Adventures of HG at NRTI

After all of this stress and anxiety, I have now finally passed my PT Test! I knew it was a long shot. Two short weeks ago I went to Patient First for leg pain in my right shin bone. The doc said it was probably a stress fracture and she told me not to run on it. Well that's fine and dandy if you're not in an academy. I originally took the medical extension last week when all of my fellow classmates took their PT test. I was in too much pain and knew I couldn't run. For that matter, I also didn't want to make my injury worse. This was after the first message from Acadia saying that they would not be able to hire me this summer. Then, last week I received a call from Acadia stating that someone just dropped out for the summer, they would be short staffed and they would love to hire me, the only problem being I would need to pass this physical before I could take my written test and therefore get my commission.

I thought I'd give the run a try this week, but needed to train back up. I had already not run for about two weeks and your stamina drops quickly went you don't run, even just for a few days (at least for women, men have it so much easier). So I immediately began running again. I ran Friday last week on the elliptical and did fine, then ran Saturday on the track, made it about half way and had to quit because of the leg pain. At that time I wasn't taking anything for the pain. So I decided to run this week, not knowing what would happen. Not knowing if I'd get a second shot at the test if I failed. Not knowing if I'd fail the course entirely. I did know one thing. I would put my all into this stupid test, and that's exactly what I did. I did it for the job. I did it for myself. I got mad, and just ran.

I smoked the first lap. I believe I did it in less than one minute and 40 seconds. I actually had two minutes and twenty seconds to complete each lap (and I even wrote it on my hand so I didn't have to do addition while running). The second lap was also quick and my pacer tried to slow me down, but I had so much built up energy, I guess I just got it out of the way. The only unfortunate part about that is I knew I ran to quickly in the beginning and was 'gassed' soon after. After completing the second lap, I had to walk a few steps to catch my breath, then started running again. I really have to give props (sincere thank you) to Josh Wright for helping me out. He ran the entire mile and a half with me and gave me support the whole time. I'd also like to thank Chris Grindle and Travis Kling for jumping in and running too. All these guys are very supportive and I couldn't have done it without them.



After the run, I passed the finish line, bent over and tried to breathe. I was so dizzy from the run that I wasn't seeing straight. I walked a few steps, trying to keep my hands above my head to get some air, then finally gave up, and just laid on the track for a few moments. Those were some of the greatest moments in my life. I did something that I didn't think I could do. I came in at a disadvantage to this thing and whooped it's butt anyway. Now I just have two more tests. I have the Federal NPS test on Friday which is only about 50 questions and shouldn't be a major deal. Then I have to return to Ohio on June 9th for my Ohio Police Officer written test. I can't wait to respond to someone who asks, "Excuse me, are you a ranger?" Call me Ranger Greenleaf. :)

Oh, by the way, I had to run the mile and a half in 14 minutes and 15 seconds. I ended up running it in 13 minutes and 56 seconds, which just so happened to be my best time yet. Not super awesome, but I passed so....

Tonight to celebrate, I had a bunch of the guys over for fried chicken. I used mom's recipe and made about twelve pounds of chicken-literally. It was great and we had such a good time. Two more days people, two more days!