Head down, hands on my knees, gasping for air. What am I talking about you ask?
I'll start from the beginning.
Every year New Zealand Police staff are made to undergo a fitness test, called a physical competence test (PCT), with a small part of their salary riding on them passing.
Earlier this year, while I was working on the police desk at the newspaper, I was handed a story about changes being made to the PCT.
How hard is this test, I thought? Well why not find out/.
I arrived at the Energy Events Centre on the morning of testing and it didn't take long to see what was involved - a fitness circuit with plenty of running, jumping, climbing and firing.
By firing I mean firing yourself over a wall, it just sounds more exciting.
Officer after officer made their way through the circuit until I was called up.
"Sergeant Hamilton-Irvine, report to the start line," the trainer announced.
I'm exaggerating, he didn't say anything like that.
All conversation aside, I was quickly away in a rush of over enthusiasm.
I messed up the first part of the course pushing a trailer too far but slipped into a good pace on the 200m run around a couple of basketball courts.
After walking over a balancing beam I found myself jumping over a mat, dancing sideways between some cones and sliding under a few bars.
Everything went a bit hazy from there as fatigue kicked in and the mental game began.
However, despite the difficulties and after scampering over a couple of fences I made it to the finish.
Surprisingly Eye of the Tiger was not playing in the background but I'd passed.
While I was catching my breath, which took longer than the course I think, the trainer said my final time was 2min 03sec, about 10 seconds under the pass time for someone my age.