My Story: Allison Prusky

On July 3, 2009 my 39th birthday I sat contimplating all that I had accomplished in my long list of life goals.  I also thought what am going to do with the next 40 years of my life?  How am I going to live my golden years?  As I thought about my kids growing older I decided that I wanted to demonstrate to myself and my family that I was able to be an ACTIVE participant and not just a spectator in life.  I decided that I wanted to learn to get active again.  Then came the thoughts about how I would get myself from couch potato to being able to get active.
I was in the lunch room at work the next day and I was explaining my epiphany to my co-workers, Jessica and Trish.  They had been working out at Catalyst and really enjoying the pain!  Jess was working with Mike to organize a group of co-workers to do a cross-fit class after work twice a week.  My interest was peaked, but I had serious doubts about my athletic ability.  
After I finished my first class, despite the tremedous pain, I was hooked!  Although I must have looked like a fish ot of water, I knew that I could do this and that my future depended on it.  I began setting small goals for myself.  Mike Watson, was strict and relentless, but his encouragement and weekly challenges were enough to keep me coming back to show him and myself that I could do it.  My first goal was to be able to do a real sit up, it took my months to do it but, nothing can describe how exstatic I was when I rocked situps.
 
By May 2010 I participated in the Mount Maple 5 km walk and to my surprise I finished the whole thing.
 
After two years doing the modified group with my co-workers, friends and all the family I could recruit, the group was exhausted and Cataslyst on Queen closed. 🙁
 
I remember being very sad thinking that I faced going back to being sedentary not having my groups to look forward to.  I was forced to make a decision.  Do I stop and go back to the couch potato me or do I brave the Industrial Park location where all the the extremely serious, overly fit, and excessively strong cross fitters hung out?
Well with Coop's encouragement, ( the little voice in my head heard saying you can do it), the desire for remaining a part of the Catalyst family won out in the end and I went to see what "the Park" was all about.  To my surprise there was a lot of laughter, so much encouragement and support that I soon felt just as at home as I was in our little "special Queen street group".
Before I knew it I was attending the park regularly, meeting all kinds of wonderful people, and my kids felt like they own the place when they walked in.  I was back to setting my own small achievable goals and conquering my fears.  I was able to lift weights even though my left arm had not functioned since an injury at birth, Whitney came up with a tool to get me doing back squats.
I remember watching my new friends running, lifting, and squating.  I would think to myself that will be me too!
 
Then on Saturday May 18, 2012 I DID BOX JUMPS!!!  Real box jumps.
 
My next mountain to conquer?  I want to run the full 5 km run for the Mount Maple and of course I really want to get those Burpees just right.
 
Really the sky is the limit.  I know that I can do what I set my mind to as long as I keep working hard and persevere I can accomplish just about anything.   
 
I would have to say that my best memory would have to be the day I did box jumps, I was struggling at the 12 mark in the 15 box jumps I was supposed to do with my team, I wanted to quit but with all the cheering and chanting I squeaked out the 3 more to get my 15 count for my team.  What a feeling, all the positive energy focused on encouraging me and pushing me to continue past the point of exhaustion, I still get chills when I remember this work out.
 
One thing I want everyone to know is that the Catalyst environment is truly a family adventure and I can't think of a better group of people that I want my children to have as role models than the Catalyst team!