Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. -- Get ready, get set, Go! Senior Airman Christopher Snowden, 42nd Air Base Wing Command Post command and control operations specialist, takes off down the road on Maxwell Air Force Base with 42nd Force Support Squadron personal trainer, Josh Hale by his side.
After about four months of hard work and help from Hale, Snowden finished his physical fitness training test with a strong passing score. .
Just three weeks before his initial PT test, Snowden was worried that he wouldn’t be able to pass his fitness test, so he reached out for help.
Hale responded to the call, but was worried that he wouldn’t have enough time to get Snowden in shape to pass his test. However, he was determined to not let Snowden be the first person to fail under his watch. With only three weeks from the test date, he started him on a rigorous workout regimen, which consisted in running three times a week and weight lifting twice a weeks.
“Because of the short time before the test, I said to myself, I’m just going to push as hard as I can and hope for the best. I was pretty nervous about it,” said Snowden.
Three weeks later, Snowden managed to shave a minute and thirteen seconds off his run time, however, it wasn’t enough to bring his score out of the failing range. Push-ups and sit-ups weren’t the problem, for Snowden, the deciding factor was the run.
“He worked hard to shave a minute and 13 seconds on his time, which right there shows the dedication he put in, and when I saw that and saw that he didn’t pass, I was the one who immediately felt guilty,” said Hale.
After the car ride back from the test site, Hale thought to himself, “Snowden had worked too hard to walk away failing. With a second shot and a little bit more time, he could blow the run out of the water.” Hale petitioned Snowden’s leadership to give him a 90 day extension, which was granted, because of the progress he had made is such a short time with Hale.
With additional time, Hale and Snowden refocused their efforts. Snowden worked-out three times a week with Hale and two days on his own. Each Friday they went to the test-site where they performed a mock fitness test to track Snowden’s progress.
The day of the test, Hale said he woke up with a smile, because he knew Snowden was going to do well.
He breezed through the push-up and sit-up portions as expected, all that was left was the run.
At the halfway point when they called out six minutes, Snowden said he knew had to push harder if we was going to make the 12 minute mark. Once he crossed the finish line his first thought was, finally I’ve done it.
His run time was 12 minutes and 50 seconds, which resulted in an accumulative score of 84.7 on his PT test.
Snowden and Hale have six months until he has to test again. Snowden said his goal this time is to complete the run in 11 minutes, with Hale’s training he believes he will make it.