Tribute workout honors LAPD officer, SCV resident

Curtis Marzinzik, right, owner of CrossFit SCV welcomes dozens of participants as he hosts a CrossFit tribute workout honoring Los Angeles Police Officer Miriam Alvarado in Santa Clarita on Saturday, 050721. Dan Watson/The Signal
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A 1.5-mile run. Forty sit-ups. Thirty push-ups in a row. And as many strict pull-ups as possible. Hundreds of people completed this workout, which resembles the Los Angeles Police Department’s physical fitness exam, Saturday morning at CrossFit SCV as a tribute to Miriam Alvarado. 

A mother of four, LAPD officer and Santa Clarita resident, Alvarado had been a member of the gym since 2015. CrossFit SCV held a fundraiser for Alvarado in 2016 when she was first diagnosed with cancer.  

A banner commemorating that event hung on the wall of the gym where people gathered wearing green ribbons to remember Alvarado. Saturday morning, a similar banner was prepared to collect attendee signatures and would be dedicated to Alvarado’s children. 

Attendee Adrianna Arreola signs a banner at the cross fit tribute workout honoring Los Angeles Police Officer Miriam Alvarado at CrossFit SCV in Santa Clarita on Saturday, 050721. Dan Watson/The Signal

Alvarado trained at CrossFitSCV until one week before her March 30 death, according to Curtis Marzinzik, the gym’s owner. 

Alvarado started training in CrossFit in 2012 to work toward qualifying for the LAPD Metro Division. Marzinzik said when cancer struck Alvarado in 2016, she struck back harder. 

“She worked out harder. She tried to live harder. She’s just that person, like if she was pushed, she would push back harder,” said Marzinzik, noting Alvarado was “super strong and super fit.”  

“She did it on her own terms until the very end,” Marzinzik said.  

Amaya Sanchez, left, hands out green ribbons bearing her mother’s name, Los Angeles Police Officer Miriam Alvarado to the hundreds of attendees before a cross fit tribute workout for Alvarado held at CrossFit SCV in Santa Clarita on Saturday, 050721. Dan Watson/The Signal

The gym’s morning classes participated in the workout throughout the morning before a special tribute workout kicked off a little after 11 a.m. and included among the participants Alvarado’s children and officers from the LAPD Metro Division, where Alvarado had served since 2015. 

Officer Mike Watson served in the same platoon as Alvarado and had known her since 2009. He said they were assigned to be partners shortly before she was diagnosed with cancer in 2016. 

Not long after, a platoon leader assembled a group of officers to help her when she was receiving treatments. 

“That’s the great thing about Metro — it’s very, very tight,” Watson said. “(The leader) reached out to officers to take her to her appointments or to get her kids to and from events.” 

Dozens of Los Angeles Police officers do sit-ups during a cross fit tribute workout honoring LAPD Officer Miriam Alvaradoheld at CrossFit SCV in Santa Clarita on Saturday, 050721. Dan Watson/The Signal

Eventually, Watson was asked to lead that group. 

“I was humbled to be given that much trust,” he said. 

The tribute workout also served to raise funds for Alvarado’s four children.  

“It’s really just about being a big community together and looking out for her kids,” Marzinzik said. “We have a big donation bucket and 100% goes to the trust for her family.” 

Alvarado’s children participated in the workout. Watson came to know the kids well over the five years when he and Alvarado were partners. 

The children of Los Angeles Police officer Mariam Alvarado, from left, Amaya Sanchez wearing Alvarado’s police vest, Daniela Sanchez and son, Max Sanchez run with some of the hundreds of participants during a cross fit tribute workout honoring LAPD Officer Miriam Alvarado held at CrossFit SCV in Santa Clarita on Saturday, 050721. Dan Watson/The Signal

“As her friend, as a platoon, (her kids) that’s still going to be something that we’re still going to be here for,” Watson said, describing Alvarado as an excellent mother. “She was all about her kids. I think that’s what drove her to keep fighting.” 

A GoFundMe account, set up by Alvarado’s LAPD colleagues and friends before her death, is still active and aims to help her family. To contribute, visit https://bit.ly/3h3cp5x. A funeral service has been scheduled for 9 a.m. May 26 at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.  

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