Johnson In Training

If you are enjoying the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat at the Olympics in Beijing as I am, especially in the swimming arena (more on that later), you might like this local story of lady who competed last week…

Johnson didn’t complete her Fall semester of Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) last year. She had too much on her plate to devote to the intense studies and physical training the program demands. In January she came back to do it all over again. Looking good, too. Overall, she’s more than forty pounds lighter than she was a year ago and looks marvelous, even when she’s drenched in sweat. Johnson wants to be a police officer and she’s almost there. We’ve nicknamed her Nikki Parker but I still call her Johnson.

Before graduation in May, she didn’t pass the POPAT (Police Officer Physical Agility Test) along with two other female recruits. She tripped and fell while dragging a victim at the end of the test. With guidance from her training Sergeant she worked towards her goal every summer morning. I’ve seen her working alone indoors and outdoors, giving her a thumbs-up every day and a few pretzel rods afterwards in my office. In late July she had a diagnostic test. We were there to encourage her.

Johnson challenged the clock with all she had but lost her oxygen and fell short twenty seconds at 7:20 minutes. Still smiling, she said, “It’s OK. I want it real bad and I’m gonna have it.”

On Friday, August 8th, she was ready for her second diagnostic test. I was nervous. Here’s the test, in consecutive order:

Exit police cruiser.
Run 1/10 mile back to cruiser.
Drag 150 lb. victim 75 feet.
Jog stairs three times.
Break through 50 lb. doorway.
Do twenty legal push-ups (the real ones, not sissy ones).
Do twenty legal sit-ups (the real ones, not sissy ones).
Jog stairs three times again.
Crawl quickly through a seventy-foot tunnel.
Do twenty legal push-ups again.
Do twenty legal sit-ups again.
Run 1/10 mile and back to cruiser again.
Drag 150 lb. victim 75 feet again.
At the end, shout the name of a street intersection the Sergeant tells you to remember at the beginning of the test.

Required time: Under 7 minutes. (Are you tired yet?)

Here are photos from Friday morning.

Sergeant commands, “Keep your head up!”

Sergeant commands, “Hold on to your shirt and get moving!”

Almost to the finish and we’re screaming, “Breathe, Nikki Parker! You can do this!”

Finish! 6:49 minutes! We hooted and hollered. Awesome to shave 30 seconds off your time. Her body and mind are strong.

A few of her classmates were there…

You got it, girl.

Johnson’s Olympic prelim pose. Made it to the finals.

She knows she can do it now.

Her official final is scheduled later this month. Stay tuned…