I Did It!!!

This morning I got up and got some breakfast before I had to get ready to run my test for the SO. I was very worried about passing the run. I haven’t been able to do it.

We started with push ups and sit ups. I knew I could do those. I did those just fine. Then we went to the track to run the laps. I have been working on this for a while. I had to run a mile and a half in under fourteen and a half minutes. That is a lot of time for most people, but I have to push hard for that and I always come up short. The last time I ran it I was more than one minute off.

I lined up and got ready to run. Myers said he would hold a pace that as long as we stayed ahead of him we would do fine. I started out and quickly was leading the pack. I didn’t want to, but I had to set a good pace early on. After the first hundred yards my legs were feeling weak. I was very worried about passing it.

My first lap was under two minutes. My target time is a two minute lap. I was ten seconds ahead of pace on it. I figured after the third lap, the half way point, I would grab the water I set by the track to rinse my mouth. One of the problems I run into is my mouth goes dry and it hurts to breathe.

I actually waited until the fourth lap however. I grabbed my water and away I went. I rinsed my mouth twice along the way. That helped. I was able to get into a pace that I just got into a zone with. I had a breathing pattern and just kept it going. Finally I was at my final lap.

I was rounding the one hundred yard point into the final lap. I only had three-quarters of the lap to go. I saw I had time to do it if I pushed hard. I told myself that if I pushed hard I wouldn’t have to do that run again anytime soon. Myers said if we failed anything today we would have two weeks to get ready to run it again. I didn’t want to have to run it again. I pushed and pushed. Soon I was in the final stretch. I could see the finish line.

I crossed the finish line in thirteen minutes and fifty-eight seconds. That was so huge. I passed the test. It felt great. I finally did it. We had some rest, then we had to run a sprint. That was seventy-one seconds for three-hundred and thirty yards. I knew I could do that without a problem.

I ran into a problem in the first corner. My shoe came untied. Then my other shoe came untied. So I was being careful not to trip myself. I crossed at seventy seconds. I got it by one second. I have passed the physical.

We had a written test and then a quick interview. Both of those went fine. McNannay said he was happy to see me in the academy again. I am going to have to work on getting the time off of work now.