The Bridge

Tonight I watched one of the saddest, most profoundly in-depth non-war documentary I have ever seen. It is called "The Bridge" and deals with those that take their lives jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge, which apparently is a suicide mecca. It focuses not on those who jump but the families they leave behind. It was not an easy watch and many times I had to stop the movie and get some hugs from Carri, but yet is one of the deepest insights into the human mind that I have ever seen. If you have the stomach and the heart for it I highly recommend it.

Austin Oyster Urban Adventure Race

Yesterday was the inaugural Austin Oyster Adventure Race. Carri and I have done the Urban Assault Race the last few years so we had a taste of adventure racing but in terms of physical activity the Oyster really bitch slaps the UAR. But we thought what the heck, let's try something new. So with our partner, Shorey we tackled this crazy adventure as the Mother Shuckers.

We started out with getting to the REI downtown location at a little before 6:30 AM to set up our transition area. It was a pretty crisp Austin morning and the wait for the 8:00 AM start seemed to drag on forever. Finally 8 AM arrived and we received our first passport. The passports tell you what you have to do on each leg, once you have completed the task (and can verify it) you get your passport punched and return to the transition area to get your next passport.

Passport 1: Picture This?

Running Leg. We needed to get our picture at three Austin landmarks: The UT "Mustangs" Sculpture, the Historic Austin Oaks plague, and the Stevie Ray Vaughn Statue. After a few minutes of consulting Google on the iPhone we found out where the plague we began our run and headed north to UT. Along the run to UT I found a $20 bill laying in the gutter, what a good start to the day. After a little confusion at UT (who knew they had so many statues) we found the correct one, and headed south. Since we all run the Hike & Bike we knew exactly where Stevie presides. A quick snap with him and off to Republic Square Park. After a pic with the plaque back to the transition area for a round trip of about 6 miles. We were all thinking if we have to run 6 miles every leg of the race it is gonna be a long day.

Distance: Run - 6 miles

Passport 2: Red Bum

Biking Leg. In this leg we split up into two groups: one of two and one solo. The team of two (Carri and I) had to go to the rowing dock and kayak out to Red Bud Island. Man, kayaking is pretty tough and it is a darn hard workout. Plus it seemed like Red Bud Island was miles away. We had a little issue but nothing that ingenuity cannot overcome and headed back to REI where Shorey was waiting for us. She had to go wade into Barton Springs pool and get a clue that we would use in a later passport.

Distance: Bike - 4 miles, Kayak - 1.7 miles

Passport 3: Oyster Fit Test

Running Leg. We needed to run to Pure Austin which is about 2 blocks away from REI and one teammate (me) had to lift 10,000 pounds, one teammate (Carri) had to run one mile on a treadmill, and one teammate (Shorey) had to bike 3 miles on a stationary bike. Carri and Shorey hopped on their respective equipment and I headed for the weight pile. Luckily I found a machine that I could do heavy weight and therefore low reps - the standing calf raise machine. I loaded that sucker up with 500 pounds and got to it. I busted out 15 of them before I thought my calf's were going to explode. A quick breather then 5 more and thankfully I was done. Waited for Carri and Shorey to finish and we were out of there. This is where things took a downward (literally) turn. As we were crossing the street back to REI Shorey stepped in a pothole and twisted her ankle and had a pretty nasty fall. I have to say she was very brave after a few minutes of walking it off she was hobbled but sucked it up and was ready to go.

Distance: Run - .5 miles plus 1 additional running for Carri and 3 additional biking for Shorey

Passport 4: Biking Bonnell

Biking Leg. Pretty self explanatory, we had to bike to Mt. Bonnell and get our passport punched. The distance of the ride was obviously not the challenge it was the hills that lead up to Mt. Bonnell. One upnote is at this point we were told we were the 4th co-ed team to the checkpoint.

Distance : 10.5 hilly miles.

Passport 5: Skatenger Hunt

Rollerblade, rollerskate, skateboard Leg. In this leg once again we broke up into a team of two and a solo team and had to rollerblade (Shorey), rollerskate (Carri), or skateboard (me) to various locations around town. Shorey with her bum ankle went to Whole Foods at get 3 locally produced items. Carri and I went to take our picture in front of the bat statue, and went to Runtex to simply get the passport punched. Skating for distance is really tiring and I was glad when the leg was completed.

Distance: 2.6 miles

Passport 6: Barton Springs Recall

Running, slogging Leg. In this we had to use the clue Shorey received from Passport 2 and we learned that we had to head out to Shoal Creek and do something. This something unfortunately turned out to be to wade through the filth that is the portion of the creek right behind REI. After off loading out electronics we jumped in and it smelled nasty (must be all the bum pee) and slogged through to an Oyster representative where we had to gather some rocks and help stem erosion along the banks. So good deed = nice, slogging through Shoal Creek = nasty.

Distance: too far.

Passport 7: Urban Challenge

Trick Leg. At the beginning of the race you are told to read all passports carefully and complete all tasks. This passport tested that theory. It stated that 1) we had to panhandle $1.40 in specific coin denominations, 2) collect 8 aluminum cans with specific sodas represented, 3) use the $1.40 to buy a beer at a specific bar and give it to someone there, 4) we could travel by any mode of transportation we wanted, 5) disregard everything we just read and simply get our passport punched.

Distance: 50 feet

Passport 8: Do you have a clue?

Biking Leg. We had to review all previous passports to find words with an * next to them and put those together to find our last location. The location was the new Alamo Draft House on 6th street. After biking there we were told we either had to find 8 bar specific napkins/beer brand coasters or a costume and return to REI. After a few minutes of looking for the napkins we gave up and headed for a costume/t-shirt shop along 6th. Unfortunately, there really costumes were $40-60. I spotted a tuxedo t-shirt and said I will be a groom. Bought it for $20, hmm just the amount I found earlier, and we raced back to REI for our final punch.

Distance: 2 miles

Post race we sat down, got out of our race clothes, had a few beers and some good bbq and waited for the awards ceremony. Of course we had no illusions of placing but since the awards were only about an hour after we finished why not...

And then it happened 3rd place in the co-ed division with a time of 4 hours 56 minutes, the Mother Shuckers. We were absolutely shocked that we placed, but I am glad that we did as the prizes were very nice: Three really cool medals, a $100 check made out to cash, a technical tee for me, 3 $30 REI gift cards, and a $10 gift card to Whole Foods. Woohoo what a haul. Time to head to Little Woodrows for another celebratory beer.

So overall I think it was a really fun race that breaks up the monotony of running and/or riding. I want to thank both Carri and Shorey for being great partners and making the day so much fun.

Total Approximate Distances:
Running: 6.5 miles plus some nasty slogging
Biking: 16.5 miles
Kayaking: 1.7 miles
Skating: 2.6 miles

Pumpkin Carving Fun

It has been a few years since I have carved pumpkins but while out shopping for some Halloween lights I saw one of those stencil books and thought it would be fun. So tonight Carri and I did a little pumpkin carving.And I wonder why Carri does not leave me alone with the cutlery.
Hard at work on the scary skull pumpkin while Wylie eagerly awaits the final product.

The finished products.

Boomerz Poker

So Carri and I have been going to Boomerz for a couple years now. It is just our little neighborhood bar where we can go, have a few drinks, play the video trivia game at the bar (I am addicted to Word Dojo by the way), maybe watch the game and relax. We have been going on Sunday afternoons for awhile just to cap off the week.

About 2 months ago they brought in poker on Sunday nights, with two sessions one at 6 pm and one at 9 pm. Over the this time I usually do fairly well and if we play both sessions I can make the final table in one of them. Carri has done significantly better than me as she usually makes the final table and won a session 3 weeks ago.

All this changed last night as I had my best evening ever. In the first session I got second place, and then in the 9 pm session I won. A first and a second place in the same night, not too shabby. Maybe it was good karma for participating in the LIVESTRONG Challenge in the morning.

Raise money for cancer survivors in the morning and win poker at night. A good Sunday indeed.

LIVESTRONG Challenge Report

Now that running season has started, I have let my biking lag a bit but wanted to do one more charity ride for the year ended. Even though I do not like how the Ride for the Roses has been changed to the LIVESTRONG Challenge and the entry fee has been raised and priced some folks out, I still believe in the cause and thought it would be a good ride to end the biking part of my year.

Normally coming into a ride like this I would be on the bike 4-5 times a week and do mileage close to event mileage. But I have let my biking lag and instead have been running about 4 times a week and only riding once or maybe twice weekly, with top end mileage only reaching 20 miles. And boy howdy I could feel the lack of riding during the LSC.

Now onto the ride...this year the event was held out in Dripping Springs instead of NE of town like it usually is. This was a blessing and a curse all rolled into one. A blessing because the ride was 100 time prettier than in the past, instead of flat farms that went on forever we were treated to great scenery, plenty of streams, tons of trees for shade, etc.

The curse was instead of relatively flat riding we were treated to hills, tons and tons of hills. The ride this year certainly lived up to the Challenge part of the name and was very similar to the Nutty Brown Throwdown in terms of rollers, and rollers, and hills, and more hills, and then a few more rollers added in for good measure. I was told that there was about 4-5k feet of elevation change on the 65 mile route.

Besides all the hills and wind I had a pretty uneventful ride, which is always nice. Averaged about 18.5 mph. Met Carri and Coby at the finish line, had a post race beer, and through incredible support of my friends and family raised $1,000 for the LAF. All in all a pretty good start to a Sunday in my book.

Amazing Race Report

Saturday morning Carri and I participated in the first annual AAFAME Amazing Race. One of the race directors is a friend of ours and she told us about the race. Since it raised money for a good cause and sounded like a fun event we were in. This race was very similar to the Urban Assault Race but instead of bikes all the checkpoints were in the downtown area and you ran to them. So after a 5 mile run around Town Lake we were off to the start of the race at 9 AM.

Checkpoint 1: I had to walk blindfolded through an area that had obstacles. Carri was my guide and we made it through this checkpoint with little difficulty, even though one miscommunication almost sent us to the back of the line to try again.

Checkpoint 2: We ran to City Hall which was the first secret checkpoint. Here we just got a clue for the second secret checkpoint, the Driskoll Hotel.

Checkpoint 3: This one was tricycles. Nothing is funnier than seeing adults on tiny bikes. Makes me laugh every time. Carri sat on the trike and I pushed for all I was worth. Luckily she was good at steering and we finished this one quickly.

Checkpoint 4: This was across the street from the last checkpoint and you had to find one of three rubber duckies out of 50 that had the AAFAME name written on the bottom. Luckily I found one within the first 5 ducks I searched.

Checkpoint 5: For this checkpoint I had to throw frisbees through a target while Carri fed me frisbees when I missed. We finished this one pretty quickly.

Checkpoint 6: By this point I was getting kind of tired, because we were essentially sprinting from checkpoint to checkpoint with hardly any recovery time at the checkpoint. Plus we did run 5 miles earlier in the morning. At this checkpoint I was able to catch my breath while Carri hula hooped. It amazes me how easily girls can hula hoop, but that is blog for another day.

Checkpoint 7: Driskoll hotel to get another secret checkpoint location, we knew it was something tower but did not know what or where it was, this is when we placed a call to my brother who has helped us in the past with clues from the UAR.

Checkpoint 8: An eating challenge. You had to belt down 10 marshmallows as fast as you can. I was wolfing them down like Kobayashi. The lady said I ate them the fastest out of anyone she had seen. I do not know if that is a good or bad thing. Luckily they had water to wash them down.

Checkpoint 9: This was an easy one where you had to push a wheelbarrow with an oversized teddy bear in it through marked course, and then your partner had to do the same the opposite direction.

Checkpoint 10: At this point I was getting antsy for my brother to call back and gave him another call. He said he was working on it and would send the address in a few. So we progressed to this challenge which was putting together a puzzle. Not that difficult but when you are trying to do it in a hurry and are dripping sweat, it was not the easiest thing to do.

Checkpoint 11: Address finally came through and we were less than a block away. Raced over to the Norwood Tower grabbed our bead and headed towards the finish line.

Ran like a fool down Congress and crossed the finish line with a time of 39:57, and also learned we were the first team back. Though exhausted we were both really amazed that we had won. Woohoo, victory was ours. I guess all that running is paying off.

First prize: $500 in travel vouchers from a local travel agency.

So $500 in travel vouchers, two door prizes ($25 gift card for Texas Roadhouse, and a Seattle's Best gift bag), first place overall, and the event raised over $6k for the charity I would say that was a pretty good way to start a Saturday.

Thank yous: First, to Carri for being a great race partner. Second, to Ryan and Lindy for taking time out of their Saturday to help us. Finally, to Erin for helping out with this event and telling us about it.