CrossFit athletes don’t retire.
At least not in the way many other athletes do, their shoes collecting dust while their bodies collect creaks and groans, framed and fading jerseys the only evidence they were once among the elite. Fitness, after all, is for life.
That’s why four-time CrossFit Games veteran Julie Foucher—who technically retired in 2015—is still competing. You can find her on the floor this weekend at the Central Regional; today, she helped team CTown CrossFit to a 14th-place overall finish on Day 2. Its best event finish so far was seventh in Event 1.
“CrossFit's still so important to me,” she said. “I love being part of the community, and it's amazing to be able to experience Regionals in so many different ways.”
Known for her seemingly flawless technique and admired for her unflappability, Foucher has been a dominating force in the Central East since 2010 (she took 2013 off to focus on medical school).
Over the course of her competitive career, she’s won her Regional twice and taken four top-five Games finishes, with a best finish of second in 2012.
More recently, she’s famous for suffering tragedy like a champion after an injury to her Achilles tendon at the 2015 Central Regional ended her final CrossFit Games season early. She’d already planned to retire from the Individual competition to concentrate on finishing medical school, but she never thought she’d go out like that. Many athletes would be tempted to give it another go, but Foucher has stayed firm, choosing commitment over ego.
“I kind of liked having that as an ending point because otherwise it could probably drag on forever, and it's hard to know when it's time to move on,” she said. “Of course when I go back and watch the Games there are times when I miss being out on the floor ... but I would never give up everything else I'm doing to be back in that position right now. I'm so grateful for those experiences I had, but I'm really happy with everything else I'm doing now.”
After all, Foucher has work to do. Pursuing a career in family medicine—she graduated from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine just last week and will begin her residency in June—she hopes to help bridge the gap between healthcare and health. She noted a lack of emphasis on nutrition and exercise in most med-school programs.
“You're taught that it's important to tell your patients to do those things, but there's a lot of cynicism, and people think—especially once they've been in practice for awhile—‘Oh, well no one's actually gonna do it so we need to prescribe all these medications,’” she said. “(CrossFit) can really make a huge difference in people's lives, not only in helping them build confidence and strength and be functional into their older years, but really curing chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure and sleep apnea and depression.”
Still, that doesn’t mean she has no time to compete. It’s just a matter of scale, she said, swapping four-hour training days for a single 60-minute session, five days per week.
“I live by the quote from Oprah (Winfrey) that says, ‘You can do it all, just not all at once,’” she explained.
Last year, she hoped to qualify for the Central Regional with a team from CTown CrossFit, where she’s trained since 2014. When the team fell short, finishing the 2016 Open in 43rd place, she reprised her role as an individual—but just for fun, not with the intention of qualifying for the Games. As it turned out, Foucher competing just for fun looks like a 13th-place finish, a rank respectable for any athlete, let alone one who wasn’t trying to get to the Games.
This year, CTown CrossFit made a more concerted effort to qualify, beginning its training almost a year ago. Foucher’s lighter class load in her final year of medical school meant she could afford the training time.
“It was sort of a fun goal for me to do while I had some time off,” she said.
She’s competed on a team before, helping CrossFit Ann Arbor/HyperFit USA to a first-place finish at the Central East Regional in 2011. Spending the past year with CTown CrossFit, she said, reminded her of all the things she loves about the team competition.
“It’s so nice because you can rely on six different experiences, six different viewpoints,” she said.
She’s also enjoying the opportunity to compete just for the hell of it.
“There’s so much less pressure,” she said. “I have no expectations about how I'm gonna do; I'm not trying to qualify for the Games and so I'm really going out there and having fun.”
Not that she’s ruling out a Games qualification for CTown CrossFit—“Never say never,” she said. But for now, the team is reaping the reward for meeting its only goal for the season: to make it this far.
“We're trying to have a great experience here and just do our best,” she said.
TEAMS
1. CrossFit Mayhem (295)
2. Timberwolf CrossFit (265) —Event 1 record: 21:38.03
3. CrossFit 417 (265)
4. OC3 Black (260)
5. Maximus (240)
For complete details, visit the Leaderboard.
