I have never dreamt of attending a viper challenge given that the only exercise I do is mainly cardio and most of the time it’s just leisure jogging. Seeing that my partner signed up for it, I took the opportunity to attend the challenge as I think it is a way to improve our relationship by doing common fun activities. I was rather nervous seeing the leaflet showing mud covered shoes and I find it rather yucky to get dirty in the mud and I’m not very comfortable of getting my shoes wet during runs as it is a sure recipe for foot blisters later on. I told a friend regarding my concerns and he assured me that there is nothing to worry about as it is not as extreme as Ironman or Spartan challenge. My partner also kept reassuring me that his young niece could easily go through all the obstacles as they are meant to be for amateurs. Anyway I was still worried as I know I don’t have arm strength and I badly want to be able to go through all the obstacles since it was said to be “easy”.
My start time was 9am and his was 830am. We didn’t get to be a team as I had took a long time contemplating whether to go or not thus resulting in an individual registration. The day started off with a lot of hiccups where we went to the wrong venue but luckily the actual venue wasn’t too far. I threw my temper at him when he couldn’t find his race ticket on his phone and said a few nasty things like “why can’t you be efficient in all that you do?”. I think I was being very unfair to throw out such a general statement and I made the situation worse. He sort of lost his cool and retaliate by being kinda loud towards me which he only did twice throughout the many years I know him. Upon arriving to the right venue we parked at the wrong place resulting in us walking 2.5km to the registration zone. In the end I was on time for my flag off and he was late and since I was still angry I went ahead and told him I will meet him somewhere in between. Actually I just wanted some moment to dissipate my frustrations. The environment was filled with a lot of happy people and loud music with a lot of positive vibes but I just felt really shitty for having quarrelled with him. Once I start running, probably the endorphins made me felt better and lighter at heart and upon seeing some shade I decided to wait for him.
I think he did try his best to lighten the situation as he texted me “don’t worry, I will come and catch you. The hunting season starts now”. I think it is funny and I know he is always good with humour. I think I only ran about 750 meters and played one obstacle before I made a decision to wait for him. We were supportive of each other throughout the rest of the challenge. No, I think he supported me a lot since I did not like the mud and I needed him to give me a boost during the wall climb over and also to pull me up from the muddy pool. As we are about to finish the challenges I felt regretful that I was very harsh towards him and I apologise and he reminded me to not make the situation worst by being emotional. I’m glad he was level headed enough not to get as emotional as me or I think it will be an explosion. I think I told him that I don’t have any mood to go for the challenge and he suggested we go home but I told him we already paid for it and we should just finish it. I’m glad I still had some sense and joined the challenge otherwise I will never know how it feels to join one.
So about the challenge, our of 30 obstacles I only manage to complete 25. Out of the 25 some were too easy and I wouldn’t call it a challenge. Example, the “mud hill” was more of a “mud hump” and I heard someone exclaimed in mandarin “is this considers a challenge? WTF!”, well that echos my own thoughts. The “hop across fire” challenge wasn’t scary, it felt more like a tiny leap across a near extinguished fire. Then there’s this see-saw thingy where we need to walk from one end to the other end probably to test our balancing? It’s just child’s play. Perhaps in order for the event to cater to everyone, they need to put very easy challenges amongst some hard ones. So what were the 5 that I couldn’t do? It was all that require arm strength. Some sort of monkey bar stuff and ropes. One of the challenge where there’s two parallel bars and you need to use your arms to slowly move from one end of the bar to the other end was poorly designed. The bar distance was too huge and it’s not just me but other participants felt the same. So, yes I would like to join the challenge again next time given that I had some obstacles that I couldn’t do because of my lack in arm strength.
One of the challenges that got my heart racing was the water slide where the momentum was so fast that I wasn’t ready and I already reached the bottom of the slide with a huge splash. I was quite horrified when I saw my partner sliding down the slide not tucking his chin to his chest and he knock his occipital region as he landed. For this part I think the organisers can do better by giving better instructions as not everyone are accustom to the correct ways of going down a water slide. Other than that I also felt very disgusted by a participant who admitted he peed inside the “ice dip”(I overheard the conversation). Given that the cubic area for the dip is rather small and it was murky muddy water with human pee and whatsoever body secretions, I just feel nauseated thinking of it. It would have been nice if after all these dips there’s fresh water to sort of wash off some of the dirt. I already start to feel a little sick as I am writing this but I think it is because of the initial hot sun which I am not accustomed to followed by the drizzle that occurred later on. However I am glad the hot sun didn’t lasts long otherwise I doubt I can finish the challenge as I never do heat training and always get a fever whenever I am under the sun. I just can’t wait to stick cool fever on my forehead tonight and pray I wake up feeling well tomorrow.
The “shower place” for the after event was actually an open space with just a few water hose for us to clean ourselves with our clothes on. I don’t feel very clean despite washing my hair with shampoo and changing into new clothes. I wish they could have just separate the male and female shower region with a partition and maybe we could at least shower in our underwear if not naked so as to have a proper wash. At least the guys were able to shower with their shirts off. They did provide tents to change clothes but there’s no water inside the tents and it was rather dark maybe to add comfort for people changing? I don’t know.
We had to walk back another 2.5km to the car and I was feeling very hungry by then. Since Christmas is round the corner and it is not often that I visit the capital, my partner was very enthusiastic on taking me to see the Christmas decorations at Pavilion mall. I told him we don’t have to go there as that place is always so packed and parking is a pain but still he took me there. The decorations were amazing and the Christmas tree is so funny with part of the reindeer’s hind legs and butt jutting out from the tree. I took a few photos but come to think of it I didn’t get to take any photos with my partner amongst the decorations. I wish we could have more photos together to keep as a memory. I think it is because I myself seldom take photos and all the photos I have when I am with him it is because he insist that I should take some photos.
We had a simple meal at the food court and resumed our journey to send me to the bus station. I had difficulty swallowing my food when I think about our time together is so limited and I’m not sure if I could see him for Christmas. I wish we don’t have to live separately and this year our relationship have been really rocky. I learnt a lot about myself and him and I think I hurt him the most this year by having an extramarital relationship. I think it impacted him a lot as he kept telling me “remember if you feel lonely you have a husband”. As for me, I never knew I am the one who was unfaithful and disloyal. Although there were no actual physical involvements in my affair but the mental and emotional involvement itself was significant. I am still trying to find a way to forgive myself but I just can’t for now. I know that my husband wants me to set myself free and doesnt keep tabs on my wrong doings but only I know when I could actually redeem myself. I still catch myself missing the other guy which should be considered abnormal even if It is “friendship” because I don’t think a married woman should be thinking of another man very often.
It’s okay, let time dilute the emotions and memories. At least I have accepted that I will never be able to play Gunbound Mobile with Discord on. I miss this gaming experience the most and I had trouble getting used to playing the game with strangers and without Discord on. However I have played more than a thousand games since then and it isn’t so bad without Discord. The good thing is that I am now subclan master and at least that gives me some comfort in changing my country’s flag to another country.
Yes, we all must eventually move on. So i could say that it takes an average of 9 months for me to feel less painful when i think about all that had happened. More importantly although it made me felt devastated, I did not neglet my life in general nor did I become depressed. I am still the subshine that I am supposed to be in the lives of peopel who interact with me. I do admit sometimes I may get a little “hot” and burn some of the peopel around me but at least I did not stay in the clouds all day. Besides like the saying goes “a man who depends on others for their happiness is worst than the beggar who begs for his daily bread” - from “the heart of Buddha”.
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