Hey! I’m Sasha. I am 39, happily married to Martin, Mom to Garrett, 13 and Morgan, 10, who are starting to tower over me in height. I love playing sports, cooking, reading, and horses. I’ve been an equine dentist for 16 years.
I have loved horses and field hockey for as long as I can remember. Field hockey camps were the main motivator for keeping my grades up, and I made it happen. Hockey took me around the world, and brought me connections to some really amazing people that I still call friends. Thats where I was most comfortable- on the field, or the squash court, on the river rowing, or on a horse.
Hockey got me to Cornell, which led me to an Animal Science and Farm Business Management track, which took me to Kentucky, where I learned about equine dentistry as a profession, to Texas for school, and eventually back to Pennsylvania.
I pretty much swore off exercise after that quick tryst with Division 1 College sports. I was TERRIFIED of hockey practice. Nausea inducing. Not having fun with fitness. Squash was fun, but horses took over.
I moved into a barn, bought a horse, a blue heeler, and a truck, and I was going to be a cowgirl! Fast forward 6 years and I’m married, I have an equine dentistry practice, a kid, and I’m barrel racing- my back HURT. I connected with a fantastic chiropractor Nate Callear, DC at Horn Chiropractic in Athens, PA. I was going a lot – when somehow I connected and scheduled an appointment with his wife, Jennifer, for a personal training session. I think she had me do a warmup, some light strength work, and 15 min of 5 pushups, 10 situps, 15 air squats.
I was hooked. 15 minute workout! YES. Sign me up. I trained with her for two years, every week for an hour. Every Christmas and birthday wish list of mine was for a pack of sessions, and eventually crept over to the Rogue website.. I started following CrossFit.com daily programming, making use of WHATEVER I had around the farm, in all weather, all temperatures. The pics from that era are amazing.
While on an annual work trip to Kentucky I dropped in to CrossFit Unbridled, owned by Ann Hartley Smith. I was absolutely terrified, typical, but everyone was so friendly, I got a great workout in over that hour, and came back every day for two weeks. I think I asked Ann if I could follow her programming, and that was the beginning of my Wodify account, and an early version of online training!
We kept building the barn gym, and I eventually shifted over to Street Parking programming (back when they were celebrating their 800th member!)
Working out in the barn was tough sometimes, frigid temps, trying to record open workouts on a frozen phone and upload with deathly slow internet in the mountains..
Or driving an hour and paying 20 bucks per Open wod to have it judged..
My friend Jenn and I talked over and over again about starting a CrossFit here in Bradford County. Every have that #alwaysgo buddy? That’s Jenn for me. She has zero circulation in her fingertips when its cold, but would show up with 3 layers of gloves and mittens without fail usually twice every weekend. Maybe once more during the week. We were super consistent weekend warriors!
I saw an ad for a gym in town that LOOKED like a CrossFit space. It was January 2018. There was a trial month membership offered, so I jumped on it. Cool owners, Rob and Tiffany Gliemli, loved having four walls and heat. Slightly different programming focus, so we amicably parted ways and I headed back to my barn gym. Three of us from the area got our L1 at KOP that spring.
That fall I was presented with an opportunity to assume the lease there in that same gym space in town, so in 6 weeks we went from “idea” to doors open. On Jan 1, 2019, Endless Mountains FIT, LLC, home of Endless Mountains CrossFit was in business at Farmer Freds! Dove in headfirst. Informed Jule, my equine dental assistant that she needed to go get her CFL1 too!
I had NO idea what to expect. I thought our gym would be like a typical CF box, with a whole bunch of hardcore athletes who want the most challenging workout in town. (Little secret, that is NOT what our typical member profile looks like!)
I had a lot to learn about EVERYTHING involved in being an owner, CEO, employer, marketing and sales director, lots of nights mopping floors.. About six months into I got a mentor, through Two Brain Business, which was a transformative moment, and the work and learning hasn’t slowed down since.
I always stress the fact that at no point on this journey have I been alone. Every step of the way there has been a family beside me, a team surrounding me, and we take care of each other. Too many crazy and sometimes tragic things have happened in the last 28 months and our crew supports one another.
We love our gym, our people, and we believe in the CrossFit methodology. The future is really bright, and we will continue to work hard for the health of our community. For everyone.
Remember that girl from the beginning who was most comfortable in her own skin on the hockey field? She’s back.
