gym. Our members are the most important piece to our gym, without them it would not be CrossFit blade. We are a close community and we come together to train hard and be there for each other, it’s more than just a gym. It’s like a “new” team, we train hard together, support one another, celebrate each others successes, and failures.

Thank you Claire for sharing your story, we respect the way you have represented Arizona in such an admiral fashion. BEAR DOWN!