My First APFT.

This seemed so long ago. It's amazing to see how much I've grown in a year, both physically and in my writing ability.

Saturday, October 07, 2006

"Keep up with me or you're going to fail." I took my frist PT test for ROTC today and I think it's one of the most bad ass stories I've had so far in the program. I was out of school the prior two weeks with mono, and during the term of my sickness, I couldn't eat due to swollen tonsels. I survived on Ensure and pudding. I dropped at least 5 pounds in weight and my muscles ate themselves, so I was not in very good physical shape at all. Still, the doctor cleared me to go back to school and take it easy at ROTC for a week. My week expired and I told the Colonel that I wanted to take the test. He asked me if I was sure. He had mono as a freshman in college and he told me it knocked him on his ass for two months. My battalion already took their PT test the week I was sick, so I informed him I didn't want any special treatment. So he agreed and I took the test. I passed my push ups and sit ups, not as easily as I had hoped I would have (since pre-mono I whooped the minimum standards). I got above the minimum scores to pass, but barely, and I didn't have high hopes for the run. I thought I was going to run an 18 minute 2-mile, which is failing pretty good. The minimum passing score is 15:54 for 2 miles. The track is a quarter-mile track, so 4 laps per mile. As I begin my 6th lap, one of the Captains runs up beside me and says to me, "Keep up with me or you're going to fail." He then begins to sprint ahead and he easily puts 10 feet between us in seconds. So I push myself and I catch up to him and stay matched with him for almost the entirety of the 7th lap. Then my breathing gets incredibly heavy and I start getting light headed, so I slow down and start falling behind. I say to the Captain, "I don't know if I can do it." He tells me, "For a scholarship, you can!" So I try my best to push myself as the 8th and final lap begins, but I start falling behind again. Then my military science instructor (Sergeant First Class) runs up beside me and says, "Oh, I know you ain't quitting on me now." So I keep pushing myself and pushing myself to keep up. I fall back a little bit and I tell the cadre running with me that I'm going to sprint at the end to make up for lost time, so my instructor says to me, "What the fuck are you waiting for? This is the end!" Great logic. I begin sprinting. I even pass both the Sfc. and the Capt. I sprint and go faster and faster and faster until I pass the finish line. I stop and ask the Colonel what my time was. He tells me, "15:51." I say, "Good." Then I threw up. For someone who was expecting failure in the run department, I don't think I did bad at all. I owe it to the cadre for keeping me up there. When the Captain ran up beside me and said those words, I knew I was in for a struggle.