If you need me, I`ll be cleaning out my ears

Imagine opening an email telling you that in exactly one week, you'll be running a 20km obstacle course. This wouldn't have been so bad if I had not been spending the previous months eating cake and drinking full-cream cappuccinos. I had signed up for Tough Mudder when I was in Vancouver, six months prior to the event. Realizing that I had not trained at all, had no one to drive me there, and had no friends to do it with, I FREAKED.

Gunther, Me, (Jon), and Michael

But of course things always work out, especially when you're a couchsurfer. Michael picked me and my German couchsurfer, Gunther, up and we started driving to a farm in the middle of nowhere. I was running on 5 hours of sleep, having worked until 11:30pm the night before.

Hills, hills, and more hills

Taken by Gunther

 Being tiny has its benefits, especially when you have to fling yourself through some muddy water while trying to avoid the dangling wires charged with electricity. Climbing walls are a different story, but the comradery I witnessed there was amazing. Random strangers were pushing me up, pulling me over walls, high-fiving me. It really wasn't about our race time.

Gunther walking the plank

Friendly reminder

I didn't have any big problems with the obstacles until... we had to jump about 4 meters off a wall into a pool of water. Flashbacks to my 16th birthday, standing on the diving board in Watermania while my friends sat in the pool watching me and 7-year-olds were behind me coaxing me down. I fucking hate heights. But I had an ego, and I wasn't about to walk around a stupid obstacle. After a couple of minutes, I finally put my arms around Gunther and told him to jump and pull me with him. I screamed the entire way down but the important thing is I DID IT. In the final 2km, I heard a voice from a megaphone say "ice-cold beer" and I ran through the crowds yelling "FREEE BEEEERRR!!!!"

Two days after Tough Mudder, I couldn't walk. There was a scorching pain in my foot but the x-rays showed nothing. Will be going for a CT scan in a couple of weeks.
Also, I sincerely apologize to my friends, to whom I sent a picture of a dirty cotton swab. It took me days to get that mud out of there. Before I could finish getting the mud out...

The Color Run!

Attila doing his thing

 When Attila said he had yellow fever, I had no idea this was what he was referring to. <3

Stevan attack!

 Guess what happened next...

 So I guess pink eyelashes and red teeth aren't really my thing..

Vibrant Voyagers!

Jeff looking better than ever

Kids, I hate to sound hostile, but before I finish off this post, I just wanted to say something about me and my photos. If you are to share them, ask for my permission and if you are to use them, please acknowledge me. These photos convey my own memories and own experiences and are very personal to me. I get on the ground, I get dirty, I climb things, and sometimes I do slightly illegal things just to get the perfect shot. If you think I'm being unreasonable, maybe bring your own camera next time?

Thanks!