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.