Monday, July 26, 2010

Cross off #29!

On Saturday I crossed yet another 40 by 40 item off the list! (Can you guess which number it was?)

Yes, Team 29 (my husband and me) ran, rode, and sweated its way through the Great Urban Race Chicago. We partnered up with Team Awesome, which included a friend who lives in Chicago. I'm sure you don't have to have a local, but I'm not sure we would have finished in time if we hadn't.

I wouldn't say that the clues in Chicago were drastically harder than what I've experienced in Minneapolis (except for the fact that I didn't know where anything was), but being in a bigger city means covering more ground, which made the whole thing a little more intense and interesting.

Official rankings haven't been posted yet, but I can tell you that it took us roughly 4 hours and 30 minutes (the winners finished in 2 hours and 4 minutes). And although we definitely weren't sprinting from clue to clue, we were moving almost constantly for that entire time - save for the one and only pitstop we made to enjoy margaritas - so it was a big race.

One thing that was cool was that no matter where we went, we found other teams. In Minneapolis, you tend to run into lots of other teams for the first hour or so, but then things thin out and you start to wonder if everyone else already finished. Not so in Chicago.

This photo is from our final bus, which we took back to the finish line. When it stopped for us, we didn't think we'd be able to get on because it was so full, but the jovial bus driver (notice her smile) just told everyone to move back and make room. And when we boarded, we realized it was about 75% racers on the bus...and I was pleased to overhear some of the teams discussing that they still had two or three clues left to complete in the remaining 30 minutes. I mean, I never expect to be first, but it's nice not to be last.

We flipped pancakes. We wrote haikus. We ate ice cream made with liquid nitrogen. We did pilates. It was a fun day. And an awesome way to experience the city...makes me want to run away with the Great Urban Race.

Friends living in other major cities, get ready: I may be hitting you up to accompany me on the Great Urban Race next year. For now, I'm still looking forward to the Minneapolis race in September!

1 comment:

CitySolve Urban Race said...

Sounds like fun. Don't forget to check out CitySolve Urban Race Chicago (MPLS already passed).