Okay...so let me just preface this post by saying...I am not a math whiz, never have been, never will be, and just because I have worked at a statistics company for 11 years doesn't mean I have learned math any better. With that said...this leg was about MATH!!!
So we had to run around campus counting things like the number of stone steps to the sidewalk, or lights around a piece of artwork, letters in a stinkin' paragraph on a picture on a wall, or wall plaques in a trophy case. We had the list of items to count and where we needed to count them...so instead of back tracking we decided to to just make our way in order of the buildings we had to go in. We get to the pool and we were done counting and luckily no other teams were in there so we sat down where it was quiet to try and concentrate on the puzzle. Really? My head hurt!! At first we started trying to match the numbers with the letters of the alphabet because we had a key that a 1 = A and so on down the alphabet. There were four words we had to decode. We weren't really paying attention to the spaces and commas and we were just trying to match up number for letter. Anyone know what BAAHGC spells? Yeah...neither did we. Can you see why my head hurt? Another team came in so we decided to work together. As it turns outs we needed to pay attention to those spaces and commas, but they did indeed actually spell out real words, not just jumbled letters.
Turns out we had to run to the UARGE TREE NEAR DEER. We have a piece of art here on campus that looks like deer running. We did not go spooking any real deer. Of course we all thought it was a typo cause lets' face it, that's not the first typo we've seen on this race ( love ya Dom). Turns out it wasn't a typo...one of our fellow racers discovered that UARGE is a type of tree....although it was still LARGE. :-) Which by the way, I have tried to Google UARGE TREE and it keeps asking me..."did you mean LARGE TREE"? Pretty funny...you can see our confusion
Anyway so once we get the UARGE or LARGE tree there is a clue here for a detour. We have to choose Cotton or Candy. The team we were with chose Cotton and was closer to where we were, my teammate wasn't sure what we were going to have to do so she wanted to do Candy as she thought it might be easier. We get to the Candy detour and we have to take a straw and suck an M&M and keep it on the end of our straw, walk over to the window where more cut up straws were taped to the ledge. We had to then balance that M&M (assuming we still had it on the straw) on the end of the straw that was taped to the ledge. We had to get six of these. Now...let us not forget that we have already been running all over campus and can barely breath as it is. Now you are telling us we have to suck in and hold it til we get across the room? Needless to say it took us a while to get the hang of it. There were lots of M&Ms dropped on the floor.
We ended up finishing 6th, but at least we moved up from 11th from the last leg. And had we been good at math or puzzles we could have probably been higher. We actually thought we were dead last so we were really shocked to come in as high as we actually did.
We'll get back up to the top 4 in leg 7!!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
AR Leg 5: Seriously Twised
Twisted was the theme for this leg and that it absolutely was! Remember our locks from the last leg? We had to keep them and bring them them with us for the 5th leg of the race. We started where we ended the last leg...home plate at the softball field. Now one thing I didn't tell you all is that each person has a bandana that they have to wear at each leg. It is your team color. Remember ours? Yep..pink! So we had to take these bandanas and tie our legs together three legged race style. We could use one or both of our bandanas. We opted to use one while others opted to use both. We realized quickly once we go to our first clue and saw we still had to remain tied together that something needed to change. It was pulling too tight on my ankle. Once we got to the first clue we decided to use both bandanas and kept thinking...why didn't we do this before? Oh well. At the clue we had to take either a Blue, Red, or Green ribbon. I grabbed a blue one and we were off to the next task.
So the next task was a rope maze. One person was locked in (using our lock from the week before) and had to navigate around a bunch of poles and picnic tables. I chose to do the maze so my partner had to do mountain climbers. Whew...glad I wasn't doing them. I hate them with a passion, but not as much as I hate burpees. Hopefully the powers that be are not reading this....please not burpbees during this amazing race i am begging you! Anyway, we could only go one at a time on the rope. Now my competitiveness comes and goes. Sometimes I am and sometimes I am not. I think I got half my dad's gene and half my mom's gene on that one. Unfortunately the person in front of me was having a very difficult time navigating through this maze and there was nothing I could do. Initially I was the only one behind her, but then the line started piling up and there was nothing we could do. I think we all decided it was in our best interest to help her so that we could get started and be on our way. Because as we were doing ours there were 2 other rope mazes were going on at the same time. I have to admit I was very frustrated only because I knew I could have gotten through the maze very quickly...that is where the competitive was coming out...but alas, there was nothing I could do.
We finally all made it out of the "twisted" maze and had to head to the yoga room and do some yoga poses. They were all balance poses. While my balance is okay, it reinforced the fact that I am not flexible at all!! Perhaps I need to do more yoga. After the poses we had to hunt for a secret word written on one of the mats. Only one teammate could do it and I was the one. It turns out it was written in black on a black yoga mat. Once I found it, it was plane as day, but I looked at the mat a million times. I am convinced it was the way the light was hitting it that made it appear. Or maybe it was written in appearing ink instead of disappearing ink.
The next task was to make our way down the steps to the sidewalk and unscramble the chalk art. Let me say, I've seen better (haha, just kidding D if you are reading this). We approached and another team was standing there puzzled. I looked down and quickly figured it out. I didn't say a word I just took off running. When I did of course it hit them too I am guessing of the location of the pit stop. They sprinted past me and beat us by mere seconds to the pit stop. Oh well, we'll get em in the next leg. As a result of the wait at the rope maze we finished 9th or 10th or something. When you are breathing down the neck of the person in front of you it is hard to tell which team he is talking to. :-)
Needless to say I am pretty banged up from hurling myself over and under benches and picnic tables. I think I've counted 6 bruises so far. Until Thursday and leg 6....
So the next task was a rope maze. One person was locked in (using our lock from the week before) and had to navigate around a bunch of poles and picnic tables. I chose to do the maze so my partner had to do mountain climbers. Whew...glad I wasn't doing them. I hate them with a passion, but not as much as I hate burpees. Hopefully the powers that be are not reading this....please not burpbees during this amazing race i am begging you! Anyway, we could only go one at a time on the rope. Now my competitiveness comes and goes. Sometimes I am and sometimes I am not. I think I got half my dad's gene and half my mom's gene on that one. Unfortunately the person in front of me was having a very difficult time navigating through this maze and there was nothing I could do. Initially I was the only one behind her, but then the line started piling up and there was nothing we could do. I think we all decided it was in our best interest to help her so that we could get started and be on our way. Because as we were doing ours there were 2 other rope mazes were going on at the same time. I have to admit I was very frustrated only because I knew I could have gotten through the maze very quickly...that is where the competitive was coming out...but alas, there was nothing I could do.
We finally all made it out of the "twisted" maze and had to head to the yoga room and do some yoga poses. They were all balance poses. While my balance is okay, it reinforced the fact that I am not flexible at all!! Perhaps I need to do more yoga. After the poses we had to hunt for a secret word written on one of the mats. Only one teammate could do it and I was the one. It turns out it was written in black on a black yoga mat. Once I found it, it was plane as day, but I looked at the mat a million times. I am convinced it was the way the light was hitting it that made it appear. Or maybe it was written in appearing ink instead of disappearing ink.
The next task was to make our way down the steps to the sidewalk and unscramble the chalk art. Let me say, I've seen better (haha, just kidding D if you are reading this). We approached and another team was standing there puzzled. I looked down and quickly figured it out. I didn't say a word I just took off running. When I did of course it hit them too I am guessing of the location of the pit stop. They sprinted past me and beat us by mere seconds to the pit stop. Oh well, we'll get em in the next leg. As a result of the wait at the rope maze we finished 9th or 10th or something. When you are breathing down the neck of the person in front of you it is hard to tell which team he is talking to. :-)
Needless to say I am pretty banged up from hurling myself over and under benches and picnic tables. I think I've counted 6 bruises so far. Until Thursday and leg 6....
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
My "Amazing Race" adventure
So, something you all should know about me...I like reality T.V. And some of those shows I'd like to actually be on. Mainly The Amazing Race or Dancing with the Stars. But seeing as how I am not a star nor a professional dancer I will not be making it on Dancing with the Stars. So that leaves the Amazing Race. It is possible to make it on The Amazing Race, my dad and I actually applied, but I don't think we had any "quirks" that make good television so we never heard anything back.
So, the closest I'll probably ever get will be doing Amazing Race through our fitness center at work. Yes, you read that correctly...at work! It started about two weeks ago. I'll attempt to fill you in on the first 4 days of the program and then will do my best to keep you updated as each leg plays out.
There were 17 teams that began this race, we are now down to 16 due to someone having to drop out. Each team has two people. Unlike the Amazing Race T.V. show no one in this program is eliminated. The goal is to work your way up so that on the next to last leg that you are one of the top three teams to race on the last day of the program. Not for a million dollars...but for movie tickets and bragging rights!
My teammate and I are the PINK team. The first leg of the race....well I am trying to remember the first leg of the race. Ah yes we had to run out to a gate find a clue and run to our next destination. My teammate figured it out immediately and we were the first to arrive for our task. The task consisted of blowing up a balloon and letting it go trying to get it from one sidewalk to the next. After that we headed to the aerobics room for some intense cardio. After we were spent we then had to make our way to the Pit Stop. We came in 4th. Not bad out of 17 teams. I was pretty happy with our placement.
Leg two! Depending on your placement teams 1-4 get a 1 minute head start in front of the team behind them. After the 4th team then the teams leave in 15 second increments. Since we were in forth we had to wait our minute, but then the team behind us was on our heels 15 seconds later. Our task on this leg seemed pretty easy, we all finished in about 15 minutes. Pretty much running a task or two and then it was over. We finished 4th again. The top 6 teams finished in the exact same order. I was happy again.
Leg three! Oh this leg was a doozy. We had to follow plops of flour to our next destination. The problem was if you followed a trail it could lead to a dead end so then you would have to go back and find another trail. I think we did a 5k around campus following LOTS of dead ends! Oh and I forgot to mention the whole time we are doing this we are having to carry a full cup of coke! My teammate and I finally found the spot only after seeing all of the teams working on their next task. I believe we were the last to arrive. Luckily with all of our sloshing of the coke we still managed to have have the amount we needed to continue on to the next task. It was a roadblock which only one member can perform. We had to toss a ring and get it around a very tall piece of PVC pipe. My teammate took this one as she is taller than I am and we thought it might be easier. She tried several times with no luck, then we were told we could switch. I began trying it. After about the 3rd attempt I got it. I think it was luck more than skill, but I didn't care. Next we had to get a glow stick and go into a dark racquetball court and find our next clue on the wall. We found the clue...it was a sculpture near the softball field. I new exactly where it was since prior to that leg of the race I made the good decision of doing a quick cram session of all the art on campus. There were two teams around us who did not know where the sculpture was, but being as how they were right there we knew they would follow us. We ran our tails off and it paid off. We finished the third leg in FIRST place! I think we both almost threw up after that one though.
Leg four!! This leg was another killer! Lots of running. We had a good lead on this leg since we started in first place. We were pretty much done with the first task and on to the second when we saw the team that was behind us still in the middle of the previous task. Me made it to the gym. I had to bounce a ping pong ball off the wall and have it land in a cup. My teammate had to try and knock down a cup with a rubber band. She had 5 tries, but if she missed all 5 then she had to do 100 sit ups. Well she completed her part but I could not get that stupid ball to bounce in that cup for the life of me. I was later told that it was like beer pong and it seemed like all of the guys got it in a heartbeat. Geez...I've never played beer pong before so I definitely did not know any strategy so it took me forever. I finally got it in though. We then had to make our way to another sculpture...except this time I did not cram and did no know where it was. So we had to follow others and hope they knew where they were going. We had to run all that way only to get a clue that told us to run all the way back. I was shot!! We had a team where one team member was ahead of us, the other was behind us. The rule is that both teams have to be on the mat at the same time. There was hope since we were still together. Even if the first guy on the other team made it to the mat before us he'd have to wait until his teammate got there to check in. Unfortunately I was spent and I just could not kick it into gear...so the team member that was behind us passed us and they finished ahead of us. This leg we came in 5th or 6th, not really sure as there was some chaos at the finish line. As it turns out there were some teams that received penalties so we are in 4th place. I'll take that!
Until leg five...
So, the closest I'll probably ever get will be doing Amazing Race through our fitness center at work. Yes, you read that correctly...at work! It started about two weeks ago. I'll attempt to fill you in on the first 4 days of the program and then will do my best to keep you updated as each leg plays out.
There were 17 teams that began this race, we are now down to 16 due to someone having to drop out. Each team has two people. Unlike the Amazing Race T.V. show no one in this program is eliminated. The goal is to work your way up so that on the next to last leg that you are one of the top three teams to race on the last day of the program. Not for a million dollars...but for movie tickets and bragging rights!
My teammate and I are the PINK team. The first leg of the race....well I am trying to remember the first leg of the race. Ah yes we had to run out to a gate find a clue and run to our next destination. My teammate figured it out immediately and we were the first to arrive for our task. The task consisted of blowing up a balloon and letting it go trying to get it from one sidewalk to the next. After that we headed to the aerobics room for some intense cardio. After we were spent we then had to make our way to the Pit Stop. We came in 4th. Not bad out of 17 teams. I was pretty happy with our placement.
Leg two! Depending on your placement teams 1-4 get a 1 minute head start in front of the team behind them. After the 4th team then the teams leave in 15 second increments. Since we were in forth we had to wait our minute, but then the team behind us was on our heels 15 seconds later. Our task on this leg seemed pretty easy, we all finished in about 15 minutes. Pretty much running a task or two and then it was over. We finished 4th again. The top 6 teams finished in the exact same order. I was happy again.
Leg three! Oh this leg was a doozy. We had to follow plops of flour to our next destination. The problem was if you followed a trail it could lead to a dead end so then you would have to go back and find another trail. I think we did a 5k around campus following LOTS of dead ends! Oh and I forgot to mention the whole time we are doing this we are having to carry a full cup of coke! My teammate and I finally found the spot only after seeing all of the teams working on their next task. I believe we were the last to arrive. Luckily with all of our sloshing of the coke we still managed to have have the amount we needed to continue on to the next task. It was a roadblock which only one member can perform. We had to toss a ring and get it around a very tall piece of PVC pipe. My teammate took this one as she is taller than I am and we thought it might be easier. She tried several times with no luck, then we were told we could switch. I began trying it. After about the 3rd attempt I got it. I think it was luck more than skill, but I didn't care. Next we had to get a glow stick and go into a dark racquetball court and find our next clue on the wall. We found the clue...it was a sculpture near the softball field. I new exactly where it was since prior to that leg of the race I made the good decision of doing a quick cram session of all the art on campus. There were two teams around us who did not know where the sculpture was, but being as how they were right there we knew they would follow us. We ran our tails off and it paid off. We finished the third leg in FIRST place! I think we both almost threw up after that one though.
Leg four!! This leg was another killer! Lots of running. We had a good lead on this leg since we started in first place. We were pretty much done with the first task and on to the second when we saw the team that was behind us still in the middle of the previous task. Me made it to the gym. I had to bounce a ping pong ball off the wall and have it land in a cup. My teammate had to try and knock down a cup with a rubber band. She had 5 tries, but if she missed all 5 then she had to do 100 sit ups. Well she completed her part but I could not get that stupid ball to bounce in that cup for the life of me. I was later told that it was like beer pong and it seemed like all of the guys got it in a heartbeat. Geez...I've never played beer pong before so I definitely did not know any strategy so it took me forever. I finally got it in though. We then had to make our way to another sculpture...except this time I did not cram and did no know where it was. So we had to follow others and hope they knew where they were going. We had to run all that way only to get a clue that told us to run all the way back. I was shot!! We had a team where one team member was ahead of us, the other was behind us. The rule is that both teams have to be on the mat at the same time. There was hope since we were still together. Even if the first guy on the other team made it to the mat before us he'd have to wait until his teammate got there to check in. Unfortunately I was spent and I just could not kick it into gear...so the team member that was behind us passed us and they finished ahead of us. This leg we came in 5th or 6th, not really sure as there was some chaos at the finish line. As it turns out there were some teams that received penalties so we are in 4th place. I'll take that!
Until leg five...
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