Week 7 Wednesday

We experienced the Winged Monkey Assault this morning!!!  It actually worked out better than I thought it was going to.  From the description I was given by a couple different people I was expecting something along the lines of a middle-of-the-night drill experienced by Gunny Highway (Clint Eastwood) in Heartbreak Ridge (if ya know what I mean).  This took place on the track.  We had Steelbells, Kettle bells, jump ropes, TRX straps, Rubber bands, rubber straps, dumbbells, pullup bars, dip bars, hills, agility ladders and cones, sandbags, and of course the track itself.  The only instruction was to stay busy for 30 minutes!!!  And I did!  It was a good workout.  I sweated a lot but didn't feel like a trip to the morgue when I was done (like last week!!!!).  And for the first time since we started I forgot my camera!!  It's just as well, I don't know that it would have fared well with this circuit!

This past weekend was the trip to Philadelphia.  I actually used to live not to far away from Philadelphia, of course that was 40 years ago (man I'm getting old...I did something over 40 years ago!).  I still have family there...A shout-out to the McCann's in West Chester and surrounding area!!!!  And I will apologize now for not making contact...we had a pretty tight and very busy schedule.

We left out Saturday morning and went straight to Philadelphia PD where we were supposed to meet with Commissioner Ramsey.  Unfortunately, he had other business that had to be attended to.  We met with one of his Deputy Commissioners.  After a quick talk with him and tour of the facility we headed out to Northeast Philly to the new FOP Lodge #5.  This was a brand new building and our class was the first NA class to visit.  It was a beautiful building and great lunch...philly cheesesteaks!!!!  Thanks to the FOP members for their hospitality.  We then went to I guess what could be considered Philadelphia PD's special ops.  We were given a bomb demo; it's always great to see stuff get blown up!  then a short K9 and a SWAT demo.  Philadelphia PD has some cool toys!  Another thank you to the guys of Philadelphia PD.  From here we finally checked into our hotels and then went for dinner.

The next day we started about 8:30 and went to Independence Hall, The Liberty Bell, and the National Constitution Center.  From there we went for lunch at Tony Lukes...Philly cheesesteak and fries!!!  After lunch we were given a tour of the Phillies stadium.  And of course you can't take a trip like this to Philly and not stop by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Some of you may be thinking "ART?"  Don't think art...Think Rocky!!!!  Yes, we all ran up the steps while someone was playing the theme to Rocky through a small, but fairly loud external speaker for their iphone!  We finished up the trip with dinner at Table 31 at the Comcast Center.  I was about as impressed with their dinner as I am with the prices of their cable service!

Overall it was great trip to Philadelphia and I'm glad I went.  I have visited family up there several times and have never seen some of the stuff that I saw while I was there this weekend.  Thanks to Tom Fitzpatrick of our class and Philadelphia PD...you did a great job putting this together!

We've only got about 3.5 weeks left with only the next 2.5 weeks being solid classwork.  From some of the rumblings I have heard I think I'm doing pretty good with the classwork I have left to complete (which I plan on doing this weekend!!!).  And I am down to 3.5 miles left in my swim!!!! I will be done Friday!  Bring on the blue brick!!!!

Tonight is International night.  We have 27 students in our class that are from other countries.  In week 7 of each class the International students get together and provide the rest of us with a sample of their country; food, drink, uniform, and culture.  We are all looking forward to this evening!

Till next time...Be Safe!

Week 6 Wednesday

Holy Smokes!!!!  And that's what I am right now....smoked!  Somebody had said that our challenge from a couple weeks ago with the bands, hills and stairs was going to be the worse challenge we had....they just flat out lied!!!

Today we started out with a short run, 3/4 of a mile or so.  At that point we were to do 50 walking lunges...I might have got twenty before my hamstring started screaming at me to stop!  Then we ran a little more.  Oh, I forgot to mention that I almost killed a couple people trying to get to the outside of the group to take some pictures.  I was in the middle of the pack and tried to move to the outside and as I started for the gap lo and behold a leg was in front of me...Sorry Savannah!!! 

Anyway, we ran to the next station which was a small hill that we had to bear crawl up AND down three times.  Then we ran to the parking garage were we ran up the stairs to another station that was a set of 20 burpees!  From there it was across and down another set of stairs.  We ran down the road a little further to the next station...a set of 20 4-count mountain climbers.  After that small bit of torture...er...exercise we ran to the next station, pushups!  And of course another of our great PT instructors, VanVorst, is manning this station and inviting us to do these pushups...DOWNHILL!

Then we ran to the last station.  Do you remember the hill from a couple weeks ago that we were running up?  Well this time we had to crabwalk up it....backwards!  But it still wasn't over, sadistic trainers!   We crabwalked down the other side and finished up with a set of 20 divebombers or downward dogs!!!  Then ran the last 200 yards or so to the finish line.

You know...this was the first time I noticed the EMS vehicles on our challenge.  I should have known!  I usually get my swim in after our challenge so that it's done for the day...not today!  I will also mention that last week the pool was packed after the challenge with swimmers, again, not the case today.  I think everyone got a good workout in today.  Overall it was a little over 2 miles and somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 minutes.  I am just glad "The Wicked Witch Hunt" is over.

Till next time...Be Safe!

Week 5 Thursday

Well we had our 4th challenge yesterday; Lion's Leap, 3.1 mile run.  Because of the way I was feeling I did NOT want to get out of the bed yesterday.  But, I did it anyway.  I ran the entire route and felt pretty good after doing it.  I could tell the batteries ran down as the day went on though.  I think I finished somewhere around 32 minutes.  I didn't realize there was a clock there until several minutes after finishing, go figure!  My brain was depleted of a little oxygen at the time!

I had my first mid-term this morning in Labor Law.  A whole bunch of first amendment rights in the work place (religion, speech), Garrity issues, privacy rights issues, Due process rights, etc.  I think I did ok on it, I'll find out later this afternoon for sure.

I knew I forgot something in the last post.  On Monday I received my first "care package" from the great folks I work with at the college.  Thanks to all that participated it was very much appreciated.  And thank you Terri for the purple rooster.  He's hanging out in the dorm room.  As for the ton of chocolate that was sent...several of my classmates are enjoying it (I haven't given it ALL away, but I am trying to be good!).  Besides, they got kind of jealous when they saw all the stuff I got from folks at work!

I'll add a couple pics to the post later on.  Till next time...Be Safe!

Week 5 Tuesday

It's been almost two weeks...I can't believe that it has gone by so fast.  At the same time I haven't had a chance to slow down.  That may be why I ended up at the doctor today.  Prednisone and Z-pack...I should be on my way back to good health.

I got to go home for the weekend (Feb 1st)...my son turned 10 and I was not going to miss that for anything.  He had a lot of friends at his birthday party and he had a great time with all of them.  I was glad to be home with my family and can't wait to get back home again!

Last week's challenge..."The Cyclone!" Six stage circuit inside the gym...yes, all 270 of us doing a circuit in the gym. The entire circuit runs at 35 seconds on and 15 seconds off (just enough time to get to the next stage). Resistance band flyes, air squats with sandbags, burpees, "hip unders" (basically in a one arm push up position rotating one side of your hips to the floor, switching arms and rotating the other hip to the floor, and just continuing back and forth for the time period), knee to elbow pushups, and finally a squat - lunge each leg - jump. Each one of these are done 4 times. I was glad to see that circuit end!

This past weekend was the trip to New York.  During each session there is an officer in the session from New York PD.  They are able to organize a weekend trip to NY for 100 members of the session.  I was lucky enough to get chosen in the lottery to attend this trip.  This was the first time I have ever been to New York and it was awesome!  Even though we pulled into NY under a threat of 35 inch blizzard I was looking forward to it!  The main purpose behind this trip is visiting the various operations of the NYPD, learning about those operations and the equipment utilized by officers within the PD.  And we ended up with about 12 inches of snow on the ground!

Entrance to Central Park at the end of 7th Avenue

Another learning aspect of this trip was a visit to Ground Zero.  Just thinking about what I saw while I was there conjures up emotion.  If you ever have the opportunity to visit the memorial don't miss it.  They are still in the process of building a permanent memorial building, but the two pools and small memorial building is still something to see.  They are still in the process of constructing the Freedom Tower, but we have connections!!!!  The group was able to don hardhats and orange vests and go up to the 90th floor.  The site of New York City at that height is simply amazing!  There is no other word or words to describe it.

We also had the opportunity to visit with the NYFD.  On this visit we were able to see one of two fireboats that were recently purchased.  This "boat" cost 34 million dollars.  The name of the boat "Three Forty Three" was so named to represent the 343 firefighters that were lost in the collapse of the two towers.  The name on the side and rear of the boat was made from steel salvaged from the towers.  Not only were we able to view this boat and speak with the firefighters, they were kind enough to give us a tour of the Hudson River.  First we went by the Statute of Liberty, then we went down and visited the Brooklyn Bridge.  They were great sites to see. 

 

The best part of the trip though....the continued camaraderie built amongst the members of Session 252.  We had been here for a solid four weeks at the time we left going on this trip.  Prior to that, I had the opportunity to meet many new people and make many new friends.  However, in just a two day trip I think I doubled that number of new friends.  I look forward to continuing those relationships and building new ones in the continued weeks here.

I'm sure I have forgotten something that has occurred here in the last two weeks.  I hope it didn't drag on too much.  I will try to update a little more often so it isn't quite so long next time.  Till next time...Be Safe!