BOOT CAMP

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Our final exam (well, for boot camp) was this week: a 50km hike in full gear

Sweeeeeet mother mercy was that rough. Having it rain cats and dogs throughout the whole ordeal, everything soaked head to feet and gear being moist and heavy. Not being able to light your ethanol burner so you could make a warm meal because you had no shelter and the rain would soak matchbox after matchbox the moment you took them out. Pushing the slowest member constantly onward, even offering to lighten his load by distributing his equipment amongst others, only to have him collapse of exhaustion after the 30km point. Walking throughout pitch black night with only a dim headlight to show you the way, with no rest or sleep. Stopping at every intersection, attempting to understand where on the map you are and silently panicking because it’s too dark to see the road beyond 20 meters. Zig-zagging through a bog because the road shown on your map suddenly vanished. Desperately requesting info from the organizers via a radio after you got lost in said bog only to realize that reception is nonexistent. Reaching a checkpoint that you thought to be the finish only to be told that you have a 4km final sprint (read: limping) still ahead. Hell, you had been hoping for the next checkpoint to be the finish for the last three checkpoints.

Boy am I glad that thing is over.