The Amazing Race

I dedicate this blog to Alexandra Louise Hewett.

There is this show on in America and Asia called the Amazing Race...it may be on in other countries as well, but I am only certain about the American and Asian versions. We discovered and subsequently became obsessed with this show during our 15 day battle with Dengue Fever. At first, we thought we might be hallucinating, as this show puts its contestants through some horrifying stunts and challenges all in a bid to win a race around the world, but we soon realized that this was a real show. So can you guess what happened next, well of course you can.
Alex decided that she and I were going to join this show, but she wasn't too sure if she wanted me as a partner due to some of my...well...issues for lack of a better word. Some of these include my innate fear of anything fast moving especially if I have to ride in, anything that is high up in general, bicycles and riding them, anything where I have to run uphill, any sort of jumping, anything requiring upper body strength, any sort of hike that is longer than 4 hours and many many others. On this show, the duo, which can be partners, siblings, friends, anything really have tasks to complete in various states, cities and countries that take them all around the world, while racing against each other. You basically win prizes along the way and the duo that comes in last in each challenge gets eliminated until there are only 3 teams remaining who duke it out to be number 1 and win the big prize!
Some of these challenges include any and all sorts of horrific, terrifying and disgusting things you can think of such as: eating a variety of terrible foods and/or animal parts, anything involving heights and dangerous activities at these heights, things involving upper body strength like pulling yourself up a rope after bungy jumping down, some require your brain like putting together a television antenna for an African family or deciding how much gold reaches a certain amount of money based on the stock market. There are literally thousands of these types of challenges and ever since we watched this show on repeat for 15 consecutive days while deliriously ill, Alex has been using our travels as a sort of test to see if I can be her partner in The Amazing Race.
I kind of did not realize that until we were hiking one day and I reached that all too annoying 4 hour mark and silence overcame me and Alex promptly said, "how are you ever going to be my Amazing Race partner if you can't even hike for 4 hours?!" Wow, she had been testing me all along. I wonder how I fared at the skydive and the bungy swing and the ropes course?! So we began discussing this and all the things that I may need to work on a bit if we were ever going to even contemplate entering, let alone winning such a challenge. Can you imagine me trying to do some sort of crazy bungy jump and then having to climb back up that rope using my upper body strength?! Me neither, but Alex and I have been tailoring my workouts to improve my Amazing Race capabilities.
For example, we engaged in a Ropes Course that was so traumatizing that I will not even go into it, as I have already discussed in a previous blog, but that tested my fear of heights and I think I overcame a few that day...and I only cried most of the day and I did not even wee myself. Speaking of weeing one's self, I also did a skydive thank you very much and I did not complain. We were running late, which was not part of my Amazing Race training, but it certainly helped prove that I can get a wriggle on and run to a horrifying activity when I need to. Then there is the bungy swing, which we all know I did not want to do from the get go, but did never the less...tears and all, but it was done. We also spent a few hours in the largest human size puzzle in the world and got to the end. Numerous terrifying suspension bridges have been climbed and we all know that I have had to eat some very interesting foreign cuisine.
And can we please take a minute to focus on my strengths...the ones I think are part and parcel to being a force to reckon with in any of the Amazing Race challenge such as my navigational abilities. It truly does not even take me that long to figure out when we are going the wrong way. And what about my uncanny ability to find small things in large spaces, or my ability to just go up and talk to anyone...and I can scrapbook really well so if there was a scrapbooking challenge I would totally kick some ass. Alex says that they will NEVER invent a scrapbooking challenge, but arts and crafts overall is one of my strengths and they have had a challenge where the contestants had to cover a giant statue with clay and wheel it through a town...I could do the clay part very well.
It has taken me nearly 9 months to prove my Amazing Race worthiness to Alex, and she is still testing me regularly so I always need to be on my best game. I think that my overall positive attitude and never say die core self speaks volumes and she should consider me for such a role. I think I have come a long way and maybe after 3 months in South America she will see that I am really as die hard as she is and we could totally apply to be the next winning contestants on the Amazing Race Europe...if they have an Amazing Race Europe...so watch out!