Okay, so after we found out we were in the final race, we had 30 minutes to prepare! Not enough time to get much to eat and still be in shape to run so we ate our yogurt, and gel and then we were back at Club Nikki getting instructions on what the task would be to start. We were told that we would have to toss playing cards into a jar from 5 ft way. They lined all 10 teams up shoulder-to-shoulder and measured out 5 ft to place the jars. We were then told that we would each have to get one card into the jar. Will and I planned to get on our knees and toss because that would place us closer to the opening and then I thought, hey, he didn’t say we couldn’t fold the cards. So we came up with the strategy of crumpling up the cards like paper and then shooting them like basketballs! So when the whistle blew I was up first crumpled the card tossed and made it, Will was up next and another swish. Two cards and we were done! We were the first team to complete the challenge and get our clues.
We ran to the parking lot and then started sending the clues to our phone support, my sister Angela and Will’s sister Annette. John and Eric from Seattle didn’t make the final so they said that they would help us. They came out and started helping us to solve clues. We stayed there for what seemed like forever and still had a bunch to solve. We had to make a decision to just go and do the best we could because there were 3 mandatory clues that had to be completed by 4:00 and now it was after 2:30. We knew there were some on the strip and then others around UNLV again. We decided to try to go to the strip and get a couple and then head to UNLV and get those done and then come back to the strip and finish up.
So it was off to Crystals for the first clue and then we had to decide where next.
There were a couple of clues we still hadn’t solved and we weren’t sure where they were but we decided to head toward UNLV. On the way there we guessed that clue 5 was the Alexis, so we ran there and it was a mandatory checkpoint but when we got there, we weren’t sure that it was the right place and there were people from the public race completing tasks that we did in the first race and no signs were telling us where to go. The clue didn’t say to go in or locate a staffer or complete any kind of challenge so we decided to just take a picture there. Okay now we still have 2 more mandatory checkpoints and they were really far apart.
We headed to UNLV to try to locate the mural from the clue sheet for clue 8. We kept asking students until we found it at the student union windows. Not really a mural but it matched so we took a photo and then it was out to Maryland Parkway for two more.
Shoot, we had overran the clues and had to backtrack quite a few blocks once we got to Maryland Parkway to get to Clue #1 the Italian Kitchen and then Clue #3 the Aloha Kitchen. Angela was still working on some of the clues and she tried to call me but I was running so hard I couldn’t talk. I told her to just keep solving and I would call once I had a chance, I hoped she would tell me the clues were on the strip and not where we just came from because there was no way we were going to get to anymore clues before we had to complete the mandatory ones. Time was running out. It was now almost 3:30 and we still had to do 2 more mandatory clues!
It was time to hustle because we had to run back along Maryland Parkway to Flamingo and try to locate a recreational center that was North of UNLV somewhere off Flamingo. We started running up Flamingo and finally got to the rec center off Cambridge. Then we each had to go inside and shoot and make baskets from 9 different locations on the court. We had to make a total of 18 shots and after the first 10 misses you got a 1 minute penalty for every miss. We didn’t do too badly but both our legs were tired because by this time we had run over 10 miles. We ended up getting a 7 minute penalty. Not too bad it turned out. We found out some teams got over a 40 minute penalty.
We left the rec center and I looked at my watch, we had 15 minutes to get to the last mandatory check point and it was 1.5-2 miles ways. Good Lord, I would definitely be pushing my heart now. I was just hoping that my defibrillator would not go off but I wasn’t going to get a 2 hr penalty for not getting to that mandatory checkpoint unless it did! I started running as hard as I could with what was left in the tank. I heard Will behind me asking for water, it was a short tired call, “Water, water, Jen, water”. I gave him my water and said we had to hurry. I just kept thinking of a race we did in Portland earlier in the year when we didn’t make one of the timed checkpoints and how bad that felt, and I wasn’t going to let that happen again!!!!! Run Jen Run! 10 minutes to get there. I kept looking up ahead, we had to get to the corner of Flamingo and the Strip and locate the Jolly people and complete the task. Bally’s is on the corner and it looked so close but it was so far away. Will was falling further behind me but I thought if I could make it they would allow us to complete the task. 5 minutes left, I was almost there, I was just getting to Bally’s and then I realized it was another ½ mile to get to the strip. Man, these casinos are crazy big, go, go, go. I could see them waving me on and I thought I would make it, 2 minutes. Okay, I have got this! Push, push, push. I got there right at 4:00 and looked for Will, he was a bit back but the Jolly ladies in Santa hats let me start. We made it! We had to toss marshmallows into a coffee cup a few feet away. Will hit his right away and then it took me a bit longer. Okay a couple minutes longer. I was spent from the long run and my fine motor skills were not reacting well being so tired. I finally got it and then we had to name all of Santa’s reindeer in 1 min. I was naming them off really fast and got to the end and they said that I missed one. I had no idea which one I missed; I swear I said them all. Will tried to look them up on his Ipod but was too slow and we ended up missing one. She said we missed Dasher, I know I said Dasher. Oh well.
Now that we had all our timed mandatory checkpoints we could regroup and see what was left and hope there wasn’t too much backtracking to do. I called Angela and she gave me the remaining clues. Clue 2 was Bauman’s Rare books in the Palazzo, Clue 10 was Coco’s which was pretty close to the finish on Tropicana and then that left Clue 7 which was written in Italian. Our team had a tough time figuring this one out because it didn’t translate well and it had to do something with the Jersey Shore? We don’t have cable and none of our team watches The Jersey Shore. We thought it may be the Palms but that was way too far away. We had to do 2 of the 3 remaining clues so even though the Palazzo was quite a ways away we had to do it. And we didn’t get any of the bonuses either! Shoot.
We started running down the strip towards the Palazzo and it was crowded. Talk about tough getting through the people. Sorry to all those I shouldered or shoved but we were in a race. We got to the bookstore and took a picture and then it was back to the finish.
We stopped at Coco’s a couple of blocks past the finish and then booked it to the finish right at 5:00. DONE!
We finish 7th after the penalties were added for our missed basketball shots and our missing reindeer, which I believe I said. We got a penalty for not going into the Alexis and completing a task that we didn’t know we had to go in to do too. I talked to Jason the race director about that because all the other clues that wanted you to complete a task said to do so, or to locate a staffer and find out what to do. This one did not, it just said don’t miss this checkpoint, which we didn’t as evidenced by our picture. He said that it was his fault and he should of said on the clue sheet that we needed to complete a task so he would just give us a 30 minute penalty instead of the 2 hr penalty. Well that doesn’t seem too fair considering we did exactly what the clue sheet said. This was only one of many errors in the clues and race this year but oh well. We are proud of our 7th place finish. By 6:30 we were on our way to the airport to catch our flight. Talk about a long day!
THANKS SO MUCH TO OUR SUPPORT TEAM OF ANGELA, CHRISTOPHER AND ANNETTE!
