Race Day!

I competed in my third annual Great Urban Race Minneapolis yesterday! As you might recall, this was my second GUR this year - my husband and I took on Chicago just two short months ago.

For the Minneapolis race, I reunited with BFF Gretchen for our second run as "Communication Breakdown." Along with help from BFF Rachel, who played the role of Google lifeline, we rocked it.

We had every clue solved within the first 20 minutes....unfortunately, none of the clues were especially difficult. Now, I could say that the Minneapolis race probably just seemed easy in comparison to the Chicago race, which was a challenge given that we don't live there and the city is huge. Except, Gretchen wasn't with me in Chicago and she thought it was easy, too. I'd be surprised if anyone who spends even a little time in downtown or Uptown Minneapolis would say that the clues were hard.

So now you're thinking, Well, if it was so easy, you won then, right? Um...no. Solving the clues is a relatively small portion of the race. Then you have to go to all 11 locations, perform whatever task is demanded of you, and get yourself back to the finish line, all using public transportation. None of the tasks were hard, but we did travel a good 10+ miles, much it on foot.

We got off to a really strong start, knocking out the first five locations in under an hour - and I think we actually sprinted from place to place. Then the tedious bus ride to Uptown slowed us down a bit and, after completing two more tasks, we made a pit stop. There was a moment where I think we considered pressing on minus a cool, refreshing adult beverage, but then we remembered that 1) that wouldn't be as fun and 2) we still weren't going to win.

And so, drinks were had. I think we made a good choice. If the GUR ever turns into being all about the competition for me, I don't think I want to do it anymore. (But, side note: the winners came in at 1 hour 55 minutes, so we actually probably had a fighting change to make the top 25 were it not for that pit stop. As it stands, we're crossing our fingers that we finally made the top 100.)

Anyway, it was very fun day. I recommend the race to anyone (assuming you like to have fun). And even though I think the clues could have been harder, I'm definitely still in again for next year, because, you know what they say...

A day spent solving clues and running around like an idiot is a day well spent, indeed.

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!

Momentum

I have two exciting things to tell you:

1. Thanks to my fabulous friends and their fabulous friends, my essay is climbing the ranks. I was pretty happy about breaking the top 100, but now that I'm reaching the top 50, it's really getting exciting. If you haven't voted today, go ahead - I'll wait. And THANK YOU!

2. I'm going to Chicago this weekend to cross #29 off my 40 by 40 list! I'll be competing in the Great Urban Race! I use the term "compete" very loosely. You may recall that I've competed in the Minneapolis GUR before - twice, actually - and I've never come even close to winning. Let's just say my quest for fun outweighs my competitive spirit. Luckily, we're talking about a scavenger hunt, not a marathon. It will be interesting to see if the clues will seem a lot harder in a new city.

Look forward to a full report when I return. In the meantime, please keep voting!

Speed(y-ish) Racers

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year because it was the day of the Great Urban Race! Although I normally steer clear of both competition and physical challenges, I make an exception for treasure/scavenger hunts.

The Great Urban Race is sort of like "Midnight Madness" (the movie, not any basketball nonsense) meets The Amazing Race, with digital cameras. Basically, it's a really fun way to run around the city doing things you would never normally do. 

You might remember that last year I competed with my friend Kevin as K-squared. We finished in 152nd place (out of 162 teams). Since Kevin has since run away to India, this year I competed with my friend Gretchen as team "Communication Breakdown." Our goal was to make the top 100.

Even though I knew what to expect this year, I still went into a bit of a panic/hyper-focus mode when it came time to rip open that clue envelope.  

Twelve clues and we could choose to skip one. The first was in Pig Latin, so I moved down to number 2: Make your way to the Minneapolis music club made famous by Prince in the movie Purple Rain. Take a picture of all teammates pointing at the silver star representing the band that has albums titled "Elephunk"and "Monkey Business." Awesome! We knew we needed to head downtown. Even more awesome was that this year, we'd actually researched the bus routes and were able to quickly board a bus going in the right direction. 

Even before we boarded the bus, I got in touch with our Google team headquarters (a.k.a. my husband) and began requesting information:

"Who has an album titled 'Elephunk'?" "Where did the Acadia move to?""Where's the Tin Fish?" "What does Molly Shannon's 'superstar' pose look like?"

By the time we got off that bus, we had all of our clues but one solved. The straggler was #9: Take a picture of all teammates in front of a sign that reads 'for bread * cake * pastry. It sounded so easy...

Undaunted, we quickly snapped our photo in front of the Black-Eyed Peas' star on First Avenue (clue #2), decided against recruiting eight other people to strike Molly Shannon's "superstar" pose under the Hard Rock Cafe guitar (clue #7 and a detour, which gave us another option), and ran back out to Hennepin Avenue to hop back on a bus headed to Uptown. 

We didn't know it at the time, but that bus ride was a critical juncture. First, my lovely stepsisters, who were also competing (as the intimidating team "Chicken Dinner") were already on the bus and we decided to partner up. Second, last year's winners (the Oozing Monkeys) were also on the bus. (We would later realize that 4 of the top 5 teams were on that bus with us.)

Once in Uptown, our competitors scattered. We (with the sisters, we were now four) ducked into a bookstore to complete part of clue #8: Find the Minnesota Literacy Council next to the Tin Fish on lake Calhoun and donate at least one new pre-school age board book.

We then hit Calhoun Square - clue #5 directed us there, but more importantly, we needed a bathroom break. Not wanting to appear rude, we ordered drinks at the bar before using their facilities...and naturally, we had to drink those drinks after having paid for them and all...

In case you're keeping track, that means we took our first pit stop after completing just 1.5 clues. 

After rehydrating at the bar, we counted all of the butterflies in the Fairy Godmother shop window, as instructed in clue #5. (I counted 106.) Then it was onto Amazing Thailand (part one of clue #12) to find the "tuk-tuk" and read its license plate so we could add the digits together.

After stopping at the East-facing mural at Cal Surf  to have our photo snapped holding up the proper number of fingers, based on the total of the license plate numbers (part two of clue #12), we continued on to Lake Calhoun, where we finished off clue #8 by donating the book, and then embarked on clue #4, which had us canoeing out to a red buoy and back. 

I was quickly reminded that I have not been in a canoe since I last went to summer camp at age 11. Though I managed to recall the very basics of how to steer a canoe, I would later learn that having both paddlers facing each other is not the ideal way to go...perhaps that explains why we spun the canoe around so many times. The good news is that we didn't drown. There really is no bad news, as that was a really fun part of the race. 

After getting our stamp to prove that we had canoed, the four of us were off and running. We thought we had figured out that elusive clue #9 (for bread * cake * pastry) and planned to hop a bus to French Meadow Bakery. Only rather than stopping to determine which bus to take, we just kind of kept walking the 1.5 miles, only to find out that it wasn't the right place (and they were a little tired of people asking, thanks). 

Feeling a little flustered, we decided it would be best to regroup at the neighboring CC Club (number of clues completed: 5). There, I grabbed the yellow pages, ordered a beer, and set out to solve this mystery. Everyone in the bar was eager to try to help, especially this kind old woman (who was drinking at 2 in the afternoon), who insisted that somebody had a bakery in Excelsior and their mother had a cafe nearby and that they sold bread. Right. 

So intent were we to solve this clue (and drink our drinks) that we missed our bus. Oh well, what's another 20 minutes? Drink up.

Once on the bus, we set out to solve the remaining downtown clues. First we hit the bird fountain on Nicollet Mall (clue #3, which was a cryptogram), then I channeled my former cheerleading self to make a human pyramid in front of the pyramid sculpture in front of the IDS Tower, also on Nicollet Mall (clue #7, the other detour option). Thankfully, another team arrived to help with that one, as recruiting strangers to be in a human pyramid can't be easy. 

From there, we walked over to the triangular statue that was pictured in clue #10 (we could have found the cross-streets for it by finding out the number of runs the Minnesota Twins had against the New York Yankees in Wednesday's game and the number of runs they had in Tuesday's game, but luckily Gretchen knew where it was). 

Next stop, the Mill City Museum, the answer to clue #1 (the one that was in Pig Latin): Take a picture of all teammates standing in front of the best smelling museum ever created. Google team headquarters really came through on that one...apparently it has something to do with flour because the museum is in the former Gold Medal Flour factory. I don't know.

Again, we intended to hop a bus back to the West Bank, where the race had started and where we knew we still had two more clues to complete, but we ended up walking the whole 2+ miles. Did I mind? Not really. I was completely distracted by how much fun I was having. 

Having finally given up on clue #9 (therefore making it our skipped clue by default), our last two stops had us feeding each other cookies at the Acadia Cafe and then playing bocce ball at the Nomad Pub. And then we were done! And, in contrast to last year, there were actually other teams around as we walked to the finish line!

So excited at the prospect of beating last year's time, I ran the last block to the finish line. Woohoo!! We did it! No penalties!

As it turns out, the answer to clue #9 was rumored to have been etched in the side of the Gold Medal Flour building, which I suppose makes sense, but I still don't think I would have ever figured it out. 

We finished in slightly under 4 hours, while the winning team - the same team that won last year - finished in 1 hour and 41 minutes. That means they were probably crossing the finish line while we were spinning around on the lake. I know that last year, right here in the comments of this blog, they denied being superhuman, but my new theory is that they are able to teleport. (Maybe they aren't superhuman, they are simply time travelers?)

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. In fact, I'm thinking of devising a scavenger hunt workout routine, as it seems to be the only way I'll ever be motivated to walk that far...

Did we break the top 100? We don't know yet - we're still waiting for results to be posted. 

**UPDATED 7/14/09: Results have been posted and we came in at #130. Oh well.**

To Hunt, or Not to Hunt

Last week, the Amateur Gourmet held a foodie scavenger hunt in NYC. It involved a list of iconic NYC food spots along with what to eat and/or do there for points. Participants (anyone could participate) then posted photos of themselves doing the things on the list and the winner was the one with the most points. The prize was two tickets to Tom Colicchio's upcoming charity event.

This got me thinking about my upcoming (June) birthday. I have a thing for treasure hunts. Scavenger hunts take a close second. (yes, there's a difference) For my 30th birthday, I spent weeks planning a "scavent" (scavenger hunt + event), which sent my loyal and surprisingly competitive friends racing through my hometown, solving clues and acting like maniacs. So fun!!!

And you might remember that I partook in the Great Urban Race last year. That's a for sure must do again (note to Gretchen: start working on our team name). 

So now I'm wondering if I should try to pull off another scavent of some sort for my birthday this year...which, of course, begs the question of whether anyone else even enjoys these things, or if I would just be once-again subjecting my friends to my whims. Now, part of me thinks that it's my birthday, so everyone can shut up and do what I want...the more mature part of me thinks it would be nice if everyone had fun. I mean, you don't really want people to start dreading your birthday out of fear of what they'll be asked to do next. 

Then there's the issue of orchestrating this grand event and not getting to participate in it. Inviting all of your friends over and then immediately sending them away on a race is kind of a bummer, even if the race is pretty entertaining to watch. 

Such a dilemma. And so commences the weeks of obsessing...oh well, at least this obsession is fun. 

Great Urban Racers, Are We

BFF Kevin and I successfully completed the Great Urban Race yesterday. I think I'm hooked. I might have to refocus my travel obsession on going places to compete in treasure hunts, although had we not been familiar with the city, we would have been at a big disadvantage.

So we went to the registration/starting point yesterday, having no idea what to expect. I wondered how many other people would actually have heard about this thing. I also worried that it would be a bunch of drunk college students and we'd be the ancient 30-something team trying to keep up with the kids. 

Turns out there were somewhere around 75 teams spanning in age from early-20's through 50's. Good crowd. You could tell by the serious game faces on a few of the teams that they were there to win  -- the top 3 winners got free entry into the national competition, where the grand prize is $10,000, so I suppose that's serious business...if you think you've got a shot at it. We chose to be more realistic and simply focus on finishing the race. 

At noon, the Race staff handed out envelopes to every team and told us we could open them on "Go!" What we got was a list of 12 clues and we had to solve 11 of them (you got to choose one to skip) in any order that we wanted. 

A flash of panic washed over me as I first scanned the list: the first clue was in hieroglyphic code that had to be deciphered. The second one listed a specific location - unfortunately, we had never heard of it. Another clue made reference to "the Weezer song that hit as high as #2 on the 1995 US Modern Rock tracks." There was word scramble, a riddle, a physical challenge, and, of course, a couple scavenger clues that required us to bring certain items back to the finish line with us. 

We knew we needed to make a plan, but standing amid 150 people running in all directions, our first instinct was to run, too. Right away we knew we had to get downtown for at least three of the clues, so we tried to take the bus (only public transportation is allowed) while also calling our phone-a-friend to have her start googling. After maybe 4 minutes of sitting at the bus stop and seeing no bus, we started walking. 

This brought us to the always-welcoming Grumpy's Bar, where we made the decision to use the wi-fi (I brought my laptop) and compile our list of every location we needed to visit. (And btw, Kevin gets full credit for cracking the hieroglyphics and solving the riddle.) I maintain that this was a smart move, even though we would later learn that by the time we were leaving Grumpy's with our itinerary, the first place team was 15 minutes away from crossing the finish line. They are either superhuman or had a GPS and a lot of people standing by to Google for them while they ran.

Right away, we had our "skip" clue chosen for us by failing to notice that we only had a 1-hour window to get to one of the clues - oops. I guess that saved us the trouble of having to choose. 

So off we went. First we jumped on a bus, thinking we'd head to our farthest point first. That was a fabulous plan, only we got on the wrong bus...so we found ourselves in the middle of downtown. No problem. We expertly navigated the city, banging out 5 of our clues...including this one, which required us to get a picture of 4 or more people cartwheeling in front of Candyland:

They weren't kidding about pushing you out of your comfort zone. 

After the impressive accomplishment of solving nearly half of the clues, we felt we deserved a celebratory drink. Since we chose to have this drink in the middle of Gameworks -- one of our clue locations -- we had the pleasure of pointing many teams in the right direction, while they looked at us quizzically as we sipped our cold beverages. One team actually came up and asked us why we were just sitting there. We told them we knew we weren't going to win, so we were just having fun. 

The looks on their faces was both confused and possibly angry that we weren't taking it more seriously. Perhaps as way of apology, Kevin felt compelled to start giving them answers. I was okay with one, but by the second I thought we had been congenial enough and should perhaps let them solve their own clues. I mean, it's not that fun if someone just gives you all the answers, right? (really, I was protecting their fun...)

After our downtown leg, we headed to Loring Park, where we had to complete a physical challenge involving "Buddy Walkers." It's sort of like a pair of wooden skis with ropes that you hold onto, and you have to walk in tandem so no one falls off. Falling off means starting over. I should point out here that there is a 17 inch height difference between Kevin and me. But thanks to our strategic use of "right, left, right, left," we didn't fall off!! Woohoo!

Next it was across the bridge to the sculpture garden (Clue #3: "Take a photo of both teammates in front of the real sculpture that's pictured somewhere on www.greaturbanrace.com."), then onto another bus to get to Uptown. Naturally, we got on the wrong bus AGAIN (my fault), so more walking, walking and then we were able to knock off our last 3 clues within minutes of each other. 

This is a where a more competitive team might have rushed back to cross the finish line. We, however, chose to have another celebratory drink at Liquor Lyle's. Somehow I'd never been there and Kevin felt it necessary to right this wrong immediately.

After more bus mishaps, we did finally make it back to the finish line. I believe our time was 4 hours and 15 minutes -- well clear of the 5-hour limit. Did we place? Um, no. Pretty much the top 25 teams finished in about half our time. But hey, we weren't last and we did manage to solve all of our clues correctly, so I consider it a success.  

Is it too late to become a professional treasure hunt competitor? 

Competition, Here I Come...

Tomorrow I am doing something I have never done...

Competing in a RACE! Not just any race, mind you, a race based on a reality television show (really, what other kind of race would I enter myself in?). 

It's called the Great Urban Race. This company goes from city to city staging these Amazing Race-type events -- only unlike The Amazing Race, you actually have to solve clues to figure out where to go. (How can I get such a job?)

Those of you familiar with my affinity for treasure hunts can appreciate the dream-come-true quality of this occasion. 

Of course, I'm not competing alone. It's teams of two and my BFF/cosmic twin Kevin has agreed to be my partner...his commitment to winning is questionable (that's a total understatement), but I am confident we can at least finish the thing within the allotted 5 hours. 

Our team name is K-squared (he's a KK, I'm a KK). We even got matching shirts made! Here's our team logo:

In case you're not well-versed in Wingdings, this is what you get when type "KK", which is an amazing coincidence since it's also an accurate depiction of our attitudes toward most things. (But not treasure hunts, treasure hunts get a giant, beaming smiley face from me!)

I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. It could end in victory. It could end with us crying on the street corner, still stuck on clue #1. More than likely, it will be somewhere in between those two scenarios...let's hope there is no skyscraper bungee jumping or eating of pig intestines. Cuz we are not competing for a million dollars.

I promise a full recap tomorrow (or possibly Sunday if I'm wrecked after the intense competition).  Go K-squared!