Physical fitness Testing Day

Today is PT testing day in the our unnamed Guard Unit. The test consists of push ups, sit ups, flexibility, and either a 1.5 mile run, or a stair step test that measures both your resting heartrate, and recovery rate. I chose to do the run for obvious reasons. But it isn't as simple as just nodding your head and saying yeah I'd like to go out for a run. You have to prove your worthiness and fitness to run. To be qualified to run you must: Not smoke, run 30 mins a day three days a week, and pay for, and have a cholesterol test administered. These protocols are in place to ensure that only Guardsmen who are at a low risk for heart trouble will be running. Using this logic would have those Guardsmen not qualifying, deployed to only those locations that are classified as War-Like, and not being required to actually do battle. Thus relieving them of any responsibility for their own health and or wellness. Rest assured the war on terror will be won through more lax standards, and not personal responsibility, or perseverance. That being said I guess I could have saved a buck and just done the stair step test like the other lemmings, but having just completed the Wichita Half-Marathon two weeks ago(although still not qualifying one for the AF Fit Test), I couldn't bring myself to take the easy way out. That's not how athletes/pseudo-athletes roll.
I finished the fitness test with a 1.5 mile time of 9:53. This is a personal best for me and officially qualifies me as a pseudo-athlete. I also did 61 situps and 51 pushups in 1 minute per activity. This gave me a final score of 86.whatever. Not bad, but not great. Oh well I could always have accepted mediocrity.....Like some other group I know.