![]() Mastrianna kept reminding her husband that he could do it and gave him a constant count down. "Being the kind of loving wife that I am, I said, 'Are you crazy?' I told him he'd invested all this time and only had (at this point) 20 minutes left. He said, 'I can't make it - I have to stop!' " she said. "I looked over and saw him with his head down and not looking too good. Mastrianna walked into the fitness center just as her husband was about to give up. His co-workers stopped by and offered moral support throughout his journey. I had no intention at that point to go over five hours. "The last 30 minutes was a brutal struggle. When I reached 4:30, I hit the wall really hard," said Colonel Mastrianna, who has been in the Air Force for nearly 26 years. I felt really good at four hours I thought I could go for six. "I had planned to do five hours and knew I could do it. He worked out longer on Sundays in the weeks leading up to the June 4 achievement. "If you understand how the Presidential Challenge works, achieving 1 million points in such a short amount of time is amazing." I wish I had a quarter of the discipline that he has," Mrs. "I am impressed at what he is able to do. On Sundays, he'll work out two and a half to three hours (on the machine). and on the elliptical cross-trainer in his home by 2:30 a.m. All of a sudden I went from being 99.9 percent complete for the gold award to being 16 percent of the way along."įor the next few years, the colonel stayed true to his routine while working his way to platinum status. "I thought gold was the highest, but the next level - platinum - was a million points. "It was really depressing and disheartening," he said. It read, 'Congratulations, you are 16 percent on the way to platinum.' "On the day I entered my workout information and the computer program calculated my scores for the gold award, was when I learned about the next level. I didn't know there was a platinum award until I got the gold award," Colonel Mastrianna said. "I had no idea there was anything beyond gold, because on all of the stuff I saw there is no mention of a higher level. It was when he reached gold that the next level was revealed. By August 2007, the Norwalk, Conn., native had racked up 160,000 points - the gold award. He was then reassigned to be the group commander at RAF Menwith Hill, United Kingdom. He earned the bronze and silver awards - 40,000 and 90,000 points, respectively - in four months. It's a series of programs designed to take fitness beyond the gym, and make it a lifestyle, according to the web site. The President's Challenge is part of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports' signature, long-standing initiative to keep America fit. As it turns out, I completed this goal in three years and three months." "I planned to complete the program within three years. "The commander started a fitness program for the entire agency and wanted everyone to participate in the President's Fitness Challenge," said Colonel Mastrianna. ![]() He finished just a few weeks shy of his 50th birthday. He began this journey more than three years ago while assigned to the Air Force Service Agency in San Antonio. "Even though they don't have a workout routine like (their) dad, the seed has been planted that physical activity is something they need to do in life." "He is setting a great example for our kids that being healthy is important," said Sharon Mastrianna, his wife. With that, the colonel also hit the 1 million point milestone to earn the elite Platinum Status in the President's Fitness Challenge. Air Forces in Europe Manpower, Personnel, and Services deputy director, completed 37.5 miles in five hours on an elliptical machine at the fitness center here June 4. RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany - His peers and his wife said he was crazy, but that didn't stop Joseph Mastrianna from achieving a personal workout best and earning a top fitness award.
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