Picking up from last time –
I’m going to be ridiculous as I start this blog post, because last time, I talked about how I don’t mind going it alone when need be. However, I’m going to start this one by talking about how awesome it was to be on a team.
I absolutely loved working with Joanna and Nick during this race. It was wonderful to do things together. Even though they were mainly guiding me, I felt like I was part of the team. While holding hands, if I felt Joanna start to slip, I’d try to grip tighter, pull up, and ask if she was okay. We were in it together. And there was something magical and cool about that. I love teamwork.
(I know, I know. I love teamwork. I love working alone. Make up your mind already, right Aurora? I guess apparently what I’m saying is everything is awesome (in its own way).)
Getting back to the race, we made it through the course.
Toward the end, there was a tunnel. I have no fear of tight spaces – none at all. (I lived in New York after all. ;)) Yet, the tunnel helped me to see how I rely so much on my sight. It only became slightly creepy once I couldn’t see anything in front of me. The one thing I could see is that I was inside something – not totally outdoors anymore.
Outside, the sun was bright. So while I couldn’t actually see anything, I could feel the sun – feel that it was bright even through my blindfold. But once in the tunnel, it just blackness. How long was the tunnel? What was on the other side? I alone at this point since my guides couldn’t go next to me in the tunnel.
(One had gone through and one was coming behind me – so they weren’t far, but no one was holding my hand anymore… And it was a weird experience.)
It was also funny to me that once I got out of the tunnel, I had no idea that I was at the finish! The picture I put in here is me asking if there’s another tunnel to go through. Little did I know, there were only celebration bubbles in front of me! The finish was right there… And I had no clue.
What an interesting, wonderful, eye-opening experience it was to have my eyes closed. I loved this. I would happily do this every year… and I just might.
That basically concludes the story, but I will talk about cleaning up in the next chapter – for anyone curious as to what to do after a mud run.