Introducing Tasha Brown
Hey there friends!
I'd like to introduce myself.
My name is Tasha Brown.
I'm the one behind the scenes here at RUF. I'm your blog writer! And despite my best efforts Roy and Katie both seem to pull me out of the shadows now and then to get me in FRONT of the camera. I'll do it…. but I don't do it without kicking and screaming first. Not literally… I try to be an adult on most days.
Let me tell you a little bit about myself and how I got here. Fitness has been ingrained in me since I was a kid. Both my parents were very active and always seemed to be competing at SOMETHING. From racquetball tournaments when I was younger to running to hiking, waterskiing, 3D archery shoots, and hunting… all the outdoor activities you could think of. Neither one of my parents ever allowed my sister or me to be lazy athletically. We always had to be in some kind of sport.
Turns out that while we both did all of the things I listed above… we both chose gymnastics as our end-all-be-all sport. I started gymnastics at 7 years of age and it wasn't long until I was competing in the sport. And it didn't take long after that for it to become a crucial part of my life. I was in the gym 20+ hours per week in high school. It was my life. I stuck with it for over 10 years until an injury forced me to stop. Although I could no longer compete, it was still an integral part of my life. I started coaching the sport when I was 15, and it has been was something I am always drawn back to.
At 18 years old, I decided to leave my home state of Montana and move to Colorado. I quit college, followed the snow, and snowboarded for those first 3 years. I always seemed to find my way back to coaching though. I found a recreation center up in the mountains and started coaching recreational gymnastics classes. When I decided to move down to Denver, I found another gym and started coaching there as well. It was comfortable being in a gym. It has, and will always feel like home. I lasted at that specific gymnastics facility for only a few months before I transitioned into the restaurant industry, where I stayed for the next 10+ years.
During those 10 years, a lot happened. Let me quickly sum this up for you. I moved to Arizona. I had a daughter at 22. I ran a marathon 11 months after I gave birth to her. I moved back to Colorado, got married, had a son, started managing a restaurant, got divorced, stopped managing the restaurant, (went through A LOT of hardships during that time), found a gymnastics gym. Started coaching gymnastics again. Coaching at a competitive level this time. Finally feeling like I was doing what I should be doing. Met Roy while working at that gym. Got talked into doing an 8-week challenge. He helped me lose 10 lbs in those 8 weeks and gain back my confidence. And two years later.. here we are. There are plenty of little details in the midst of all of that but that is a general rundown of my adult life from the time I left Montana until now.
Now.. Something that I want to be completely honest with you about.. I haven't been a part of the adult world of health and fitness for long. I'm still learning, but there is one thing I do know. Personal growth, and what it means to make a drastic change in your life for the better. I've had to change everything I thought I knew about myself in the past 5 years. It has been quite a journey to get here. The way I view life, my life specifically, and what I've been called to do has dramatically changed. I know I've been put in this position for a reason.
I am here at RUF. My biggest goal and something I have become extremely passionate about is my ability to coach. I am unique in that I genuinely enjoy and look forward to waking up early and coaching my 5 am cross-training classes. I never thought I would ever say that. I am the opposite of a morning person. But honestly, every class I have the opportunity to coach, makes me want to do more. There is nothing like being in a room with people and feeding off of their energy. Seeing the determination on their faces. And the genuine gratefulness of so many of them. The relationships I've already been able to build at RUF HQ has been incredible. I feel like I have been given a gift to connect with people and being able to be one-on-one or using the coaching skills I've developed over the years has been an incredible blessing. I am learning a lot about the CrossFit world and how to coach cross-training classes. I am programming workouts. But most importantly I am a part of something bigger than myself. I get to help people.. men and women, learn to love themselves and I get to use fitness as a tool. I get to use coaching as my "in" to help people in their personal growth. It's truly a dream.
So… as we continue with these blogs. You now have a better understanding of who I am. I will use my perspective. But not only that, I will be doing research, talking to many different people, and sharing different viewpoints on numerous topics to help you change your life for the better.
I'm excited and honored to be a part of this journey at RUF… and hopefully YOUR journey.