Round is a shape

You think this would be something they would do before hiring people, but instead it happens at the end of the summer...who knew?

Regardless, the head firefighter in the NWT made an appearance in Inuvik for the day on August 1 to do fitness testing for the crews here. Coincidentally, this is also the time of year when the captains of Chess Club (the Carleton ultimate team) remind us to be in game shape come tryouts in September. I've been keeping fit (visiting the gym etc) in the time I've been here, but I knew it was time to kick it into high gear and I figured this would be a good test of where I was. I'm aiming to be in better shape this year when I get back than I was last year. So far so good. Building my 30G gas tank...

I was required to do the test, but I wanted to go head to head with the firefighters to see where I measured up. The guy from HQ said I was a masochist, but that may have been because of my orange shoes...

The first part of the test consists of a 4.8 km walk with a hose pack weighing 50 lbs on your back (note packs are not the least bit comfortable. Ins fact they are just awful. Half the battle was just mental blocking out the pain on your shoulders). You need to complete the walk in under 45 minutes. I thought this would be a cake walk and thankfully I practiced once before the actual test. It requires setting a really good pace and sticking to it in order to finish under the time.
The test is supposed to be strictly walking and despite a bunch of the guys running and then resting and then running again (which is far easier than keeping the same pace over the 40 minutes) I finished with a time around 42 minutes which out me in at 4th or so (but probably 2nd of the people who actually did it properly).
Then there is a rest and then the fun stuff begins. The second part is much more about explosive sprinting rather than keeping a pace. We needed to carry a pump (about 70 lbs) 100 m and then as soon as that is down, the timer starts and you need to do 300 m carrying 4 lengths of hose.
Followed by 200 m dragging a charged (filled with water) hose. The rest period was quite long between the two (long enough for me to make and eat a sandwich),. Everyone was gunning for the top time which was supposedly 2:26. I went and started strong but faded like mad on the dragging of the charged hose and ended with a 2:37 time.

I felt like I could have done much better and was somewhat disappointed with my time. The good thing was that although I was dead as soon as I finished I was back in form enough to probably do it again (albeit at a much slower time) in about 2 minutes. I think I ended up with the 3rd fastest time and Issac the guy who tied the top time hadn't done the walk with us, so I consider him DQ...haha. So not too bad for the visiting scientist.

I can't believe August is here already. The month of July flew by with all of the people coming in and out. I've managed to meet a lot of new people both locals and other scientists who have been in town during the summer. It also is actually starting to get dark around 2 AM or so and not getting light until about 5 or 6 AM.
Maybe I'll be able to see some more Northern Lights near the end of the month. They are quite amazing up here.

Until the next update. I wish well to all those down south.

GK