Fireman Challenge

In college, in order to get through the long, freezing Logan winters, my friends and I often resorted to playing games. Really awesome mostly made-up games. One of my favorites was the Fireman Game. The rules are as follows: someone is the victim and someone is the fireman. Easy enough right? In the game, the victim goes completely limp and it is the fireman's responsibility to lift the victim's dead weight and save them from the throws of the pretend raging fire. There are all kinds of variations on this game and we entertained ourselves for hours. I still make Taylor play it with me from time to time. And then I get really mad when it seems like he is struggling to lift me. But that's another story for another time. Besides the amazing time in college, the only experience I had with a Fireman's Challenge was watching Duff attempt it on Ace of Cakes.

Anyway . . .

Rick and Cat came in to town to take Beck to his first real Fireman's Challenge. If you're wondering what a Fireman Challenge entails (besides cake), I'll let Chardy walk you through it.

You put on your fireman gear and stand at the start line while eyeing down your opponent.

Then you race him up 5 stories of stairs where there is a forty pound hose/weight thing you hoist up the 5 stories you just ran.

After hammering, racing, and dragging an extremely heavy hose through the middle of the course, you complete the challenge by rescuing a life-sized, 175 lb. "victim" and getting him across the finish line. (Obviously I could really relate to this part of the challenge.) All of this is done as you race yourself, your opponent, and the clock to the finish line.

Crossing the finish line at 1:53

And of course you need your cheering own section!

It's only 1 to 6 minutes of racing but it is so intense! We saw a lot of throw up, sweat, and tears, and some aren't even able to make it across the finish line. Chard was such a champ. Not only did he beat his personal best time, he did it sans vomit. We were proud to be cheering him on. Firefighters really are amazing!

Then nephew Jake wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and did his own Fireman's challenge.

And not to be outdone by his cousin, Beck wanted to be a part of it too. Here he is, celebrating at the finish line. He was so excited he had a blowout.

Tay was such a proud big brother!

P.S. Who's ready for Halloweeeeen?