Athlete of the Month: September 2018

Annie Banfich

Rain or shine, you can always count on Annie to show up to the afternoon classes and have a huge smile on her face. From day one, she has always had a positive, go-getter attitude, ready to see where being a member of WCSC would take her. Being a teacher herself, Annie understands the patience, perseverance, and the prime qualities of what makes a individual thrive in an environment; and is continually working on them herself. She is extremely teachable and always the first to step up and accept a new challenge whether it be attacking the Murph Team training or perfecting a new position in a class movement. We are extremely happy and honored to introduce Annie as our September 2018 Athlete of the Month! Can't wait to see what other opportunities she crushes living BIG!

Member since: April 2016

“Do the best you can until you know better. Once you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou

How has training at Windy City helped you?

Training at Windy City helped pull me out of a bad slump. When I joined, I had just moved here and was burnt out from years of compounding work/life stress in NYC. I’ve been active my whole life, but at that time I’d hit a wall and lost the motivation to do much of anything. The more down I got, the less active I was, and the higher my weight climbed. In less than twelve months, I went from casually fit person to 50 lbs overweight and in need of a major life reset. Enter: Windy City.

I joined the gym as soon as I moved here. I’m an ex-lacrosse player/coach and crave the structure of competitive sports. I had no doubt CrossFit was what I needed to get me back to feeling like myself. At first, it was tough to accept how out of shape I was, but the coaches stuck with me (thank you guys, especially Doc and Eloise!) and slowly I’ve been making progress.

One thing I didn’t anticipate was just how much I would enjoy coming to the gym every day. The workouts are fun, sure, but the people make it great. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for the positive, constructive energy of everyone at Windy City. That, more than anything, helped get me back to feeling like myself.

Since joining I’ve lightened up in more ways than one – I’ve lost weight, I’m more outgoing, and I’ve met great friends who get me laughing every day. Also, I feel better than I have in years. I recently played an “old lady” lax tournament with some friends and found myself hitting the same stats I did ten years ago. That was a huge surprise and a sign that I am doing something right.

Windy City’s good-natured and hardworking atmosphere pulled me out of my slump and got me back on my feet. I plan to keep coming to evening WODs and am looking forward to new adventures in and out of the gym.

What adventures, events, trips, races do you have planned?

I’m swimming the Big Shoulders Open Water Classic and am then headed to St. Thomas to hang with a friend (and a beach hammock) for a week.

What would you do and where would you go if time / money were not object?

Couple things:

Pay off everyone’s student loans
Go camping in New Zealand indefinitely
Invent more nimble air travel (like Jetson mobiles) so that everyone could visit places more easily (and me in New Zealand, obviously)

Goals

Fitness: A pull up. Just one. I’m halfway there!
Professionally: I’m about to take an exam on copyright law for my job – the goal is to do well so I can take over certain negotiations going forward.
Personal: Adopt a dog and spend more time with the people I care about. Honestly, I don’t know how it’s already September – time flies, gotta get it on that shared Google calendar or it won’t happen!