Sunday, April 20, 2008
Double dog dare
I was Metro-ing back from the Mall one Saturday last April when a bunch of people in matching T-shirts rushed onto the train. Matching T-shirts are a common occurrence in D.C., but this group stood out--not only because their shirts said "Urban Dare," but also because they were consulting maps and talking excitedly about strategy. Even before I got home and Googled "Urban Dare," I had a sense that in a year's time, I would be on the receiving end of stares from curious Metro riders.
Who better to accompany me on this mini-Amazing Race through the city than fellow TAR fan Autumn? Fortunately, she was just as excited about the concept as I was, and so yesterday at high noon, we found ourselves on the south end of the Ellipse, tethered together at the knee, about to plow over a couple of sunbathers who were blocking the path of the world-record-setting three-legged race that marked the start of the 2008 D.C. Urban Dare.
While waiting for the race to begin, in addition to taking a couple of practice strides with our three-legged gait, we had discussed strategy. Given that the sample race on the web site didn't seem to follow any particular geographical order, I thought it might be best to take a few minutes at the start of the race to gather answers to all the clues and map out the best route. Autumn agreed. Unfortunately, once we had our clue sheet in hand (after swiftly completing the three-legged race as other teams floundered around us), all talk of strategy was instantly forgotten in the heat of the moment as we set off toward the first clue we knew the answer to, planning to gather others on the way.
This proved to be a costly error in judgment, but it wasn't until we phoned Jason for help during a dash through Capitol Hill that we realized we were walking mere blocks from the finish line...with at least half of the clues left to go. Most of which were pretty far west of us, in Foggy Bottom, Dupont Circle and near the Mall. Oops. Although doing the race essentially backwards did cause a little backtracking (we ended up walking/running more than 10 miles, whereas the most efficient route would have only taken 6), it also had its advantages, in that we were able to speed through all of the Hill dares in record time. We managed to recover quite well and devise a fairly efficient route for the rest of the race, although we did experience a few other hold-ups, including a possible sabotage on one of the dares (so not cool) and a lengthy argument with a Union Station bus driver about the best bus route to the finish line.
In the end, we finished 80th out of 126 teams with a time of 3:46, which was well within our goal of not coming in dead last. (I'm guessing that honor went to one of the more nonchalant teams we passed on our route, like the ones who were strolling along with big fat Starbucks cups in hand.) We managed to learn a little bit about our fair city (Did you know there are a bunch of statues of South American liberators along Virginia Avenue? Or that there's a rotunda at the Canadian Embassy that has a really awesome echo?) and to devise a strategy for next time (i.e., actually stick with strategy devised before the race). Not to mention, we got one hell of a workout.
I was Metro-ing back from the Mall one Saturday last April when a bunch of people in matching T-shirts rushed onto the train. Matching T-shirts are a common occurrence in D.C., but this group stood out--not only because their shirts said "Urban Dare," but also because they were consulting maps and talking excitedly about strategy. Even before I got home and Googled "Urban Dare," I had a sense that in a year's time, I would be on the receiving end of stares from curious Metro riders.
Who better to accompany me on this mini-Amazing Race through the city than fellow TAR fan Autumn? Fortunately, she was just as excited about the concept as I was, and so yesterday at high noon, we found ourselves on the south end of the Ellipse, tethered together at the knee, about to plow over a couple of sunbathers who were blocking the path of the world-record-setting three-legged race that marked the start of the 2008 D.C. Urban Dare.
While waiting for the race to begin, in addition to taking a couple of practice strides with our three-legged gait, we had discussed strategy. Given that the sample race on the web site didn't seem to follow any particular geographical order, I thought it might be best to take a few minutes at the start of the race to gather answers to all the clues and map out the best route. Autumn agreed. Unfortunately, once we had our clue sheet in hand (after swiftly completing the three-legged race as other teams floundered around us), all talk of strategy was instantly forgotten in the heat of the moment as we set off toward the first clue we knew the answer to, planning to gather others on the way.
This proved to be a costly error in judgment, but it wasn't until we phoned Jason for help during a dash through Capitol Hill that we realized we were walking mere blocks from the finish line...with at least half of the clues left to go. Most of which were pretty far west of us, in Foggy Bottom, Dupont Circle and near the Mall. Oops. Although doing the race essentially backwards did cause a little backtracking (we ended up walking/running more than 10 miles, whereas the most efficient route would have only taken 6), it also had its advantages, in that we were able to speed through all of the Hill dares in record time. We managed to recover quite well and devise a fairly efficient route for the rest of the race, although we did experience a few other hold-ups, including a possible sabotage on one of the dares (so not cool) and a lengthy argument with a Union Station bus driver about the best bus route to the finish line.
In the end, we finished 80th out of 126 teams with a time of 3:46, which was well within our goal of not coming in dead last. (I'm guessing that honor went to one of the more nonchalant teams we passed on our route, like the ones who were strolling along with big fat Starbucks cups in hand.) We managed to learn a little bit about our fair city (Did you know there are a bunch of statues of South American liberators along Virginia Avenue? Or that there's a rotunda at the Canadian Embassy that has a really awesome echo?) and to devise a strategy for next time (i.e., actually stick with strategy devised before the race). Not to mention, we got one hell of a workout.
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