Dizzle

by Sam Martin

Enough about Lance today. Let’s talk about someone we can ALL agree is great without reservation…the one and only Danette “Dizzle” Rivera.

Dizzle is literally one of my favorite people. I’m going to list off some things I like about her, with photos stolen from facebook to go along.

1.  She makes being a vegan cool.

Even a hardened carnivore can’t hate on this.

Dizzle is not just a vegan, she’s a hardcore, raw vegan. She drinks weird green liquids out of mason jars. She gets all of her protein from hemp, peas, tempeh, and other horrifying things like that. She is, needless to say, out there.

But I never argue with Dizzle about her food. We never get into tussles about whether or not The China Study is utter bullshit (it is, if you were wondering). Why? Because she does what she does better than anyone I know. Her food all looks amazing, tastes amazing, and is crafted with a level of love and care that you just don’t see much.

And I really didn’t notice that the blueberry pie she made me for my birthday had vegan butter in the crust. I just noticed that it was delicious.

2.  She trains like she means it.

With the also awesome Mr. Julio Rivera looking on.

Danette takes her training seriously. She works hard, has fun, and kicks ass. We do improvement challenges at CFLA. Normally, they’re won by new people who improve a ton because, well, they suck when they start. Danette’s been coming for over two years, and still took 5th-most improved in our last challenge. BY TRAINING HER ASS OFF.

She writes about her training, and her articles are great–not the standard, overblown, OMG CROSSFIT IS SO INSPIRATIONAL GIRL POWER! b.s. that everyone else does, but interesting thoughts on training, athletics, food, and other cool stuff.

3.  Her family is the coolest family out of all of the families.

Dizzle’s daughters: Maya, 16, and Mina, 12

Dizzle’s family is so cool that it makes me want to go have my own. I used to fear that one day, I might have a daughter instead of a son. This would lead to 18 years of me having nothing to talk about, no one to play catch with, and having to murder at least 3 teenage boys who mess with her at some point.

But now I know Maya & Mina. They’re confident, happy, smart, athletic, pretty, and just generally amazing. If such daughters are possible, then sign me up. I’m going to go ahead and say that their unbelievably cool mom had something to do with it.

4.  She looks maybe a bit too good for a mother of two who’s north of 40.

Oh, dear.

I’m gonna stop now.

Happy birthday, Dizzle. I’m really, really glad that you were born.