At some point in the race I just got thirsty. So super thirsty it was all I could think about. It was raining on us, but only that soft mist that comes down on Seattle at all times, nothing to sooth me. When I got to hot, I ran my arms along the caution tape that marked the race path, drenching my sleeve. But I made it. As much as my mind kept saying, “I don’t want to be doing this,” my body kept on moving. 36.18—a perfectly good time for my first 5K, especially considering I still don’t buy into the joy that running is supposed to bring. Running is a thing of terror and exhaustion. The joy of running for me is similar to that I feel with roller coasters. I hate the actual being on a roller coaster, jerking around and flipping upside down, but I love the part at the end where I am released back into the busy park, disoriented, but still alive and standing on solid ground. It’s all about the sense of accomplishment.
I chose to celebrate my accomplishment by… signing up for another 5K. You could say I am a glutton for punishment, but I would argue that I’m just an optimistic fool. I keep going on roller coasters thinking that this time I will understand the joy people get from being on them, and I will keep running trying to understand how such a dull task can be considered a hobby. And along the way I will increase my speed, decrease my finish time, and become a Racer. The Amazing Race (TAR) is going to require I be willing and able to kick my ass into gear, and I am going to do it. I would hate to be the team that lost because the chubby half couldn’t keep up.
Still, there is more to TAR than running. It involves running, doing things, and then running again. And that is why—cure dramatic music—we are doing the Pineapple Classic (hyperlinks are boring—Google that shit). You run a 5K as a team (Nat, Me, Emily and Chris = Genius Battle Scale Models), carrying a pineapple and completing obstacles along the way. We may have to climb a 12ft wall, or army crawl under barbed wire (wait, haven’t I seen both of these things on TAR?), and in return we will get filthy, enjoy a Hawaiian Luau and fight for our chance to win a 7-day cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines (or whatever the prize happens to be this year). This will happen after City Chase, and is bound to be the physical challenge we need to prove we are ready to apply for TAR. If we can complete the Pineapple Classic with a decent time I will take it as a sign—we will send in our video. We really ought to get working on that, because it’s much more effective if we can show how much work we’ve put into becoming Race ready.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Teams!
I realized as I wrote the episode recaps today, that I refer to every team by nicknames we have established for them, but if you don’t know the show, you’re probably just confused, eh? So I have created a roster!
Team South Carolina: Brent and Caite are dating models. They work really hard, especially considering just how stupid they are. We refer to them as Team South Carolina because Caite is best known for her response to a question that was asked of her during the Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant, the video of which has garnered over 40 million views online. When she was asked: Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?
Caite responded: I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our children
Team Lesbos: We call them this because… uh… they talk about being lesbians a whole lot. This is when they aren’t 1) making fun of other teams, 2) bitching at each other, 3) talking about how cultured they are. They are my least favorite team, as I don’t much love whining, bitching, or fighting. Proof I won’t want to watch myself on TV.
Team Losers: Okay, this might be mean. But Adrian and Dana were the first team kicked off when he was unable to make it across the high ropes. He tried really hard, and they were a sweet married couple, but they haven’t made any appearance in our blog since we started with episode 2.
Team Cowboys: Our favorite team! Jet and Cord are cowboys and brothers, plus they seem real nice and they are funny and smart. I think they’re what we would like to be as a team on the race.
Team Tri-Athlete: This team, Jody and Shannon, is made up of a grandmother and granddaughter. They are both tri-athletes, but they really gave up in the leg in which they were eliminated, which made my mom hate them for life.
Team Joe and Heidi: Okay, so they didn’t leave much of an impression. Nat loved them, because they are sweet, and I ignored them because they were sweet. They were just recently eliminated thanks to The Cops and Nat cannot forgive it.
Team Brothers: Dan and Jordan argue a lot, and are brothers who love to talk about how one is gay and the other isn’t. They act like this is unusual. However, my brother is gay and I am not, and I’m not running around trying to impress people with this information. I’ve been missing out on an attention grabbing opportunity.
Team Big Brother: Jordan and Jeff met on the reality show Big Brother and began dating. They are annoying, say a lot of mean things to each other, and annoy the hell out of me. Especially because I hate reality show cross over.
Team Cops: Louie and Michael are cops who are really out of shape, caused us to loose Joe and Heidi, and are boring. And seriously, they are cops who are out of shape. Who is protecting us.
Team Mamas: Monique and Shawne spent a lot of time talking about being moms, talking about being lawyers (if I recall…) and talking about being proud, black women. I thought they were pretty cool, and then they couldn’t lasso a hay cow and they were eliminated.
Team Philly: Steve and Allison are a father and daughter team. Nat likes them because the dad coached the Phillies baseball. I think nothing of them because they are really middle of the pack.
Team South Carolina: Brent and Caite are dating models. They work really hard, especially considering just how stupid they are. We refer to them as Team South Carolina because Caite is best known for her response to a question that was asked of her during the Miss Teen USA 2007 pageant, the video of which has garnered over 40 million views online. When she was asked: Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?
Caite responded: I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as in South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our children
Team Lesbos: We call them this because… uh… they talk about being lesbians a whole lot. This is when they aren’t 1) making fun of other teams, 2) bitching at each other, 3) talking about how cultured they are. They are my least favorite team, as I don’t much love whining, bitching, or fighting. Proof I won’t want to watch myself on TV.
Team Losers: Okay, this might be mean. But Adrian and Dana were the first team kicked off when he was unable to make it across the high ropes. He tried really hard, and they were a sweet married couple, but they haven’t made any appearance in our blog since we started with episode 2.
Team Cowboys: Our favorite team! Jet and Cord are cowboys and brothers, plus they seem real nice and they are funny and smart. I think they’re what we would like to be as a team on the race.
Team Tri-Athlete: This team, Jody and Shannon, is made up of a grandmother and granddaughter. They are both tri-athletes, but they really gave up in the leg in which they were eliminated, which made my mom hate them for life.
Team Joe and Heidi: Okay, so they didn’t leave much of an impression. Nat loved them, because they are sweet, and I ignored them because they were sweet. They were just recently eliminated thanks to The Cops and Nat cannot forgive it.
Team Brothers: Dan and Jordan argue a lot, and are brothers who love to talk about how one is gay and the other isn’t. They act like this is unusual. However, my brother is gay and I am not, and I’m not running around trying to impress people with this information. I’ve been missing out on an attention grabbing opportunity.
Team Big Brother: Jordan and Jeff met on the reality show Big Brother and began dating. They are annoying, say a lot of mean things to each other, and annoy the hell out of me. Especially because I hate reality show cross over.
Team Cops: Louie and Michael are cops who are really out of shape, caused us to loose Joe and Heidi, and are boring. And seriously, they are cops who are out of shape. Who is protecting us.
Team Mamas: Monique and Shawne spent a lot of time talking about being moms, talking about being lawyers (if I recall…) and talking about being proud, black women. I thought they were pretty cool, and then they couldn’t lasso a hay cow and they were eliminated.
Team Philly: Steve and Allison are a father and daughter team. Nat likes them because the dad coached the Phillies baseball. I think nothing of them because they are really middle of the pack.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
How do you train for a tv show?
This weekend was supposed to be the time I learned to drive a stick. However, thanks to an event called Chilly Hilly, the roads on the Island were closed, which really makes it difficult to drive. Since my other plans, such as milk a cow or practice on a high ropes course, have yet to fully develop, we were faced with a weekend, uncertain on how to train.
So we went jogging. No, this will not be a jog blog. At least, I really hope not. But it’s what we do in the evenings, and that doesn’t stop on weekends. This time we tried to jog around Green Lake, which has, unfortunately, mile markers. This experience allowed me to see just how far I was running. And by far, I mean not far. Here I was thinking, “I hate running, but I think if I tried I could be ready to run a 5K for St. Patty’s Day,” when what I should have been thinking is, “I hope if I’m ever being chased by a knife wielding maniac that he gives up after a quarter mile.” Yep, a quarter mile. That’s as far as I was willing to jog before stopping. Then when Nat tried to push me to keep going, the very thought of having to run another quarter mile was enough to make to want to cry and/or insist I be carried back to the car so I could drive home and return to the comfortable safety of my couch and the box of thin mints we bought. Instead, we herded ducks.
On the last season of The Race, there was a Roadblock where one team member had to herd a group of chickens from one part of a field, over a bridge, and into a holding pen. Some teams breezed through it, while others struggled, and we learned a lot about how each team did at encouraging their teammates. I learned this weekend that Nat and I don’t do terrifically as I am frequently unwilling to be encouraged. Some people like to be told they can do it. I’m defeatist, with a strong sense of prove-you-wrong. I do a lot better when someone tells me I can’t do something. I’ll be the John Locke of The Amazing Race. Don’t tell me what I can’t do!
I digress. I told you about the chicken challenge because Nat and I ran across a group of ducks feeding on the grass around Green Lake. To the right of these ducks was an orange traffic cone. It was as if our challenge had been created by some higher power—like the producers of a reality competition show—and we had to try our hand at duck herding. So, on a cloudy, but rain-free Saturday, at one of the most popular jogging spots in Seattle, Nat and I went off the beaten track and tried to herd a group of ducks in a circle around a traffic cone. And we succeeded. It was difficult, but as ducks are a lazy group, they were more inclined to waddle away from us then fly into the lake and out of our reach. Carefully, and as a team of two (obviously a detour, not a roadblock) we convinced the ducks towards the running path and then back towards the lake. We lost about half the group to flying in the process, but I think we have a real knack with birds that will bring us victory on The Race.
Sunday we bought a map. Then, after deciding it was ridiculously expensive, we exchanged it for a different map. We are now pointing to places on the map we have never been, and navigating ourselves there. As the tiny Seattle portion of the map only includes main roads, it’s quite the challenge. Nat managed to get us to a park on Puget Sound where I tried to teach him how to skip rocks. Not happening. I have never seen rock skipping on The Race, but if they have it, we will be eliminated that round. Those that can’t do really shouldn’t teach. However, we can navigate like mad, and will continue to practice. Plus, we got the joy of running on something new—beach pebbles. It was difficult and painful, but I think I got further on the pebbles then I ever get on a track. Nat’s right, I need to get out of my own head.
So we went jogging. No, this will not be a jog blog. At least, I really hope not. But it’s what we do in the evenings, and that doesn’t stop on weekends. This time we tried to jog around Green Lake, which has, unfortunately, mile markers. This experience allowed me to see just how far I was running. And by far, I mean not far. Here I was thinking, “I hate running, but I think if I tried I could be ready to run a 5K for St. Patty’s Day,” when what I should have been thinking is, “I hope if I’m ever being chased by a knife wielding maniac that he gives up after a quarter mile.” Yep, a quarter mile. That’s as far as I was willing to jog before stopping. Then when Nat tried to push me to keep going, the very thought of having to run another quarter mile was enough to make to want to cry and/or insist I be carried back to the car so I could drive home and return to the comfortable safety of my couch and the box of thin mints we bought. Instead, we herded ducks.
On the last season of The Race, there was a Roadblock where one team member had to herd a group of chickens from one part of a field, over a bridge, and into a holding pen. Some teams breezed through it, while others struggled, and we learned a lot about how each team did at encouraging their teammates. I learned this weekend that Nat and I don’t do terrifically as I am frequently unwilling to be encouraged. Some people like to be told they can do it. I’m defeatist, with a strong sense of prove-you-wrong. I do a lot better when someone tells me I can’t do something. I’ll be the John Locke of The Amazing Race. Don’t tell me what I can’t do!
I digress. I told you about the chicken challenge because Nat and I ran across a group of ducks feeding on the grass around Green Lake. To the right of these ducks was an orange traffic cone. It was as if our challenge had been created by some higher power—like the producers of a reality competition show—and we had to try our hand at duck herding. So, on a cloudy, but rain-free Saturday, at one of the most popular jogging spots in Seattle, Nat and I went off the beaten track and tried to herd a group of ducks in a circle around a traffic cone. And we succeeded. It was difficult, but as ducks are a lazy group, they were more inclined to waddle away from us then fly into the lake and out of our reach. Carefully, and as a team of two (obviously a detour, not a roadblock) we convinced the ducks towards the running path and then back towards the lake. We lost about half the group to flying in the process, but I think we have a real knack with birds that will bring us victory on The Race.
Sunday we bought a map. Then, after deciding it was ridiculously expensive, we exchanged it for a different map. We are now pointing to places on the map we have never been, and navigating ourselves there. As the tiny Seattle portion of the map only includes main roads, it’s quite the challenge. Nat managed to get us to a park on Puget Sound where I tried to teach him how to skip rocks. Not happening. I have never seen rock skipping on The Race, but if they have it, we will be eliminated that round. Those that can’t do really shouldn’t teach. However, we can navigate like mad, and will continue to practice. Plus, we got the joy of running on something new—beach pebbles. It was difficult and painful, but I think I got further on the pebbles then I ever get on a track. Nat’s right, I need to get out of my own head.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Episode 3: Run Like Scaled Dogs
Location: Argentina
Team Such As (Miss South Carolina and her model boyfriend) got a late start because they went to the hospital with food poisoning. The producers tried to play up the drama in this, but failed, leaving me to believe their illness was as anti-climatic as I thought. Thanks to the way the show tries to even the teams up each leg, their trip to the hospital did nothing to delay their game.
At the hide-out, they had to beat a Travelocity Gnome in a game of five-card stud. As this game takes no skill, this challenge was completed quickly by all teams. I don’t think we’ll be practicing laying cards out in front of ourselves, but maybe in the name of The Race we’ll have to.
Once teams got their gnome, they were directed to the Road Block. One of the team members had to learn how to control a lasso and use it to rope in a little hay bale cow. The Mamas (Two friends/lawyers/moms) had an extremely difficult time with this challenge. Believe it our not, Team Cowboys didn’t have even the tiniest bit of trouble, getting it on the second try. I love you Jet and Cord, even if Nat won’t stop talking about your silly names. Team Lesbians spent a bunch of time bitching about how unfair it is that the Cowboys are born ropers instead of trying to be nice to each other. Nat decided he would be the one to take on this challenge because, apparently (!), he’s lassoed before. You think you know your own husband… I still think it would be fun to try lassoing, and maybe if I can find a place willing to let me milk one of their cows, I can rustle me some cattle.
The Detour choices were Horse Sense or Horse Power. In Horse Power, teams used a wooden polo training horse and hit polo balls down a field. They only had nine tries to get it completed, and had to drag their heavy wooden horse down the field with them. In Horse Sense, teams were given a set of coordinates and had to use a standing, old-fashioned wooden compass to find a bag of gold, which they brought to the lead bandit. We decided we would do Horse Sense, though upon watching the teams go through the challenge, it seems Horse Power might have been the better choice. Still, I have Nat and he has a head for numbers that I lack. The coordinates given were the direction and the number of steps, like follows:
SW 166
E 4
NE 67
W 53
Nat, being brilliant, pointed out that you could subtract the NE from the SW, and the E from the W, and walk straight to your spot. Just 99 paces SW and 49 W. Still, I am not quite as brilliant and not super good with a compass. As the grocery store is full of plastic eggs and Easter candy right now, we will be doing a hunt this weekend using compasses. We’ll pick a starting point, count our steps, and then write down the coordinates for the other person. Anyone in the Seattle area who wants to join, really, really should.
The polo was similar to a slog golf they did last season, where teams had to hit what looked like giant croquet balls through a wet field of tall grass. One of the teams never completed the challenge and Phil (the host) had to come out to them and kick them off. Obviously we need to work on our power swings, and thus we will start with the fine art of croquet this weekend.
Winner: The cowboys, Jet and Cord. For the second week in a row, the challenges were just perfect for them.
Loser: The Mamas. They couldn’t bounce back from how long it took them to lasso their hay bale.
The weekly challenge:
We did not get out to the island to work on my stick shift skill this weekend because of an event called Chilly Hilly. Almost all the roads on the island were closed so we have to postpone that lesson. However, as teams struggled once again with manual transmissions, my belief that I must learn stick was reinforced. We did manage to do all sorts of other embarrassing things in training this weekend that I will write about soon.
Croquet. We will start on a proper field and move on to tall grasses, marshes, and maybe even hitting the ball from atop a sawhorse. I’m realizing now that this blog needs pictures.
Compass work. This is important not only for the challenges, but so that we can navigate ourselves. We’re going to be traveling through foreign lands, but north, south, east and west remain the same.
Now that we have a week of jogging behind us, we’re ready to rev it up a bit. Not only will I be expected to continue running for more than a ¼ mile at a time, but we’re going to start jogging hiking trails. The terrain on The Race is rarely flat, rubberized track made from old tennis shoes, so we’re more effective training in the woods.
Rules for the race
Each week I will list the rules for running the race that we have put together while watching the week’s episode.
- Pay attention and read the clues (This is from last week, but damn if it doesn’t keep tripping people up)
- Don’t just take off driving if you don’t know where you’re going. It’s more effective to figure it out and then go.
- If you’re the passenger, trust the driver. And if you’re the driver, trust that the passenger is doing their best to navigate you
Friday, February 26, 2010
You mean I have to run? What kind of race is this?
“Oop... I almost forgot. I won't be able to make it fellas. Veronica and I are trying this new fad called uh, jogging. I believe it's jogging or yogging. It might be a soft j. I'm not sure but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It's supposed to be wild.” – Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) Anchorman
I hate jogging.
This isn’t really a surprise. I have never been a fan of running for the sake of running, but I recognize the need for The Race. This does not make the process any more enjoyable. Our first attempts at jogging were foiled by my unbelievably low-quality Nike cross-trainers. The first of many expenses in trying to win a million dollars (gotta spend money to make money) was buying me proper running shoes. The Brooks I got are amazing and bouncy and I almost feel like a person who could wander around town in athletic gear and people would think, “Look at her workout pants and bouncy, breathable running shoes. I bet she jogs.”
Still, even having mastered the look of someone who people might think jogs, if they thought of it at all, I cannot actually jog. Oh, I can run. I can run from here all the way down to that rather close point over there. And I can run with all my might, and then collapse, and go home and watch tv. But extended periods of slow bouncing around a track/sculpture park/concrete campus around the Space Needle? Well that is just no fun.
We considered entering a fun run, to give ourselves a short term goal to meet, but at 30 dollars a person I don’t think it’s going to happen. We had to choose between paying for that and paying our membership dues for Team Works, and we chose Team Works. Team Works is a volunteer program run by Seattle Works, and a more socially conscientious choice, but I am a little disappointed that I can’t try the fun run. I have never been inclined to run in large groups, and I feel I should chase that inkling while it lingers.
Last night Nat set the pace, so I would stop running myself ragged in 3 minutes. Just me and Wilson Phillips’ “Hold On.” And it was going great until the song started to die down, and I realized I was exerting effort in the pursuit of nothing, and my legs hurt and my lungs hurt and under armor is really warm. You see, I just start whining. And once the whining starts and my lungs begin to burn, it’s hard to motivate me again. Nat’s plan? Letting me walk and then making me do the sprint to the mat. There’s no way we’re going to be the team on The Race that loses because we couldn’t get to the mat before another team. We don't want to be thisclose to not being eliminated and watch another team breeze past us, so we’re practicing the sprint. And I would be great at it, if it weren’t for all the jogging. Evil, evil jogging.
I hate jogging.
This isn’t really a surprise. I have never been a fan of running for the sake of running, but I recognize the need for The Race. This does not make the process any more enjoyable. Our first attempts at jogging were foiled by my unbelievably low-quality Nike cross-trainers. The first of many expenses in trying to win a million dollars (gotta spend money to make money) was buying me proper running shoes. The Brooks I got are amazing and bouncy and I almost feel like a person who could wander around town in athletic gear and people would think, “Look at her workout pants and bouncy, breathable running shoes. I bet she jogs.”
Still, even having mastered the look of someone who people might think jogs, if they thought of it at all, I cannot actually jog. Oh, I can run. I can run from here all the way down to that rather close point over there. And I can run with all my might, and then collapse, and go home and watch tv. But extended periods of slow bouncing around a track/sculpture park/concrete campus around the Space Needle? Well that is just no fun.
We considered entering a fun run, to give ourselves a short term goal to meet, but at 30 dollars a person I don’t think it’s going to happen. We had to choose between paying for that and paying our membership dues for Team Works, and we chose Team Works. Team Works is a volunteer program run by Seattle Works, and a more socially conscientious choice, but I am a little disappointed that I can’t try the fun run. I have never been inclined to run in large groups, and I feel I should chase that inkling while it lingers.
Last night Nat set the pace, so I would stop running myself ragged in 3 minutes. Just me and Wilson Phillips’ “Hold On.” And it was going great until the song started to die down, and I realized I was exerting effort in the pursuit of nothing, and my legs hurt and my lungs hurt and under armor is really warm. You see, I just start whining. And once the whining starts and my lungs begin to burn, it’s hard to motivate me again. Nat’s plan? Letting me walk and then making me do the sprint to the mat. There’s no way we’re going to be the team on The Race that loses because we couldn’t get to the mat before another team. We don't want to be thisclose to not being eliminated and watch another team breeze past us, so we’re practicing the sprint. And I would be great at it, if it weren’t for all the jogging. Evil, evil jogging.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Episode 2: When the Cow Kicked Me in the Head
Location: Chile
Recap: Teams had to take a bus nearly 600 miles. The team that took an early lead, the cowboys, were smart enough to ask for a bus that made a connection through another city instead of taking a direct line, and were able to get way ahead of the curve. The fact that all the challenges involved livestock didn’t hurt any.
Once they reached the city by bus, they had to drive themselves into the countryside. Many people mentioned not being very good at driving a manual. I knew this was an issue I would have to face during this challenge. I have no idea how to drive a stick, I have only tried one time before quitting, and I am resistant towards being taught.
The first challenge on this leg was a detour (where the teams are given a choice of two challenges). The animal themed choices were to dress a llama in a traditional Chilean outfit, or dress like a giant condor and glide towards their clue in a freezing lake. Knowing how mean and difficult llamas can be, we decided we would choose the gliding. Since we’re not going to buy a giant bird costume to glide around in, I think we’re going to have to train in both swimming, and putting up with extreme cold. Both of those skills have been seen frequently on The Race.
The second challenge was a roadblock. A roadblock is a task that only one of the team members can complete. This task was to run about a farm collecting the ingredients for the traditional German—apparently they have quite the German immigrant population in Chile—pastry Kuchen. They had to collect a bakers dozen eggs (that’s 13), a plate of butter, a bowl of sugar, a bag of flour, and milk straight from a cow. This is not the first time I have seen a cow milking challenge on The Race, and I think we should try it. I don’t really need practice counting or carrying things, but I sure need to know how to milk a cow. I have dreamt of having my very own farm with crops and animals, including cows to milk, since I was a little, wishing I was a pioneer girl living on a homestead on the prairie. If you simply google “where can I milk a cow in Seattle,” you’re not likely to find what you are looking for. However, I did learn quite a bit about the raw milk movement.
Winner: The cowboys, Jet and Cord. This challenge was tailor-made for them. Still, I’m a fan of them, and their silly cowboy hat rain slickers.
Loser: The tri-athlete grandma and her tri-athlete granddaughter. I don’t recall their names. I feel like they really could have gone further, but it just didn’t work for them.
The weekly challenge:
There was a lot of talk in this episode about not being good runners or not wanting to carry the packs. We’re already preparing for this with our jogs. I think it’ll be a good two or so weeks before we’re ready to job with packs, but working on that endurance is key.
The trouble caused—not only this season, but every season—by stick shifts has reinforced my belief that it is time I learn. Nat and I have already set aside our Saturday to this aim. Hopefully I can actually learn, and from there I will drive us to tackle another of the challenges I have drawn from this week: the cold.
The couples who chose to glide to their clues dressed as condors got to experience what looked like painfully cold water. The cold has been part of challenges in previous seasons from jogging in underpants through the snow during winter in Russia, to standing in sub zero temperatures wearing practically nothing. (Reminds me that standing around in underwear happens a lot too, so I may want to focus on some ab workouts). This weekend we will meet the challenge of the cold. We’re from the Northwest and we’re ready to test our ability to stand in the Pacific Ocean in February in preparation for any sort of cold The Race might throw our way.
There was only a small amount of swimming in this episode, but we’ve seen it in many past seasons. One season even included swimming multiple lengths of an Olympic swimming pool. For me, this wouldn’t be much of an issue even super out of shape. Nat, however, is not a super strong swimmer. I learned this two summers ago when I swan him too far from shore and had to help pull him back. So we’re going to add swimming to the challenge.
I will find somewhere for us to milk a cow!
Rules for the race
Each week I will list the rules for running the race that we have put together while watching the week’s episode.
- Pay attention and read the clues
- Don’t just follow the herd
- Planes and buses are always the equalizer, so don’t panic!
Recap: Teams had to take a bus nearly 600 miles. The team that took an early lead, the cowboys, were smart enough to ask for a bus that made a connection through another city instead of taking a direct line, and were able to get way ahead of the curve. The fact that all the challenges involved livestock didn’t hurt any.
Once they reached the city by bus, they had to drive themselves into the countryside. Many people mentioned not being very good at driving a manual. I knew this was an issue I would have to face during this challenge. I have no idea how to drive a stick, I have only tried one time before quitting, and I am resistant towards being taught.
The first challenge on this leg was a detour (where the teams are given a choice of two challenges). The animal themed choices were to dress a llama in a traditional Chilean outfit, or dress like a giant condor and glide towards their clue in a freezing lake. Knowing how mean and difficult llamas can be, we decided we would choose the gliding. Since we’re not going to buy a giant bird costume to glide around in, I think we’re going to have to train in both swimming, and putting up with extreme cold. Both of those skills have been seen frequently on The Race.
The second challenge was a roadblock. A roadblock is a task that only one of the team members can complete. This task was to run about a farm collecting the ingredients for the traditional German—apparently they have quite the German immigrant population in Chile—pastry Kuchen. They had to collect a bakers dozen eggs (that’s 13), a plate of butter, a bowl of sugar, a bag of flour, and milk straight from a cow. This is not the first time I have seen a cow milking challenge on The Race, and I think we should try it. I don’t really need practice counting or carrying things, but I sure need to know how to milk a cow. I have dreamt of having my very own farm with crops and animals, including cows to milk, since I was a little, wishing I was a pioneer girl living on a homestead on the prairie. If you simply google “where can I milk a cow in Seattle,” you’re not likely to find what you are looking for. However, I did learn quite a bit about the raw milk movement.
Winner: The cowboys, Jet and Cord. This challenge was tailor-made for them. Still, I’m a fan of them, and their silly cowboy hat rain slickers.
Loser: The tri-athlete grandma and her tri-athlete granddaughter. I don’t recall their names. I feel like they really could have gone further, but it just didn’t work for them.
The weekly challenge:
There was a lot of talk in this episode about not being good runners or not wanting to carry the packs. We’re already preparing for this with our jogs. I think it’ll be a good two or so weeks before we’re ready to job with packs, but working on that endurance is key.
The trouble caused—not only this season, but every season—by stick shifts has reinforced my belief that it is time I learn. Nat and I have already set aside our Saturday to this aim. Hopefully I can actually learn, and from there I will drive us to tackle another of the challenges I have drawn from this week: the cold.
The couples who chose to glide to their clues dressed as condors got to experience what looked like painfully cold water. The cold has been part of challenges in previous seasons from jogging in underpants through the snow during winter in Russia, to standing in sub zero temperatures wearing practically nothing. (Reminds me that standing around in underwear happens a lot too, so I may want to focus on some ab workouts). This weekend we will meet the challenge of the cold. We’re from the Northwest and we’re ready to test our ability to stand in the Pacific Ocean in February in preparation for any sort of cold The Race might throw our way.
There was only a small amount of swimming in this episode, but we’ve seen it in many past seasons. One season even included swimming multiple lengths of an Olympic swimming pool. For me, this wouldn’t be much of an issue even super out of shape. Nat, however, is not a super strong swimmer. I learned this two summers ago when I swan him too far from shore and had to help pull him back. So we’re going to add swimming to the challenge.
I will find somewhere for us to milk a cow!
Rules for the race
Each week I will list the rules for running the race that we have put together while watching the week’s episode.
- Pay attention and read the clues
- Don’t just follow the herd
- Planes and buses are always the equalizer, so don’t panic!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
But not a real green dress, that's cruel
So, kicking off this blog yesterday turned out to be a bad idea as we are already behind on our most basic goal: watch the damn show. Between a late dinner Sunday which had us coming home around midnight, and Nat not coming home from work until after midnight last night, we haven’t had the chance to watch this week’s episode. The excuses begin! I am positive we will get that chance tonight and can begin our workout plan.
We have been keeping up on jogs, so that’s at least something. A something I find very difficult. Nat has always been a runner, but I have not, and I find it challenging. I really have to put in my own extra training if I’m going to be ready for us to add weighted packs to our runs in the coming weeks.
In order to motivate myself to keep up with the blog, and in turn our Race Challenge, I am going to try to add variety to the topics I cover. Of course I’ll include episode recaps and our exercise follow up. But I also intend to address the application, talk about why we want to do this (the money? the experience? The money and the experience) and hopefully reflect on any progress we’ve made.
I am aware that the odds of us making the show are slim, but I think we really can do it. Maybe they would like us better in the state we’re in now—they always seem to pick a particularly out of shape couple to flounder in the first round—but if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it with the goal of winning that million dollars and getting to try every challenge and visit every location.
I wish I could say that our goals for the money were exciting, and I think they will get more exciting, but I think the number one goal is to get debt free. College was an awesome time—I made the most amazing friends, and it’s where I met Nat. I wouldn’t want to have lived it any differently, but it is so hard to still believe that when my student loan statements come. And those are just the loans in my name. My parents’ plus loan is absolutely included in my list of debts to pay off. Luckily, with the exception of my student loans, our debts are pretty small, and paying them back wouldn’t make much of dent in our 1 million (or after taxes, what, 470,000? I hope that’s me being pessimistic).
I am determined that tonight we truly begin the challenge, because a blog full of posts about how I really am going to do something is really just my diary made public.
We have been keeping up on jogs, so that’s at least something. A something I find very difficult. Nat has always been a runner, but I have not, and I find it challenging. I really have to put in my own extra training if I’m going to be ready for us to add weighted packs to our runs in the coming weeks.
In order to motivate myself to keep up with the blog, and in turn our Race Challenge, I am going to try to add variety to the topics I cover. Of course I’ll include episode recaps and our exercise follow up. But I also intend to address the application, talk about why we want to do this (the money? the experience? The money and the experience) and hopefully reflect on any progress we’ve made.
I am aware that the odds of us making the show are slim, but I think we really can do it. Maybe they would like us better in the state we’re in now—they always seem to pick a particularly out of shape couple to flounder in the first round—but if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it with the goal of winning that million dollars and getting to try every challenge and visit every location.
I wish I could say that our goals for the money were exciting, and I think they will get more exciting, but I think the number one goal is to get debt free. College was an awesome time—I made the most amazing friends, and it’s where I met Nat. I wouldn’t want to have lived it any differently, but it is so hard to still believe that when my student loan statements come. And those are just the loans in my name. My parents’ plus loan is absolutely included in my list of debts to pay off. Luckily, with the exception of my student loans, our debts are pretty small, and paying them back wouldn’t make much of dent in our 1 million (or after taxes, what, 470,000? I hope that’s me being pessimistic).
I am determined that tonight we truly begin the challenge, because a blog full of posts about how I really am going to do something is really just my diary made public.
Monday, February 22, 2010
The plan
My husband and I want to be on The Amazing Race. Good, now we have a statement of intent. But how are we going to make it happen? We’re both young, but a tad on the chubby side. Not exactly ready for running across the French Countryside with 40 pound packs, or really anything particularly athletic. However, we didn’t used to be this way. We were both athletes at one time (I was big into soccer, basketball, and water polo; he participated in cross-country as well as basketball). But desk jobs, and—let’s just be honest—too much beer have lead to our collective widening.
We’ve wanted to be on The Race together since we started dating in 2007. We watch each season of the show discussing who would take on certain roadblocks and which detour task we would choose. As we started watching the most recent season we determined we would actually try to get on the race, but not before we were certain we wouldn’t be the chubby team trailing behind and losing in the first leg because while other teams were fighting for first, we were fighting for breath. While watching the first episode, I decided we should create a weekly training plan based on what we saw in that week’s episode. Then, with the combination of nightly jogs, we would use the show itself as an example of what to practice. Immediately we recognized the need for me to learn to drive stick, and for him to hone his observation skills.
I am keeping this blog as a means of motivation and to keep my friends up to date on our progress. This way they can pretend they are following along, and I won’t be constantly harassing them with emails.
Our challenge starts with Episode 2 of Season 16.
We’ve wanted to be on The Race together since we started dating in 2007. We watch each season of the show discussing who would take on certain roadblocks and which detour task we would choose. As we started watching the most recent season we determined we would actually try to get on the race, but not before we were certain we wouldn’t be the chubby team trailing behind and losing in the first leg because while other teams were fighting for first, we were fighting for breath. While watching the first episode, I decided we should create a weekly training plan based on what we saw in that week’s episode. Then, with the combination of nightly jogs, we would use the show itself as an example of what to practice. Immediately we recognized the need for me to learn to drive stick, and for him to hone his observation skills.
I am keeping this blog as a means of motivation and to keep my friends up to date on our progress. This way they can pretend they are following along, and I won’t be constantly harassing them with emails.
Our challenge starts with Episode 2 of Season 16.
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