[This is Michael. For all you die-hard Shelley fans out there, feel free to skip this and wait for Baby Talk next time.]
For those like myself who have been impatiently waiting for the 13th season of the Amazing Race (returning Sept. 28th on CBS!), this past weekend was a welcome reprieve and a really cool experience. Since I have been a good daddy, I got an awesome Father's Day present from Shelley. She registered me in a scavenger hunt/race around downtown Winston-Salem. She got the idea from her friend Nicolle, whose husband Greg is even more of a die-hard fan of the show than I am. He has organized other mini-Amazing Races in the past; in fact, he put one together last New Year's Eve that the dynamic duo of Carrie Bigger and I won. Carrie and I were able to complement each other quite well and play off each other's strengths: she is a Sudoku master, I tore up the ping-pong table, and we both risked our future health by eating a bowlful of frosting. I was expecting more of the same with Greg, since we have proven in multiple two-on-two games of basketball to be a formidable opponent.
Our first task was to come up with a team name. Greg was trying to do clever things with our last names and ended up with a Freudian slip, so we went back to the drawing board. I had just happened to see a hilarious Seinfeld episode, and came up with a couple of random funny phrases from the show and emailed them to Greg. He sent me an email back with about 20 more. After much pondering between "These pretzels are making me thirsty," "You can stuff your sorrys in a sack, mister," and "The very pants he was about to return," we settled on the first one.
Since this was more scavenger hunt than Amazing Race, we knew we would get all the clues at once rather than picking up clues as we went. We had a few chances to discuss strategy before the big day, and we made the following tactical decisions: 1) we would use every legal source of information at our disposal, 2) we would solve all the clues first, map out a route, and then hit the streets, and 3) we would jog between each of the clues. Between our collective MBA education, athletic prowess, and super-hyper-mega-competitive nature, there was really no way we could lose...unless one out of shape fat boy couldn't handle the heat. But enough foreshadowing.
Another task was to come up with a creative costume. Greg had the idea that we should dress up like missionaries, but between the weatherman's forecast for extreme heat and the fact that we didn't want to be completely shunned the entire afternoon, or end up doing something that might cast a bad light on the Church (I envisioned Greg slide-tackling some geriatric couple or 12-year old little girl on the way to the finish line), we chose to simply go with khaki shorts and a college t-shirt. Greg never misses a chance to flash the Sun Devil colors, but I had a big decision choosing between Florida, BYU, and Wake Forest. I decided a little home cooking never hurt anyone and to go with the black and gold. We knew we wouldn't be winning any costume contests, but figured we would have the functional advantage over any people who decided to zip up in a bunny costume.
The day of the race, we showed up at the W-S Visitor's Center to register. We stood in line feeling very excited and pretty confident. Greg had his laptop, I had my GPS, we both had bottled water, and a pretty tight strategy. Little did we know that the other teams standing in line right next to us would be our toughest competition. More foreshadowing... admit it, at this point, you're hooked.
We got the number 23, obviously significant in the Old North State for one of their greatest contributions to the world, one Michael Jeffrey Jordan. After finding out where the "hydration stations" were located around downtown, we found a table in the shade to wait for the start of the race. Greg fired up his wireless connection and probably started creating a pivot table in Excel, just in case. I studied the map of downtown and read through some literature I had printed up about the history of W-S (which paid off later in a clue I was able to solve in less than 10 seconds). Here we are, ready to go.
Our map of downtown, before we started marking it all up.
The mayor of W-S was kind enough to take part of his Saturday to come out and get things started. Here is a picture of everyone waiting behind the starting line. There were 53 teams who participated, all crowded in the small courtyard behind the Visitor's Center.
They put the clue packets out and everyone had to run out to get them. I ran and grabbed the closest one, and while others headed blindly downtown, Greg and I tore into the clues. Most were logic clues, similar to the GMAT but obviously not as advanced. I figured out a few partial solutions that he was able to finalize or confirm using Google. At one point I thought he was relying too much on the computer and tried to route him back to good old brain power, but then he whipped out an unscrambler to help us on a clue that was really slowing us down, so I shut up and we got through the clues pretty quickly. [I tried to post some of the clues but it wreaked havoc on the format of everything else so you'll just have to take our word for how smart we are.]
Once we got nine and a half clues figured out, we decided to stop wasting time trying to get the last part of the last clue and to solve it as we went. We had mapped out the location of each destination with each clue, and were ready to head downtown. We had a "passport" book that we had to carry around with us to get a stamp in as we found each destination. We also had a digital camera, and had to take a picture of ourselves at each one of the destinations. There was also the option of taking our pictures in front of the business location of five sponsors as we made our way around town, which would knock 15 minutes off our time. This particular caveat came into play in the final standings... as if you didn't have enough foreshadowing already.
Allow me to take you on our journey around downtown W-S. Our first stop was right there in the Visitor's Center lobby, so it was a good thing we didn't go running off before solving that clue or we would have had to come all the way back. We had to get our picture taken in front of the Visit W-S sign. Notice how fresh-faced and excited we are, and contrast that with the sweat-drenched pallor you will see in the last few photos.
Then we did our first bit of jogging. As I crossed over Business 40, I noticed a time and temp sign on a bank that said it was 97 degrees out. With the humidity, it was definitely over 100. What kind of idiot would wear a black shirt? That's right...me. Here we are in front of the marker for the dividing line between the old towns of Winston and Salem before they were consolidated in 1913. And here I thought RJR had just paid for as many cigarette brands as they could afford to include in the town name... We had to do a pencil rubbing of the year and show it with the puzzle we put together as a clue in this picture.
Our next clue was a sculpture celebrating Habitat for Humanity behind the Wachovia building. We had to count these little bronze hands on the sculpture. The first time I counted, I got 11. The second time, I got 15. The third time, I got 13. Greg had something similar. So we went with unlucky 13 and got our stamp, but I'm not sure the judge even knew how many there were. We probably could have told him anything.
The next clue was a statue of a famous brickmaker outside a government building. When we got there, we had to find a brick with our team number from a huge pile and pose with the gentleman. As we were representing the number 23, Greg proposed that we stick out our tongues in honor or MJ...or maybe we were just showing how thirsty we are at this point. Greg took a couple of minutes to line up the bricks side by side so the numbers were hidden to make it more difficult for the other competitors before we moved on.
The next destination was a coffee bar. We thought we would just run in and get a stamp, but they made us play Toss Across, throwing beanbags at a tic-tac-toe board with spinning letters. Instead of X's and O's, we had to get three in a row of tiles with the event logo on it. I gave it a shot, but must have been enjoying the air conditioning a little too much, because my tosses were way off. Greg finally got three in a row after about five minutes (though it seemed like 20), and we got our picture taken with the shop logo and headed back out into the heat.
The next clue took us to a city park, where we had to find a sculpture called Nun 2. When we got there, we had to re-create the sculpture out of PlayDough, which was about 90% melted. I did the best I could. Notice the wedding going on in the background...I'm sure the bride and groom loved hearing some version of "We are gathered together...WOO HOO! I FOUND IT! QUICK, GET THE PLAYDOUGH!" 53 times.
We next headed over to the W-S Journal, where we had to pull out our previously-purchased copy of that day's paper. When we bought the paper there was a clue in the box to get to the next destination.
Then we headed over to the Downtown Library, where we had to use the poem we created from the clue to find a certain room. Once there, we had to find a patron with a library card and get our picture taken with it. Then they checked the accuracy of our poem (which we had to write in our passport) before they would give us a stamp. I had done it perfectly, so we were on our way. As we passed other competitors on the way out, Greg and I had a strategically loud conversation about other places around downtown we had found clues in order to throw them off. I'm not sure we fooled anybody, but I remember thinking that with such deceptive tactics, it was a good thing we had not dressed as missionaries. 
Speaking of which, despite the fact that we didn't dress in a shirt and tie, by this time I was laboring a little on our jogs between clues. Greg has done his share of triathlons, and has considerably more endurance than I do, especially in 100-and-whatever degree heat, so I had to slow to a walk a few times. And because of our urgency once we got on the trail, neither of us got out that bottled water. I did do my part by jogging in the shade or on a downward slope, but I could already see Greg making a spreadsheet to show me how much time I lost us when this was all said and done. I think this picture at the Farmer's Market shows exactly how we are feeling.
This next one is our last clue, the one we had only partially figured out. We showed up there and told the judges what we thought the answer was, and got rejected. So we had to head over to this artsy Imagination Wall and figure out what two-letter word was keeping us from the finish line. After about five minutes, I finally figured it out. The judge told us that some people had spent 45 minutes staring at that wall before epiphany struck.
After our final clue, we ran over to Finnegan's Wake, where we crossed the finish line in just under two hours. We spent about an hour on the clues and about an hour running around downtown. Since we had done the bonus work with pictures of sponsors, we got 15 minutes knocked off our final time. We learned that the couple who finished first and arrived about nine minutes before us had not done that, and the threesome who arrived about 90 seconds before us had. So they ended up finishing first, Greg and I finished second, and the couple who actually arrived first came in third. We sat in a nice shaded area behind the bar and guzzled water and talked to the other early finishers about their race experience. The fourth-place group didn't come in until about twenty minutes later, so we had plenty of time to relax and bask in the glow of a top-three finish.
Over the next couple of hours, the rest of the teams straggled in and Nicolle and Shelley showed up with our daughters for the awards ceremony. In the meantime, I took a couple of pictures of other team's costumes. This duo, called SheerLuck Holmes, came in 5th but won Best Costume:
Here is a picture of the top three teams. The girls on the right came in first, Greg and I second, and the tennis couple in third. Notice the team numbers we're all wearing. The section of the registration line from #21 to #24 ended up being the top finishers (#22's teammate dropped out, so they let her join up with team #21, which made sense since they're all sisters).
Here are Greg (and Clara) and I (with Shaelyn) accepting our second prize winnings: $50!
Enough to cover our cost of registration and buy a pack of gum or two. Actually, all proceeds outside of the prize money went to a local charity, so we were glad to be a part of it. I just can't help thinking that Greg isn't wondering if he would be slightly richer if he had a partner who was in better shape. We came in only about 90 seconds behind the girls who won, and I can think of at least 90 seconds where I was holding a cramp in my side while he was running circles around me. If he ever brings it up, I'll blame it on the fact that I went with a black shirt instead of the lovely lime-green t-shirt we all got for participating.
All in all, we had an absolute BLAST and are ready to go for a million dollars on the real show. Despite my jokes about Greg on his laptop and the thoughts he surely had about what a fatty he got stuck with, we worked together like a well-oiled machine and had a really good time. If we ever did go on the show, we would try to manufacture a little Nate & Jen-esque drama for the cameras though, I'm sure.
So that was the first annual SCENE in Winston-Salem. They say they're going to do this again next year, but in 2009 it will be in the Fall. Living and learning, I like it. I don't know where we'll be in 16 months, but I don't see any reason why Greg and I wouldn't go back and defend the title that almost was.
