For me, training camp was filled with so many memories. One of the funniest being, the night I peed my myself. Yes you read that correctly, my shorts were completely soiled. Let me just set the scene for y’all…
It’s night seven of TC, our squad had just finished debriefing a session we had heard and then praying over our route. All good stuff but this meant I had been holding in my pee for hours and hours. My friends and I are all in the lounge listening to Kacie Tillman (our squad mentor) spit fire like usual. She closed the meeting and then said the thing we’d all been waiting for. We were free to do what we wanted.
The next six minutes were some of the fastest and funniest moments of TC. A few girls and I got up faster than ever before and ran out the door for the porta potty or what Brittney likes to call the “porta john”. We stopped on the porch to put our chacos on but Sydney kept running to the porta john. Britt & I slip our chacos on and start running behind her, we notice Syd is about to enter the portajohn barefoot. (GROSS!!) Britt yells in her southern accent “no Syd, take my chacos I don’t want you getting athletes foot!!” Meanwhile, we’re all laughing hysterically while I’m still running to the other portajohn to relieve myself. Syd stops as Britt chucks the first shoe and caught it no problem. Britt then kicks over the second shoe and we all watch it fly OVER the portajohn. All three of us drop to our knees as we laugh uncontrollably. Which brings us to the moment we’ve all been waiting for, I was laughing so hard I PEED!! I ran to the portajohn, pushed Syd out of the way and tried to save myself but it was too late. I open the door to my friends as I laughed out the words “guys I peed my pants”. It didn’t help I was wearing light grey shorts. Britt grabbed her disposable camera to capture the moment while Syd ran inside to get my sweatshirt and, of course, her camera. I stood outside laughing uncontrollably at how ridiculous I looked with five of my friends. we looked up and witness Syd completely miss the steps outside and fall face first on the cement. We all laughed ten times harder. Then took more pictures of my soiled shorts and her busted knee.
I tell this story not to embarrass myself on the internet but because, to me, this is just a glimpse of the friendships God has already given me. To know a set of girls for only 7 short days and laugh so hard I peed. To not be embarrassed in a situation most people would make fun of me for but to open the portajohn door unashamed and scream “I PEED MY PANTS”. To laugh in community together. Take pictures of the priceless moments. To bond over soiled shorts and a busted knee. This was a story my new friends and I told over and over during the rest of TC and each time we laughed a little harder. A silly story that I’ll probably tell my kiddos. I think the fun part about being in community together is that we get the opportunity to grow and be our raw selves around others. Training camp was amazing and came with a lot of emotions for us as a squad. We cried, praised, laughed, shared tons of cliff bars, filled each others bucket showers (yes, a BUCKET shower), called out our brokenness together, and healed together. A story of me peeing my pants may seem silly but to think in just 1 week I will get the opportunity to live in a community where I laugh about the embarrassing things gets me jazzed! It’s not everyday I’d be proud of peeing my pants but looking back it’s funny how such an embarrassing moment brought me so much joy. God is cool in the way he works. A funny guy He is.
Before TC, if you asked me about the race I’d say I was excited but I probably said that with a very hesitant face. Now that TC has come & gone, I’m not hesitant with my response. At TC I met a bunch of people face to face for the first time. People I’d never expect to befriend. We’re all different in so many ways. A bunch of people with very different stories. Different states, home towns, family life. Different personalities. A bunch of people that God knew would blend so well together. That’s what TC did, it taught us so much about this whole thing we’re about to go do but more importantly, it made us a family. I heard so many stories from past racers about training camp being bad that I wanted to be scared but God made that impossible. TC was challenging, yes, but believe me when I say that I don’t have a single bad memory from it. The worst thing that happened was me peeing my pants yet somehow that turned into one of the best things. Peeing my pants was just one tiny piece to the puzzle of memories we’re about to have at the end of this next year. I wouldn’t be surprised if I peed my pants ten more times with how much my new family makes me laugh until my insides hurt. Soon I’ll get to live with them for nine months and I can already tell that these friendships won’t stop there. I can’t wait.
Thank you all so much for supporting me, loving me and tagging a long for both the serious and the silly stories that this journey is going to bring. Please keep my squadmates and I in your prayers as we get ready to be together in just one week. As always, thanks for reading.
Love Always, Cass
