Back on good terms.

So today I had another AF DEP meeting, and we did our usual business of heading out to a local park and doing some sit-ups and push-ups, and then run for a mile and a half.  We did our non-running stuff on the hot pavement. Yeah.  My hands are still burning. The gravel gave me tiny cuts on my hands. Fun stuff.

We have to have 'buddies' when we do our activities, and as per usual I paired up with my friend Skai, an old friend of mine.

I admire her so much because she is the sweetest, most hardworking, and optimistic person that I know.  She's been through a lot the past few years, and despite just graduating high school this year she's already living on her own and supporting herself.  I felt a bad for her because since she's been busy working full time at her job she hasn't had any time to work out or run for the past two weeks, meaning that she didn't do so well for our physical training. It also didn't help that it was a humid 101 degrees outside.

About three minutes into the run she had to stop, and I waited with her and encouraged her to keep going, but after running for a few more minutes she collapsed and fell into some bushes... She refused to go back, so I did my best to keep an eye on her.

One thing that I really like about my DEP group and my recruiter is the fact that it is heavily stressed that we are a family--- we don't leave anyone behind.  Some asshole left his partner behind while I was trying to help Skai, so we both went back to check on him.  He had a leg cramp so I told him to go back and explain the situation to one of the recruiters.  After that, Skai said she was up for running again, but like before, after a few minutes she nearly passed out. Luckily, by that time the recruiter was running by us and he made her stop because she was so out of it.

It sucked having to run without my buddy, but I kept on pushing because at that point I was well behind the others.  I managed to catch up with everyone, and towards the end I wanted to stop running, but then my recruiter came up next to me and encouraged me to push forward.  He said some bullshit about finding my inner peace and focusing my mind, but at that point I just tuned him out and thought about going home and taking a nice long bubble bath.  That was my inner peace, I guess.

Afterwards he gave the entire group a small lecture about staying hydrated, knowing our limits, and staying together.  He called out the asshole that left his partner behind and then congratulated me in front of everyone for not abandoning my partner.  I'm pretty sure I'm on his good side again.  I hope I'm on his good side again.

Even if I'm not, whateves.  Imma go take me a nice, hot, long, bubble bath and listen to Hands Are Clever by Alex Clare  on repeat (I am seriously addicted to that song. I listen to it like 20 times a day) and read some Sherlock fanfiction on my phone.  I deserve it.  My aching muscles deserve it.