Well I went out 06 JAN to improve my speed and endurance and was successful. I started out at Mt. Vernon and marched north 3 miles, rested for exactly 5 minutes, and marched back. My times were 45:30 out and 47:54 back. Including the 5 min. rest, that comes to six miles in 1:38:24 or 16:24/mile. Which is not too shabby.

When I initially planned the march, I was hoping that cold weather would make the trail sparsely populated. Of course as you know this past Saturday saw record high temperature. The irony is I had a really great time with all the joggers and dog walkers on the Mt. Vernon trail. Since I don't go out in public in uniform very often, I am always humbled by how much this country appreciates its Army. My favorite comment: "That looks hard!"

I got a blister on top of my toe again. This time on the left foot instead of the right. Before I was inclined to blame it on my cold weather boots. But the weather was so warm Saturday that I broke out the warm weather boots, which were thuroughly broken in at Sill. I never had this friction on top of my little toes before. Perhaps it is the sock liners I've been using; guess I should stick to Army issue, eh?

Thanks for the props, Reed. Compliments are always much appreciated, but let's not wish Ranger school on anybody just yet. It might be in the cards down the road, but we've all got a few OCS drill weekends to get through before we take a shot at the Airborne/Ranger thing.

Great march, for all who showed. Thanks again for putting it together.

Good luck this weekend! See you all on Friday...