February Featured Athlete - Haley Fuller

1. Where are you from?

I grew up in Lansing but spent most of my time in the Ithaca area as my mom was a teacher for ICSD.

2. What do you do for a living?
I'm a Registered Nurse and work for Planned Parenthood and also as an on-call birth assistant to a local homebirth midwife. I'm a full time grad student getting my advanced practice degree in Nurse Midwifery. Catching babies and advocating for trauma-informed care is my jam.

3. What is your favorite local restaurant?

Yikes, this is a tough one. I love The Rook for their fried chicken, Maxie's for the oysters, and Gola for their charcuterie options.

4. What’s your favorite thing to do in the summer in Ithaca?
My favorite thing to do is walk the Taughannock trail and go swimming in all of the gorges.

5. What’s your athletic background?

I played soccer all through school and almost went to college for it until I tore my MCL my senior year of high school. Since then, I've maintained a stable workout routine and prior to the pandemic I taught barre/pilates at a local yoga studio.

6. What brought you to Pallas?

As is the case for many health care workers, the pandemic hit me hard emotionally, mentally, and physically. Working 50+ hour weeks during the thick of it meant that taking care of myself took a hit. I needed a space that could accommodate my level of fitness after having been out for so long but something that was fun and challenging. Pallas appeared to check off all the boxes.

7. What keeps you here?

The changes I'm seeing in myself, both physically and mentally, but mostly the coaches and other members. The community is super engaging and I love the atmosphere of just coming together to sweat and push ourselves to new levels of fitness.

8. What’s your favorite movement?

I'm going to regret saying this but probably wall walks. Granted, I hated them when I first started but now that I'm seeing improvement I just love how it works my whole body. And being upside down is fun!

9. What’s your least favorite movement?

Shuttle runs purely because they give me flashbacks to pre-season soccer drills. I'll do them but begrudgingly!

10. What’s a goal you crossed off your CF list?
I've managed to string together some double unders since first starting and can't wait to get more! My inner 10 year old is thrilled.

11. What’s a goal you’re working to achieve?
I have so many so it's difficult to pick one. I'm really working on wall walks and handstands at the moment. My daughters are both obsessed with doing handstand walks so I'm trying to keep up with them.

12. If you could write a workout, what would it look like?

I love the workouts that involve full body movements and pepper in cardio (because I hate it but also need it!). So some sort of bar progression, burpees or wall balls, then a sprint on a cardio machine. I think we did something similar fairly recently and I left that class feeling fully wiped out but so incredibly strong.

13. If you could only use one piece of equipment for the rest of your life, what would you use?

Oof, tricky. Probably a kettlebell only because I can do so many things with it.

14. Who’s your favorite athlete?

Simone Biles. My daughters are both in gymnastics and my oldest did a project for school about her. I admire her courage and willingness to talk about her mental health struggles and advocate for herself.

15. What’s the most memorable sporting event you’ve ever been to?

A Cornell hockey game. Such crazy energy and fun!

16. What do you do for self care?Going to Pallas has been a huge form of self care for me. Other than that, nurturing my ever-growing houseplant collection, turning on music and dancing until I'm forced to stop, bubble baths and face masks, and setting boundaries with people who aggravate me. Ha.

17. You’ve got some cool tattoos. Do you have a favorite?I love all of my tattoos so I wouldn't say any are favorites. Nearly all of them have some meaning or story behind them. If I had to choose one it would probably be my beet. Most people assume it's swiss chard because the leaves are what's visible the majority of the time. The beet root is along the side of my rib cage and super colorful. Meaning? If I were a veggie, I'd be a beet. Plus they're yummy.

18. Any plans for more?
So many plans for more. I'd love to extend one of my shoulder tattoos to a full sleeve as well as get an underboob tattoo, but I have to be diligent about not going crazy.

19. What would you say to someone hesitant about trying CF?

Don't let your brain overpower you. So much of the work is mind over matter. I've been told multiple times in the past that I will never be able to do a pull-up, and I'm the closest I've ever been in just a short amount of time. CrossFit offers so much in the way of fitness, body awareness, overcoming mental hurdles, and becoming a part of a community.