This weekend was a weekend of giving for me.  I got a good night's sleep on Saturday and was up early the next morning ready to participate in a worldwide event in the CrossFit community called Barbells for Boobs.

Barbells for Boobs is a non-profit breast cancer organization whose mission is to provide funding for qualified low-income and uninsured women and men who need screening and/or diagnostic procedures in the prevention of breast cancer. The funding is provided through the Mammograms in Action Grant Program.  This weekend's fund raiser was huge--held in thousands of CrossFit boxes around the world. My box, CrossFit Wachusett (Fitchburg), teamed up with a box in Leominster to support this great cause.

Having been directly affected by breast cancer in my life, this foundation's work really hits home. I am passionate about donating my time and energy to the research, support, and awareness of breast cancer. I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but I believe over 70 people participated in the workout to raise money.

The EXP gym was decked out in pink and white and the ladies hung bras from the pull up rings. For the competition, we did Grace: A timed workout of 30 clean and jerks.The time to complete the workout can range from 1 min (30 seconds or less if you're insane) to 10 minutes. The event was not about competition, but about challenging yourself. The prescribed weights were 135 lbs. for men and 95lbs for women. However, people were scaling weights to suit their abilities. 

We had a great morning and raised approximately $3000.00 for Barbells for Boobs.  I had a personal best and completed Grace in 2:18 Rx (taking 1:01 off my previous time). It was a wonderful cause and we all had a wonderful time. I'm fortunate to belong to such an amazing community of people.