By Liz Lang
Our next High Riser is a Southern California native from Pasadena, CA, and to say Katie Crowe was just a CrossFit competitor would be an understatement. She has artistic parental roots so she grew up loving the arts, and doing things like singing in choirs, painting, and drawing. As she got older her real love for sports surfaced, her first sport was Equestrian sports—and get this—Katie started with rodeo horse riding! Show jumping eventually became her favorite, but she retired from Equestrian sports when her horse passed away.
This turned her to track and field. In high school Katie had bounced around with events wherever needed and actually had no intention of competing in college. Soon enough she had found herself sitting in her future head coach’s office discussing where the team needed walk-ons. Pole vault wasn’t offered at her high school to give her any previous experience, but Katie also competed for the Long Beach State track and field team in pole vault.
Katie attributes her athletic influence to her aunt who was a two time Olympian in race walking, having an elite athlete around while growing up helped her learn the kind of dedication it takes to be at the top of your sport. Advice that Katie would give to new comers to CrossFit is to “listen to your coaches, mobilize often, learn good technique/form, focus on the basics, and get that core strong!” She explained to Rise Bar that she enjoys the whole experience of competing and the “opportunity that it creates for you to prove to yourself you can do things faster, push yourself harder, and lift heavier than you have before.”
Look out for Katie in this year’s Southern California Regional CrossFit Games, she is training to hopefully place in the top seven this year. She mentioned that “the last time I went to regionals as an individual I was so wide eyed and had no idea how to compete. This year I hope to prove to myself that I can hang with the top ladies, which would be a lot of fun.” Don’t let her fool you though, Katie told us that despite her expectations not to qualify to participate in the final workout, she placed 15th in the Southern California region that last time too!
Imagine a constant background of people cheering, music playing, MCs announcing every step of your workout, and pushing through no matter the distraction. “You have to be focused and have a clear plan, because a mistake can cost you 10 places!” Katie has also competed in weightlifting events, which she claims “could not be more different than CrossFit. Weightlifting is like golf, when a lifter goes up to make an attempt, it’s silent, and there are lots of little rules that you have to be aware of before stepping on the platform.”
Outside of sports, Katie is working towards getting her license as a therapist. Her professional life helps her find inspiration by giving her the “hope and chance to help someone every day. I work primarily with children, and I am inspired by their ability to find the beauty in the smallest things.” When we asked her about hobbies she replied, “Hobbies besides CrossFit? Those exist? HA! When I do get the change I do like to do art every now and then, I also am a professional shower/car singer.” If we checked in Katie’s kitchen, she said we’d find “Lemon Cashew Protein+ and Sunflower Cinnamon Protein+ bars, unsweetened almond milk, and ingredients for gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.”
