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!