Athlete of the MonthJuly

Shannon Donohue

"Show up, have a good attitude and don’t be afraid to push yourself!"

July 2022 Athlete of the Month: Meet Shannon Donohue
We have so much appreciation for our community, and love to highlight one athlete each month that exemplifies hard work and perseverance. Meet Shannon! She brings a great attitude, takes instruction, and actively works to improve.  It’s been delightful to watch her grow into a strong athlete. Let’s celebrate Shannon’s growth by giving her a fist bump the next time you’re at the gym.

Q: How long have you been going to Terminus? What changes have you seen in yourself (physically or mentally) since joining?
I started in January of 2021, so about a year and a half. Physically and mentally I have seen a lot of growth. Since joining, I have been more consistent with exercise than I had been in many years, probably almost a decade. And Terminus provided the first time where heavy strength training is a part of my workouts, so I have started to see muscles that never existed before!

Q: How has your journey at Terminus helped you outside the gym?
When I joined Terminus, I was at the beginning of a really tough masters degree program, I had just moved to a new city, oh and Covid was still raging and stressful; mentally, I was pretty beat up.  The Terminus workouts gave me daily reminders that I can do difficult things when I put my mind to it and show up, and the Terminus community provided some much-needed encouragement and support. I take the lessons from Terminus to so much I do outside of the gym; show up, have a good attitude and don’t be afraid to push yourself to failure, it’s good to know where that line is. Sometimes it is much further away than I think it is.

Q: Who inspires you at the gym, and how do they inspire you?
Everyone! People like Sara Hardy, who show up to 8am class like clockwork. Watching so many women workout throughout their pregnancies, many who still kicked my butt while pregnant, and working out next to someone who is injured and still showing up is incredibly inspiring. Perhaps also oddly inspiring, has been watching some of our fittest athletes struggle with a workout, it’s just a nice reminder that we all have strengths and weaknesses and we are all working to get better.

Q: How would you describe what it’s like to be a part of Terminus?
It is a true community! We support and encourage each other, provide recommendations for things in and out of the gym, loan out things. I feel very fortunate to know I have a whole group of people I can go to when I’m in need and in good times.

Q:  Tell us about your first day of class at Terminus.
I was super nervous, and knew next to nothing about what to expect, but I showed up for a 9:15 class. I walked through the front door, not knowing I should have gone through the garage door. Coach Patrick was the coach and graciously placed me in the back of the room, he then went over the workout, which was going to be deadlifts and burpees. I had tried to do burpees once before, it did not go well, and deadlifts were my least favorite movement, so I was not super excited… But it turns out I had been doing them wrong! And with good instruction, I had a really good workout. I think I was pretty much hooked from that first class.

Q: What is something that we may not know about you?
I have worked in several jobs and industries, but probably the weirdest was working at a glue stick factory.

Q: What are your top 3 memories or proudest moments in CrossFit?
I have had some really fun strength PRs, Adrianna and Graham were there when I got 90lbs on my clean and jerk, which was huge for me, and I think they were more excited than I was. At Coach Patrick’s 33 WODs in 33 hours event, it was the first time I attempted a rope climb, and I was super proud of myself for being able to get all the way up the rope. Finally, I was pretty proud of myself for competing in the Terminus competition, it was something that is definitely outside of my comfort zone, but was so much fun!

Q: Moving forward, do you have any short term or long term goals in the gym?
Time will tell if these will be short term or long term, but I really want to be able to do consistent double unders, and full RX pullups and pushups. Otherwise, long term to just continue to show up for classes 5-6 days a week.