Stacie Tovar is, without a doubt, one of my top 5 favorite female CrossFit athletes. Seriously. I did my hair like hers for the open. I love her to death.
After this weekend's regionals and her awesome 6th place finish, it was confirmed that while we have seen her at the Games for 5 years, we won't be seeing her for her 6th.
But it doesn't matter to me. Usually, I try to focus on how CrossFit is everyone and everyone is CrossFit and we shouldn't compare ourselves to the elite if that's not where we are because it's like comparing apples and oranges. But I'm wrong this time.
Stacie Tovar is CrossFit and I am impressed. Day 1 of the North Central regionals was really emotional. Stacie struggled on her hang snatch and then the handstand walk definitely went sideways. I watched it all and thought, "I know exactly how she feels". I know the feeling of frustration and anger when you are absolutely positive that you could have done better. You could have given more.
Day 2 was an improvement, but going into Day 3, things were lookin' not great from a points standpoint for Stacie.
And that's when I realized why I love her as an athlete so much. We've all been there. We've been to the place where we want to give up and, if we're lucky, we don't. We know what it feels like to be disappointed. We know what it feels like to be knocked down by adversity and say, "f*ck that noise, you're not getting the best of me," and get back up.
That's what I love about Stacie. Her effort. Her attitude. The fact that, even when she could have, she didn't ever give up. She didn't throw in the towel and let everyone walk all over her so she could say, "well, I didn't even really try." The fact that, when it was over--despite not qualifying for the games, she felt it was "an honor to compete".
