Jenn Fox has been a member at Wotown Fit since we opened seven years ago.
She grew up dancing. That was the extent of her athletic background. She took a long break from fitness after that, then found CrossFit in her thirties. She has not stopped since.
Two and a half years ago Jenn went through something significant medically. It required surgery. It required recovery. It required modifying workouts during a stretch where most people would have quietly stopped coming altogether.
She kept showing up.
That is the part of this story I want you to understand before we get to any of the numbers. Because the numbers are good, but they are not the point.
Over seven years Jenn has lost 18 pounds and gained 7 pounds of muscle. She has over 1,200 logged workouts. In the last year alone she set personal records in her mile run, her deadlift, her snatch, and several other lifts. Her mile is now 10:34. She is 43 years old and getting faster and stronger.
She would never describe herself this way, and you would not know it just being around her, but Jenn is one of the toughest people in our gym. Not in a loud way. In the way that actually matters. She does not make excuses. She does not complain. She just comes in and does the work, whatever version of the work that day requires.
Her husband Jonathan pastors a church and runs a graphic design company. He works out at Wotown Fit too. Their 13 year old son Deklan is now in class with them.
Deklan is naturally competitive and athletic. He is figuring out what to do with that. Lately the answer has been showing up at the gym alongside his parents and doing the work. He tackled a half Murph. He and Jenn recently did Randy together as partners, and Deklan handled 30 of their 75 snatches. Jenn mentioned that he has started to notice what she can do with a barbell. She said he is lowkey impressed.
He should be.
Deklan is also learning something that cannot be taught in a classroom. He is in the middle of a hard workout, wanting to quit, and pushing through anyway. He is learning firsthand that hard is not bad. It is just hard. And it is worth doing.
He learned that by watching his mom do it for most of his life.
Jenn has four kids. All of them are growing up in a house where fitness is not something their parents talk about. It is something their parents do. There is a difference, and kids know it.
Jenn walked into the gym and decided to take her health seriously. She has done that through surgeries and recoveries and busy seasons and all the other things that give people reasons to stop. She is inching toward a decade of consistent fitness and she is stronger now than when she started.
That does not happen by accident. It happens because someone keeps showing up when it would be easier not to.
