You Really Gotta Meet… Erin

I’m fortunate to know some pretty amazing people. Thanks to CrossFit, Weight Watchers, Roller Derby, and other wacky/fun/scary/silly adventures, I’m able to surround myself with best-quality people to humor me when I want to do The Murph and comfort me when my frexcitement gets the best of me. Good things are even better when they’re shared, so you really gotta meet…

Erin Ammon
Age: 36
Dayjob: User Experience Lead. I’d explain what that is but I’d get bored talking about it.

Erin is audacious and bold and silly and smart and that person you’re glad to know because she’s so brazen in her laughter and willingness to try new adventures.

Here’s a re-enactment of a conversation I had with Erin a few months ago:

Me: I went out and did Parkour with Randal this weekend. We learned how to vault over a fence.

Erin: Oh, cool! I’ve never tried that. Is it like this?

[Erin runs full blast at a white wooden fence, plants her hands on top, swings her legs over like a detective chasing a bad guy, and lands lightly on the other side.]

Erin: Like that?

This is a phenomenon I’ve witnessed on numerous occasions. A handstand against a tree. A box jump on the bench in our office kitchen. Pushups in the hall. If you’ve got a cockamamie idea and Erin is around, you’ve got a partner-in-crime to execute against whatever you’ve got in mind.

You know that quote? “A good friend will come bail you out of jail, but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying… ‘Damn, that was fun!'”

That’s Erin.

As far as I can tell, she’s always been an outdoorsy, active, athletic kinda girl. Snowboarding, horseback riding, trail running, jump roping, swimming, and as she told me, “cracking off a 12-gauge Mossberg, and rolling down the side of a hill like a log. I pretty much like anything except serious cycling or the typical, stale gym environment.”

She’s currently working on her overall fitness so she can get involved in aerial dancing.

[Some day soon, Erin will be doing this.]

This Saturday, Erin is tackling the Spartan 300 workout for the first time.

Fearlessly, of course.

What’s your favorite workout song and why?
“Saeglopur” by Sigur Ros — the most awesome “I’m totally out of gas. How am I gonna make it?… you better dig deep, muthaf*ckr” song EVER. No matter how tired I am, no matter what I’m doing, I pull from deep, dark parts within me and manage to push through the barriers when that track is on. [YouTube won’t let me embed the video, but you can check out the song here.]

What’s the song you love for working out but are embarrassed to admit?
Madonna’s “Ray of Light.”

What’s your favorite healthy meal/snack?
Typically, whatever Mel brings to lunch at work. It always smells so damn yummy. As boring as it sounds, barley water and cucumber water are my favorite liquids. I love Honeycrisp and Pink Lady apples. Cottage cheese, almonds, cantaloupe. Salads like grapes with apples, blue cheese, walnuts, splash of vinegar. YUM!

[Nothing says “I love you” like bashing each other with boxing gloves.]

What’s your favorite food indulgence?
WINE! and cheese and one day maybe some cake balls…

Running skirts: yes or no. Why?
Nope. Where I run the less floaty material the better. The last thing I need is to have some fabric snag on a branch mid-jump.

[Erin is a badass on a running trail.
Hill of Life? No sweat. Lost Pines? Killed it.]

If you could workout with anyone — living or dead, fictional or real — who would it be? What would you do? Why?
Mark Twight who trained the cast of 300 and Equestrian extraordinaire Kim Severson… Fictionally, I’d love to play with the cast from 13th Warrior, the 12-min shootout scene in Heat, Vin Diesel in the latest Fast and Furious movie, and the chicks from the console games Heavenly Sword and The Mirror’s Edge.

OK! You’ve just had the workout/race/competition of your life. Congratulations! How do you celebrate?
I’m more of the quiet celebratory type. Probably a big fat meal with a small group of people followed by many sessions of “dog naps” over the next few days.

Pretend you’re creating your dream team of people you like to train with. What’s your team name? What are your team colors? Any specifics on what your uniforms look like?
I already started it! “The Iron Cheerleaders”… Mel, Stacey D., Bonita, me. New members welcome! I’m thinking the uniforms should be chosen by each individual team member based on how they want to represent themselves.

[That’s the infamous Stacey D. on the left. Holiday party.
There might have been champagne involved.]

Do you have any advice/tricks for people who are thinking about working out but need a kick-in-the-pants to start?
Yeah…talking about it doesn’t burn calories. Step up and do it, or learn to be happy with who you are. Sounds mean, but I do believe there’s a limit on how many times one should complain about how out of shape they are.

Got a favorite quote?
A version of the Norse Prayer of which I know by heart:

Lo, there do I see my father.
Lo, there do I see my mother, my sisters and my brothers.
Lo, there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning.
Lo, they do call to me.
They bid me take my place among them in the halls of Valhalla,
Where the brave, may live forever.

Workout, schmerkout. What do you like to do that doesn’t require a) punching a time clock and b) counting reps?
I love watching cartoons and a few TV shows, but after a few hours I get antsy and usually find myself outdoors or stretching and doing odd things in my apartment. I have a life-long history of working with dogs and horses and I miss it very much. So my new puppy Hobie is fulfilling that missing piece.

[The painfully cute and muscular Hobie. He has CrossFit butt.]

Anything else you want people to know about you?

• I’ve probably lived about five different lives already in this one.
• I have a ridiculous crush on Daniel Radcliffe.
• I don’t like crowds and I never know when I’ll get the urge to completely flee from what I perceive to be a “crowded” scene.
• I used to be an avid dork gamer and now I’m just a dork, but a happy one!
• I’ve had 3 near-death experiences where I saw that flash of “white light,” though it didn’t feel like I wanted to go towards it at all.

Get regular doses of inspiration and Erin’s cockeyed view of the world at her blog: Mud Thirsty.

… and one thing Erin forgot to mention: she’s a totally kickass double-under-er!