Kelsey DeCamillis- Member of the Month June 2023

Tell us a little about yourself, where you’re from, what you do outside of Fit2Live, family, etc.

I grew up in Traverse City, moved down to Ypsilanti / Ann Arbor area for college in 2009, and have been here since! Outside of Fit2Live, I currently work as an educator for an online high school, and beyond work & gym, I fill my time with hiking, cooking, playing music, photography, and good old fashioned backyard hangs with my husband Jason and our dog Penny. Sometimes if he’s feeling brave, our cat Otis joins us out there too…

When and why did you get started at Fit2Live?

Before getting into CrossFit, I was a runner, and only that (sometimes yoga or lap swimming sprinkled in). After running three half marathons, I had plans to run my first marathon in the fall of 2020, but the universe had (several) other plans… Beyond the pandemic shutdown, my lack of strength training caught up with me in May of 2020 and I had an unexplainable knee injury that became a significant problem for my fitness over the next two years. One day, my husband said, “Do you think you’d like CrossFit?” My first reaction was, “Probably not, it sounds pretty competitive and intense,” but the suggestion stuck with me, and I decided to jump in and at least go for the gym tour.

After such a welcoming and encouraging meeting with Ryan, I thought, “Well, the worst thing that could happen is I quit after a month.” It quickly became my favorite hour of the day and the question at home has gone from “Are you going to CrossFit tomorrow?” to “Are you doing one or two classes tomorrow?”

Describe Fit2Live in 3-5 words and your fondest memory at Fit2Live.

Community, support, “type 2 fun.”

I think my favorite recent memory was seeing everyone frantically look around after Sharon shouted out “14 push-ups” for the second time on the April Fools deck of cards WOD.

This will sadly be a going away Member of the Month as you’ll be moving to Alaska in a couple of weeks. What is taking you to Alaska, where will you be and what are you most excited about moving to Alaska?

Very bittersweet! My husband and I have been wanting to move near “the mountains,” which we thought would be out east somewhere in northern Appalachia, but the universe said “Nah, how about Alaska?” He got a pretty unexpected job offer, and over the past three months things have fallen into place in such a way that made it clear that we were meant to make the move. I’m moving to Juneau, the capital city in Southeast Alaska. I am most excited about getting outside! There are miles and miles of trails to explore, and even when you aren’t “in the mountains,” it still feels like you are because in any direction, mountains surround the whole city. It’s going to be tough to leave in a lot many ways, but with so many new adventures awaiting, there’s much to be excited about for this new chapter.

You are an avid hiker, what is your favorite hike you’ve done to-date and what’s at the top of your hiking bucket list?

The hike that changed my life was thru-hiking the Long Trail in Vermont. 273 miles from Massachusetts to the Canadian Border over the course of 34 days. My *attainable* hiking bucket list is finishing the “Little Three Triple Crown,” which is the Long Trail (done!), the Colorado Trail (100 miles done, 386 to go), and the John Muir Trail. A less attainable bucket list item is the entire Appalachian Trail, just because it’ll take 5-6 months to complete 😐 Maybe someday!

If you could travel to any place in the world tomorrow, where would you go and why?

This is a tough one. I think at the moment, I’d want to do an Ireland trip. I would love to do some backpacking from inn to inn, and would definitely want to spend time on Arranmore Island where my family was from.

Name a fun fact, skill or hobby that you have that not many of us know about.

My fun fact is always that I started out as a musical theater major in college. After about two weeks of classes, I knew it wasn’t for me, but it sure was a fun semester!

If you could make the workout “Kelsey”, what would it look like (movements, repetitions, etc)?

Had to look back at BTWB for this because sometimes I’ll comment “this was fun!” Here’s one that I really remember the “fun” part of:

5 Deadlift + Hang Power Clean + Front Squat + Jerk

Run / Row 500M

4 Deadlift + Hang Power Clean + Front Squat + Jerk

Run / Row 400M

3 Deadlift + Hang Power Clean + Front Squat + Jerk

Run / Row 300M

2 Deadlift + Hang Power Clean + Front Squat + Jerk

Run / Row 200M

1 Deadlift + Hang Power Clean + Front Squat + Jerk

Run / Row 100M

Favorites!

Movie: Deathproof

TV show: Any cooking or survival competition shows — Alone, Masterchef…

Song: Everything by “Joseph” — possibly specifically “Lifted Away”

Author: Haruki Murakami

Quote: “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.”

What future fitness goal are you currently working towards?

Since joining Fit2Live, my only focus has been consistency in attendance, building strength, and fixing my dang knee. My next aim is reaching consistency with nutrition since that’s where the true change happens!

PS:

Since it’s my last month, I wanted to do a shout out and say thanks to everyone for being so awesome here. Ryan, thanks for making such an inclusive, supportive, fun gym culture. Brandon, thanks for the awesome programming, ESPECIALLY the burpees and iso-hold-of-the-week. Amazing coaches, thanks for pushing us all to go a little faster and lift a little heavier (and to scale as needed ). Fellow gym friends, thanks for making every class the most productive type of fun. Thanks specifically to the 6-am crew for showing me that working out that early can actually be an awesome time, but thanks to everyone I’ve had a class with. Looking forward to dropping in next time I’m in town

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Check out last month’s members of the month: The SwoleXsisters Maya and Nina Makhlouf!

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