Murph: Workout for a Hero

I wasn’t going to write about doing “Murph” but then I thought, why the heck not? The truth is, I almost kind of enjoyed it!

This crossfit Heroes work out was named in memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005.

Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy

It was his favorite workout and is now done at Crossfits throughout the nation, known as the Memorial Day Murph.

Crossfitters know that 2 miles of running is A LOT for a workout. Obviously, that’s not the part I was worried about though.

The atmosphere was great pre-workout just because we were all off work and this was an exciting workout. We were going to pump up the music, get in this thing and do it together.

I showed up at Trident Crossfit for the 8am — early class — I knew if I came any later, I’d only wish I’d gotten there before.

After a quick warm-up, it was on. I planned on trying to do some of the pull-ups, then transferring to ring rows.

My pattern was 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats (x 20). I broke that down into fives and let myself grab a drink of water every five rounds.

I managed to do pull ups for the first five rounds before switching to ring rows. I did all push ups on my knees because I didn’t even want to think about that! Squats weren’t that bad but near the end, it was rough. Plus, my legs were still sore from something else (couldn’t even remember what!)

Having the coaches there cheering us on and being surrounded by my fellow crossfitters was really encouraging and I felt strong, strong, strong! 

The coolest thing was how some of our Trident athletes wore their military uniforms to do the workout. Some added weighted vests and one staff member actually packed on at least an extra 40 pounds over his full military uniform.

After completing all the middle sets, I took off on the last mile run. Whew was that hard to get into. I felt like my legs were barely moving. Eventually I settled into a faster pace though — eventually finishing at like 45 minutes.

Trident Team!

It was rough, tough and awesome! I spent some quality time with the foam roller after that!

Then, it was home to ride bikes with R! It was Memorial Day after all, so we planned to ride down to the Lincoln Memorial and take some pix with my new camera lens.

I was a little concerned about my legs — would they be able to handle bike riding after 300 squats? Luckily, they were but…my body was just wiped out.

We rode about 7 miles to the Memorial and to the Washington Monument.

Wore my Reebok PWR short sleeve v-neck (more below on that)

Mr. Lincoln was very popular on Monday, as you can imagine. The weather was soooooo perfect!

Then we walked down to the WWII Memorial, which you really can’t see enough times. It’s always touching to see the veterans there, many for their first time.

I love seeing all the Rolling Thunder bikers roll into town though I didn’t get a good shot of them. I think my lens is doing a pretty good job though, don’t you? It’s some kind of zoom lens — I feel so professional with it but I seriously need to learn some technique.

Had to stop by and say hi to President Obama obviously. This was taken from pretty far away but I was checking out the power of my zoom 🙂

The nice thing about living in DC is really feeling like you experience the holiday each year. People flock to this city to celebrate our veterans — and it’s truly humbling. The Rolling Thunder guys proudly wear their “Vietnam Vet” jackets, their hats with their unit crests from so many years ago.

R would sometimes see a guy wearing one from the same one he was in. I always see him light up around veterans and when talking about his time in the Army. I know he is very proud of his time in the service and I’m grateful to him and every other veteran who has signed up to serve this country. It’s something I was never brave enough to do.