I’m calling this year the 1/2 way mark, give or take, with a bunch of inshallahs thrown in for good measure. 45 years. I don’t think it sounds that old unless you’re a teen who thinks 25 sounds old. I remember those days. And other than my stupid eyeballs and my dependency on reading glasses, I don’t feel any older at 45 than I did at 35.
What did I do to celebrate my birthday this year? Well Josh was traveling (bless him, he’s been gone a lot this past month), but he flew in around 8pm and took me to my favorite restaurant for dinner.
Then we spent the next 2 days in Dubai watching some of the fittest people in the world compete for a spot at the summer CrossFit games. 40 men, 40 women and 10 teams. It’s not what I would necessarily choose to do for my birthday, but it was an opportunity that we couldn’t miss. A 2-day pass only cost $13 each and we got our money’s worth. Front row seats for 7 events because the stadium was half empty and we had our choice of where to sit. (Nothing is advertised here — we only knew about it because we read an announcement for it from the US).
We were so close I could have hopped onto the floor and started working out next to them, not that I would have wanted to — way too hard! #life goals to be able to handstand walk and do a muscle up (a pull up where you get your hips onto the bar), but I need to be able to do a handstand and several solid pull-ups first. I’ve got a l o n g way to go. Maybe by 50?
Wow! 
heavy lifting by the champ 
Smith carrying 600 lbs 
Day 2 was more of the same, but with more money on the line and even harder workouts.
She’s a big fan
By the end they had given away around 700,000 USD and the reigning Fittest Man in the World had won 7 out of 10 events. You can see his trophies lined up in the photo below. The top woman finisher is 36 years old, beating a field of 20-somethings, which gives this mid-life lady inspiration.
We’re going to watch to see if we show up in any of the highlight footage since we were right there during all the filming. We’ve already spotted Camille’s legs on Instagram. 🙂Â
awards ceremony with flames and fireworks #ahDubai
And then my final birthday present arrived via airmail:
