The past five months have been full of vaccinations, researching and buying camping gear, strength conditioning, doctors appointments, fundraising, and corresponding with my teammates.

Which brings me to this moment. Ahh!!! This is it! The week of training camp! And to celebrate the start of this crazy journey I have put together a video of my conditioning and prep for the World Race thus far. 

During camp we will be tested to hike 3 miles in under 50 minutes, with our packs on. This has been one of my biggest concerns, since my pack is almost as tall as I am. But over time, I have been able to work up to carrying 45 pounds as far as 8 miles without stopping. So, three miles? Piece of cake. 

This process has been exhausting, challenging and even hilarious at times. I've stumbled into fire ant beds, fought off horseflies, fallen over with my pack on, had a run-in with an alligator, and scared a poor group of hikers as I came sprinting through the trees singing at the top of my lungs! Yah...don't ask.

BUT HEY! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, ehh?? And this has strengthened me in body, mind and spirit. So please, sit back and enjoy the show! As you are about to see, hiking in central Florida can get pretty...well..interesting.

(WARNING: This is an overwhelming and miscellaneous montage, I hope it reflects what I've been feeling in preparation for this journey!) 

Special thanks to my teammate Eric Atchison for putting together this training schedule, I would not have known where to begin!