Hi Ray, tell us a little bit about yourself and your family.

Hey hey hey! Thanks for having me, Sam! Me? I grew up in a bookstore in Alberton. I joined the Army after high school and spent the next four years traveling around the world in big green planes. After the Army I continued traveling around the US, doing odd jobs wherever I stopped long enough to watch the grass grow. I met my wife while I was working at a dude ranch in upstate New York. She and I lived in Philadelphia for a couple of years before we moved back west, where we would eventually (kind of) settle down. Georgia was born in December of 2006, and Shea was born in April of 2008. Marley was born on the same day as Georgia in 2010, and before we knew it Jen was pregnant with Willa who was born in March of 2012. Now that we’re done having kids, we bought a house, a dog, a cat, and some chickens. We’re a pretty tight group. That’s probably not surprising for anyone to see me and some variation of the other five hanging out at the gym on a regular basis.

Where do you work, how’d you get into that field, and what’s your favorite and least favorite thing about it?

I’m a registered nurse at St. Patricks Hospital in Missoula. Nursing was the only natural alternative in my life after my plans on the modeling runway fell through. I started school a month after Shea was born in 2008 after I got fired from a job by a guy who just didn’t share my sense of humor. I went home and told Jen that I wasn’t going to take anyone’s crap anymore and that I wanted to go to college. I had always talked about being a nurse even back in the days at the dude ranch. Actually, one night when Jen’s dad was giving her the ol’ one-two about dating a loser carpenter. She told him that I’d be a nurse one day! Anyway…I really like being a part of people’s life when they’re most vulnerable. I love saving lives, literally. I love the dying process and being there for patients and their families when that happens. I love meeting people, and I love hanging out with cool nurses all day. I don’t like ungrateful and rude patients and their families. I don’t like it when I second guess my better judgement and something goes wrong.

Are you a Missoula native? If not what brought you here, and if you are, what keeps you here?

Native to the Missoula area. I live in Alberton. Montana is all one big town.

How did you first get involved in CrossFit and how long have you been CrossFitting?

When I got out of nursing school I was a big, big fella. I was 280lbs and not happy with my body composition at all. I used to think about what might happen if someone broke into our house and what it would look like if I became hypoxic and passed out while trying to defend mt family against someone who was trying to harm them. So one day, unable to do even one pull up, I started doing P90X. When I finished my first round of P90X I had lost 60 lbs and could do several pull ups, but wasn’t satisfied. I continued to do P90X, Insanity, P90X 2, while working on my running game. I was a state track and field athlete in high school and have always enjoyed running. So I got down to 204 lbs and still thought I was imperfect and fat. But when I would look at pictures of myself, I saw that I was emaciated. So I started putting fat back into my diet with the Paleo approach. I really became interested in the Paleo lifestyle, and in doing so noticed that Paleo junkies gravitate to CrossFit. I’m not strict Paleo anymore, but Crossfit has left its mark. I began CrossFit in February of 2015

Do you have any fitness goals or targets you would like to hit in 2016?

I’m learning to keep it real with myself. I used to get low when I wouldn’t have the fastest time or highest number of reps in a WOD. Now I’m focusing on pushing myself to get stronger with the barbell, and more capable when doing bodyweight work. I’ve recently decided to go higher than RX weight when possible and to not worry so much about the time. Strength takes a lifetime to gain, endurance comes relatively quick. I’m still chasing the muscle-up and the handstand walk.

What is your favorite way to spend your time outside the gym and work?

I like being with my family. Ideally my time outside of work would either be on the lake with the family in the warm sun, or I would be backpacking in the wilderness with my closest friends.

What’s your biggest CrossFit weakness that you’re working on right now?

I’ve been slowed down by several bodyweight moves ever since starting CrossFit. 1) Toes to bar 2) burpees 3) chest to bar pullups. I just started doing 50 burpees every morning when I get up. I’m working on the butterfly kip in hopes of making my C2B more efficient, and I’m hoping that if I think about T2B for long enough that I’ll be a master in very short order…

Winter is almost upon us, assuming we get some snow this year, what does winter look like for you?

Inside, wood heat, and doing some home remodeling this winter. We need to get the kids on the slopes this season. Montana winters aren’t what they were when I was a kid, and as such I’m pretty blah about them.

What pushes you in CrossFit? When you’re about to drop down for that 50th burpee, or do that 30th pull-up, what keeps you going? Where do you go in your head?

I believe that humans haven’t performed the way competitive CrossFitters do since the Paleolithic era, and our Cavemen ancestors would be proud even though we’re not swinging from trees and chucking stones. I want to be a superhero shot out of a cannon. I want missiles to bounce off my chest. You don’t get that way by skipping reps. This is a journey. I drive 60 miles round trip to work out and I just can’t take that time and effort for granted.

If you were put in charge for a day at 5 Valleys, what WOD (workout of the day) would you design, assuming you yourself had to participate as well?

A) 21 Minute EMOM

Minutes 1-5 2 Squat Snatch @ 60% 1 rep max
Rest 2 Minutes
Minutes 8-13 2 Squat Clean @ 70% 1 rep man
Rest 2 Minutes
Minutes 16-21 10 Toes to bar

B) “Glen”

30 135lb Clean and Jerk (135/95)
Run 1 Mile
10 rope climbs
Run 1 mile
100 Burpees

Glen Doherty is one of many heroes, but one for whom I have deep admiration. I hate toes to bars and burpees; gotta work on those 🙂