The papers I received from West Point soon after receiving my Appointment made many suggestions on how to prepare for Cadet Basic Training (CBT) and for the physical demands we would endure. West Point provided a link on suggested physical fitness training programs, and stressed how important it was that cadets be prepared for lots of running by running three miles a day at home the months before arriving for CBT. Many who attend West Point ran track or were on cross country teams prior to their arrival, so this is not an issue for those types of plebes (freshmen cadets). However, for me, I am not a runner. I was on my high school track team, but I threw shot put and discus. Running has still been a part of my work-out routine for the past few years, but I have trained more in power/weight training events than focusing on running. Last summer and the past two semesters, I have been focusing more on running, but I am larger than the average runner and feel that there was something that I was missing. Getting proper, good quality running shoes during spring break certainly has helped a lot. I had been wearing a size 13 running shoe up until that point, and learned from a very knowledgeable sales person who analyzed my feet and running that I should have been wearing a size 11 EEE with orthotics. The smaller but wider shoe has made a big difference, even though I am still trying to get used to the orthotics, which hurt my arch. (I am slowly breaking them in by using them in the shoes I wear to class.)

I find running to be boring compared to weight training, so have been trying to come up with alternatives to running on the indoor or outdoor track, or running one set route around campus like I had been doing more recently. My new Zune helps because I like to listen to music while I run and nicer weather makes running outdoors better than during the winter months. Running around campus, it is difficult to know exactly how far I have been running. I don’t have a car down here to check distance on various routes and was talking with a friend on my hall about the predicament. He suggested this very useful website, MapMyRun.com, that is a social network for runners where you can map out different routes. It calculates the distance and all sorts of stats, including burned calories, and keeps all running activities listed in a running history. I set up my free membership and found maps for Blacksburg and campus and easily started mapping out routes, which I then saved. I have saved seven routes in total and vary the route I run depending on the day. I will obviously change my maps once I am home and plan to continue using this program. I can even go ahead and research routes on Post at West Point and have pre-programmed routes for before I even arrive. I wish I knew about this site before now and plan to mention it to my grandparents to use for their daily four mile walks. They travel a lot and can find routes no matter where they go and this will eliminate guesswork on distance traveled.