The CrimFit Training Program not only helps you train for the race of your choice at the HAP Crim Festival of Races in August, it can be life-changing, both mentally and physically. Two local residents share their personal experience with the program and how it made dramatic improvements to their lives.
Brenda
Carmack of Grand Blanc started the CrimFit Training Program six years ago to help her lose weight. “I’m down about 100 pounds!” she exclaims. “All of it is due to the Crim training program.”
And if SHE can do it, anyone can, she believes. At first, Brenda started running with a Crim training group that was a little too much for her. “I was keeping up, but it was a 90-degree day and when my face and lips turned blue during the run, the group leader knew I wasn’t going to make it,” she says, laughing. Her group leader, Kermit Pitts referred her to join a different group, led by Dolly Morse, which was a little slower-paced ad consisted of run/walk intervals. “She was the most encouraging, motivating individual I’ve encountered in all my years,” Brenda remembers.
“I’ve made so many great friends. I wouldn’t know any
of those people, and now, I am motivating others.”
Brenda Carmack
The individual Crim training groups meet every Tuesday and participants are given “homework assignments” to run on Thursdays and Saturdays with people outside of the Crim groups. Brenda says that the Flint Area Year-Round Running/Walking Group and team leaders Brian and Dorie Barkey kept her motivated in reaching her weight-loss goal. “I ended up having gastric sleeve surgery,” Brenda admits, adding that she attributes the first 40 pounds of her weight loss to that. “I was then motivated to go back to the Crim group.”
Brenda has not only lost weight, but her blood pressure is also lower now, she is no longer pre-diabetic, the aches and pains in her hips and arms no longer exist, and her energy level is higher. “I don’t have any of those health problems anymore,” she shares. And running has become a way of life for her. “I run in the winter, I run all year long.” Now a Crim group leader, Brenda encourages other runners to keep at it. She is grateful to have met so many people who have encouraged her along the way. “I’ve made so many great friends. I wouldn’t know any of those people, and now, I am motivating others.”
Debbie
McIntyre of Fenton, in just two years, has gone from being fearful of a 5k run to preparing for an Iron Man competition. “I did not like running,” she admits. She started attending the Crim races as a spectator to cheer for her friends, Brenda Carmack and Kim Propst. They introduced her to a running group that did interval training, walking a minute and running for a minute. This is when she got interested, after realizing that she didn’t have to run all of the time and could train at her own comfort level.
In 2016, Debbie signed up for the CrimFit Training Program. She went online to the Crim website to register and attended an orientation, where they asked questions about her running history. “They group people together who are at the same level,” Debbie explains. “We met every Tuesday night and then ran with other groups a couple of times per week.” After completing the training, she decided to run in the ten-mile race her first year. “The Crim training program was really awesome,” she shares.
Debbie now runs four days a week. “I don’t do intervals anymore,” she laughs. She runs on Thursdays and Saturdays with groups in Downtown Flint and also with a Fenton group. “The Flint Year Round Runners and Walkers Club is amazing,” she says.
“So many people think they can’t do it – but they CAN.”
Debbie McIntyre
Since becoming a runner, Debbie has seen improvements to her health, more mental than physical. “My health has improved overall, and my well-being,” she says. “I was never super heavy, but I’ve shed a few pounds. Mentally, it helped me realize I could do something that I didn’t think I could do.”
For Debbie, the positive changes in her health all started with the CrimFit Training Program. Since then, she has become even more confident in her fitness and has competed in half-marathon and marathon races. “Now, I’m training for an Iron Man competition!” she exclaims. “So many people think they can’t do it – but they CAN.”
Photos Provided by Debbie McIntyre
