I stepped off the plane. My palms started sweating, but I held the wide smile on my face. As I approached the baggage claim, I anxiously awaited my bright green, 65 liter Osprey monster backpack. It came around the belt and forced me to use every muscle accompanied by a little jump to get it onto my back. After a few shimmeys and shakes, my backpack was on and strapped. Next came meeting my squad.
If you have never been to the Atlanta, Georgia airport then you can’t truly comprehend its vastness. As I navigated to the Atlanta Chophouse (World Race Meeting point) my pack chaffed against my lower back. “What did I get myself into,” ran over and over in my mind. I turned left at the food court and entered an atrium illuminated by sunlight and the smiles of some racers. Every hour more and more eager racers made that left turn into the atrium and were greeted by piles and piles of backpacks. I didn’t realize it at the time, but on August 10th I said goodbye to a lot of things. I said goodbye to my mom. Goodbye to my phone. Goodbye to real toilets. Goodbye to my cleanliness. Goodbye to looking in the mirror. Goodbye to my comfort zone.
The past ten days are a testament to leaving my comfort zone. If you asked me to do half the things I did at training camp, I would laugh in your face and think you were some kind of jokester. However, at training camp I chose joy and did them willingly. That to me is the best way I can describe training camp to you. Training camp isn’t about you. It’s about recognizing that every time a mountain of struggle is put in front of you, you have a choice. You have the choice to be stubborn and go around it until that stops working. You have the choice to try going straight up, but that gets exhausting. A mountain of challenges was put directly at my feet this week, but “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to a mountain, move from here to there, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Choose to press in when there’s pain, rely on Christ, and move that mountain.
I cried more in the past ten days than I have in years. I was overwhelmed to information and exotic food. I have made more deep relationships in the past ten days then I probably will in years. I fell in love with fifty-three beautiful souls and renewed my faith. Training camp was like coming up for a breath of fresh air after living a life underwater.
Training camp broke me physically, emotionally, and had me searching spiritually. You know those moments where your world stops. Your world stands still while everyone else’s continues at a rapid pace. That was training camp. Training camp broke me, but training camp saved me.
