A 35lb backpack, squeaky chacos, and a heavily beating heart arrived into the Atlanta airport over a week ago. The adventure had begun. The future turned into reality. Training camp was here! The airport atrium was scattered with fellow World Racers and backpacking backpacks. Meeting all the 50 people on your squad (the group I will be traveling with- Y Squad) you’ve “met” over a facebook group was interesting, yet made it easier to recognize people. 
A 2 ½ hr bus ride to Tennessee and setting up our tents was the first of a crazy week! Have you ever seen over 200 tents? All 5 squads leaving in January were scattered throughout the camp making small tent towns. A damp 7am Sunday morning came quickly(or slowly depending on how much sleep you got) as we packed up our dew-covered tents and took a 30min hike with all our gear! We quickly found out how much we brought.
The second night was the most memorable. We each had a buddy and were told to deposit our packs onto two separate tarps. This exercise assimilated a flight where half the luggage was lost and my packs were on the tarp that was “lost”. My buddy Ally and I had a quick bonding experience as we shivered all night in her tent as we shared a sleeping bag! Good times! After that night, I slept really well the rest of the week!
Other adventures at training camp included Family-style meals of a themed country or region per day, 7am squad exercise, team building exercises, lectures, rustic dish duty, braving the women’s bathroom lines and having little to no toilet paper, soap or paper towels most of the week. None of us smelled that good but we didn’t care! My perfume was a combination of campfire and baby wipe fragrance. Welcome to the World Race!
