S05E107 PR Yesterday, Flares Today: CrossFitter Laura "Legit" Romanek's Rollercoaster with Rheumatoid Arthritis
What happens as an athlete when your own body becomes its own worst enemy? In this raw and powerful conversation, CrossFit athlete Laura "Legit" Romanek @mcskins opens up about her journey with rheumatoid arthritis, a diagnosis that threatened to redefine everything about her athletic identity.
From waking up with a mysteriously swollen wrist on Open Quarterfinals day to navigating a complex web of medications, Laura shares the physical and emotional challenges of living with an unpredictable autoimmune disease. Her story reveals the frustrating paradox of an "invisible" illness – how someone can perform bar muscle-ups and heavy lifts one day, then struggle to open a door the next.
Laura's brutal honesty about her condition cuts through common misconceptions about chronic illness. She doesn't sugarcoat the reality of flare-ups. Yet her approach to living with RA challenges conventional wisdom about chronic disease management. Rather than completely overhauling her lifestyle or letting her diagnosis become her identity, she follows a philosophy of "do everything you can when you can do it."
The conversation delves into the complex relationship between stress and autoimmune disease, the grief of losing physical capacity, and the challenge of maintaining relationships when energy must be carefully rationed. Through it all, Laura's resilience shines through – not in a sanitized, inspirational way, but in her unflinching determination to remain herself despite everything her body throws at her.
Whether you're living with chronic illness, supporting someone who is, or simply interested in stories of human resilience, Laura's journey offers valuable perspective on what it means to adapt without surrendering your core identity. Subscribe now and join the conversation about strength in all its forms.
#AutoimmuneWarrior #RheumatoidArthritis #FitnessJourney #CrossFitLife #ChronicIllnessAwareness #AthleteLife #MentalHealthMatters #StrengthInStruggle #InspiringStories
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S05E107 PR Yesterday, Flares Today: CrossFitter Laura "Legit" Romanek's Rollercoaster with Rheumatoid Arthritis
Transcript
[00:00:00]
Sam Rhee: All right. Welcome to another episode of Botox on Burpees.
I'm here with Laura Romanek, Legit. Uh, she's my special guest today, and we're gonna be talking about her experience. She is a, uh, long time, very dedicated fitness enthusiast, athlete, CrossFit athlete.
Recently diagnosed with rheumatoid art, arthritis, and I wanted to talk to her about her life, her experiences with that.
This is something that I think, honestly, a lot of people. More than I think we probably know out in the surface. You know, shallow area, um, that deal with, uh, autoimmune issues, um, things that are very difficult to handle.
And so I really appreciate eu legit for coming and willing to share and, and speak. I know you're like, ah, time to be vulnerable.
And I was like, yeah, it's, I know it's not easy. So I want to thank you, uh, legit for, uh, coming on and talking today.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah, no problem.
Sam Rhee: Okay. So. Um, [00:01:00] I've known you for a long time. I wanna say at least 10 years or plus maybe it's,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: yeah, it's been a long time. I've been CrossFit too.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. So tell me your, um, your background.
So what do you wanna share with people about you? Um, like who you are, um, your life.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah, I mean, we could just start from CrossFit, right? Yeah. Start CrossFit in, uh, 2013. Okay. Um, I actually lost a bet to my brother and I had to end up trying a class.
Sam Rhee: He's a pretty good CrossFitter himself. He used
Laura "Legit" Romanek: to be.
I'm kidding. Um, I had to end up trying a class and I never looked back. Um, 2015, I got my L one, got my L two. I coached for seven years and uh, yeah, it's just been my life ever since. Um, I was like an athlete growing up. I played every single sport, you know, node to man. Mm-hmm. Um. Then in my twenties I moved and I just kind of lived my life and did what I wanted to.
And then I came back and I got right back into it. And, uh, here I am 11 years later, you [00:02:00] know. At, at bison.
Sam Rhee: Where did you grow up?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I grew up in Far Lawn.
Sam Rhee: Oh, okay. So not far.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: No, not far at all.
Sam Rhee: And, uh, do you remember your first CrossFit workout that you ever did?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Oh, God, it was kettlebell swings. I think I used like a.
A 20 pound kettle, though I could barely lift it over my head. Um. Burpees maybe, and lunges. Something easy. It was like an on-ramp class. Mm-hmm. Um, so it wasn't anything crazy, but,
Sam Rhee: and what appealed to you that first time when you were doing it? Like what was it that you were like, ah, this is something I like?
I like it. It just
Laura "Legit" Romanek: felt like a gym class.
Sam Rhee: Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: You know, everybody was together. Everybody was doing the same thing. Yeah, yeah. You know, it was kind of like race to who was gonna. To finish first, you know? Yeah. Um, and, and I love that. And I wanted that back in my life. So, um,
Sam Rhee: you were coaching at Hawthorne and you were there for a long time.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I was there for a long time. Yeah.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. And actually I think the guy who, one of the guys who owned it is now part of
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Station Athlete.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. Station. And I actually see him, he's podcasting. He is doing a great job. Yeah. Yeah. Do you miss that? [00:03:00] Felt like that old gym, like, you know, Hawthorne and that full crew because CrossFit's changed over the past 10 years.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah, I definitely think that, um, I wouldn't be the coach I am if I didn't coach there. Um, Dave was awesome. He was an awesome guy. Dave Whitson, right? Yeah.
Sam Rhee: Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um, and I definitely met like the most amazing people there. Um, so I definitely, uh, I definitely miss it. Um, but yeah, definitely, uh. Brought me to, to be who I am now for sure.
Sam Rhee: What are the proudest moments that, or the things that you, a couple moments you remember most vividly about your CrossFit? Sort of experience so far.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I mean, like anybody can say like, oh, I prd my snatch. Yeah. Or I got first place in a competition. Yeah. Like, awesome, right?
Sam Rhee: Yeah. Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um, I think for me, like some of my proudest moments are just being able to see people that I coached, accomplish things that they couldn't accomplish before.
Mm-hmm. Inside and outside the gym. I think that's [00:04:00] what kept me going all the time, is just seeing other people, um, thrive and be able to better themselves. Um. It just made me happy. Mm. Um, so it wasn't always about me, you know, uh, it was a lot of times about just other people. Mm. And, uh, what they can do. So,
Sam Rhee: so let's talk about, you've been at Bison for how many years now?
Like, three, four. I don't wanna feel,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I think we're going on four. Wow.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. That's really, uh, yeah. You're, you've been here for a long time and, yeah. I've watched you and you move so well. Like obviously I think probably barbell movements. I mean, you're good at everything. Like I've seen you with your bar muscle ups and you know your gymnastic work and you have a motor and, and um, obviously you have a mental push and drive, uh, which you really need to perform well in CrossFit workouts.
But like, I really think your barbell movements, you're really good at lifting snatch work, you know, super [00:05:00] fast in terms of accelerating and all that. Thank you. Um. What, uh, where are you, what are you, what division are you competing like at?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I am now in 40.
Sam Rhee: Wow. That's crazy. Does that feel weird
Laura "Legit" Romanek: being 40?
Yeah, absolutely. Um, I, this is my second open in the 40 category. Mm. Um, does it feel weird? Does it feel different? I, I thought I was gonna be, uh, at the top. Yeah. And I, I was, yeah. Um,
Sam Rhee: the worst last year. Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Uh, and then. This year wasn't so bad. Yeah. Um, but it definitely, it wasn't the, the trail I wanted to go on.
Sam Rhee: Uh, so you were diagnosed, you just told me, with rheumatoid arthritis in March, which is like two months ago? No, no. Like, oh, March of last year. Yeah. Wow. Oh, so it's been like 14 months. Yeah. Um, when did you first notice that there was something going on with your body?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: So, I mean, we, we all have like aches and pains.
[00:06:00] I've been in CrossFit 11 years. Right. You, you're
Sam Rhee: telling me.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: So, you know, a little bicep tendonitis or elbows, right, right, right. Like that. Um, but one day it was the, the day of the quarterfinals, the first day of the quarterfinals. And I woke up and my wrist was blown up and it, it didn't feel like an injury, you know?
So I immediately texted Dave and I'm like, Dave, I don't think I can do quarterfinals.
Sam Rhee: Dave Syvertsen.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah. And I did so good in the open and I'm like, okay, here's the, here's the next step. Mm-hmm. Um, but I'm like an all or nothing person. Right. Like, oh yeah. Even if I'm not feeling great, I'm still gonna push it.
Yeah. If I know it's gonna be worth something for me. Right, right, right, right, right, right. So my wrist blew up and the whole day I'm like praying, like, please go down. Please go down, please go down. It doesn't. So at nighttime I'm about to do the workout, then I wrap my wrist and then I wrap it with a wrist wrap.
And I think the workout with snatches and I'm like, this is gonna be great for me. Yeah, right. It's not gonna be great for me if I don't have a wrist. Right. So, um, I do the workout and [00:07:00] we're good. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Little sore. Yeah. This and that. Uh, I go to sleep, wake up the next morning, it's like it never happened, but then my left wrist blew up.
I'm like, okay, something's wrong. Right? Like, I can't have pain in my hand for or my wrist for 16 hours. Yeah. And then all of a sudden it goes away like never happened and now it's on this wrist.
Sam Rhee: That's really freaky.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Right. So I'm like, hello, Google, like, let me see what's going on.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. So what did Dr.
Google say for you?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Uh, that I'm dying. No,
Sam Rhee: uh, that's what it always says.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I mean, I really like. I get into things when I need to figure things out. Okay. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, I'm gonna get to the nitty gritty bottom of it. Yeah. Um, and the first thing that popped up was like rheumatoid arthritis.
Sam Rhee: Really? Yeah. Migrating like joint pain, wrist and,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: yeah. Yeah. Once it pops from one side to the other side, uh, it's pretty well known that it would be ra but of course you have to get tons of blood work and, and tons of tests and [00:08:00] rheumatologists and, and the whole nine to really get a full diagnosis. So
Sam Rhee: just from the.
Fact that you had an episode of wrist pain that migrated to the other side. You were like, I need to go get evaluated for this.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: My aunt and my uncle both had autoimmune diseases.
Sam Rhee: Okay.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um, so I knew it ran in the family.
Sam Rhee: Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: So I'm like, okay, well if it runs in the family, let me see if Google says it runs in the family.
You know what I mean? And then I was like, yeah, it's probably that. I wanted to prep myself before I went there. And he told me. Or I got the blood work and they told me,
Sam Rhee: oh, so you, so did you make the appointment with the doctor or, yeah. And then And get blood work at the same time?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah. It was all like, I went to my primary, yeah, primary was like, all right, we got a rheumatologist in the same building.
Let's go to him. Went to him, told him my symptoms. He's like, let's go get blood work.
Sam Rhee: And there were no other symptoms at that time.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Not that I could really recall in like that type of pain. I know that like the beginning. Sorry, the end of 2023. Yeah. I was getting sick a lot and it was taking me a long, long time.
Sam Rhee: Like colds and stuff? Yeah, [00:09:00] colds
Laura "Legit" Romanek: and like ear infections. Mm. And stuff that's just like crazy and I was just not getting better. Mm. I would be on bouts and bouts of like even prednisone. Mm. And um, and antibiotics and it just wouldn't get better. Um, so that's the only thing that I could think of that like.
Was the beginning of it that I didn't really notice.
Sam Rhee: I see.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah. But it came on very quick.
Sam Rhee: Hmm. And then you got the blood work and what did it show you?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: So I had gotten blood work in December of 2023. I gotten blood work in 2023. Okay. In December of 2023. Why? And um, I don't know why. Oh, okay. I mean, I think it might have been just a routine blood work.
Okay. Um. My life is in a whirlwind in the last year and a half. So like, timing is just a little off for me. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and it said that I had a low positive, um. A NA.
Sam Rhee: Okay. Which is the antibodies like ant, [00:10:00] like
Laura "Legit" Romanek: anti-nuclear antibodies. Yes.
Sam Rhee: Antibodies. Which show that your body's sort of attacking itself to a certain,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: so that pretty much told him that something's hanging out.
Yeah. Right. But we don't know what it's
Sam Rhee: Right,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: right,
Sam Rhee: right. Some sort of self inflammatory condition, but that's very non-specific. Right. Could be all sorts of stuff
Laura "Legit" Romanek: and you can have that and be healthy. Right, right, right. You can have a positive a NA and not have anything. Right, right. So March comes, I get blood work and.
Mahi anti CCP level. Mm-hmm. Right. Um, you should be under 20. Mm-hmm. I believe. Mm-hmm. To be negative. Mm-hmm. Right. Over 60 is positive. Mm-hmm. My number was over 250.
Sam Rhee: Wow. And that's a pretty specific test. That's not a general like. Non test and with,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: and with that test, um, came like the RF factor, right? Like, um, rheumatoid factor, which was negative.
Sam Rhee: Okay.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um, but because my anti CCP level was so high,
Sam Rhee: yeah,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: that's what they really used to diagnose RA with is that number has nothing to do with the, [00:11:00] the RF or a lot of times.
Sam Rhee: Right. 'cause it that's variable. It can be up, it can be down, right? Yeah. Um, oh my god, I can't believe I'm remembering this stuff from like 30 years ago in med school,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: so it was over two 50.
Yeah. Um, but some tests will give you the number.
Sam Rhee: Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Right. And other tests won't, so if you're over two 50, it's more, uh, progressive. Mm-hmm. Right. It's faster. Mm-hmm. Onset. Mm-hmm. Um, and it could be more erosion. Mm-hmm. Right. Um, my last blood work I got, I got an actual, um, number. Mm-hmm. Which is 597.
Sam Rhee: Whoa, that's pretty high.
It's really high. Yeah, it's really high. So when you got this information, how did you feel? Like, what kind of, what was going through your head at that point?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I was like, this sucks.
Sam Rhee: Okay. Yeah. Um, yes,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: for sure. Yeah. Uh, I didn't really know. What to think of. I knew that I was having terrible flareups. Right. It is this gonna be my life for the rest of my life?
Like, how am I going to feel better? Mm-hmm. Like, I'm not feeling better. Mm-hmm. Right. And when it first happened, they put me on [00:12:00] prednisone. Right. Because that's the only thing that they can really put you on
Sam Rhee: Right.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Until they start putting you on all the other things.
Sam Rhee: Right. Yeah. They gotta put out the fire first.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Right. So it was on prednisone. Yeah. And obviously it, it didn't work. Yeah. Um, okay. And then that's when I started my whole journey of all the medicines that I take now.
Sam Rhee: So, so you got diagnosed, you're having these symptoms. Mm-hmm. You're feeling terrible. Terrible. What, was there anything that helped you sort of get through this phase in terms of supporting you or feeling like, you know, you had things to rely on people, anything like what was it that sort of was in your life at that point?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I think like the scariest part for me was that like you can have. Uh, predisposed, right. You can be predisposed to RA for sure. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But something needs to trigger that mm-hmm. In order to come out.
Sam Rhee: Mm-hmm.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Right. I went through a really, really emotional time [00:13:00] at the beginning of last year and the beginning of this year, which set off ra, which I still haven't come to terms with that.
The stress and the emotional, uh, like turmoil that I went through is what brought this all out. So I was in fight or flight. And when you're in fight or flight, right. Your cortisol levels are usually an anti-inflammatory, correct? Right. Yeah. But when your body is in fight or flight for so long Correct. It does the complete opposite.
Correct. So now my body is attacking my body. Mm-hmm. And how do you tell your mind to tell your body to calm down when your mind's thinking one thing and your body's doing another? Right. So that's what brought on all the flareups was the stress. So once I could bring the stress down, right, the flareups start to go away a little bit.
So that's kind of how that is.
Sam Rhee: How do you deal with the stress?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: No idea. I'm still working on
Sam Rhee: it. Okay. Because you're a fighter, like I know you, like I've known you and [00:14:00] it's not easy to get to know you. Let's put it that way. Like. I won't say you're prickly, but like,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: thanks. You're,
Sam Rhee: you're a good needler.
Like every time, uh, I see you, like I know you now. And so like I take everything. Uh, well, but you always got that little, like, you know, uh, you know, you jab people that you love. I know that. I do. I know that. And so, definitely. So it's, but it, but if people don't know you, it's not always so easy to get to know you, so, right.
And I know that you are a fighter. You are a pusher. You are someone who, um. Takes those prisoners a lot of times and so like that's not a calming zen kind of mentality to have. So, but you now know that stress, you know, of all forms can be very unhealthy. Right. So you've gotta be doing something to help yourself.
No,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I mean, when you're in it, it's hard. Yeah, right. Because. You could be stressed out [00:15:00] about one thing. Yeah. And then you're stressed out. That you're stressed out. Right, right, right. And then you're like, you know, how do I, how do I get out of this? Right. Stop stressing out, stop stressing out. Right. So, I mean, unfortunately, I I, I've been in like a two and a half month flare up this year already.
Okay. Um, and like I told you before, uh, we started the podcast, I think the last five days have been. Good for me. Yeah, right. I haven't really felt any pain. Um, I always have tingly, pinkies and fingers, but
Sam Rhee: Oh, really?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah. Uh, there's always something brewing. Um, but yeah, I've, I haven't been in much pain.
I've been able to really, like, execute at the gym, um, which is awesome. Um, but yeah, I, I mean. I, I'm falling off track. What was the question?
Sam Rhee: Oh, so other things to deal with the stress. I know gym helps you to Yeah,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: the gym is great. Uh, but unfortunately sometimes, uh, you know, I go to the gym and I can't do everything and
Sam Rhee: Right.
And then it's frustrating. Yeah, yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um, talking to my friends is great. Uh, still very hard for them to understand. It's [00:16:00] very hard for people to understand.
Sam Rhee: It's complicated. Issue.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: And sometimes, you know, it's like, oh yeah, my grandma has arthritis. I'm like, I am. I'm not gonna go into what it is, you know? Um, yeah.
Sam Rhee: So have you changed other parts of your life? I wanna get into the medications a little bit, but I wanna talk about like, what other parts of your life have you changed, like diet or sleep or anything like, you know, what else do you find helpful or not helpful in terms or of trying to manage, like, your overall health at this point?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah, so getting to the gym, you know, uh, excites me, makes me happy, which brings my stress level down. Okay. Um. I eat very plain, like rice and meat. I don't even eat a vegetable, which I probably
Sam Rhee: should. Yeah, you should.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Every now and again, but a lot of times it's just salmon or, or steak or Okay. Chicken or, you know, um, the normal things.
Um, yeah, I don't really,
Sam Rhee: do you do anything else outside of, [00:17:00] like, what are your interests outside of Oh, I, I mean,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I love hanging with my friends. Okay. Um, music, but like, I'm very simple, you know, I'm like a very like, go with the flow kind of person.
Sam Rhee: Mm.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um. But it's like the gym. It's, it's. Eat, sleep. Mm-hmm.
Gym and repeat and repeat. You know, when you get to this age, it's like, you know, you can't go play with your friends. I can't bring a doorbell and tell your friends, you know? So,
Sam Rhee: uh, so what medications have you started and are, are you on now? And what have you found that has been helpful for you? Because there's so many new medications out there.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah. When I first got diagnosed, um. Put me on prednisone. Yeah. Very, very high dosage.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. How high? Do you remember how high they sporty? Yeah, it's pretty solid. 20
Laura "Legit" Romanek: in the morning, 20 at night.
Sam Rhee: Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um, and then I got put on, uh, Plaquenil.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. That's pretty con like almost everyone I know on Right. Two times a day.
Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: And methotrexate pills
Sam Rhee: also fairly toxic. Like there's some side effects to that.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah. And that's the problem. Yeah. Right? Is is your liver and your
Sam Rhee: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Kidney, I mean, it's [00:18:00] literally an anti-cancer drug. Like it's chemo. Right. It's literally chemo. Both of them are, yes. Yes, methotrexate is a little more toxic, I would say, than the Plaquenil.
Mm-hmm. That I've seen. But go ahead.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: And then I got diagnosed with high blood pressure because of
Sam Rhee: the prednisone.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah. So I'm on my high blood pressure meds.
Sam Rhee: Which one are you on now?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Uh, I am on amlodipine. Okay. I think it's called. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, and I also have to take folic acid now. Yeah. For, yeah.
It's, it's always, you know, take this for that, for that. Right. Yeah. Um, and then so the methotrexate pills Yeah. Uh, bothered me. Really bothered me. I think I was like four days tapped out outta seven, just feeling crummy.
Sam Rhee: Like just crummy overall Or GI symptoms or Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: GI symptoms. Tired. Yeah. Um, just aggravated.
Yeah. You know. Um, so I got put on injections.
Sam Rhee: Okay,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: so now I do a methotrexate injection every Monday.
Sam Rhee: Okay.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um, every week. And I take Humira now.
Sam Rhee: Okay. Injections. All right. Two [00:19:00] weeks self or you go someplace? I
Laura "Legit" Romanek: do it all myself.
Sam Rhee: Okay. Yeah. You found that scary to inject yourself?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: No.
Sam Rhee: Okay. No. In your belly or, uh,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I can't do my belly.
I do my legs.
Sam Rhee: Oh, like your quad?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah, my quad. Woo. Yeah. It's not bad. It's really. Uh, it's better to do it myself than to have somebody do it, I think. Really? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um, and then now I'm of course back on, uh, the whole time I was still taking, we were trying to wean myself off the prednisone because I really shouldn't be on that a long time.
Of course. Um. So I got, I think myself down to like five milligrams. Okay. The beginning of this year, everything ramped back up and, uh, I had emailed my doctor and said, we gotta get on something else and I need to up this prednisone because I need to get out of this. Like, it was mentally and physically exhausting.
Uh, being in a flare up every day.
Sam Rhee: What is the worst symptoms with a flare up when you're really flaring? Like what do you feel?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Oof. This is like the hard part. This is like the hard thing to explain to people.
Sam Rhee: Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um. I've never broken a [00:20:00] bone, but I've like sprained my ankle, like playing basketball and stuff like that.
Or I've jammed my finger. Yeah. Right. That initial feeling where you have no stability. Yeah. Right. And your, your finger, your, your, uh, ankle swells up. Yeah, right. It feels like that. It's like a deep throbbing pain and sometimes it feels fiery, like, like your joints are on fire. And as the flare up continues, as the hours go on, you lose your range of motion or your mobility.
Um, you get a lot of like pinching. Mm-hmm. Right? Because the swelling is now pinching on everything else.
Sam Rhee: Right. 'cause the tissue's so, so swollen at that point.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah. So that's, yeah.
Sam Rhee: And which joints does it affect the most for you?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: So in the beginning it was just my wrists and my fingers. Mm-hmm. Which I was like, all right, this isn't.
Terrible, but it's not great, right? Like I have very good range of motion in my wrist. Yeah. Um, when I'm in a flare up, it's, it's like this. Mm, you can't, can't turn a, a knob or anything. Um, as it progressed, uh, it goes to my hips now, [00:21:00] my knees, my ankles, my shoulders, any joint that's a joint. I think I've probably had a flare up in, um.
Yeah.
Sam Rhee: And this disease can be erosive. So do you feel like you're losing function with, I'm so scared about that. Yeah. So how do you feel about that?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: So every time you're in a flare up, right, it's eroding at like the synovial fluid, which is around your joints,
Sam Rhee: right? The joint, the fluid that's cushioning your joint.
And it's like lubricating the joint tool. So
Laura "Legit" Romanek: that's why like back in the day you see a lot of people with their fingers. Yeah. Um, because there wasn't medicine to like help that.
Sam Rhee: Oh no. I remember doing surgery where we did. Joint replacements for like finger digits and stuff like that, right? Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I am very hypermobile too, which is more susceptible to, uh, joint issues.
Um, so
Sam Rhee: I lost my track. So you're losing function, you're afraid of losing function?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah, I'm really afraid of losing function. Um, every time I'm in a flare up and, and since I've been in a flare up for two and a half months, I'm like, what? Is [00:22:00] happening.
Sam Rhee: Have you noticed loss of function yet though?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: No. It, it's like so weird because you know, one day you feel like absolute
crap.
Right?
Right. And then the next day you're like, well, nothing happened. You know what I mean? So I don't know. And the only way to really tell is to do like x-rays and stuff like that. Yeah.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. To see what the joint looks like. Yeah. And have they looked okay?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Not yet. When I'm, I, they haven't taken any yet.
Oh. Um, but when I feel good, I feel good. So. Maybe there's nothing wrong. Like I I don't wanna
Sam Rhee: Right. Check until you, until I, yeah. I'm sort of the same way. I don't wanna look, need
Laura "Legit" Romanek: any more stuff.
Sam Rhee: Right. I don't wanna look unless I actually have to do something about it. Right, right, right, right, right. I don't wanna know.
Um, so then if the gym, how has your movement patterns been? What's your performance been like? Like what have you been doing with that?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: So I try to bike, uh, on the C two. A little bit before and after the workout. Okay. Um, just 'cause I've had a lot of like, um, hip and like groin [00:23:00] pain in the joints. Yeah. Um, so I just try to keep my legs moving Yeah.
And stretch a little bit, but like, I honestly, like, do I need to do that? Like, I don't know, you know, I don't because it's not an injury, so like I don't want to treat it like an injury. I see. You know? Right. Um, scaling, like. I think I scaled so much and I was still in a flare up that I eventually just said, I have to rest.
I can't do anything. Right. Because when you work out, your body gets inflamed. And if I'm already inflamed right. And now I'm inflaming my body even more. Right. Um, that's just the recipe for disaster. Um, so I rest usually.
Sam Rhee: Do you take NSAIDs or anything else at all? I can't,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: can't, I can't with all the medicine.
Yeah.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I've, I, I think I'm already destroying my liver and my kidneys with everything I'm taking. Right. Um, and that's just gonna do. Due to more damage.
Sam Rhee: Did you work out this week? I did. Um, how many days?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: What day is today?
Sam Rhee: Today is Thursday,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: two days. I took yesterday off.
Sam Rhee: Okay. So you took, so you worked out Monday and Tuesday.
Mm-hmm. And you did both workouts and [00:24:00] did you RX them? Did you scale them?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Uh, RX them? Yeah.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. And how'd it feel?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um. Monday was great. Yeah. I loved Monday's work. Which
Sam Rhee: one was Monday again? Uh, double unders. Oh yeah, the 75 double unders. The, was it burpees? Uh,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: no double unders. Um, dumbbell snatches and double snatches bar muscle
Sam Rhee: under.
Yeah. And you did all of it?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I did.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. You're
Laura "Legit" Romanek: not level one, level two,
Sam Rhee: right. The bar muscle ups and, uh, 35 pound dumbbell snatches. Yeah. And you got through it.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah.
Sam Rhee: And your time was good?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I think so.
Sam Rhee: So. That's where someone would be like, okay, you have ra, you are dealing with all this stuff, but you're not flaring up right now.
You're feeling pretty good. And I don't think I would finish that workout and I don't have any, uh, autoimmune issues. So someone might look at you and be like, not really understanding Yep. What's going on? Like how do you deal with that? Like that you could actually perform on a high level like that, because I [00:25:00] don't think.
I would say half the gym, would Rx ever finish it? Like so I
Laura "Legit" Romanek: think a lot of people don't think it's believable. Right? They don't believe me. Yeah. Which is fine, right? You could see my medicine cabinet if you like. Mm-hmm. Chin or Right. All my needles and, and all of that stuff.
Sam Rhee: Right. Um,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: but like I said, it's not an injury.
Right. And you might not see it on the outside, but internally. That's where it is. Right? That's what's going on. So you can't really judge somebody by their performance one day, because there's been times that I've done a workout and I pushed it too hard and I was in a little flare up and I was out for like a week.
Sam Rhee: Mm. Right?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Mm-hmm. So you really can't, you can't tell. And I think that's the, the scary part, and that's why I kind of like give up sometimes talking to people about it because it's like, I, I can't drill it in your mind enough. Like, yes, I know that. I'm a good athlete. Right? Yeah. And, and I'm pretty high in, in the chain at the gym.
Right, in performance wise. Yeah. [00:26:00] Right. But that's maybe just on one day. Right. It's not an everyday thing anymore.
Sam Rhee: Has that been important to you, your whole life in terms of how good you are compared to everyone else at the gym? I think it is.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I wouldn't say like compared to everybody else, right.
Everybody has their own stance, whereas, yeah. Or where they're at and their CrossFit career. Right, right. I think I'm hard on myself. Right, right. And there are people that I push to to go against, but I think as I've grown up. I'm not so much about, let me be the top score. Yeah. Right. It's more about moving well.
Right. And knowing what I can do, and just because I could do it doesn't mean that like I'm snotty about it in a way,
Sam Rhee: you know? Yeah. But let's suppose you get to the point where you're sort of having chronic issues. Mm-hmm. Can only do single unders, 20 pound snatches, 15 and ring rows, and that's sort of where you are every day.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Mm-hmm.
Sam Rhee: Would you come [00:27:00] to the gym? Would you do what you do like in terms of working out? Cannot
Laura "Legit" Romanek: think about
Sam Rhee: that. I'm just saying because like, that's the mental part of it. I mean, eventually we're all gonna get there at some point, like when our, but we think it's not gonna be till we're 80 or 90 or something like that.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: No, I mean you're, you're right. Right. So the other day we had front squats. Yeah. Right. I think my old one rep max was one 90. 1 95. Right. I was also 140 pounds when I got off. Where are you now? One 20. Okay. When I got ra, I lost 20 pounds within a month. Okay. Uh, just depleted. Yeah. Yeah. Everything. Yeah. Right.
So the workout, which was the wall balls and the burpees, I crushed. Right. Get me on a heavy barbell now and I. I couldn't even front squat 165 pounds. And so for me, that's like, wow. Right. Look what this has done to me, right? Mm-hmm. And people will come to me and be like, oh, well pound for pound. You could still lift more than me.
It's like, great. But right where you thought you were at and now where you're at now is like a completely different, that's where the mind games come into [00:28:00] play.
Sam Rhee: You don't know how this in this condition is going to progress. It could re, it could. Remit. Right. And you could have a complete like remission, right?
You could, it could be much worse. Like is that uncertainty? Like
Laura "Legit" Romanek: it's scary. Yeah. Yeah. It's really scary
Sam Rhee: because so much of your, uh, who you are is tied up with your ability to perform and your basic, basically not knowing whether or not you could perform a month from now. Right. Three months from now, six months from now,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: it's, it's like the.
Being unreliable in a way too. Right? Like, I don't know. I don't know what the next day is gonna bring. Right? Right. And, and it's, it's frustrating and it's like mentally exhausting and emotionally exhausting because like I said, it's, it's a lot of the stress that brings it on too. Mm-hmm. Like, how do I stop that?
Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? Like you could meditate and you could take a walk and you could do all this.
Sam Rhee: Do you do those? I
Laura "Legit" Romanek: do. But when you come back, [00:29:00] it's still all there. Yeah. You know what I mean? Right. Um, so she's getting herself outta that mental. That mental thing,
Sam Rhee: if I was a psychologist, I, I mean, or I imagine a psychologist would say, okay, legit, but maybe you need to like not have your self-esteem and, and your identity bound up in what you're doing with, at the gym.
And maybe you need to find other ways to define yourself. Like have you thought about that in some way? Like, who am I? And if I am not. Uh, crazy elite RX athlete at this point. Maybe I have to find something else that really validates me and makes me who I am at this point.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I think I allow the people that I want to know or want to know me, know me, right?
And the other people I just, you could look at me as just, uh, an athlete at the gym, right? So there's definitely. Depth in me outside of the gym. Right. There's definitely a legit, there's definitely a Laura outside of the gym.
Sam Rhee: Mm-hmm.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Right. Um, legits [00:30:00] in the gym, Laura's outside of the gym.
Sam Rhee: I almost forgot.
Why are you, why are you nicknamed legit? That was something that I think I asked a long time ago. I forgot maybe what the answer was.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah. So like you said before, like I, I hone in on my technique and, and my movement patterns and standards and early, early on in my CrossFit career, I was snatching at night and.
I'm snatching it. I put it down and somebody goes, that's legit. And I'm like, what? They're like, that's it. That's your name. That's what we're gonna call you from now on. And I'm like, legit? They're like, yeah, legit. I'm like, okay. And, and it's just stuck the whole time. I mean, there's times still now 11 years later where people will go, Hey, uh, Laura, this and that.
Who? Legit. Oh, legit. Okay.
Sam Rhee: So nobody calls you Laura anymore. Um, your mom. Dad, I don't know. Family. I mean,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: half the time my brother calls me legit. You know? Um, it just depends. People that have known me for my whole CrossFit career and inside and outside, yeah. They'll call me Laura.
Sam Rhee: Okay. Um,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: but yeah, it doesn't even really matter what I [00:31:00] go by, you know?
I like legit though.
Sam Rhee: You do? Yeah. Yeah,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: yeah. But I didn't think it was gonna carry all the way to 41 years old, but
Sam Rhee: it sticks out. I mean, it's memorable. Nobody forgets that.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Nobody forgets
Sam Rhee: that. Do you care if they give you shit for it or anything like that? You never care. No, I know you don't. I You do and you don't sometimes.
Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah.
Sam Rhee: Okay. So, um, what is it that you think people don't effing know about ra? That they really. Ought to know, like, you know, 'cause I figure people would be like, you know what, it's autoimmune. Have you tried this? Have you tried this nutritional therapy? Have you tried this alternative? You know. Way of doing things.
Have you tried? Right. So all sorts of offbeat type things.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I think there are a lot of people that get diagnosed with autoimmune and immediately like, what are all the things I can do that are anti-inflammatory and that will help me? So I never have to take medicine, right? And this and that. Yes. I don't wanna define my life saying I have ra, right?
So [00:32:00] unless I really need to change something and what I'm doing, I'm not gonna change it. Right? I don't think my diet's that bad. So. I'm not gonna change that. So
Sam Rhee: you're not gonna be doing like doing the green smoothie loaded with like this, that, or unless
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I want one just to have one. Right. Right. But I'm not gonna, um, base my whole life on it.
I can't. Right. Then you become consumed in your disease. Mm-hmm. I don't wanna come become consumed. Right. Because then it takes over. Right. And that's, that's what I don't want it to do, is take over my life.
Sam Rhee: So, uh, what else have you done to sort of live a quote, normal life at this point? Anything else? I.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: No, not really. I mean, I'm still living my life the way I am. I'm just unfortunately.
Sam Rhee: Do you go drinking? Do you? Yeah,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I definitely go out and enjoy myself for sure. But I know I'm gonna pay the price. Okay. Do you pay
Sam Rhee: it more now? Wait, do you wear a whoop,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: by the way? I don't anymore.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. You know, you used to.
[00:33:00] Like, uh, shit on me for my whoop. 'cause I had the worst stats always. I probably
Laura "Legit" Romanek: would have the same stats as you had back in the day. Now I think I, I got rid of it 'cause I was like, I've been in the red for two months. I don't wanna keep being the red. Right. You know, I'm paying $30 a month and I'm not, I'm not doing anything with it anyway.
Yeah. I'm still doing the same thing that I do every day and it's not changing. So no point.
Sam Rhee: How many hours of sleep do you get a night?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um. Now that I'm on prednisone, not much.
Sam Rhee: Really? Yeah. Why? It gets you all jittery and stuff. Oh
Laura "Legit" Romanek: yeah. It gets me jacked up, I think this morning I woke up at five 10. Wow.
And I was ready to go.
Sam Rhee: Really? And what time did you go to bed?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Uh, 1130.
Sam Rhee: Wow. Yeah. That's not awesome. And I
Laura "Legit" Romanek: used to go to bed at like nine. I. Okay. And, and wake up at like seven.
Sam Rhee: You're a fighter, so you're almost resisting the fact that like, you don't want these things to change. Like, like you are, like, you're taking all the medications, you're doing all the things that you need to do, but you're also like not going to, [00:34:00] like, if there's a po, like you don't know if some of these alternative things might help or not, but you're not gonna try them.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Mm-hmm. I just want it to go away, to be honest. You know what I mean? Can I manifest it to go away? Like Totally. Um,
Sam Rhee: you think you could?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: No, absolutely not.
Sam Rhee: Okay.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: This, it was brought on by stress. You think I could manifest it outta me? Absolutely not. Mm. Um, yeah. I mean, I don't wanna change anything, you know?
And like maybe that's defiant of me.
Sam Rhee: It's defiant of you. Right.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: And that's fine. But you know, I'm a single person. I live on my own, you know? Healthy stuff costs a lot of money too. Right. And I don't know, I just, I don't like failing, so I don't have to try something and it fails and then try something and it fails.
Mm. You know what I mean? Yeah.
Sam Rhee: I get that.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: If I can stick to what I know and it's working right now, then like, let's just continue on with that, you know? Uh, do you
Sam Rhee: have pets?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I do. I have a dog.
Sam Rhee: Oh yeah. And has that dog been a rock for [00:35:00] you?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: He's lazy. Oh, okay. Yeah, he just, she's just chilling. He's just hanging, you know?
Sam Rhee: So has there been anything bright like in the past year and, and two months that you could say, you know what, this was like one of the best things that, like, not ra, but like something within it that like, you were like, you know what, this, this was out of all the crap I had to deal with. This was something that really stood out as good.
Nothing,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: you know, uh, I'm alive. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. I'm, I'm dealing with this. Mm. Um, I've been so intertwined with what's going on and like, trying to figure it out and trying to get myself better mm-hmm. That like. Just being able to wake up mm-hmm. On a day and not feel pain mm-hmm. Is like, is good for me.
Sam Rhee: I don't wanna get into your personal life, [00:36:00] uh, but obviously. A lot of emotional stresses due to relationships and other issues has, how have your relationships with people changed? Do you have anything that you could give in terms of advice, in terms of people with relationships or how you've coped, uh, with that?
Like what, what could we learn from your experience in terms of that? Because I know that that gets super complicated.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I mean, I think number one, be kind to people, right? You don't know what somebody's going through, um, at all. Um. I think that, I'm gonna lose my train of thought here. That's okay. Um, you can only control what you can control, right.
So I think the best thing is just to, not to let things get to you. Mm-hmm. Um. I'm still losing my train of thought.
Sam Rhee: How do you approach your relationships with people differently now because of that? Like, because you know, obviously some of this is all the [00:37:00] stress due to all of that. So do you do anything differently?
Do you approach people differently? Do you see people differently? I don't know. Anything that from this experience that you would give advice to?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah, so I think I was always a go big or go home. Mm. Right. Put everything I have into somebody or something. Mm-hmm. And don't keep anything for myself. Mm-hmm.
And that's blown up. Mm-hmm. Because when you lose that mm-hmm. You just lost your whole self.
Sam Rhee: Right. 'cause you put so much into that. Right. Whatever it is.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Right. So I'm definitely learning to, I think it's bad. Right. I was very anxious in relationships and I think now I'm very like, uh. I don't, I'm very dismissive about it now.
Right. Is that
Sam Rhee: good?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: No, it's terrible. Right? You, you wanna be able to give somebody, uh, something of you. Right, right, right. And I used to do that all the time.
Sam Rhee: Right.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um, but now I just feel like I gotta focus on myself. Yeah. Right. And I have to have or keep some things to myself. Yeah. Right. Because when you [00:38:00] give it all out
Sam Rhee: Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: And you get
Sam Rhee: Right.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: You know, and
Sam Rhee: you lose it,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: and you lose it, you're like, wow, where's my.
Sam Rhee: Right.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: You know?
Sam Rhee: So do you feel like at some point in your life you're gonna get back to that point where you can do that?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah. I mean, I would hope so. Right. But I'm really just focusing on myself right now.
Sam Rhee: Yeah.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Um, I can't worry about other people.
Like, I really can't worry about what other people think of me or what they've heard about me or, or anything. Or if, or if you wanna be in my life. Right. Like, I have friends that are really there for me and have been there through, through everything. Mm-hmm. Right. And. Those people are my rocks. Mm-hmm.
Right. If you wanna come into my life, come into my life. Right. And this is where you're gonna say, I'm like, brash. Right. If you wanna come into my life, come into my life. But if you don't, I don't care.
Sam Rhee: Mm-hmm.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Right. I don't have, I don't have the mental and emotional capacity right now to deal with anybody else but myself.
Mm-hmm. Right. And make, that might sound really bad, but
Sam Rhee: No, absolutely not. I don't think anyone who's dealing with something like this would have [00:39:00] the bandwidth to like. Be a mother there or like somehow like be expansive to every one of, I mean, there's some
Laura "Legit" Romanek: people that really don't like me and that's fine.
Right. But I'm, I am probably one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Right. And I'm very just open and honest and real with people, you know? That's just who I am and that's how I was raised. Mm-hmm. You know, so if you don't like me, like that's on you. That's how I look at it.
Sam Rhee: Yes. Your personality is such, like I said, your prickly to begin.
So you gotta kind of, kind of push through some of that.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I mean, I think that's how it's been my whole life. You know, like I, I obviously, uh, I'm gay, right? So growing up is very hard as well of, of course, yes. And you have to make people like you, like, why don't you like me? 'cause of this, this, and this. Yes.
You give up at, at at a point. Yeah. You know,
Sam Rhee: I think that's the biggest part that I have found. That makes me angry is that if people, judge people especially about sexual orientation or just because they're different, [00:40:00] and I think the thing that I have liked about you is like you didn't hide that you were a prickly.
Like you didn't cover it up or try to say something just to get people to like you. Like, I mean, you are very prickly, but that's who you are and you just sort of like leave it out there and, and so I kind of knew what I was getting when I would talk to you about stuff like, and, and it was. Open, honest.
And like you said, it's, you know, it's like olives. Like you can either like 'em or not like 'em, but we're not trying to pretend that the olive is, like, we're not buttering it up with like honey and trying to make it taste good. Like you're just, you just are who you are. I,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I have no problem with a hard conversation.
Right. And I have no problem taking accountability. Right. And I think a lot of people don't do that. Nowadays. Right. And they run from it. Right. It's not gonna solve your problems. I'm that person that's like, like let's nip it right now and then move on. Right. And I think that's how I've always [00:41:00] been.
Sam Rhee: So at this point, for someone, let's suppose someone was just recently diagnosed with ra, like they just had it, like they're scared.
They got the, they got the test, the blood work, and they're like, you know what, this is starting to happen for me at this point. Mm-hmm. What would your advice be? Now that you've sort of dealt with it for a year plus at this point,
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I mean, everybody's gonna go about it their own way, right? So I don't want to tell people like what they should do, it
Sam Rhee: doesn't matter.
Just give your advice the way you would do it and like, or, or if you went back and had to do it, like is there anything different? Is there different that you would do or, or tell people, make sure you do this?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: No, I would literally say, don't change your life. Do everything that you can, when you can do it right, and unless you have to change it, just keep doing you right.
Don't let it define you. Right. Even though I have ra, I'm still an athlete. You know what I mean? Right. I'm not an athlete with ra.
Sam Rhee: Right.[00:42:00]
At some point you're going to. Possibly deal with the fact that it's never gonna get better. No. And you're on these medications for a lifetime, and you're young, you're 40. Mm-hmm. So what are your goals in the future? Even though you don't know what's going to happen, you must still have goals, right? For your life, for what you want Personally, relationship wise, professionally, anything like athletically like.
So what are your goals? Even though you have this thing sort of obscuring your future at this point, what is it that. Your goals are right now at this second. What are you working towards?
Laura "Legit" Romanek: I mean, I, right now I'm really focusing on just getting better.
Sam Rhee: Okay.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Right. I'd like to get back into the gym. I'd like to go be able to go hard again.
Yeah. Um.
I just friends and family and love and all of that, that's what I want, right? I was brought into the world to love somebody and love people and be there for people. And like, if I can keep doing that, [00:43:00] I'm gonna keep doing it. And that's what makes me happy and that's what makes me keep going, you know? Um, it's not about a job, it's not about like any of that, you know?
It's just being there, showing up. Uh, doing what I can, when I can do it.
Sam Rhee: I don't think that's any more than what anyone else could ask for at this point.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Yeah.
Sam Rhee: Laura, legit romanic, I really appreciate the time that you spent. I know it wasn't easy to share and, uh, I've learned a lot just listening to you, sort of talking to you about your, um, your life.
Uh. Can I post your Instagram handle? If anyone wants to talk to you about like RA or any other experiences that they have, I'll put that up there. And, um, like I said, you're still beating 90% of the people at the gym on a good day, and I, and I've seen you and I always love watching you move at the gym.
You are a great mover. Um, your mental, uh, attitude in the gym [00:44:00] is. You know, as good as anyone, bar none like I've seen you push and, uh, I really, really hope that the future holds good things for you. Um, that's, you know, that's what I, you know, that would make me so happy to be able to see you do what you do at the highest level.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Thank you. Yeah, I would hope that too, for sure.
Sam Rhee: Yeah. Thanks. Alright. Thank you. Legit.
Laura "Legit" Romanek: Thank you, Sam.
