The longest race!

The mister and I just completed an incredibly intense adventure trail running race.

Whew.

It was one of those races that was sort of secretive in that you really didn't know the course ahead of time. We were excited but also a wee bit wary. I mean, how do you train for what you don't know?

True to form it was hard. Really really hard.

There were climbs that made my heart feel like it was going to explode right out of my chest. Then there were downhills where they posted a black double arrow down sign on a tree (that you may or may not see) to signal rough terrain ahead.

Rough? Ahem.

We were slip sliding and skidding and falling and catching ourselves and did I mention tripping? And it hurt, because we both fell hard a few times. Really hard. I gashed myself a few times on rocks--major bleeding-- and so did the Mister. Those are gonna leave scars.

Then there were more hills. Did I mention the hills? No amount of training could have prepared our lungs for the hills! I felt like I couldn't breathe, like I needed an oxygen mask. So much for thinking I was in shape!

There were water crossing! Sheesh. The water was rushing and we had to figure out how the hell to get across without going in. We were a soggy, defeated mess.

I wanted to walk. The mister pushed me on. Then he wanted to walk, and I pushed him on. On the tough climbs he pulled me along and if he could've carried me on his back believe me, I would've let him!

Part of the mystery was not knowing the distance. That's scary stuff for a race. I'm ok with short-ish runs but I am no marathoner. I usually max out at 7-8 miles. I guess that's why we had to sign our lives away on consent forms...in case one of us actually died during the race well, it would be nobody's fault but our own. What kind of fools are we?

We didn't win the so-called prize. We didn't even come close.

When we got to the finish line there wasn't anyone actually cheering us across. Sucked big time, because I was visualizing that finish line with all the crowds lining the path, cheering us and slapping us on our backs, propelling me forward those last few steps and then celebrating the victory with us.

When we went through what we THOUGHT was the finish line, we saw our time (dismal) and looked around.

And that's when we saw it.

The sign.

"Second half of race THIS WAY."

STFU.

There is more?

And it turned out to be a mountain biking race, for which we had not really trained....

So we looked at each other and smiled, shaking our heads. After chowing down on some mega-reinforcements, giving each other a "we're in this together" pep talk, we donned our helmets and got on the bikes.

We're still on the bikes....

We're adopting!




Much much more to come on this--a whole backwards posting probably of how we came to this decision and the mega process that has taken place--but for now, we'll just leave it with 'the news.'

*And thanks to Brenda, who a long time ago made a similar analogy about going from IF treatment into adoption, and it just stuck in my brain and came out here :)