From “Hell No” to HYROX: The Power of Doing Hard Things Together

A few months ago, a potential new member walked in looking for personal training. He was training for something called a HYROX race. If you’re not familiar with HYROX yet — don’t worry. All you need to know is this: it’s a hybrid endurance race that involves eight 1K runs, each followed by a functional movement station like burpee broad jumps, sled pushes, sandbag lunges, and more.

He had the running part covered — but the strength and skill side of the race? Not so much. So he did something really smart: he reached out for a coach.

I remember thinking, Yes! This is what it looks like to take your goals seriously. But if I’m being honest, when I was talking with a coach later, I said something like, “Well that sounds terrible. There’s no way in hell I would ever do that.”

Famous last words, right?

Later that same day, I sat down with my own coach who challenged me to pick a hard event and set a training goal — something to pull me out of the “busy mom, business owner, haven’t-worked-out-in-days” rut I had slowly fallen into.

Welp… looks like I needed to do a HYROX.

So I set the goal: Before my 40th birthday (October 14th), I will complete a HYROX race.

Coaches Need Coaches Too

First thing I did? Hired a coach. Because even though I’ve been in the fitness world for years, this was new terrain. Coaches need coaches too — especially when it comes to getting out of our comfort zones.

I’ve been enjoying the process. (Okay, “enjoying” might be a stretch — but I’ve felt accomplished!) Running more regularly, playing with sleds, learning new techniques… it’s been humbling and invigorating.

But something was missing.

The Secret Ingredient: Community

That missing piece? Community.

Over the years, I’ve seen firsthand how powerful it is when people do hard things together. Whether it’s in CrossFit, running groups, strength training, or even starting a new fitness routine, it’s the shared effort, the shared struggle, and the shared celebration that makes it stick.

So I asked myself, Why am I doing this alone?

I started floating the idea of a HYROX-style training group… and the response was clear.

That’s when I connected with Stacey — a longtime staple in our local fitness community whose passion for HYROX had already been inspiring from afar. Her energy is contagious, and together, we decided to bring that energy into our gyms and open up HYROX training to our broader community.

This isn’t a replacement for your current training — more like an add-on or weekly swap depending on your schedule. For me, I’ve been doing CrossFit 3x/week, one HYROX WOD, and running 1–2x/week. The only thing missing has been doing it with you.

Now, if you aren’t a member yet, and this kind of event speaks to you ,joining us for this new program would be a great way to get started as well!

What I’ve Learned

Here’s the big takeaway:
Hard things are easier (and way more fun) when you do them with other people.

You don’t need to do it all alone. Whether it’s running your first race, getting back into fitness, or simply choosing to show up — asking for help and leaning into a community makes all the difference.

And yes, it’s okay to start by saying “hell no” and then slowly turn that into, “Okay… maybe… let’s go.”

Let’s train for something big together. Let’s surprise ourselves. Let’s do something hard — and let’s do it as a team.

We’ve got this.

-Kristen