A "Got It" Moment

One of my “got it” moments I will never forget.

It was 2:30 a.m. I was in the middle of a 24-hour adventure race on the island of Guam, hiking in a rainstorm IN a river with water up to my waist with my three teammates. We were wearing headlights but they don’t really work too well deep in the jungle at night when it’s raining, miles from the nearest village. We had been racing since 6 a.m.: running, hiking, biking, swimming, river and ocean kayaking, etc. I was completely and utterly exhausted, hungry and out of water. We had lost our bearings and were following this river, hoping it would lead to the ocean or a bridge or anything recognizable. Quitting was not an option in that terrain at that time of night.

At 35 I was the oldest person on the team and also the only female, but I realized then that I was in heaven and at peace. I realized that all the months of training, sweating, eating healthy, planning and research led up to that moment.

We ended up laughing uncontrollably, regrouped, and by chance found our way out just a few hours later. We were the first place co-ed team to finish the race! My life is now full with work, being a wife and mother, and many other activities, but I am no doubt fulfilled when I am in the wilderness of God’s beautiful green earth, physically and mentally challenged, pushed to the brink of exhaustion, but knowing that our minds really do work over matter.