About Candice

1. Tell us about yourself outside of Daybreak.

I have a pretty full day outside of Daybreak. I live in Littleton with my husband Aaron, daughter Eden (7), son Evan (3), dog Chappy and cat Cornelius. Professional Candice (it does exist) is a full time real estate manager with a business based in Porter Square, Cambridge. When I’m not in the gym, parenting, working or commuting, I’m hopefully getting some QT with the hubby, trail running with the doggy or out on my Harley.

2. Tell us about your crossfit journey so far, what you learned about yourself, and what keeps you coming back?

The Journey! I found Crossfit Woodshed in summer 2013 shortly after purchasing our home in Littleton. For reference, my working weights were BS (95#), DL (95#), Bench (75#). I worked with my coach Alicia (“The Boss”) over the next four years and through my second pregnancy building strength, learning a proper squat, bench and deadlift technique and safely increasing those numbers. Before Crossfit and two kiddos, I kept myself busy with endurance sports and bodybuilding. As a new mom, I wanted to find something to keep me motivated, accountable and remove the guess work from my training.

Along came Crossfit Open 2017. I dropped in at Crossfit New England for Open workout 17.4 “Friday Night Lights” and knew right then that I wanted to pursue competition. I remember looking up at the life size posters of the Games athletes, listening to the deafening playlist and watching people collapse on the floor. I was hooked. It was time to learn the art of the rig and how to throw down. I signed up for my first CF comp in May 2017, purchased my first pair of Born Primitive shorts and the rest is history! I made a tough decision to change gyms and moved over to Crossfit Reach in Acton with a very long to do list! I got to work chipping away at the different skills and in the process met some of the greatest friends that make crossfit so special. Team Spaz for life!

Competing and training showed me how much I love a challenge and the process. Being strong prepares you for just about everything in life but my “why” is being able to carry both of my kids up the stairs at the same time and (hopefully) showing my children what’s possible with heart and hard work.  I am incredibly thankful to have worked with amazing and talented coaches who all played a very important part in my journey.

Nothing makes me happier than moving some heavy weight, learning a new skill and leaving it all out there until you’re a puddle with just enough energy to note your time. I get to watch people around me do things every day that once seemed impossible. That’s my source of inspiration. It’s not necessarily the person who can effortlessly execute high level skills, RX every workout or make weightlifting look easy. My inspiration comes from the athletes that struggle with something and show up every day in spite of it. My inspiration to keep going comes from the athletes I watch every day who work hard and surprise themselves when they see that hard work pay off. There are no shortcuts in Crossfit and I like that. It’s just that good old fashioned grind.

I’m a hopeless dream chaser. When I heard about the famous Mel & Erica opening a second Daybreak location, I made another very hard decision to chase that next level and find out what I was capable of. Change is good. What keeps me coming back are the friends that are always there by your side, the coaches that make it possible and the relentless “pursuit of better.”

3. Craziest thing I’ve ever done

The craziest thing I’ve ever done lies somewhere between skydiving with no jump suit, taking my kids to a restaurant at 5pm on a Friday and signing up for a weightlifting meet. Come find me in the gym if you ever want the Florida State rush story.

4. Proudest Moment

Watching my girls on Team Spaz get their first bar muscle ups during Team Series 18 and setting a PR on my jerk at 32 weeks pregnant.

5. Guilty Pleasures

Guilty pleasures include working on my karaoke skills at Chip Shots, Heady Topper and shopping for ALL THE WORKOUT AND RIDING GEAR.

About Marina

I live in Sudbury with my husband Brian and my two boys Nico and Rocco. I am a special education teacher at Needham High School and this is my 9th year teaching. I have been doing Crossfit for 7 years. I started at Crossfit New England with Mel, then worked out at Crossfit Back Bay when I lived in the North End until I saw Mel and Rap checking out the Crossfit Back Bay and heard they were opening one in Wayland/Sudbury so started parking lot WODs with them from the beginning. I am a 5:30 am girl – love my crew.

1- What keeps you coming back to CrossFit each day? 

Lots of things. The community / team like atmosphere is at the top. I swam in college and after getting my butt kicked for 4 years, I had a hard time finding a way of working out where I felt motivated, pushed by others, and didn’t have to swim for 3.5 hours a day 🙂 The coaches and my “teammates” at 5:30 know what is going on with my life, give me positive feedback when I do well, push me to push myself, and make me laugh. I have met lots of great people at Daybreak who make me feel good about myself. I also like the variety in the workouts and how everyday is different. The ability of the coaches to modify workouts, especially for me while I was pregnant and now coming back, is such a talent and has been so helpful, allowing me to workout almost everyday throughout both pregnancies, which was a huge accomplishment for me.

2- What’s the most challenging part about coming back after having a baby? Have you found it harder or easier the second time around?

I think the most challenging part is getting myself to take it slow coming back rather than trying to do every movement and get back to lifting heavy weights right away, even though I felt ready each time. When I started working out the first time postpartum, I felt great and did a bunch of pull ups and pistols my first workout back. Then I could barely sit down or hold my baby for days so lesson learned. The second time has definitely been easier coming back because I have been smarter and my body rebounded faster after the second time (I had an expert doc- shout out to Em!).

3- Do you have any fund travel plans for the summer?

Yes! We are going to Whistler Canada to visit my best friend and her fiancé  We will do lots of hikes and exploring, which will be fun. We are taking both boys which should be interesting…A 6 hour flight to Seattle and then a 5 hour drive. Pray for us. We are also going to visit my brother in Washington D.C. and spend a lot of time at Wingaersheek beach in Gloucester where my family has a house.

4- What’s your favorite song to blast and sing along to when you’re alone in the car?

I am not a big car singer but I do love around Christmas time blasting Mariah Carey “All I want for Christmas is You” and singing to it. It gets me pumped for the holidays.

5- What’s your spirit animal (an animal that represents you)? 

Never thought about it so I did what I normally do when I don’t know the answer to something – Google it! I took a spirit animal quiz and it said that my spirit animal was a whale. It said whales are excellent communicators, which I like to think that I am! Also, my name Marina means “of the sea” so I think it fits.