As you likely already know…we did a thing. Like entered a young person’s competition. What on earth were we thinking? Finland’s Wife Carrying Championship…ready or not…here we come.

(Disclaimer: we do not have any footage of our race…yet. It was live streamed and we are hoping that we’ll be able to get a copy of it soon. When we do, we’ll post it separately.)

Lucky for us…there was a senior’s division. This still meant we were competing against serious athletic competitors. At least they were our age?? Ha. That didn’t help us.

Cliff notes of today’s adventure:

1. We were so nervous, I was sure one of us was going to either back out or throw up.

2. The weigh in was successful – I weigh lots!

3. Like the Olympians that we are, we paraded the track, representing Canada with a very cute little flag bearer carrying our flag. Gotta admit, this bit was a kinda emotional.

4. We ran the race against an actual professional team. LOL. I think they were finished the race before we even got out of the water hazard.

5. Jason managed to get us through the water hazard relatively unscathed – only my head went under water. It’s a good thing I know how to hold my breath!

6. We not only completed the race – in 2 minutes and 16 seconds, but we made some fans along the way!

7. We got interviewed by the local TV celebrity.

8. We learned that all those nerves at the beginning were completely unnecessary.

This was one of those experiences that we weren’t sure would be so amazing. OMG. It was awesome! We certainly didn’t win, but we also didn’t come in last. Jason was a freakin’ hero running the whole course like some sort of Superman. The most surprising part happened when we were walking past the stands and people would yell out Canada! and then the whole bleacher section would erupt in applause. I think this is the closest we will get to feeling like rock stars.

If you’re thinking about coming to Finland – you absolutely must plan your trip around this event. You just may win your weight in beer…