Great Urban Race Portland - 1st Coed, 5th Overall

Recap by Jen

A special thank you to Angela for being our phone support.  We couldn't do it without you.

So once I got off the plane today from Gonzaga Basketball Camp, I tried to shake the nausea from my stomach from the rough flight and prepare for the race.  A week of camp with 29 teenage boys had left me sleep deprived and a little tired.  Oh well, here we go.  I stepped off the plane to the cold raining NW.  It sure didn't feel like the end of June, March maybe.  Will picked me up and it was off to the race.  Once we got there, the rain seemed to slow down to a drizzle and so I lost the pants and long sleeves and decided to take a chance in shorts.  We got our clue sheet at the start a few minutes late because there was a big crowed, over 325 teams, and it took a while to get all the waivers signed and clues out. 

Once we had the clues, I got Angela on the phone to help and Will started to take photos of the clues.  We started solving the clues and immediately it was apparent that I didn't know any of the location off the top of my head.  This year the race started in NE Portland, an area I haven't spent too much time in.  I took my map out and tried to put marks on the ones we knew and then decided we would get on the MAX and head to the convention center to get one clue done and solve the rest of the clues on the train while we rode.  I was reading the items we had to find along the way and noticed we needed an newspaper classified section to find a clue and there was a paper box at the restaurant I was running past.  It said it was broken and I could get one inside, so I ran inside and asked.  They said they were out but there was a man at the bar who was reading the paper.  Will asked if he was done with his paper and he said, "Hell no, I have just started reading it".  Well no luck with that, so I asked the waiter if he had one behind the counter or in the back that I could steal the classified section from.  He was very helpful and gave me one.  Moreover he gave me 2 paper cups for a tic tac toe square! Bonus.

Next we went to the MAX and met up with another team.  We jumped on and then started solving clues.  The team on the MAX with us asked if we had solved a certain clue and they would trade us and answer for our newspaper.  I continued solving and then we got to the convention center and got off with the other team and traded our paper for their clue because we didn't have it yet.  We both ran to the convention center searching for the GUR staff.  They were on the east side across the street and there was a bonfire!  Well here we go, coal walking.  I asked Will if he wanted to do it or take the picture of me.  He very quickly said he would take the picture.  I took my shoes off as quick as possible and went across without even thinking about it.  Done, and I still had all the skin on my feet.  I put my shoes on and it was off to the next clue. We knew we had 2 in NW so we caught the MAX again to Chinatown. 

The team we shared with, the Soup-a-stars, also just made the train.  Once on the train, we started working on getting the tic tac toe squares.  We needed a picture with a bald man, one box done.

Next we needed to take a picture of us balancing those cups on our heads.  Yes,  that is balancing cups on our heads on a moving train and I am on the phone solving clues.  Talk about multitasking.  Two boxes done.

Next it was to the elephant statue to get our picture jumping off the ground.  This statue has been in all 3 of the races that we have done this year.  On the way, Will found a McDonald's cup in the trash which was one of the items we had to retrieve.  Nice job Will, way to scavenge!

The Soup-a-stars were right with us again and had taken our pic and we took theirs and then asked us if we were going to the tea house.  I looked confused and they said it was an answer to a clue. They said they hadn't known where the convention center was so they followed us and we gave them the statue so follow them now.  We did to the next stop, where we had to smell tea and circle the correct flavors on the sheet. I hope my nose doesn't fail us.  We won't know if we are correct until the finish.

We said goodbye to the Soup-a-stars and then headed to the next spot.  We had to go to Jamison Square to complete a game.  Will had to roll steel balls into a circle, he got it in two rolls!  Next we had to stop and look at our clue sheet because we had completed all the clues that we knew the location of and had to start mapping out the east side locations and make a plan.  We still needed one more tic tac toe square and if we were going to do clue 3 we had to get supplies to donate to the Ronald McDonald house.  Will told me that the Ronald McDonald house was quite a ways out of the way so we should skip that clue and do the others.  We needed to make a plan and I asked what we should do.  It was his job to map the east side this week and make sure we would have plan.  So this is where our race started to break down.  There was a clue on NE 2nd, however, Will wasn't sure how we should get there from where we were.  We looked at the MAX and it was 12 minutes until it was scheduled to come and so we decided to run over the Broadway bridge.  While we were running we saw a bird on a roof and we could get a picture of it, the last tic tac toe square.

Yes, that little spec down there was a pigeon.  I wanted to take a picture of us with a human as the clue said that we just needed to take a picture with a a live animal other than a dog, and humans are animals after all but I didn't know if the race director would accept my out smarting him.  We decided to play it safe. 

I kept asking Will how do we get to NE 2nd where we needed to go and he said we had to go up and over, oh man,  we were backtracking.  We kept getting closer to the convention center.  We probably should of done this one before we went to the west side of the river.  We got to the task and had to get in a Chevy and find all this info about the car and use it to solve an equation.  We started looking and Will couldn't find any so I called Angela and she googled it for me and we solved the equation and were correct so next we had to sort out our route again.

It was so frustrating not knowing where we were going and not having Will know either.  I was really worried that we were not going to go in an efficient route and would do terrible.  I gave Will all the remaining clue addresses and asked him to map them on his Ipod to determine which order and route we should follow.  He told me and then we were off.  We were backtracking again and I will admit, I was not happy and let Will know it.  This was not a good route!!!!  We hit the Yoga studio next, this should of relaxed me as we had to perform a bunch of yoga moves but it just made me more mad because I wanted to go!!!!

I know I look great in this picture, it was Will's 4th attempt at taking it because he could not seem to get both of us in the picture.  I think I was saying something to the tune of "What the heck is so hard about taking this picture!"

Next Will said we needed to go back to MLK.  What!  We were just there and now we need to go back!  Perfect, more back tracking.  At this point I was wondering why in the heck I hadn't taken maps to basketball camp with me and memorized them because navigating is not Will's strength!
I think I complained the whole run back and let him know how if we finished an embarrassing 539th it would be his fault.  When we finally got there we found the tattoo parlor and Will had to eat a scorpion.  I don't think he had a choice to do it or not and he knew he better do it without hesitation because I would be steaming mad if he didn't do it lightening fast.

So now we had 3 more clues and had to complete 2 of them but we never got the supplies for the charity clue so we needed to get them if we wanted to do it. I thought we should try to get them.  So we went into a convenience store and looked for the items.  Apparently a lot of teams had already been in there and they were sold out of everything but the coffee.  I knew we were going to be last!!!!I asked Will if we should get the coffee and he said no it was too expensive. We should just skip it.  My reply, "Are you kidding me?"  I am cheap but giving up a few bucks for a race and charity.  So we left and I asked Will where to next.  He said to Russell.  I asked him how far and he told me by Mint, one of our favorite drink spots.  What!  That is so far west from here.  Backtracking again!!!!!!  I think at this point I started on my rant to him making sure that he knew this was not how you plan a route.  I think my exact words were, "This is a f****** debacle, you need to start apologizing right now!".  I really don't know why the amazing race doesn't want us.  We would be great for ratings!  So we started down to Russell and guess what, on our way there we passed the Ronald McDonald house.  I pointed out to Will how this was not so far out of the way now was it!  We should of gotten the supplies because now we were running right past it!!!  Okay, you just ruined our chance at qualifying for nationals in Vegas and how could you not of realized that these two spots were next to each other?  Why hadn't you let me buy the coffee or look for some supplies on MLK!  Oh, I let him have it as I was running, lucky for me and unlucky for him, it was downhill so I had plenty of breath to give it to him.  And he didn't seem to be apologizing yet so I just kept it coming.  So we entered the cooking program and had to pipe some dip on a cracker and take a picture.  So I smiled but really I had fire and smoke coming out of my ears.

Next, I asked where the last clue was.  Will had told me several times it was right by the finish.  We had already worked our way down the hill and were  close to the MAX line again so when he told me it was next to the finish I said we should take the MAX.  We got to the station and had 5 minutes to wait for the train.  I told him to look at the exact location of the last clue and see which MAX station would be best to get off on.  While he was doing that the train came and so we got on.  Then he tells me that we should get off on the next stop!  What, that is not by the finish line.  Where do we have to go?  Well now the truth comes out. Well it is a little east of the finish. How far east, how many blocks exactly?  He starts  counting and when he got to 15, I lost it!  You have got to be kidding me.  That is not close!  He replied with that it was close to him, yeah, whatever.  So we should of really gotten the supplies, dropped them off by the spot we already passed and then taken the train to the finish!!!!!  Now we had to get off the train, run back over the freeway and run and extra 1.4 miles round trip to finish.  Holy cow I was fuming.  I made sure to point out that we would be finished now if we had bought the supplies as we crossed over Mississippi (the finish). Then when we get to the last spot, Eat Oyster Bar, we had to complete a task of rolling a quarter into the tines of a fork.  As I rolled and Will tried to catch it, a not so athletic team came up and I looked at Will and said under my breath, "Look who is beating us!! We are dead last!"  We got the quarter in and then it was a painful 0.7 mile extra run to the finish!!

Man, we have to get a Gopro camera and use this material to get us on the AR!

We ended up coming in in 2:15 for 5th place overall and 1st coed apparently the nonathletic looking team hadn't made it downtown yet.  The Nads got 3rd in 1:53 and the Soup-a-stars 4th in 2:05 so Will asked me if I was happy now.  Of course I wasn't because we could of done so much better.  I know, I am my toughest critic, but if we don't run a great race I am not pleased.  The important thing is that we did qualify for nationals, but now we have to pay our own entry because we weren't  top 3.  Lesson learned: if Will and I want to keep our relationship together I can never relinquish the mapping/routing to Will again.