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...