“My life doesn’t revolve around CrossFit. ... Our family does everything together. ... I didn’t want anything to get in the way of us.”
Regan Huckaby, wife and mother of two, insisted CrossFit was just a hobby—something she picked up shortly before baby No. 2 to get back in shape. She didn’t even have a coach at the North West Regional.
To ensure she remained relaxed, she asked friends and family to keep it light and fresh by not focusing on the Leaderboard.
“I thought it would give me nerves and I wouldn’t be there for the right reasons,” Huckaby said. “It was my first time competing as an individual. I just thought, ‘I’m gonna try it out. Maybe next year I’ll be more serious.’”
But on the last day of the competition it was clear: Huckaby was not performing like a hobbyist; she was performing like a pro.
“It wasn’t until somebody on the floor said after the 50s, ‘Oh, you’re in second place,’” she recalled. “I thought, “No, I didn’t want to know!’”
During the final event, Huckaby finished strong. She held off challengers Carleen Lessard, and long-time training partner Karen McCadam, and finished only behind superstar Emily Carothers. Huckaby booked a ticket to the Games.
“I was in shock,” she said. “It took a month to sink in. I don’t think I’d ever had the time to think about being a CrossFit athlete and taking it to the next level.”
Huckaby ran track and played soccer in high school. She was athletic, motivated and competitive.
A torn ACL ended her soccer career the summer before her senior year of high school. Although she still had a few scholarship offers, she decided to take some time off from sports and enjoy college life. A few years into school she moved to Arkansas and met her husband. One year later, the couple moved to Hood River, Oregon, had two children and heaps of responsibilities.
“I lost that sense of competitiveness after tearing my ACL,” Huckaby said. “And then I ended up getting pregnant really young. I’d lost that sense of what competing was like.”
She found a channel for competition through CrossFit. Jeri McMaster, owner of CrossFit Hood River, walked her through her first workouts and she was hooked. Soon she began to show promise as a serious competitor. Last year, she competed with the CrossFit Hood River team at the North West Regional.
But family came first.
“My life doesn’t revolve around CrossFit,” Huckaby said. “I have one boy and one girl. Our family does everything together. We hike together, watch my husband windsurf, we all swim together, do housework together. I didn’t want anything to get in the way of us.”
But prepping for the Games demands time. Before regionals, she didn’t have a coach and trained only once a day either at lunch or early in the morning before her family woke up. After the regional, she hired Invictus coach CJ Martin and now trains twice a day.
The transition from hobbyist to Games competitor has been menacing.
“It’s been sorta scary for me,” she said. “It’s been a battle. I’ve asked myself, ‘Why am I doing this? Why am I pushing myself at CrossFit?’ Don’t get me wrong. I’m a super-competitive person—competitive with myself. But when you stop having fun, you don’t perform as well.”
Huckaby has a long-term hope: introducing other mothers to CrossFit.
“CrossFit and being a mom have something in common: They both require constant effort,” she said. “In that way, CrossFit has made me a better mom. Just when it gets easier, the kids throw something at you.”
