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MISSOULA- A local world champion is going for the gold again this weekend. Missoula teacher Sue Habbe found her dream sport later in life, in what many others would call it a nightmare.

Four years ago, Habbe spent her time in the gym doing typical workouts, but then a few guys convinced her to try something else.

"I just said, ‘ok. I'll come tomorrow morning. I'll work out with you guys'. It was a group of about seven guys and one girl. And what I can say is since that time, I've never done anything but CrossFit."

CrossFit workouts are always two things, intense and brutal and Habbe has found a way to master them. She made her first trip to the Reebok CrossFit Games last summer and left with a world title in the 45-49 year old age group.

Now she's 50, and expected to compete for a championship in another classification, but she won't even find out what events await her in California until a few days before the competition.

"Anything from gymnastics to any kind of weightlifting movements. A lot of running, rowing, jumping. A lot of the unknowns. They can throw anything at you. So that's part of the mystery, and part of the coolness of CrossFit," Habbe explained.

Habbe had surgery on her shoulder and hand this December, and is just now getting back to the peak of her game.

"We did a lot of scaling. She went back to what she probably should be doing for her age. So she just has the heart. She pushes through everything. She never complains about any workout. She has no idea how good she really is. So that's what makes her good, is she doesn't think she's good. She doesn't think she is better than anybody," Habbe's coach John Petroff explained.

The world champion still admits she gets nervous before every workout. But she always finds a way to keep coming back for more.

"When you're done, you're done. You saw us. We go as hard as we can go. It's not easy, you know. You really just want to stop and put your hands on your knees. But we don't let each other do that."

Habbe and 19 others qualified for the Reebok CrossFit Games in the 50-54 year old age group and will start competing on Friday morning.

Contact Derek Buerkle