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DEARBORN -- When an editor pitched the assignment to write a first-person account of Navy SEALS training, he said, "Don't worry, the poorer you do, the better the story will be."

As a seven-time marathon runner who once came just 10 seconds from qualifying for Boston, this 29-year-old weekend warrior thought:

"(Forget) that, I'll tear this up!"

For years, I've always tried to go beyond the norm fitness-wise and there was no way a military challenge composed of swimming, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and running was going to be any different.
So I agreed to participate in the Navy SEALS Fitness Challenge on Tuesday, in advance of a public event on Saturday.

My day began at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, a wake-up call suitable for farmers but certainly not for a sportswriter with a few extra pounds, horrible flexibility and a lingering bout of plantar fasciitis. But I crawled out of bed eager to test my physical limits. Sleepiness set in about 45 minutes later during a drive on the Southfield Freeway.

A motto for the Navy's Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman is: "On time, on target, never quit!"

Well, I would be on time, and I sure wanted to live up to the rest, even if it meant moments of near-cardiac arrest.

Michael Welvaert, 38, of Shelby Township, is a Navy special-operations chief who has led several training sessions. He said he has seen some of the most unathletic and inexperienced people excel under extreme conditions.

"We once had a guy that never swam before in his life, failed swims, was out a year, then came back, qualified and became one of the fastest swimmers," Welvaert said. "You see the look on the face of some guys and you can just tell they will give up, yet there's others where all of a sudden the light turns on."

The first challenge was a 500-yard swim, the equivalent of 20 lengths in the city recreation center's pool. I began way too fast and paid for it with lung burning moments of panic.

After a frantic start to a sloppy breaststroke, a technique that hasn't been part of my repertoire for nearly 20 years, Lt. Commander Andy Schreiner clocked my hairy torso in at 12:20.

It was 10 seconds faster than the Navy SEALS' minimum time needed to pursue real training to earn the prestigious title.

After a 10-minute break, it was on to push-ups -- as many possible in a two-minute span.

The SEALS' minimum: 42. My number: 48.

The problem, however, was that in an effort to be a pretend war hero, I accomplished the feat in 45 seconds and had nothing left in the tank while there was plenty of time to spare.

Oh well, no time to worry. It was time for sit-ups at dawn.

With my shoulders pulsating, I set aside weariness and exhaustion to produce 64 reps, 14 more than the SEALS' minimum.

Sweaty, with tight hips and short breath, there was a sense of satisfaction as I lumbered over to the pull-ups station.

But that ended quickly as Schreiner recorded a big fat zero.

The avid runner and workout freak clearly had no arm strength left.

I just dangled on the bar for a while, before Schreiner told me that real SEALS have enough power on reserve to at least crank 11 pull-ups.

Peeling my pride off the floor, it was time to limber up for a 1.5-mile run, about 16 laps around the indoor track.

This was no problem. My time of 10:32 was between the minimum and competitive standards.

Kneeling over a wall, discombobulated and smelly, a smile came across my face.

I didn't die and I didn't embarrass myself ... too much.

Meeting a SEAL standard in four of five events was encouraging. With some work, I definitely could fulfill all the minimum requirements.

The odds, however, for me to hit the proper times needed to be a SEAL are not in my favor.

Prospective SEALS who hover around the minimum standard have about a nine-percent success rate in actual training, while those who boast competitive levels factor in at about 44 percent.

Schreiner, 36, a 13-year Navy veteran from Spearfish, S.D., says there's an attrition rate of about 73 percent during the actual Navy SEALS qualifying.

"The best way to get into that 27 percent (that succeed) is to prepare physically so you don't have to pull so much out of your mental reserves," he said. "When you got the physical, it's just a matter of setting your mind to the goal.

"If you constantly have to fight through the physical demands, you'll have mental drain and won't last long."

And I thought watching all 22 losses by Michigan men's basketball team was tough.

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