Adventure Racing and finding the lucky socks

Last night I participated in my first Adventure Race with Rose and Kev (on the left side of the photo, I am on the right). We had a ball running around Brisbane in our little Kermit shirts. This is what the race was about (from Area 51 Website):

"Round 1- One Night in Vegas
Date and Location
Fri 15 Feb 08 - Brisbane CBD, HQ at south bank, further info emailed & posted on web 5 days before the race. all urban.Teams turn up at 6pm as registration opens, you receive your race packs containing all your maps and information and some other goodies. You have some planning time to work out a route and after a race brief the hooter goes off at 7pm! prior to the race all teams will be emailed information about the event...
Length and Timings
Race length 3 hours (and five minutes) - registration opens 6pm, race start 7pm, race finish 10:05pm.
Disciplines and Style
Trek, Public transport (NO mountain bike) and many urban challenges- rogaine style, get as many CPs in any order you choose then be back at HQ before 3 hrs is up. urban challenges play a big part.... the harder the challenge, the more points you get!
WHY?
ONE OF THE MORE MEMORABLE ADVENTURE RACES YOU WILL EVER DO!! GET A TASTE OF THE BIG SMOKE AND THE CITY LIGHTS ON A BALMY SUMMER EVENING. iT ISN'T A RACE SO MUCH ABOUT FITNESS, BUT EXPERIENCING ALL THE CITY HAS TO OFFER. after the race teams pop into the Plough Inn next door for a celebratory drink! Never done anything like this before? All you need to be able to do is get a team of 3 people together, be able to read a street directory and know how to have some fun"

We got our race pack just after 6pm and spent the next half hour or so contacting our map (so it wouldn't fall apart) and working out a route that would enable us to get the most check points (CPs) in the three hours we had available to us. At 7pm we were off and Rose, Kev and I hurtled over the Grey Street Bridge and found our first Checkpoint in the Queen Street Mall, then it was onto the Gap Cycle's Eating Challenge in the middle of the mall where we had to eat foods related to bike parts. I don't know where wasabi peas come into the equation, but I skulled three of them, not realizing how hot they were. Rose and Kev fought over the WeetBix and I finished off with a good chaser, nearly a tablespoon of vegemite. We then decided to take a quick dash for a checkpoint at Central Station and then back tracked for an Internet Cafe challenge.

That done, it was back to the station to try and get a train to Brunswick Street. Silly me who was really quite enjoying the whole adventure got us on the wrong train and we went Express to Bowen Hills (aaagh). So it was lucky we could get back to Central relatively quickly and run towards The Valley where there were four checkpoints to pick up.

The first involved fishing around in a rather nasty looking broth of "pond water" for a plastic spider which we nailed rather quickly, then it was off to Chinatown's rotunda for the second CP. Our third Valley CP involved a memory game where we had to memorize a card sequence which Rose and I forgot immediately :) We eventually knuckled down and got it done before heading to Brunswick Street Station to pick up the fourth CP.

We then had to decide what option to take then as our plan to train it to Toowong was thwarted by a patchy timetable at best. Here we decided to train it to Roma Street and run past Suncorp Stadium to Milton Station, pick up CPs at Savoire Faire and Milton Station, before taking the BONUS point challenge of Ten Pin Bowling at Milton Bowl. Whilst we were making that decision we came across another team involved in a Scavenger Hunt. We quickly worked out that it was part of a checkpoint we had purposely avoided at the beginning of the race. Luckily the team we met was happy to tell us that we needed to collect a red napkin, straw, current day's newspaper, beer coaster, business card and a movie ticket from today. I immediately asked someone on the platform for their business card, we were gifted a coaster and a newspaper and we found the straw and our napkin on the way to Milton.

We made the train back to Roma Street and connected with a train back to Southbank. We picked up another 2 CPS in South Brisbane and then were extremely fortunate to pick up our final Scavenger checkpoint item from a fellow who was leaving the Southbank Cinema Complet. Then we completed a 100 point "Maritime Challenge" at the Maritime Museum which was a bit finicky. We then sprinted more than half way over the Goodwill Bridge and picked up our last CP before Race Close.

How could I also forget to mention that I had to strap an orange helium balloon to my pack and carry it for the whole race to earn bonus points? Rose was fantastic at ensuring that I didn't run under any low branches as I kept forgetting that I had the balloon.

We finished the Challenge at 10pm, handed in our Points Card and will get the results in a few days.

We went home feeling pretty fatigued - I was trying to momentarily forget that I had to teach RPM Hi Performance at 8.10am this morning. I was so pleased to see Rose turn up to do the class - a kindred spirit who just "knew" what I was going through up there. I must admit I had a few very cautious dial turns up there this morning but I managed to pull through. I even found a pair of Shimano socks that I originally purchased with my cycling shoes which I call my "lucky socks " - I seem to have taught several decent classes with these socks, so I kept the legend alive and decided to wear them.

Miss S had come to RPM and shouted me a post workout "Surge". I think I could literally feel my body vacuuming it up this morning~!

There is another race coming up soon that hopefully we'll be able to participate in but for now, I'm just going to bask in the enjoyment of this one - it was great to work as a team, it was great that I was able to run around Brisbane without any ill effects and I'm so relieved I managed to do a half decent job with RPM this morning.

Now it is time for a nana nap :)