...challenge nation...

Back in the saddle...

It's not that I haven't been going on adventures, it's just that I've been so exhausted by the end of the day that I fall asleep sitting up in bed trying to relay the details to you in this blog.

But today was too fun not to share! (Plus, it's the weekend, meaning I can stay up late. I'm still super tuckered, though.)

Anyway...

Have you ever heard of Challenge Nation? Challenge Nation is an urban adventure race mixing a 5k with a scavenger hunt. Think the Amazing Race on a much, much smaller scale.

It's really like a dream come true for me.

When I saw the reduced price on Groupon, I asked Karen if she would be interested and she agreed. Soon she began asking, "So...what is this?" and sadly, I had no solid answer for her. We didn't know what to expect, except that we would be enjoying each others company and running around the city. We decided it would be fun nonetheless. 

And was it ever! Here are a few pics with some details:

Pre-race selfies. I don't feel awkward. We weren't the only ones.

As the team captain, I waited in the circle for our clues.

Our very first stop, we had to find a particular statue and then use
the provided noodles to spell MO for Missouri.

On the stepping stones between the giant pink suit sculpture and the
giant head. We did get turned around a bit on this one.

Copy the pose of one of the two Cardinal greats whose names match
those of a Tarheel coaching great! (See, you had to figure it out.)
It was tricky!

Have a faux marriage ceremony on the church steps to someone else on your
team with another Challenge team officiating and acting as a wedding party.
These people were so nice!

Find someone from a state beginning with the letter N, C, T or L.
Take a photo of them with their license and then act out a scene from a
movie or show that was based in their state. Since he was from New Mexico
we wanted to do Breaking Bad, but we settled for the The Lone Ranger.
Ladies of New Mexico: This guy's a keeper!

Buy a postcard. Address it to someone on your team. Purchase a stamp.
Find a blue mailbox and take a photo. This was the most challenging
since most places selling stamps were closed. We were given a stamp
by a nice man at the 360 rooftop bar when we went to get a selfie with the arch.
Everyone should go to 360 just to support such nice people!

By a fluke, we saw the police car and gave our best Charlie's Angels pose.
This was the last of our 11 clues and we bolted away toward the finish line.

Karen and I laughed a lot as we ran back to race day headquarters, The Wheelhouse. We were sure we were close to last, since I'd seen from the previous year that many people were finishing in under and hour and we were well over an hour and a half at that point, but we didn't care. We decided to finish strong, and so we hit a steady stride and let our legs carry us to the finish line.

Interestingly enough, we past several (at least 5, by my count) other groups that were sauntering toward the finish line, and we raced past them...right into 49th place!! 

Never give up! Always finish strong!

Out of 175 teams, we placed 49th and are now eligible to compete in the National Challenge in Las Vegas for $5000. 

We won't go to Vegas, but we will definitely sign up for next year's challenge! This event was so much fun, so well organized, composed of some of the kindest people, and just an all around great way to spend the day! We couldn't stop raving about it!

The next one in St. Louis will be September 5, 2015. Mark your calendars! Hopefully we'll see you there!

The St. Louis Songbirds