||Fitness Hike||
My name is Raquel, I am a World Racer and will be going on an 11 month mission’s trip to 11 different countries in October of 2018. For the sake of new readers I will start every blog with a small introduction for new readers.
I am currently in Gainesville, Georgia for training camp. Training camp is a total of ten days and consists for many different components. As racers we go through lots of training spiritually, physically and on several practical levels.
I have been learning so much about myself, the people I will be traveling with and so much about the countries I will be traveling to.
There have been moments of joy, tears, break through and loneliness and sometimes all at the same time. Immense growth has come out of this past week!
The most challenging part of camp for me thus far has been the fitness hike (dun dun dun). The fitness hike is the part of training that we as racers were all waiting for. We were told months in advance that we are expected to be able to hike 2.2 miles in 38 minutes with our backpacks. My bag personally weighs about 30 pounds.
On Tuesday morning I woke up ready for the hike. I felt encouraged and ready knowing that I had prepared and knew I could get through it. I began the at 7:53 a.m., I began hiking up a hill that felt like Mount Everest within the first few minutes.
I quickly realized that the trail we were on was not an easy one. There were parts that were gravel, wet grass, mud and some smooths paths.
After the first mile I was completely exhausted and had to push myself to get through the last mile. A teammate of mine stayed with me the entire time and never ran ahead even though I knew he could. He saw me struggling and graciously asked if he could take my backpack. I was relieved to get a moment of relief from my thirty pound backpack. I was exhausted but I persevered.
The good news is that I FINISHED! The second I finished I threw my backpack off and gasped for air trying to catch my breath. I was so relieved because I thought to myself, “I am so glad I NEVER HAVE TO DO THAT AGAIN!” I celebrated because not only did I finish but I finished with a minute to spare.
Later on that afternoon, one of my leaders pulled me and a couple of girls aside. The meeting is kind of a blur lol but the in summary she explained that because at some point during the run our packs were carried by someone else we would have to do the hike again the following day. My heart sank. Honestly, I was not okay. I was so sad, I sat at the table and cried. I cried because I knew I was at my limit, I cried because I knew that I had already pushed myself to my limit and my body was tired and sore. It’s important to me that I point out that I was not angry, bitter or resentful towards leadership because I believed that my leader cared, and saw how difficult it was for her to tell us that we had to do it again. Although I did not agree with the decision I trusted her leadership and said yes to doing the hike again.
This morning I work up at 5:45 packed my tent and all my belongings and began the hike again at 7:00 a.m. This time I got through the first hill a little tired but felt better than I did yesterday. My leader said Raquel I believe this is going to be life changing for you and said the word “fire.” The word fire resonated with me, as she said fire word I lifted my head and saw the sun rising. It was not a normal sun raise, the sun rose over the mountain deep red and looked like fire and I heard a gentle voice say, “I am with you.”
I completed the race again but this time I beat my time by FOUR MINUTES! I ran over the last hill with the biggest smile on my face and bursted into tears as I finished the race. I felt on fire! I was energized and in awe!
I looked at few of the other racers and saw steam leaving their bodies because of the heat our bodies had generated and it reminded me of smoke that comes from a fire and I knew that I had not done the race on my own. I knew that the Holy Spirit was active and present!
I am still in and awe and wonder of how amazing our God is. He knew that aside from the difficulty of having to do the hike again, with every sore muscle, he desired that I trust him and say yes. I believe that if I would have had a bad attitude, complained or refused I would have robbed myself of the gift he had for me. He wanted to show me that he can take me further, he wanted to show me that he is present and will be present in every single country, he showed me that he is not sending me on the race to just go but wants to exceed every expectation!
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Xoxo,
Rocky
