Debbie Runs Circles

THE

RUNNING

GIRL

Deb’s First Powerlifting Competition

After many years of doing CrossFit and entering a few opens, Debbie decided to have a try at her first weightlifting competition! It was held by the United States Powerlifting Association in Bremerton, WA at Dungeon Fitness. The USPA holds over 400 competitions nationwide for lifters of all skill levels. She registered with her friend and fellow CrossFitter, Tiffany(who is a pure beast, by the way). As it was her first competition, and her usual MOD, she was a nervous wreck as the day approached. She knew the rules, but you had to be very careful when following them. There were three different exercises with three attempts at each: back squats, bench press, and deadlifts. If you fail at any of the lifts, you’ll get a no lift which will not count towards your total. For a newbie, she did pretty good with only two no lifts out of the nine and also set three state records for her division!!!!! That’s my girl!!!!! As a side note, I have changed our video hosting platform to Rumble and have yet to figure out a way to embed Rumble videos on WordPress, haven’t found a way yet. So I have provided links to her lifting videos below. Just click each one and the video will open in a new window! We are all proud of Debbie!!!!!

 

The back squat lift video, click here!

The bench press video, click here!

The deadlift video, click here!

Getting her award video, click here!

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The Platform

Brian, the Handler

Deb, Bear, Tiffany

The Girls with their medals!

Deep Into CrossFit Now

ROCKING THE CROSSFIT CHALLENGE

Again, another long pause between posts, but wanted to update on what the girl has been up to. The other knee had to undergo arthroscopic surgery(left) and she has recovered very well since. Now both knees have been done and she is good to go. She recently participated in the 2022 CrossFit challenge and finished in the upper 10% which allowed her to move on to the quarter finals. She was surprised and shocked to have made it. Unfortunately, we just happened to be on a vacation which could not be rescheduled so she was not able to continue. Bummed as she was about it, she was very proud of her accomplishment and there’s always the next one!

SOME PICS OF THE GIRL AT IT!

Retirement, COVID, and Moving

I had not realized that is has been over a year since the last update so one is long overdue!! Much has happened in the last year. She retired in June, we had to put our dog, Cordell, down a month later, and in a few months came COVID, then I (the significant other) finally retired this June and we finally made our move to our home on the Olympic Peninsula! She had to leave all her CrossFit friends in Snoqualmie when we left. In the midst of the pandemic, gyms were closed and equipment was scarce, but determination and a constant watch online, she amassed the equipment needed to set up her own garage gym which has become her sanctuary! I get to use it too! Hopefully down the road when we have been settled awhile and races are allowed, she may start running a few 5k’s. Time will tell but until then, she’s pumping iron and doing WODS!!!!

Another Murph

The Beast

Like a bee flying from flower to flower, a hummingbird looking for nectar, or a butterfly in a strong breeze, Debbie is now on a very different tangent! She has always wanted to build up some upper body strength and overall body tone. Barre3 did great for her balance and core and really improved her running ability but it was now time for something different. Crossfit has always intrigued her and she did some asking around and checked out our local “box” and was sold and joined. Nervous at first, she went in and was surprised at the helpfulness of trainers and other members and soon relaxed. She had to modify her workouts in the beginning and still does on some exercises, but she holds her own amongst those way younger than her and is getting stronger every day! She is lifting weights now that just a few years ago she would have never dreamed of.

The Murph WOD

 

Now here we are three and a half years later and approximately 658 WOD’s, she signed up for the annual Memorial Day Murph honoring our fallen veterans, her fourth one. You can read and learn about it here. Each person does the same workout for time, and this year she did pull ups and strict push ups without modifying and beat her time by 48 seconds. Good job honey! As for distance running, well some 5K’s and 10K’s may be in the future….more later!!!

 

Ouch, but it doesn’t stop her!

An Overdue Update

Debbie Getting It Done!

So you might be wondering where Debbie has been lately as the updates have been few! Well, just a few things to tell you. No runs really, and no Spartans done either, but she had to go in for some arthroscopic surgery. She hurt her right knee back last summer doing her passion, CrossFit. Now her knee, in reality, had probably been injured for a long time and may have started in the midst of her running. Doing all the squatting required, most likely aggravated it to the point of finally having to do something about it. It started hurting more and more and began to swell. For a few months, she tried to heal it by periodic draining, ice, backing off her knee workouts, but it didn’t help enough. An MRI finally was done and showed a tear in her meniscus, so in early December she went in and had it repaired. She’s had to modify her workouts since and no winter skiing can be done this season, but here we are in February almost and she’s back at it getting stronger and stronger as you can see in the pictures. She’s not squatting the weight she was last year, but it won’t be long!!! The doctor told her she is a very fast healer and I think we can all agree that nothing will keep her down for long!! I am always proud of my tough little girl!!

That’s My Girl!

Another Run – Another Medal

Well she logged in another run and got another medal and her collection continues to grow! She won first place in her age group once again and this was funny in itself……but that’s an inside joke! She ran it with a couple of her cross fit friends and yours truly…..me, her other half! She was a bit slower in this run than in the past, but it’s probably more due to the fact she doesn’t run on a regular basis as much as she used to, but still does her cross fit at a minimum of five days a week! Just a week earlier we all did the Winter Pineapple Classic 5k which is a fun rum with obstacles and slides! I don’t normally log in her times for these kinds of races as she normally does them in a group and we all wait for each other, and it is just for fun! Well, there is nothing on the horizon just yet, but you never know what may pop up! Stay tuned and Happy Holidays!!!

Another Medal!!!

RACE RESULTS
DISTANCE: 5K
TIME: 30:25
PACE: 9:49

Spartan Trifecta Complete!

 

A Proud Spartan Trifecta!

Well she did it and completed her goal of getting a Spartan Trifecta done this year!!! In an earlier post, she did the Super race in Snohomish. Then in August it was down to Washougal for the Portland Sprint Race. It was that one that Team Morningwood had two other members doing their first ever Spartan race, yours truly and Brandon. It was a tough one for me due to shoulder issues, but Debbie had no problems with it! The weather was warm so the water obstacles were a welcome relief! In September she and the team did their third race for the trifecta, the Spartan Beast back in Snohomish. Brandon and I sat out, however, Brandon and crew went back the following day and he did the Sprint! Yeah, I am a wussie! Debbie did a great job with this one and even conquered many obstacles that she had not been able to do in the previous races. What an accomplishment she has made! Very proud of here and Team Morningwood whoop whoop! You can see her results here! I wonder what is next……who knows!

The Spartan Trifecta Medals!!!

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PORTLAND SPRINT

The Course

Before and shiny!

Here we go!!!

Having fun!

Brandon and Diane

Down and dirty!

Jumping into the final obstacle!!

The Spartans

Happy Finishers!

Brandon and Diane!

Diane and Debbie!

Debbie and me!

Mom and Son!

Alex and Mo!

Greg and Cassie!

Ahhhhhh food and bevies!

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THE BEAST

Almost ready!

Mom and Alex!

Scared????

And they are soon off!!!

Getting over the wall!

Uggghhhh burpees!

Low five the little spectators!

Over the net wall!

Up the rope!

Almost there!

She did it!!!

The Spearman

SPARTANS!!!!

The Finish line and mission accomplished!

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Beer Run!!!!

Well she added another run to the list just mainly for fun. Her CrossFit friends, Brandon and Diane and me all headed to Redmond’s Marymoor Park for the Washington Beer Festival for the Beer Run. It was just a 5K and was pretty flat and was a lot of fun. There were no timing chips at this run so basically the time was on the clock at the finish or by what was on your GPS watch and her time clocked in at 29:50! The main attraction was the after run festivities which included beer, wine, cider, food and good times and we achieved them all!! Next up is the Spartan Sprint in Portland Oregon which yours truly(the husband) has been dragged into! I’m scared!

Let’s Drink Some Beer!

Spartan Super Race 2017

Let’s find out what our girl has been up to lately! Crossfit continues to be her main focus still at this point. She has gotten stronger and more confident in her abilities at the “box”! She comes home with bruises, blisters, sore muscles but shrugs them off and marches on! She even participated in the Open of the Crossfit Games this year. She did very good for her first time in the games. You can see her results here! She loves her “box” and the people who workout there and has made many friends there.

Now for the latest, she just recently teamed up with her Crossfit buddy Diane, Alex(the younger son), his friends Nels and Greg and did the Spartan Super Race held up in Snohomish! What an event and it was Debbie’s first of that magnitude. They had a blast even though doing burpees became their workout of the day if they weren’t able to finish an obstacle! It was almost ten miles and more than 25 obstacles and they finished in 4:42:06! It was a great thing to see mother and son competing together and son keeping an eye on Mom to make sure she was okay throughout the race! Spectators weren’t allowed to follow the whole race so what pictures were gotten were it! You can tell by the looks on their faces, that nobody got injured and all had a great time. Now there’s talk of doing a sprint in August in Oregon and trying to get yours truly involved in that one! Gulp……stay tuned!

Pre Race Clean

Ready To Go

Debbie is A Monster

Deb and Diane

Getting Ready

The Course In Blue

Starting Line

Almost Time

Burpees

Alex Making It To The Top

The Girls At It

Pull, Pull

Making It Happen

Done and Dirty

Last Obstacle

Almost There

Hitting the Fire

Finish Line!!

Finish Line!!

Finish Line!!

The Finishers!

The Finishers!

Dirty Girl!

Alex Needs A Shower!

Mom and Son!

Deb and Alex!

MORE PICS

Greg under the barbed wire!

Alex doing the same

Alex mud dunking!

Deb mud dunking!

Greg in the mud!

Nels in the mud!

Sandbagging!

Sandbagging!

Greg and his sandbag!

Sandbagging!

Sandbag smiles!

Diane sandbagging!

Sandbag smiles!

Over the fire jump and finishing!

Over the fire jump and finishing!

Over the fire jump and finishing!

Over the fire jump and finishing!

Over the fire jump and finishing!

Run With The Fishes 2016

Well it has been awhile since Deb ran a race. She does run at her workouts at Crossfit, but doesn’t do much running otherwise. Her other half, me, has been trying to run some short runs to see if it bothers my heel. We decided to go out and hit the streets to do this 5K which was close to us and the weather was still holding up. It was Run With With the Fishes part of Issaquah’s yearly Salmon Days festival. It is a fun, flat run through the streets of downtown Issaquah and afterwards, you can go enjoy the festival which is always a great time. Even though she hadn’t run in awhile in a race and was just doing it for fun, she came in second place in her age group once again! Too bad they didn’t give out trophies for this one so she could add to her collection! Good job Debbie!!!!

Deb’s Race Results!