By Matt Skoufalos
For the past 30 years, Wendy Renneke of Woodinville, Washington, has worked for the University of Washington Medical Center. Her imaging expertise led her from roles as a radiologic technologist into imaging supervisory positions and, finally, to her current job as practice manager for an outpatient primary care clinic in the UW Medicine health system.
And throughout her career, Renneke hasn’t only been pulling her weight in the office – she’s been moving it at the gym, too. A high-school athlete in track and field, Renneke has always prioritized physical activity, and never lost her sense of competitive spirit.
At the age of 48, her local fitness center, Progressive Performance, held a promotional contest inviting guests to find their “why” for working out. Renneke became connected with coach Jimmy McCurry, who took her from “maybe I’ll give this a shot” to “why don’t you think about competing?”
“You go through the evolution of what fits in your life,” she said. “I used to be a runner, and then I hurt my knee and couldn’t. I used to ride my bike to work 23 miles, there and back, and it clears your head. I wasn’t sure that I could get back into lifting with various injuries to my body. But you have to find what fits, and it all just tastes good again.”
Renneke suddenly found herself tracking macros, setting body composition goals, and diving back into a full-time fitness regimen. As her progress continued to mount, so did her ambitions. Renneke fixed her gaze on the state master’s deadlift record for women in her age group.
“What’s enjoyable about lifting weights is that it’s you, and iron, and gravity,” she said. “You leave your work behind when you go to the gym, and you leave the gym behind when you go to work. It is just you against whatever your own personal goals are.”
“I started training really hard, and eventually set a goal to hopefully set the Washington State women’s master’s deadlift record,” Renneke said, “and in 2019, I accomplished that goal – 374.8 pounds. There’s some young people who lift a lot heavier than that, but it still stands.”
Renneke continued lifting more casually after she hit her mark, but after the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic struck, her four or five days in the gym fell to zero. After battling the virus herself, rediscovering her exercise routine has been a challenge. But after “getting outed” as a weightlifter in a group icebreaker at an AHRA meeting, Renneke said she’s begun to reconsider what’s behind her struggles.
“I have an entire gym in my basement,” she said: “a squat rack and a bench and some universal equipment and a rowing machine and an elliptical. It stares at me every day.”
“I think it is this hurdle that you have to get over,” Renneke said. “Our days stop us from getting over the hurdle because there’s so many other responsibilities. You’re mentally and physically exhausted when you get home. Initially, it’s difficult to tell yourself you will feel better in the end if you just make the effort to begin, and then it starts to take shape. You feel better the more effort you give, and eventually you get to the point you feel horrible when you don’t uphold your commitment to yourself to work out.”
At 52, Renneke is also cognizant of how changes in her biochemistry – in bone density, strength, and muscle mass – all are related to remaining in good health as she ages. Aside from the physical benefits, she knows there’s a positive emotional payoff with exercise that is also rewarding. And as she fights to recapture the feelings of how a good fitness routine fuels the other aspects of her mental and physical well-being, Renneke is learning how to redefine those goals that led her to the podium at that master’s meet four years ago.
“When you find that niche that’s working for you, no matter what it is, every other part of your life benefits from you being healthy because of that pursuit,” she said. “I am in the process of making myself believe that I know what the other side feels like; making the time to make it not a choice, but a practice. It has to be a routine or else it won’t take form, and it won’t take hold.”
“You have to get a taste of it so you know you want to do it,” she said. “The pivotal moment is when you decide to make yourself a priority. When you realize how many other things benefit from that – your kids, your work, your clarity of mind – that’s it.”
Renneke and her husband, Troy, are parents to five children aged 14 to 24, and when she’s not at work or working out, enjoys spending time in the outdoors. The couple hunts and fishes together in the Washington wilderness; indoors, Wendy follows her passion for creative pursuits, from painting to photography. She also keeps a low-key eye out to see if her master’s record still stands (it does). She’s still motivated by the thought of new achievements.
“There are other goals,” Renneke said. “I’m a couple years older, and in a new master’s event. It’s all relative; it’s just got to mean something to me.”
“I think that is the biggest lesson that I learned from it,” she said. “You go to the gym, you start working out, someone identifies a natural talent that you have, and they give their time to help you craft that into something. In order to do that, you have to dedicate yourself to it. You have to make yourself a priority.”
