Amazing Race!

Gum wall

My legs are SO. SORE. Particularly my calves, shins, and feet. Brian, my friends Willow and Rachel, and I did an Amazing Race Seattle competition on Sunday. When I got up and dressed on Sunday morning, I was imagining more of the obstacle/task parts of the show Amazing Race…which prompted me to put on jeans, a sweatshirt, 
and a pair of TOMS. You know, rather than running shorts, a sports bra, and tennis shoes…which turns out, would have been much more appropriate. Because we RAN all over Seattle…for just about 3 hours.

Ivar's on Pier

The event started up on Capitol Hill at Cal Anderson Park…the way the game worked is we were given our first clue, which prompted the team to find a specific location- once there, you take a picture of your team (to prove you are all there), email it in to ‘headquarters’, and then they email you back your next clue…which sends you off to a new location. The only rules were that your team had to stay together (3 of the 4 team members needed to be in the picture), and no wheels, other than a bus were allowed (no car, bike, rollerskates). As I said, we started at Cal Anderson Park…first clue sent us down to the gum wall in Pike Place Market. Most of the 

teams headed to a bus stop to wait for a bus…we decided to get a jump on everyone and just run there…no waiting for bus stops, and separating ourselves from the other teams. It worked…we were ahead of most teams…but almost 2 miles later, we were a little exhausted…with 8 more stops to go! The next clue took us to the Space Needle, and then to the Ivars on Pier 54. We still weren’t interested in waiting on a bus…we’re still running/walking/running. We knew there was one team ahead of us the whole time…this group of guys in Sounders jerseys…they were always on their way to the next clue just when we reached the current clue. And then there were two other teams right around us…one stop they’d be behind us, one stop in front of us…just depended on the route taken. After Ivars, we headed to Safeco field, 

Bruce Lee's gravesite

and then to Uwajimaya, then to Pioneer Square (all to specific spots at each of these locations), then to the big public library, and then we had to get to the cemetery where Bruce Lee is buried. At this point, we had been run/walk/running for somewhere between 7-8 miles (we mapped it when we got home)…we were all dying…felt that our knees were going to fall off, ankles doubled in size, joints not working as they are supposed to (somehow we just kept getting the energy to run a little bit longer…we would see a team following us and that competitiveness would kick in and make us move a little faster), and the cemetery was 2 miles away…so we hopped a bus. This particular bus was already driving right next to us when we realized we needed to catch it about a block and a half ahead…so somehow we dug down deep and SPRINTED UP HILL to get on this bus….and we made it. We were still in the front pack of teams…and then, we decided to get cute. The other front teams made a run for the front gate…we decided to try and find an alternate entrance…turns out- there isn’t an alternate entrance…and that’s when we fell behind. We missed the next bus that the other teams got on, putting us over 20 minutes behind. But at that point, we were so tired, we were okay with just sitting down and waiting. And that’s the story of Amazing Race Seattle. Very fun…so sore.