Topic: Military
My LAST PRT
The NAVY Physical Readiness Test is upon me. It is the system in which the Navy will gauge my abilities to perform the physical duties that follow joining the military. During this test I must run 1.5 miles, perform as many pushups as I can in two minutes, and as many sit ups as I can in two minutes. How many pushups or sit ups I must perform depends on my age.
I’ve always been pretty good at my pushups and sit ups. Upon entering the Navy, I was always able to achieve the maximum scores in those to areas. I think my records are 125 pushups and 120 sit ups in the given two minute periods. The numbers have decreased in the last six years but so has the requirements as I get older.
The run, however, I dread. Before joining, I could run 1.5 miles in 11 minutes and 9 seconds. That is my record. Some reading this must think that that was pretty fast. Most in the Navy will admit, that’s actually quite slow. I was with the recruiters and I felt I had something to prove, and that was the best I had. Since boot camp, my run time decrease dramatically every cycle until I came very close to complete failure.
The PRT is given twice a year in 6 month cycles. Those who only run during these two PRTs are known to be part of the “Three Mile A Year” Club. I am in that club.
This is my very last PRT that I will be required to do, unless of course I get accepted into the reserves, in which I will still have to participate twice a year. So, upon returning from deployment in July, I decided I would work on it.
I began running twice a week, 2-3 miles each session, with my friend Shawn. He has never been a runner either, but he’s been training to be a State Trooper somewhere and he’s actually very fast for someone who “hates” running. I gradually increased to running 3 times a week with Shawn, sometimes even going so far as 7 miles. I impressed myself.
And then his knee started hurting. We stopped running. He got out of the Navy (his contract was up) and I haven’t run in the past three and a half weeks. The PRT is tomorrow. I hope I pass. I just hope that my NIKE FLEX SHOW TR TRAINING SHOES
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