November Athletes of the Month!!!

ELIZABETH & DAN CEFALO!

Since I missed last month’s Athlete of the Month, we get a double feature for November! And who better to do a double AOM post on than one of our favorite gym couples, Elizabeth and Dan.

Dan has been a 5 days/week 11:30am regular since our days at O2. We joke that if there’s ever a time he doesn’t show up for class, I would call 911 to check on him and make sure he’s okay (It’s kind of a joke, but actually kind of not..). When he started with us, he spoke often about his wife Elizabeth, but we hadn’t actually seen or met her for a good few months. Where was this “wife” of his? Pretty much on day 1 of opening this location, we finally had the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth and she’s been working out with us ever since. We’re so glad she’s real! ;-)

Elizabeth and Dan are the greatest examples of hard working and dedicated partners, parents, athletes, and friends to us all. They are the first to offer help at the gym and venues for socials, they participate in all of our community events and competitions, have gotten both of their kids involved, and add so much value to our community. We are lucky to have them and are so excited to announce them as our November Athletes of the Month!

We asked Elizabeth and Dan a few things about themselves and here is what they had to say…

1) What did you do for fitness before CrossFit? (And/or what else do you do for fitness besides CrossFit presently?)

EC- Spinning and Barre classes

DC- Weightlifting

2) What do you spend most of your time doing outside of the gym?

Both of us spend most of our time talking about the gym, the workouts and the soreness!  Just ask our kids ;) 

EC- I’m an Educational/Behavioral Consultant focusing on social and emotional development for children birth-18yrs-old.  I conduct trainings with teachers, administrators, parents and mental health consultants to help them form healthy, connected cultures in their classrooms and schools.  So in short, I teach others how to create communities just like our CH CrossFit family so everyone can thrive.

DC- I was a general contractor for 20 years before deciding to build and develop Kruted, a tech company which serves as LinkedIn for high school students so they can pursue a better fit for their post-secondary education, find scholarships and hopefully graduate as close to debt-free as possible.

3) Tell us something about yourself we may not know.

EC- I’m Cuban-American and my first language was Spanish. I also speak some Portuguese.

DC- I’m not Latino! I’m actually Italian and Polish. 

4) What got you started in CrossFit?

EC- After seeing Dan’s great results with CF, I decided to jump into it exactly a year ago this month and I was immediately hooked even though I never imagined I would be lifting weights and doing some of the crazy stuff that we do.

DC-We spent a summer in Salt Lake City while our daughter Hannah was dancing for Ballet West and I decided that I wanted to try something different so I started at CrossFit SLC and really enjoyed it.

5) What's your biggest accomplishment at CFCH so far?

EC-As someone who started with just the goal of surviving one of these workouts, I was amazed at my first rope climb but just recently, I was able to do multiple kipping pull ups without a band.

DC-In March of this year, I competed in the Norse Highlander Games and placed 2nd in the Master’s division.

6) What's your biggest non-fitness accomplishment?

This one we can answer together…our family.  We have a daughter Hannah (18) and a son Daniel (13) and you’ll also see them at our box.  We are officially a CrossFit Family!!!

7) What fitness goal are you currently chasing?

EC-My short-term goal is to complete 5 strict pull ups so that I can ultimately do a muscle up, even if it takes me 5 years!

DC-1300lb club (deadlift, bench press and back squat- total combined weight lifted)

8) What life goal are you currently chasing?

We love to travel and there are so many places that we plan to explore in the future including Greece, Japan and Portugal.

9) What is your favorite CrossFit movement or workout?

EC- Deadlifts, atlas stones and most of the gymnastics work

DC- Strength work

10) What movement/workout makes you cringe to see on the board?

EC- Anything with weight above my head

DC- Snatches and overhead squats

11) What's your favorite thing about CFCH?

Definitely Community.  Almost eight years ago we moved from Miami to Chapel Hill in search of community and we never imagined that we would find the sweetest, most encouraging group of individuals.  We have the greatest level of respect for everyone who walks into CrossFit CH because we challenge, cheer and drive each other at the same time.  We are grateful for the community that Morgan and Michael have created and we are honored to be a part of it.

12) What long term plans do you have in the realm of health and fitness?

EC-Bone Density…I’d like to be able to get back up again if I should fall down in my 80’s.

DC-Flexibility and mobility

13) What or who is an inspiration to you?

EC-Dan

DC-Elizabeth

STOP IT.

14) Which band/station/playlist is your favorite to really get you pumped up at the gym?

EC-Heavy Metal or whatever Michael plays when he’s working out and RapCaviar on Spotify (Josh Ellis is going to LOVE this answer ;-) )

 DC-Rage Against the Machine