On Saturday the 8th of September, I finally got to experience the joys of the USNWC.  I first learned about the USNWC back in 2008 and went a couple of times with friends to see their summer series concerts.  We had a good time but I wanted to do more than just listen to a band play.  I wanted to participate in the fun!  But alas, I was too fat!  You see, there are weight and/or size restrictions on all of the activities and I was either to big or too heavy for all of them…until recently!  So I celebrated by getting some friends together for a day of adventure, and an adventure it was!

Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of everything I did–my paparazzi was busy that day and we couldn’t really take pictures of each other either because we didn’t want to break or lose our cameras but one of my very sweet friends came out for a couple of hours and snapped few shots to commemorate the day…in a blog.

A self-portrait before the adventures began…

We started on the climbing wall.  It’s hard to tell how far I got in this picture but let’s just say the ground is only slightly out of the frame.  I feel like I could have gotten a little higher if my hands weren’t sweaty.  Next time I’ll ask for chalk.  I was so nervous.  Not scared, nervous.

After this, we did the mega zip line.  SO. FRICKEN. FUN!  But no pictures to prove I did it, you’ll just have to take my word.  Then we white water rafted, no pictures of that trip either but there are pictures from our later trip.  By the time the first rafting trip was over we were all starving so we ate lunch… and got in trouble for tale gating in the parking lot. Oops!

Then we moved on to the obstacle course which was beyond difficult.  I only have pictures of the very beginning- the net climb because the rest was way back in the woods and my friend who was taking the pictures was  carrying an infant and it wouldn’t have been safe for her to go back there.

If you’ve ever seen ninja warrior then you’ll have an idea of the kind of things we did on a smaller scale.

This is my friend Melinda and me at the beginning…

My awesome trail shoes, that are great at gripping the ground were also great at gripping the rope, making it difficult to “let go” but I managed…slowly!

When I got to the top I wasn’t sure what to do.  I’m usually pretty good at climbing up things, it’s getting down that always seems to be a challenge.

I thought about rolling down but there were boulders at the bottom so I had to make other arrangements.

I eventually figured it out and made it to the bottom safely.

See, safe and sound…until I turned around and fell flat on my face into another boulder.  Too bad there’s no picture of that.  HA!

After the obstacle course we rested for a few minutes and then went rafting again…

See!  I white water rafted.  PROOF!  There lots of of other pictures of our boat but this was the only one in which I am actually visible.  That’s me smiling up at the camera.

The course was made up of class-one through class-four rapids.

Josh, me, Melinda and our guide, “Raft Girl” after our trip.

I even got a little injury…because I’m hardcore.

And Melinda got frisky with me.

Two of my friends had already left at this point, we’d been there for about eight hours but Melinda, Sara, Sarah and Josh were troopers.

It started to storm which meant it was a good time to grab a beer and some dinner.  Then Melinda, Josh and I went flat water kayaking to finish off what ended up being a 12 hour day.  Again, no pictures because water and electronics don’t mix but we did it and it was awesome.

This will go down as one of the absolute best days of my life.  I cannot wait to go again.  Season passes are in my future and weekly training with Melinda on the obstacle course start next week in preparation for our Spartan Race in March!

Check out the National Whitewater Center at www.usnwc.org for more information.  And let me know when you go so I can come too!