Missed it by THAT --> <-- much

I missed it by 8 seconds. Now, to this guy

8 seconds is an eternity, but for me it is nothing. I coulda, shoulda, woulda, but in the end I missed it by 8 seconds.

Sorry, I'm talking about our twice a year combat test at work. That's the one I've talked about before where we climb the stairs, raise the ladder, hit the sled with the sledgehammer, drag the hose and then drag the dummy. My time this go round was 3:08, and under 3 minutes is considered perfect. Ok, so I guess technically I missed it by 9 seconds which equates to

--> <-- that much (as opposed to --> <-- that much as previously stated), but I hope you'll forgive me.

What really made it worse is that the whole time I was doing it, I was walking, and I knew I should be running. I knew I had enough gas in the tank to step it up, but I just didn't do it. I wasn't tired, my legs were fine (90% of this is leg power and endurance, if you can come off the stairs feeling good you are golden), but in the back of my mind I knew we had a new, heavier dummy who was very stiff, and I was afraid of running out of gas dragging him or struggling to get him positioned to pick up.

It was silly of me. The other day I picked him up and threw him over my shoulder just to have my picture taken doing it, to prove I could. I know I can manhandle him. When we tested applicants last time I spent a good portion of the day moving him around to get him reset for the next guy.

I got to the end and was still feeling so good that I knew I should have run. I could have made up that 8 seconds easily.

So here it is, a line in the sand, if you will. In 6 months, I'll be sub 3:00, which will put me in some fast company. At least in my department. This guy does it in about 90 seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECTh4KRTfg0 . Of course, he trains specifically for this event and has special gear for it, etc. He also does the hose hoist instead of the ladder raise, which is tougher. I'm not worried about being that fast, I just want to be one of the fastest ones in my dept (which means I need to ultimately be about 2:00 flat, and in this game a minute is an eternity!) I think I can do it.

Ahhh, and before I forget to mention it, April was nice enough to bring dinner to us tonight at work before she goes on her trip. She made lasagna and a chocolate chip cheesecake and ate with us. It was greatly appreciated and delicious!