2011 Reebok CrossFit Games athlete Elyse Umeda is also the owner of CrossFit 808 in Honolulu, Hawaii. In this video, she shares her CrossFit story about how she became a successful affiliate owner and Games athlete.
Umeda was a college basketball player for Princeton University, and after she wrapped up her college career she moved back home to Hawaii, where she tried to find her fitness groove. Once she found CrossFit, her life changed.
“CrossFit really filled that void for me,” she says.
“I did a class and fell in love with the workout,” she says of her first WOD at Hardass Fitness back in 2008. Even though it was difficult and left her sore “for weeks,” she came back in and was hooked. That year she earned her Level 1 Certificate.
After coaching CrossFit at Hardass Fitness, then coaching a college basketball team in Alabama, Umeda returned home to open up her own CrossFit box.
Umeda started competing in the 2009 CrossFit Games NorCal Regional, where she placed fourth, but her personal life kept her from traveling back for the Games that year. In the 2010 Games she placed 11th, and in 2011 she was 23rd.
13min 23sec
Additional audio: CrossFit Radio Episode 166 by Justin Judkins, published April 6, 2011.