Day the 9th at Fort McCoy

[aadler]

 

Now we’re past the halfway point. Don’t know yet if it’s downhill from here, but in any case there’s only a week left. (And nothing really happens on that last day, which means even less actual effort remaining.)

I found the time standard for the 2.5-mile walk that can be substituted for the 2-mile run by those soldiers in the upper-age-group-to-which-I-will-soon-belong. Yesterday at the gym, I tried it on the treadmill. It was brisk, but I exceeded the standard on my first try, so that’s a functional option for me. (Three months from now.) Also, today my weight was back to where I had it before I allowed myself those four “intermission” meals. My second weigh-in is day after tomorrow, and I’m absolutely certain to meet my goal.

The weather forecasts continue to be gloomy, but we’ve not had to deal with actual rain yet during our PT. (Or soaked fields, either, after that first time.) If our luck holds for another six days, we’re home free. If not, we’ll drive on through the rain.

I’ll be glad when I get back, so I can catch up on political news, LJ friends’ comments, my online viewing of Veronica Mars Season 3 … Of course, a week after I arrive, I’ll be gone again the National Training Center (field exercises in the desert outside Las Vegas, fun and comfort rolled into one neat package). Susan is getting a foretaste of how it feels to be a military wife, which is good because Iraq will be a lengthy separation. (We had a preview of that with my shorter deployment at Guantanamo, but we weren’t married then.) She’s financially autonomous and she made it on her on for years — while raising our kids essentially alone — but we’ve become accustomed to relying on each other. I know she can do it, I just hope it isn’t hard enough to make her regret her decision.

We get a full half-hour of extra sleep tomorrow morning before we have to jump back into the day. I plan to get every last moment of benefit out of it.