Back Country running

by Matt
(Brigham City, UT, USA)

Last semester I took a military work out class. Basically I took a spot on the low rung in the ROTC program.

I was not ready for the class, but after a while I got into the groove. Running, push-ups, and weight lifting became routine and there is nothing my instructors liked better than shaking things up. Shaking things up meant a run way farther than any of us expected.

The Major decided to ride his bike instead of run, which should have my first guess. We ran away from the college and across town. Past the hospital we ran out of road.

So at about 6:20 in the morning we were running on a narrow dirt path for two miles. Some of the guys in the class blasted right past and there was a bunch of us that kept together.

The sun came up over the mountains and started melting the frost as we came back to the paved road. It was still about a mile and a half to get back to class.

At that point it didn't matter how cold it was or how high the hill went, all desire was to finish. I know that running somewhere between 4 and 5 miles isn't a monumental accomplishment to some, but I hadn't done anything like it.

I needed the class to get me to where I could go, and I'm glad that I could do it simply because I wanted to finish. Hard or long, it gave me confidence to try things even though I didn't know if I could finish.

Do you need a little more help with your weight?