York Regional Police Const. Adam McEachern will be pushing himself to the physical limit by doing a famously challenging CrossFit workout for 24 hours, all to raise money for Kerry's Place Autism Services.
Starting at 8 p.m. on Thursday, McEachern will be in the banquet hall inside "The Shed," the York Regional Police Association clubhouse at 600 Stonehaven Ave. in Newmarket, doing a CrossFit routine known as the Murph workout for an entire day. By the time he finishes on April 2, it will be World Autism Awareness Day.
Kerry's Place holds a special place in the hearts of McEachern and his family, as its services have been invaluable for his six-year-old son Caleb, who was diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder when he was three.
"Kerry's Place was a big help for us to figure out how this world looks to him," said McEachern.
"I'm just a dad, and I've been trying to learn what this is. I was shocked to learn that one out of every 66 kids in Canada will land somewhere on the spectrum."
As of Wednesday morning, McEachern has raised $11,300 for the organization and is still accepting donations via a website before he begins the Murph Challenge tomorrow.
The Murph workout is a CrossFit routine originally devised by an American Navy SEAL, Lieut. Michael Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2005 and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honour.
The workout consists of a one-mile run, followed by 100 pull-ups, 200 pushups, 300 squats, and another one-mile run.
"It's a real undertaking, and some of the purists out there will put on a 20-pound weighted vest to simulate ballistic body armour," noted McEachern, who will be doing the workout repeatedly for a full 24 hours.
The idea for the Murph challenge came to McEachern about 10 months ago.
Caleb is a big fan of Terry Fox ever since seeing a video about him and his Marathon of Hope.
"He now thinks that anyone running anywhere for any reason is running for Terry Fox," said his father.
While McEachern was working out at home, Caleb asked him out of the blue, "Was Terry Fox alone?"
McEachern responded that Fox had some people there to support him, but he was often running on the road by himself.
"That looked hard," responded Caleb. "Did it hurt?"
"I said, 'well, Terry had cancer, and he was running on one leg and every step was difficult for him. So yeah, it hurts," said McEachern.
After a pause, Caleb asked why Fox would do that. McEachern said it was because he knew his cause worth it, and that it would help millions of people.
"Another few minutes go by, and I continue my workout. Then he asks, 'Terry Fox is a hero, right dad?' 'Terry Fox is absolutely a hero,' I said. 'Just like you, Dad, you're a hero.'
"The kid got just me; it left quite an impression on me."
The next day, while out on a call with another officer, it was mentioned that someone had set the unofficial world record by completing the Murph workout 16 times in 24 hours.
"I said, 'you know, I can do 17,'" said McEachern. "The more we talked about it, the more I decided I didn't want to do it just for bragging rights, I wanted to raise money for Kerry's Place. My son thinks I'm a superhero, so I will set a good example of that."
Since then, McEachern has been training himself to be ready for a workout that would involve 5,100 squats, 3,400 push-ups and 1,700 pull-ups. He hopes to beat the record by going 17 rounds, but it will be OK if he doesn't. Even if he goes break the record, he won't stop at 17, but keep going until the full 24 hours are up.
He has also enlisted the help of a physician who serves as the in-ring doctor for the UFC when it is in Canada, who will monitor his health remotely and tell him to stop if necessary.
"We made an agreement that he won't pull me out one step sooner than he has to, but if he tells me to stop, I have to stop," he said. "I have done everything I can to get ready for this and to spread the word."
The fundraising goal has been $10,000 and has already been exceeded.
The challenge will be live-streamed, and people can come and check in on his progress by looking in the basement windows at The Shed, as well.
