I am the kind of person who doesn’t associate with outhouses. I avoid them at all costs unless it’s a desperate time that calls for a desperate measure.
However, this weekend, I was somehow roped into racing an outhouse. I didn’t just succumb to using an outhouse, but instead, I was on the other side of one, pushing it with everything I had. Who would have thought? Clearly, this must be a Cariboo tradition because I have never heard of an outhouse race in my 24 years of living on this planet. I have heard of some strange things, but not an outhouse race.
After I was informed that the outhouses weren’t ones that had previously been used, my feelings changed towards the idea. I mean, that would just be gross, right?
There has been this reoccurring occurrence since I moved to the Cariboo. It’s that I never know what to expect and sure enough, I didn’t know what to expect. It didn’t help that my coworkers had been asking me if I had started training for the race as if I was supposed to. Did pushing an outhouse really require training? Did they assume I couldn’t live up to the task? I didn’t know but I was going to find out.
On the day of the race, I woke up nervous and still unsure of what I was about to get into. I didn’t have an excuse to bail and it being on the weekend, I couldn’t call in sick. I got in my car, listened to some motivational speaker Google suggested and prepped myself for the outhouse race.
I couldn’t believe the competition we were up against, the number of outhouses in the field or the number of people cheering us on from the sidelines. It was incredible. The amount of detail that went into some of those outhouses, everyone is a winner.
Looking back on Sunday, I can say I learned a few things that day.
First, is that I make an exceptional team member. Second, I can run faster than I thought I could. Third, never be quick to judge. For what it’s worth, I had a lot of fun pushing that darn outhouse across the field.
Even though the 100 Mile Free Press Birdcage Liners did not take home first place, know, that I was the real M.V.P.
