Weekend in the mountains

This past weekend, I went with many friends to my church's women's retreat in the mountain resort of Montreat, NC. Before you ask, no, we didn't hold hands and sing Kumbya for 48 hours. This retreat leans more toward the wine-during-free-time end of the spectrum. I did have a meaningful and restful time, but I have to admit the highlight of the weekend was the annual competition we call "The Bag Game."
I'm about to embarrass myself here and I don't care. We play this ridiculous and utterly contrived game of very Young Life standards that involves a paper grocery bag. You have to stand on one foot, bend down, pick the bag up with your mouth and then rip off the part that you just slobbered on. The ripping ensures that the bag continues to get shorter with every round. It's just about the silliest thing ever...yet it has become a competition with pretty high stakes!
As you picture this, you'll certainly conclude that, in any game that involves bending over with the intent of getting as close to the ground as possible without losing your balance, it would obviously be advantageous to be short. This is proven by the fact that two of the previous three winners are 5 feet tall and 5 feet, 1 inch (on a good day?) and all three of them are incredibly limber! I am neither uber-short nor am I incredibly limber. I do, surprisingly, have a good sense of balance.
I will spare you the details, but I came in second! And considering the winner wasn't showing any signs of difficulty and was dead set on winning, I am claiming that as as big an accomplishment as I could possibly have made! Add to that the fact that, compared to the top five finishers, I am older, taller, have had two babies (only one of the other top five contenders- the reigning champion at the time- has children) and I was wearing jeans...I'm pretty content with second place!
Here are two pictures that will serve as visual explanation for you and as embarrassment for me.