We cover the sport of CrossFit from all angles. We talk with athletes, coaches and celebrities that compete and surround in the sport of CrossFit at all levels. We also bring you Breaking News, Human Interest Stories and report on the Methodology of CrossFit. We also use the methodology to make ourselves the fittest we can be.
I was born to kill it.
I was meant to win.
I am down and willing,
so I will find a way.
It took a minute,
now it didn't have to ride away.
When it get hot in the kitchen,
you decide to stay.
That's how it win us, man.
Stick a fork in the hay to ruin my day.
What is going on, everybody?
Welcome to the Clydesdale Media Podcast,
where we are featuring the
athletes of the 2024
CrossFit Games Semifinals.
And I'm excited for this one.
I get to talk to Kira Napoli.
Kira, how are you doing?
I'm so good.
Thank you so much for having me.
Of course, of course.
We met a couple years ago on this podcast.
Got to hang out at the
semifinals a little bit.
You're one of my...
Greatest memories in CrossFit.
Oh, well, that's so sweet.
Thank you.
That was,
this was like my first ever real
interview for CrossFit too.
So it's very,
very special because that was
my first time ever
competing at that semis two years ago.
Do you remember what
happened at that semifinal
during the lifting event?
Oh,
that is burned in my memory is like one
of my favorite CrossFit events ever.
It was my first time.
And the fact that it started
with that was amazing.
And at the time I was doing
proven compete and Tia was
right there behind me.
And I remember in practice I had hit 220.
So I knew I wanted to hit that.
And once I got it, my second set,
I was like,
Okay.
And I, and it was so funny.
I was kind of looking around to see who,
maybe I could ask for some
advice and Tia happened to be there.
And I just asked her, I was like, can I,
uh, I was like, what do you think?
Should I, should I go up?
And she was like, how'd,
how'd the first bar feel?
I'm like, good.
And she was like, yeah, go up by 10.
And then I hit 220.
And then it's like, okay,
I think I'm going to go up by five.
And I just remember, um,
All I knew,
I didn't know what the first heat got.
I knew that Kalerino was competing.
So I figured she would hit a huge number.
So I just wanted to focus on
winning my heat.
And I saw the girl miss 225.
So I was like, Oh,
I gotta hit this like this would be huge.
And I remember
like the cleans felt fantastic.
I was able to power clean the first two.
And I remember sitting on my
shoulder before the jerk
and I could just hear Tia yelling, like,
come on.
I'm like,
you cannot miss with Tia watching you.
Like you cannot miss this bar.
So hitting that, like, oh, it was so cool.
It's such a rush.
It was the coolest way to
start like my competitive
CrossFit career.
So what was crazy for me is
I was standing beside Tia
in the media pit while all
this is happening.
And she's just like pumping you up.
Like she's turning to me
like she's going to be really good.
She's good.
She's really strong.
She's got this and just
going on and on and on.
And then I talked to you afterwards.
And when you told me it was all a surprise,
it's one of the coolest
memories I have ever in CrossFit.
Oh, well, thank you.
That, that means so much to me.
It was very, it was very cool for me too.
It was awesome.
So at that point you had
just come out of softball college,
you were jumping on a
competition floor and you
had played softball at a
very high level in college
for 15 years and we're now
switching sports and you
actually had an amazing
first year at semifinals.
Yes.
Oh, thank you.
I, yeah,
it went way better than I expected.
So I was, I was pumped about it.
Couldn't be happy.
I think I was just,
just out of the top half.
I think it was like 16th.
That was when they had 30 there.
Um,
but at the time I could barely do a
muscle up.
Like I could barely do gymnastics.
So to finish where I did, I was,
I was thrilled.
So then you go to Orlando last year.
And one of my team caught up
with you after Linda
actually have that interview right here.
my gosh uh so I'm gonna play
it and then we'll talk
about it after okay okay
you are our dark horse to
win this event I'm so
excited that was so fun and
honestly like seeing the
women in my heat I was like
oh my god I'm working out
with like the well sisters
this is crazy and kind of
actually next to me who I
always looked up to and
she's my jam back home and
she's so strong so it's
really fun being next to some
someone so strong and I knew
she was going to kill it.
So for me,
that was just about staying in my lane.
Even when I heard like
Brooke was ahead of me,
I know you don't win that
workout in round seven.
I just had to stay steady on the bar.
Don't try to get cocky and
do touch and go in the beginning.
You're going to tire yourself out.
And then ending up breaking
the deadlifts actually
ended up being really good
because your grip was
pretty tired going into the event.
So when I did the deadlift, I was like,
let me do a set and some singles.
And it ended up paying off
because in the later rounds,
I felt really, really good.
And I was able to go touch
and go at the end.
So that was just so cool.
I've never had a heat wave
so I was so cool.
I knew that was a lie
because I did have a heat
win technically with my complex,
but I think that one was so
different because it was
like 20 people and it was
heat two and it just felt ginormous.
So like winning out of 20
really fit girls in the second heat
that one actually was by far
my favorite like that was
the because it was also the
crowd was just right there
and I could just see like
all these people yelling
and I'm like oh this is so
cool my family was right
there so I saw my sister
jumping up and down and my
mom and my aunt and like I
was staring at them the
whole time like on my last
one so that one was just
like extra special.
So
You finished fourth overall in that event.
Yes.
Super impressive in Linda.
A question for you.
Yeah.
Because of what happened in
Europe this last weekend,
if you would have been in
the same heat as the three
women that finished ahead of you,
would it given you a shot
to finish higher?
Probably.
I think the only one that
would have been tough,
was Amanda, that one,
cause she really smashed it.
She was like a minute faster than me.
But oh yeah,
when you have the girls next to you, like,
oh, you just, you push so much harder.
Even when I had fast people next to me,
once I got a lead,
I just made sure I'm like, don't lose it.
Like keep the same distance apart.
So sometimes when you're at that place,
it helps push you to stay in front.
And if I had been in the last heat,
I definitely think,
so I think maybe a second
place finish I could have got.
Yeah,
because Amanda was so... She won
worldwide.
I think she won worldwide on that one.
But she was so fast.
But the other scores were
like 20 seconds off.
So that's just little things
that you push a little bit.
I think I was mostly focused
on staying in my lane and
winning my heat.
But yeah, if I'd have been in the last one,
definitely.
So there's been a lot of
talk over the last couple
days about Europe not
reseating on the last day.
And that... And I think
yesterday on Death By...
uh all three of the
panelists said it's going
to cost somebody a trip to
the games because they're
not going to have that
opportunity to be against
the people that they
deserve to be up against
yeah in that final heat uh
to be able to make sure
that they do what they need
to do to get in the games
yeah that was and honestly
I was kind of shocked that
Europe got less spots.
I think they deserved more.
They're a very, very fit region.
That's the one that,
looking at all the scores
for quarters in the Open,
Europe's where I would have
finished the lowest.
And I think it's the same
case for a lot of people.
So I was a little bit hurt
for some of the people,
especially the guys.
I was watching a little bit
because I really was
wanting to watch Linda
because she's a TTT athlete
and I was so excited for her.
But I didn't get the chance.
I just saw today, I was like, oh,
I didn't know Janikowski didn't make it.
and it just shows you like
how fit people are and how
hard the sport is getting
and it's anyone you can't
have a bad event anymore
especially with how they
made it this year with
cutting it and making it
less people making it less
workouts especially for
quarters you really
couldn't have a bad workout
or because there's some
very fit girls I know who
didn't even make semis this year
It's an interesting dynamic,
and we don't need to get
into all that because I
want to talk about you mostly.
But I think you're in the
toughest division in the world.
Oh, thank you.
You can say that you would
have finished lower in Europe.
The tests were not complex enough,
in my opinion,
to determine that up to this point.
Yeah, I agree.
I think quarters was purely –
my opinion it was purely
engine I mean even the
barbell workout I don't
believe was a test of
strength I think you had
lactic acid build up in the
legs but I think it was
much much much more about
breathing because I was
just remembering that
workout I was like so out
of breath but I like
barbell cycling but I think
we really didn't have a
true test of strength this
year um I was a little bit
shocked by that and I think
that really fluctuates for
a lot of people yeah I felt like
quarters two years ago was
the one that was very well-rounded.
It had some max lifts.
It had some gymnastics.
It had a power output.
We really haven't had a
power output event either.
And that's always something
that like fluctuates.
I think the East has a lot
of really powerful girls.
Um, so does Europe,
but it was definitely hard
to judge this year.
Cause I felt like all the
workouts are very, very engine based.
Yeah.
I think, I think strength wise,
Europe probably is a little
less than America.
Um, but then you see five foot one, um,
Elisa Fuliano when the
snatch ladder and you're like, so anyway,
she, and she is tiny.
She is.
I've stood beside her.
She is as tiny as they come.
So strong though.
Oh, just she crushed that workout.
It was awesome.
so so back to you you
switched to ttt from proven
I did and was that before
semis last year or after so
I was just following proven
compete so I didn't really
have a coach or anything I
was just following a
program so I followed that
for about two years.
And I'd say it was about a
month before semis last
year and around quarters time,
it was actually Max who was
talking to Travis and said, you know,
how come Kira hasn't gotten a coach yet?
Like, I'm very curious about that.
And Trav was actually very
right when he told him,
I think she wants someone
that she knows and knows her pretty well,
not just like a stranger.
And he's absolutely right.
So I was actually the one
who decided to ask Travis to coach me.
So TTT coaches were pretty booked.
They were pretty full.
And I know that they all,
it's kind of like a unit here.
Everyone helps out each other.
So like Adam was helping me
coach me today.
So I figured I knew Travis
would want to get into coaching.
So I thought I'm just going
to ask him the worst he can say is no.
So I asked him, he was like,
I'll talk to Max about it and see.
And he came back to me a
couple of days later.
He's like, yeah, let's do it.
Like I would love to do it,
but let's start after semis.
He's like,
just keep doing what you're doing.
So I would jump into some of
the workouts with TTT,
but for the most part,
I was just getting ready
for semis on my own.
And then,
he would text me a little
bit during semis if I
needed any help but I
really started to like kick
it into gear after semis
last year so I've been with
him about a year now wow I
mean what is there a cooler
coach than that
No, it's, it's, it's been the best.
It's awesome.
I think it's like a learning
experience for him too.
Cause he hasn't, I know he's coached,
like he's a coach at our gym.
So he's great at coaching that,
but I don't think he's
coached a competitive athlete before.
And I was like, I'll be your test dummy.
That's fine.
Like, I don't care.
I've known him a long time
and I wanted to learn from
someone who has a lot of
experience in the sport.
To me,
it's all about getting to kind of
relate to somebody and
someone understanding how I'm feeling.
And he's been doing this 13 years.
So there was no one better.
And I figured he would learn,
I would learn as well.
And it's been awesome.
I've gotten to learn from
all the coaches here.
They're fantastic.
And getting to work with him has just been,
it's been a joy.
He's very similar to me personality wise.
So I think that's why I like it so much.
So are you from the Alpharetta area or...
Yes, I live like 10 minutes from the gym.
Your whole life?
Yes.
Wow.
Yeah,
so I've known Travis since high school.
So I would come in here,
like work out a little bit
when I was playing softball.
And then when I was home for
summer breaks and winter breaks,
I would hop into the gym.
And then once I graduated in 2021,
I moved back to Alpharetta.
So now I'm really shocked
you ever went with Proven.
Yeah,
I think it's because when I was in
college, I...
wanted something to follow
online and my friend had
said good things about us.
I'm like, great, I'll do it.
And it was great.
It was hard.
It was challenging.
Um,
and I had the chance to meet great
people there at all the camps,
but I really wanted someone
just in person.
I really wanted someone that
I could actually see
several times a week who I
could work with.
And it definitely was a good decision.
And so you didn't have to
move or anything like, yep.
Got to stay here, which is great.
I got very lucky.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um,
So going back to your Instagram,
like you shout Travis out a lot.
Um, and you know,
a coach athlete
relationship has to be a
close one because you have
to be able to say what you
need to say in both directions.
Yeah.
Um, you said you've known him a long time.
Did you feel comfortable
from day one being able to
have those conversations?
Yes.
And I think we're still getting to, like,
we're still building it up.
Like,
I'm not at a point where we're close
enough yet to where I'll yell at him,
be like, what the heck were you thinking?
I think that is one of those
when it takes time.
Like he said, him and Max,
who've been working together forever,
like there'll be times that
of course they butt heads about things,
but for the most part, I just trust him.
I listen to what he has to say.
I'll ask him questions.
I'm not afraid to ask him questions,
let him know how I'm feeling.
So yeah,
So far it's been really, really great.
And I really loved it.
I learned a lot from him and he just,
he's very good too at keeping me calm.
I get really,
really nervous because even
though I was a pitcher,
this is a very individual sport.
So pitching was kind of both.
So I do think that helped me,
but this is purely
individual and I'll get really,
really nervous for
qualifiers sometimes and things.
He's very good at keeping me calm.
I'm very good at making it fun.
And that's the most important thing.
So if I'm not having fun doing this,
I wouldn't do it.
So how much,
how much is your training
partner and coach or are you,
do you work out more with
other athletes that are there?
So normally I train before
and after work or I'll do
one big session after work.
So around one semis workouts
got released and we were
focusing on like those movements.
I really could get
everything in and one pretty big sex,
big session.
What I started doing is, um,
One day a week,
I will go to work an hour early.
I'll leave during the day
and then I'll come here and
jump in with athletes here.
So that's Jake, Matt Gilpin, Travis,
Alexis, Lydia, and Ashley,
I think are all the people
here who qualified.
Linda went back to Europe,
so she wasn't here for
majority of semi stuff.
So I'll jump in with them once a week.
And then normally on Saturdays,
I'll jump in as well.
And then the other days I'm on my own.
And with Travis,
do you ever train with him
or does he just like give
you your workout?
Cause he's got a family too,
that he's going to take care of.
Total mix, total mix.
So he'll sometimes jump in with me.
Um, like today I worked out with him, um,
but then he's going to have
to do the other workouts later.
I did one just now and
Saturdays I normally am with him as well.
And sometimes you do different things,
but a lot of times he'll
just give me something to do.
Like I need to work on
different things than him.
a lot of times.
And yeah, very similar.
He's got a family, I have a job.
So we kind of have to work
around that as best as possible.
But like for quarters,
there was times that he was
there and able to watch
every single movement of
event and talk to me in between.
And then there were times when he was like,
Hey, I am here with the kids.
Like,
can you just technically have any
questions about the workout?
Let me know how it goes.
Um, but it's been great.
It's like,
I knew that coming into it and
he knew I was pretty
similar to him where I don't need
especially during competition.
I don't need, okay, we need to do this,
this, this, this, and this.
Like once I'm there, it's like,
we got a plan.
I know what it is.
I just got to do it.
So I'm pretty similar to him
in that when it's time to compete,
I just compete.
I feel prepped going up to it.
So a couple of questions.
So first of all,
what do you do to support yourself?
I work for a nonprofit
called cell phones for soldiers.
So that's a nine to five Monday to Friday.
Um, I do marketing for them, emails, calls,
and I basically give
veterans phones and phone service.
So that's what I do.
I activate veterans on phone
plans and ship those out
throughout the week.
So I love it.
It's great.
It's very rewarding.
Is,
is there a goal to become a full-time
athlete?
No, I like working.
That's one thing.
I think it keeps me,
I don't think it's for everybody.
I totally understand the athletes.
Like obviously Lex, I get it.
This is her full-time thing,
her full-time job.
I understand she's one of
the best in the world.
Like it has to be.
For me, I think working keeps me sane.
I see working out in the gym
as a joy instead of like, oh God,
I gotta be in here all day.
And I like having a steady income.
So I think for me, it keeps me normal.
And I think it works for my brain.
I think otherwise I would go
a little bit too nuts and
too crazy in my head.
I think some of the best in
the world have to be a little bit.
And I get it.
But I like having a full-time job.
I want to really focus on
building a family and my
marriage and coming up,
which will be very soon.
So I want to make sure I
focus on all of that.
Don't skip ahead in my notes.
I know.
I was going to say.
Um,
it's funny because I co-host a show
with Carolyn Prevo and she
is a full-time teacher.
And for her, it's like,
it's all about efficiency, right?
I have this hour and that
hour and I get in,
I get my stuff done and I'm out.
Yep.
I talked to Scott Tetlow.
He's full-time service member, right?
He has one,
like one 90 minute segment in
the middle of the day for
his lunch that he gets his stuff in.
And then if he happens to
have another hour,
he'll go out to his garage
and work on holes.
Yep.
Like,
and neither one wanted any other way.
Yep.
I totally get it.
I relate to them so much.
I, it's, I don't know.
It's something about it.
Just,
it kind of gives you an escape and it
makes this feel more like a
blessing that I get to do it,
I guess is how I see it in my head.
And honestly, when I get to competition,
I'm so used to training tired that it's,
when I come to competition, like, man,
do I feel so fresh?
Cause I have no work.
Like I'll get, I'll get off for that.
And so it's very nice kind
of getting used to training
when your body's under fatigue,
you're mentally a little bit tired.
I think it makes me a little bit tougher.
Kind of also makes me shut
my brain off a little bit too.
So this is your best
finishing after quarters.
Yes.
Your three years.
Yes.
Um, by, by a good chunk.
Mm-hmm.
No max lift.
I was like my proudest thing.
I'm like,
there was not a single max lift
and it was my highest finish yet.
It was my proudest thing.
And as you're showing off the guns,
you are super strong.
Yeah.
You are very strong.
Thank you.
That's genetics.
I get very blessed.
It's a lot of hard work, but I,
I got strength has always
come a little bit more
easily to me just because of my,
my parents are both really strong.
So I got,
I got real lucky with the genetics there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so my question to you is
you now have seen the workouts for semis.
And if you look at kind of
your trajectory at semis,
I hate that the season
changes every year because
you finished 16th out of 30,
19th out of 60.
Yes.
So truly percentile wise, you got better.
Oh, much better.
Yeah.
Right.
Much better.
So both are on an upward trajectory.
What are your goals for this season?
This year was too,
with how hard they made it, I'm like,
okay, I want to make semis again.
I'm always very grateful to make it.
I think I have a lot of goals for myself.
I just keep them to myself.
Cause I'm like,
I don't want to be disappointed.
I, this is the most fit I felt.
This is like the first time where I'm like,
okay, I can maybe make the games.
Like I feel really, really good.
I feel very prepared.
But for me,
I'm very excited about Sunday
because those are three
workouts with three
movements that I've worked
so hard on this past year.
And I'm excited to test them.
And I'm kind of glad it's
like the first three
workouts are all about just
pacing and like,
kind of grinding through.
Whereas the last three,
I think are a lot about
strategy and being smart
and a lot about skills,
which I've worked a lot on.
So I'm excited.
Like, so for me, it's,
I want to do really well in
the first three workouts.
And then the last day I have
plans on them.
And if I can stick to my plans,
I will be very proud.
Like that is my, my biggest,
biggest thing.
I have like little goals for each workout.
And if I can stick to them,
I will be proud,
like no matter the outcome.
So one of the athletes I
talked to said that Sunday
is an execution day.
One,
the movements make it an execution day.
And two,
the nerves of Sunday are going to
make it an execution day.
Yes.
And so I like how you put it that like,
that's the day that you
have little goals and it's
stuff you've worked on.
We we've determined you're strong.
Yeah.
Are you strong in the snatch?
It's not my favorite lifts.
No, I,
but I've worked on it so much the
last year and I maxed my
snatch not long ago by like
over 10 pounds.
So now that I've hit heavier weights,
I feel more confident in it,
but it's not like a clean,
like if this had been a clean ladder,
it'd be no problem.
Just rip through.
But snatch is very technical.
It's very different.
You can't get away with just
brute strength.
You have to be strong everywhere.
You can't have any softness.
So especially like in the catch,
like where is it clean?
If you're a little bit forward,
you can correct it.
Can't really do that with a snatch.
It's much more technical.
So that one I have to be very,
very smart about just not rushing it.
It's actually one we just tested today.
And I definitely was like
rushing too much.
So I need to make sure that
one is about staying calm,
keeping my technique good
all the way throughout.
Europe went,
you get the chance to see them.
What I would take away on
that event is smooth as fast.
Oh, yeah.
Just no rushing.
I mean,
it does – I will say the changing
your own weights,
people don't realize your back is, like,
shot just because you're
bending over the whole time.
So that is definitely something that I,
like, noticed,
especially testing it all
the way through.
But I have to say I actually
hate going last.
I don't like it.
People like it because they're like,
we get to watch.
I'm like, no, I don't like it.
I think the middle is, like,
that sweet spot because you
get to watch and then you get to go.
Like,
we've just been sitting around
waiting and waiting and waiting,
and I'm just –
Last year we were first,
and I kind of liked it
because we were kind of the test dummies,
but everyone else was in
the same boat there.
So I prefer going first
because you can just knock it out.
But that's all right.
We got to watch people,
so we got to test it out.
But now I'm just in that waiting, anxious,
nervous period that I hate.
Yeah,
I talked to an athlete who's going
this weekend who said he
does not watch the full
workouts of anybody else.
He'll watch to see like –
how they handle things just
long enough to see like, okay,
30 inch step up or 30 inch
box jump with a step down.
How are they handling it?
Okay.
Now I know turn it off, you know, and, uh,
what's your approach?
Do you find yourself
watching more than that?
I'll watch a little bit.
I watched, I really wanted to watch Linda.
So I got to watch her go.
For me,
it was more like the holes in workouts,
like the running one.
I'm not watching because the
run is going to be
different for everybody.
So it doesn't matter.
I think it's hard to base
paces because everyone's
run is going to be completely different.
And then the second one,
it was more so watching for the layout.
I think a lot of us did.
And I was kind of like,
I'd watch like a round or two.
Okay.
How long is it taking them?
Okay, great.
But the last,
the last day was what I think
a lot of us would watch the most is okay.
How did people,
did girls break the muscle ups?
How fast were they biking?
Oh, on the handstand walks, is it,
you have to go on broken.
Is it 12 foot increments?
Like, so learning that kind of stuff.
watching um and the
snatching we didn't know we
knew years ago how they did
it but we weren't sure were
they gonna have five bars
or were they gonna have two
so stuff like that I
enjoyed watching but for
the most part I would watch
and cheer somebody on but
then you just overthink too
much if you watch too much
but that's just for me
Yeah,
it's going to be interesting with
that run event.
I talked to Peter Magda,
who I would say is a male version of you,
like loves to clean,
loves to clean a lot.
And my co-host Jamie asked him,
would you rather chase or
be chased in that event?
And he said,
I'd rather chase and be able
to push the cleans.
Yeah, I actually really like running.
So that was one of my best
finishes last year was the 800 for time.
I think I was a top 10
finish for me there out of 60.
I actually really like running,
which I think shocks people
because I do like lifting a lot,
but I will say testing it here.
Everyone's runs going to slow down.
But if you can keep the
cleans pretty fast and steady across,
I think that's going to be
a game changer.
And also just like not
falling off the runs too
much is another big thing in that.
We practice here, though,
we have a pretty hilly 800
and it's a totally
different feel from going flat.
So just because your legs
get spiked up for the clean and jerks.
So I was kind of happy to
practice on something a
little bit hillier.
Just now I feel like I'm
used to my heart rate
spiking and my legs getting jacked up.
So it's been good practice
here getting to do it that way.
So you were in that
Knoxville Coliseum a couple years ago.
Yes.
It's really not on a flat piece of land.
Nope.
Nope.
It is a little bit hilly around.
I don't know whether they're
going to have us run yet,
so I'm kind of curious.
I don't know either.
Yeah.
But I can't imagine... It is
a little bit hilly outside.
But nothing major,
but there would be an incline outside.
So I ask you,
would you rather chase or be chased?
Hmm.
I think I would... I don't know.
I think I would rather chase...
Just because when I'm training with Lex,
that's what it is.
But I will say it.
But when I do with her,
something about it is like, keeps me like,
okay, where's my distance from her?
Can I make it up here?
And I've enjoyed doing it that way.
I've gotten very used to it.
So I'm not sure.
I think it depends.
But I'd be nervous if I was
being chased the first
round because I went out way too hot.
That's what I'd be nervous about.
But if it was like the middle round,
I wouldn't mind being
chased down a little bit.
Okay.
We've talked some CrossFit stuff.
I want to get into some fun stuff.
Yes.
And I was skimming your Instagram.
And this really made my day.
And it is... I am a big Yellowstone fan.
oh I'm yeah some people
don't watch it and they had
no idea and I'm like oh
come on I want that bar she
wants the back that's what
I said tighter well it's
your lucky effing day
You understand that, didn't you,
you bow-legged bastard?
Do I look like my F-name's Peter,
you skunk-haired mother-effer?
Hey, man!
i I didn't want to curse
like I don't like to curse
on social media so I had to
take out all her cursing
but I knew from like last
december I i told my fiance
I'm like oh my gosh I am
dressing up as teeter for
halloween and he dressed up
as the bear it was so
perfect it was so fun the
actress actually reposted
my story and I was like yes
she saw it she approved it
was such a oh my gosh it
was so fun I actually like
dyed my hair pink
temporarily just for that
It is one of the best things
I've seen on the internet.
Thank you so much for doing it.
Oh my gosh.
I was so upset when people
didn't know who she was.
I was like, Oh, come on.
I promise you like watch Yellowstone.
You'll understand.
And, uh, it was,
it was so fun to just like,
I tried to talk like that
the whole night.
It was such a good time.
So the other thing we need
to talk about is a little more serious.
But there's a guy on his knee.
Is he asking for help up or
something else?
No, that's Billy.
We got engaged October of 2022.
And so it was a little while ago.
So it was a pretty long engagement.
But my sister graduated
college just this last,
like a few weeks ago, actually.
So we wanted to,
we got engaged early and
then we started planning summer of 2023.
Okay.
And I was like, all right,
let's book it in June 8th.
I think we'll be okay
because the latest semi has
been June 1st every weekend.
And I was getting real nervous.
I was like, oh no,
I really hope it doesn't overlap.
But yeah,
I was really hoping we'd be like
May 26th because that's
what we were the past two years.
But this year it will be competing.
And then that next weekend I get married.
It's a lot of emotions right now.
You're a CrossFitter now.
You do everything for time.
Oh my gosh.
Seriously.
I'm, I'm just a little,
I'm kind of like in a,
just days right now, even come home.
I found it's like, are you okay?
I'm like, no, I'm just not,
I'm like not here right now.
Cause it's nerves, it's stress,
it's excitement.
It's all the last minute details,
but I have an amazing mom
and sister who planned
pretty much the whole wedding.
So they're kind of dealing
with all that small stuff for me.
So I can, and my bridesmaids,
they're all like,
what do we need to help you with?
So you can
focus, compete, and then,
and not have to stress about anything.
So I'm very lucky.
I've got a really good group,
but I'm excited.
So I'll get to compete and
then just enjoy my wedding.
It's, it's going to be so fun.
So it's a great time of year
to get married.
My anniversary is this Friday.
Oh, congratulations.
How many years?
27 years.
Wow.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
27.
My parents,
I think just celebrated 30 in April.
Yeah.
30 years.
Yeah.
It's, it's been, it's, you know,
like anything, it has its seasons.
We have weathered all the
storms and I wouldn't want
to do it with anybody else.
I love it.
That's amazing.
Um,
and so it's a great time of year to do
that.
You're better off going a
little bit later because we
actually were living in
Florida when we got engaged,
but we're from Pennsylvania.
We did it on Memorial day
weekend to get an extra day vacation.
Yeah.
And now our anniversary
falls on Memorial day every year.
Oh my gosh.
And it's really hard to like
family schedule picnics and
we kind of get shoved to the side.
Yeah.
You know,
But then you'll never forget it.
You'll always remember it's
Memorial Day weekend.
I'll be honest with you.
For the first time ever,
because doing all these
semifinal interviews,
it crept up on me this year really fast.
Yep.
And my wife said to me Monday, hey,
what are we doing for anniversary Friday?
And I was like, oh, my gosh.
Oh, no.
Last minute, you just act like, oh,
I got everything planned.
You don't even worry about it.
It's going to be a surprise.
Well,
thank goodness it's not like 25 or 30,
right?
Like, yes.
Like it's an important one
and we'll go do some stuff for it.
But like those ones,
you have to do the big deal.
Definitely.
So awesome though.
But yeah.
Um, so that's really cool.
And how many people from the
gym are going to be at the wedding?
From the gym,
it's going to be Travis and his wife.
It's going to be Mike
McGoldrick and his wife, Brandy.
Miss Alexis Raptus is going to be there.
And then our friend Josh
Brandt from United is going to be there.
So that's going to be – sorry,
Chris just walked by.
So I think those are the
main people from the gym
because I actually am
mostly close with a lot of
my friends who just go to
United regularly.
We're in small groups together,
and those are – one of them
is in my wedding.
She will be nine months
pregnant at my wedding.
So that's super fun.
But, yeah, I kind of, like,
just started to get to know
some of the competitive athletes here.
But Lex and I have gotten –
really close the past two
months and she joined small
group and it's been such a
blessing to get to know her
outside of the gym such a
joy and same with travel I
was like gotta have trap
there and then I've known
mike and brandy a long time
as well so I really wanted
to have them there yeah
having someone nine months
pregnant that happened at
our wedding too oh gosh
don't tell me she went into
labor no no my
sister-in-law we were
sitting down at the head
table and we had this like
beautiful lattice work
behind us with all these
flowers she pulled her
chair out to sit down knocked it all over
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
But if you don't have those stories,
like the best, you really get married.
No.
Yeah.
Something, something's bound to go wrong.
That's what I have to tell
myself in my head.
Cause I'm like,
I just want everything to be perfect.
And it's not,
everyone told me something will go wrong.
It is okay.
Like, don't let my friends at her wedding.
They forgot the wedding
coordinator forgot to give
the best man the rings.
So when they had to do the
rings on the finger,
they had to like pretend
and just put like invisible
rings on each other's hands.
So I was like, okay,
I need to make sure that
best man has the rings.
Got it.
But knowing Billy and I,
something stupid is going to happen,
but that's okay.
That's what makes us us.
So I'm excited.
My biggest faux pas was I
stepped on my wife's train.
Yeah.
Went to the reception,
ripped her dress off.
And you could see her underwear.
Oh, thank goodness.
Our seamstress was invited to the wedding.
Oh my gosh.
Thank God.
We immediately went into the
kitchen and stir up real fast.
Yeah.
And then we went about the
rest of the night.
And now you look back at it and laugh.
I'm sure.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Like again, that's what makes,
at least we have the stories, right?
Oh, for sure.
That's what you need.
Everything, everything,
something funny happens at every wedding.
And I think that's what makes it special.
Well, as always,
this was a blast talking to you.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm super excited.
You're always in my picks
early on for these events
because I just see so much
potential every time I
watch you out on the floor.
Oh, thank you.
And I'm excited to see how
you end up this year.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, I'm constantly learning and
that's all I want to do is
keep learning and learning
and that's all I can ask for.
And, you know,
hopefully one day that means games,
but as long as I'm getting
better and I'm enjoying it,
that's by far the most important thing.
So,
so far I've seen that it's just going
up and up and up.
So I'm hoping I can show
that this weekend and have
next weekend and have fun with it.
And now I've got some
friends in the competitive space.
I think it's going to be
even more special because
I've actually gotten to know people.
So we're going to be
cheering each other on the
whole weekend and I'm just
going to feel like so much
love and support.
So I'm excited.
how are you going to balance
Travis and you competing at
the same time?
We talked about that because he's like,
obviously I'm going to be competing too.
So I think he'll kind of be
there just before an event.
Um, make sure I'm, he knows, like,
he's like, don't, you don't change.
He goes, Pete,
so many people change how
they warm up and get ready
because it's a semis.
He's like, you warm up how you always do.
Keep that all consistent in the same.
And he'll probably check in
to make sure I'm good.
But for the most part,
like I told him that I, uh,
And I agree with him that I
don't need him like bait, you know,
on me the whole time
because he needs to compete too.
So we're both going to be in
that headspace.
So he's just going to give a
quick check in.
We'll go over things
probably the night before
or after the day of competition.
And, and then we'll get to it.
Cause he's when,
when he first started coaching me,
he's like,
I can tell you're similar to me
where you don't need to be told.
a bunch of things the day of
because you already know
what to do you're going to
be prepared and then you're
just going to go out and do
it and that's what I've
done in the past two semis
didn't have a coach so I
just was like okay I have a
plan let's see how it goes
so this time it's like
we're getting all the plans
out now and early and then
We'll just kind of recap them,
but I don't want to pull
away from him competing.
And I know he does, you know,
want to do the same for him.
I want to make sure he stays
in his headspace,
but we'll probably chat a
lot like the night before
and he'll be there.
I think it getting to help
me warm up a little bit,
but then that's it.
I want to make sure he can stay in his,
in his headspace too.
so he won't need a coach's
band are you are you with
you to carry your stuff and
yes the fiance he's the
pack mule hey I need water
hey yes no but he's
actually he's on it because
I'm very bad about
finishing events I just
want to talk to everybody
and I'm really bad about
ashley sorry all these
people are walking by and
they're just laughing at me
um but I think uh
Um, sorry, excuse me, but yeah.
Um, sorry.
I couldn't even remember the
question because Ashley
just completely distracted me.
Yeah.
Your fiance is on it because
you just want to talk to people.
I'm very bad about after events.
I just want to chat with
everybody and get how everyone's doing.
I'm really bad about like
making sure I go cool down
and get food in me immediately.
Um, so he said, he's like,
I'm going to be on you to
make sure like you get a shakedown,
you get carbs in you and
you're like cooling down.
Um,
even though he's not in the CrossFit
space, he knows the importance of that.
So he's going to make sure he's like,
I'm not going to let you talk to people.
You've got to get out.
You talk to people later,
but you got to cool down first.
Then you can talk to people.
So he's going to be good about that.
Awesome.
Well,
I hope you have an amazing weekend
back to back.
Yes.
Great semifinals, great wedding.
It's awesome catching up.
I wasn't going to go to semis,
but I made a last minute reservation.
Oh, yay.
I'm going to go down now to cover it.
And so hopefully we'll run
in each other and I can
interview after another heat win.
Oh, I would be amazing.
That's the goal.
Oh, that would be amazing.
That's definitely a goal for sure.
But I I'm so excited that you're coming.
So I hope it's a really good time too.
Yeah.
Well, thank you for being on.
Thank you to everybody in
chat for being here.
This was awesome.
We'll see everybody next
time on the Clydesdale media podcast,
where we're featuring the
athletes of the 2024
CrossFit games semifinals.
Bye guys.
Bye.
Thank you.