Anyway, we went into the race with a good attitude - let's just have fun, see what we (and John's knee) can do, and just try our best. I think it helped me from being too serious/focused/whatever it is that is causing me to yell at John during our urban races. We worked together well, had a good plan, had an awesome crew helping us out, and had a LOT of fun.
I'll get a real race report written after this next weekend's race. But for now, here are some photos...
In the morning race, I spotted this checkpoint on the Tulane campus - thank goodness, because it was a tough clue to find online:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpwnkJ2E8VvnfgCaV-6GPp8xEmDrlAOjNrtGGhJuePB24OCQgJG6CEurGKtLV9M7h2vXLWqmCJS10SLeZ-Rs80cva3PSePpgMthSjBQGZTK45cLXaU1D8eatSEuxOfbackIfrZW_1zmSuI/s400/Img_0065.jpg)
I offered John a piggyback, but he was feeling good enough to pick me up (the instructions on the sign were to have one teammate piggyback the other and get a photo with one of our race numbers visible):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCSNvDToay3RD51_Zt_ZsOCvxj9v4v7q4r9e99WwY-zIX0kkARDJ4dmF7fJd5ENSZRB1voM2xjccfTVAKOi-cD41gfqu_ZJ9-JMH5EOcoy0zMwrnf2N-bR3C1WRFPNaRSCpRTALym6RbtJ/s400/Img_0069.jpg)
The best part - riding Cruisers around town! Here's us at Lee Circle for our CP5 photo:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhv6xPavQ-Ke38qXl15Jsk6skrJk2zvmTPClyVQAoaylslk2vVoWbSg9-PnNZuel6Y7KgJyNEMP6NJxaC01-s3pjASXMCQRsCP0pimkI5y01PiKsZFhpf5iDJceXrASvRrA2TtMBOsP3En/s400/Img_0072.jpg)
Molly A Market with the correct # of fingers (also known as the "Waffle House Salute"):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjDDuZ7ql0BayGXJKrCE3XT4ERplIm58DNKgFzPCLAeM7Jbsun-6yf8NrDK0WzW91VJX9bk6bdrViwo823ky1AiyTWNPygHQvm-6XcWCpKvDb_5uGLO2JSxzk_GeEyhnnI6nZhjvfRHv2s/s400/Img_0074.jpg)
Us with the horse and the cathedral and a clock:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisZqR6mGy3eI424Wj7O3Y9GPQ60v9-njFENvIWg5c_yXeBWoPHdWtt7qtj7xG4CTGAJpJ3EVsewDc4yXzCVZuGSZYjNIOhqDFIys4dySo2W1Iu9XqzakW6WDKKW5IprGVjUPRvUrtAyHeQ/s400/Img_0077.jpg)
In the finals race, with a statue of a previous governor, doing the Charlie's Angels thing:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz56E4jxNsJ2NGsUcMwiGL6TrLSawZhijuOuzdjEQaImFPFB1sa2VrL9WByefUNtBArhS-86aToIECnQn0VAhpakeradSuEn9w3xvn7nM2vxPrnwtN0F5r3JZIWu50fOr7UU1QqPRmkRk_/s400/Img_0080.jpg)
Silver Man!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-0KyJogMAJBmlCOtPdomt9R5vHAK6nHRfgoMSRWM_6EYm3SLvmj4vlHlJy6qadwb5srJbO8EuC-2KxctTOQYuB_czhay6Fv9QxJnH13ii3ypFBSsY7ss6DM8QVEzJQ7hzSTgaBl5KbVUc/s400/Img_0081.jpg)
Well, there's a lot more to the story, but I'll finish for now with a summary:
Morning race = longer than expected, rode a trolley to Tulane, did a word search, tried to find a CP in chalk on the sidewalk (skipped that CP, as we were allowed one skip), donated money to St Jude's charity, did a charades problem (my friend Kathy thinks more like I do than John does, let's just put it that way), and finished up by carrying a real LIVE and pretty pissed off alligator around a room (OMG!)... came across the line in around 2.5 hours and were stunned to learn we were the first ones back. All photos good = yay! Many teams finished right after us, including Kip and Dave who also made the top 8 for the finals race.
Finals race = interesting time management challenge with a race cut-off of 2.5 hours and a lot to do; started at City Park, assembled a Lego racecar, did a logic problem and guessed correctly which pretty much saved our race, paddled row boats on the lake, rode a trolley back downtown. Then ran out to the Garden District, found a fake flower among a bunch of real ones, found and played a 45 record, did a smell test to identify 5 scents, skipped the pie-eating challenge (thank goodness), headed back to the French Quarter. Started running low on time... rode a mechical orca whale (??!!) and barely hung on sideways for 7 seconds, and finished by building 30 paper boats with about 20 minutes to go. Somehow managed all 30 boats and ran back to the finish line with 5 minutes to spare before the cutoff time. We were the first team back with all points (except the one allowed skip point) completed - so we won!
That was too amazing - perhaps the closest finish in an urban race championships ever?
Thank you to everyone who helped and cheered us on from New Orleans and from afar!
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