Last weekend was the "National Days of Endurance" organised by my Scout Troop in the old barbarian town few kilometers from my city.
The National Days Of Endurance is an event we've been hosting annually for three years now. It includes different outdoor sports. You can have a glymps of what it's all about by watching this video.
What did I try? I just tried: ALL OF THEM!
Normally as a member of the organising Team, I'm not allowed to play with the participants. But I got to play a whole paintball match on friday with a team that was missing one player; he paid for all the activities but he couldn't make it to the paintball match in the right time, so I volunteered to be their plan B.
Paintball is a fun activity, but paintball in the rain on a wet field, is even more relevant!
The match had two rounds, I managed to take a bullet for the team and become a martyr during the first round. And I was disqualified because I ran out of "bullets" early on the second round.
I think you can all guess who won that match.
The next day, I was so busy with the organisation so I didn't do any of the activities, Except that I went for a hike to the top of the highest mountain around the abandoned town where the event was hosted.
Sometimes you repeat a hike or an adventure and somehow it feels like you're doing it for the first time, maybe because the weather changed or maybe it's all because of the company is what makes any journey worth living.
The hike was late in the afternoon and the sunset made everything magical and helped us make some very nice photos, but that wasn't the best part of it. The best part, in my opinion, was the fun company of hikers and campers from all over the country and from outside of Tunisia also. There was an Algerian and a Turkish guy in the camp.
Later that night, right before the saturday party, I managed to try the Quad Bikes for free after taking a cool video for the quad bikes' owner doing some ninja moves making it roll on two wheels. He liked it so much that he would have accept any demand I could've came up with, but all I wanted at that time was to try the quad bike lol.
I usually wake up at 7am when I don't have something to wake up for and when I don't set any alarm. But this sunday I woke up at 6. Mabe because sleeping in a small tant on a mountain, in the rain, is not the most comfortable way to spend the night.
At 6AM, few minutes after the sunset, and the sun never showed up because of the clouds, the weather was so cold that I had to wear my coat before getting out of the tant.
I stepped out of the tant and I found my Algerian neighbour, from the tant right next to mine, standing on his bare feet wearing only a T-shirt and short pants, looking at the bright spot of the clouds where the sun was hiding and doing nothing.
When I got out, he remembered that it's already morning, so he started making his preparations to do his morning yoga. I wonder why he didn't keep his clothes on until he prepares everything.
I had nothing to do because everyone else was sleeping except him so whatever I was going to do had to include him. The choices were: Join him, Watch him or Ignore him and go back to sleep. I chose the second because the first is too crazy and the last is too boring.
His first moves looked like the stretching moves we do when we train, he had my fuul attention thanks to that. Maybe he was training not doing yoga! Then, he took the pushup position. That’s when I decided to join him!
I took off my coat, I put my sleeping bag in front of him and I started imitating him hoping that pushups were in his menu.Few deep breathing cycles and I couldn't feel the cold air around me anymore. Few more moves and I removed my shoes to feel lighter.
I wasn't disappointed at all when the yoga session ended without any hard physical activity. The inner peace I got from it is more than I can ask for as a start of a busy day.
Thanks to that Algerian Yoga camper guy, I felt nothing when I ran 12 km later that day. But that's a completely different story.
I Helped finish the last touches in the obstacles, trying them and adjusting their difficulty. By the time we were adjusting the last obstacle, the race started. I was so angry at first because I wanted to join and then I thought maybe I wouldn't finish the race if I join them after all the effort and all the energy I lost while I was testing the obstacles.
I found some temporary satisfaction in that thought and I decided to have some fun with the participants that didn't join the race and then go to the finish line and wait for the first runners.
It was about 20 minutes since the race started when I saw two guys with some numbers marked on their faces, a sign that they are part of the race. They asked me if it was possible to catch up with the rest. I told them they are late but they might catch some slow runners.
At that moment, I had the idea of joining the race myself. I went to the organisers and I had the write the number 69 on my face and some scary black symbols. I was the 69th and the last runner when I joined the race with only one goal: Not to finish the last.
Less than 3 kms and I could catch at least ten others. To my big surprise, only seven of them were girls. Every three or four kilometers there was a table where you can drink water and take some sweets. I don't know if the sweets were supposed to help or they were obstacles. They slow you down if you stop to eat and they mess with your respiration if you try to run and eat.
I kept running alone most of the time, because when I catch someone, he tries to keep up with me for a while to finish the race with my speed and then he gives up despite my motivation. That made me aim higher, now I want to make it in the top 30 or at least be in the first half.
Maybe 12 kilometers don't sound much, but when it's in the mountains and you have to climb up and down while you're running, and when the circuit is so wet that you can feel your shoes getting heavier the more you run, 12 kilometers are an adventure. I can't blame the participants who couldn't finish the race.
When I made it to the last two kilometers, the obstacles started. I was familiar with them, so I did them faster than anyone else and I managed to catch so many others. I tasted victory for the first time in a while.
The race ended. I had some rest and some selfies with the other runners and then I moved on to the next activity: Tyrolienne (zipline).
I was an organiser in that event as a scout leader, but I am also a member of the climbing association that was in charge of the Tyrolienne, so didn't have to wait nor to pay. All I had to do is to say that I want to try it, again.
Of course it's never that simple when it comes to outdoor activities. In order to do a Tyrolienne, you have to climb one mountain where there is the low end of the cable, wear the security equipments, climb down that mountain and then climb another mountain where there's the high end of the cable, where the adventure starts.
I did it so fast that no one noticed I was doing it after a 12km race.
I don't think any words can describe what Tyrolienne is, but that's how scary it looks when you're about to start it.
The funny/cool thing is that this whole 3 days two nights camp costs 80 Dinars which is 33.35 USD (16.7STEEM even with STEEM going this low!) and that's only if you dont have your own tant and you want shelter included otherwise it's only 70 Dinars. That includes all the activities Paintball, Quad Bikes, Tyrolienne, Climbing, Hiking, Hannibal Carthage Race and some day and night parties!
If you're interested about next years event, contact me and I'll remind you few weeks before we start selling the tickets. They are "National" days of endurance, but that didn't stop my Algerian and Turkish friends from coming, why should it stop you?