We did! Alex and I came in 4th out of 500 teams on Saturday afternoon, much to even our own surprise. We woke up bright and early on Saturday, headed over to Webster Hall and started the race around 10 a.m. The place was packed—over 1,000 people showed up!
We needed to finish 10 out of 30 possible tasks. Over the next 3.5 hours we completed the following:
1. Find 9/10 things on a the city chase list before you can even get your clue sheet. What?! How am I going to find a live animal? Sasha where are you? Or a stranger who is the same height as you, like this lady:
2. Hopped on a train to the spy shop on 34th street. Over walkie talkies I had to tell Alex how to find spy cams in the store.
3. Headed over the Joshua Tree on 3rd avenue. All those months hanging out at that lame bar is going to pay off I thought. Um, what? There’s another a Joshua Tree? ON 46th STREET on the WEST SIDE? Gawd!
Cross town bus to 8th Avenue and hoofed it up to an even lamer Joshua Tree and had to take photos of us getting kissed by two people simultaneously; swap my shirt with someone else—take a before and after photo; simultaneously share food with someone else; shake hands with someone in a uniform and get a piggy back ride from someone.
4. Headed downtown to an art gallery near 14th street where we had to create some painting and pitch it to the gallery owner. He wasn’t really buying, but he finally gave in.
5. Jumped on the F to the East Side Company Bar (awesome bar btw), where Alex had to fish for change in a bowl of hissing coach roaches and I had to hold an 8 feet long albino python, named Butterscotch, down my shirt* while he finished finding his change.
6. Ran up to Mason Dixon where I rode a bull (yes, again). And downed a beer—that will help with the next task…
7. Which was karaoke at Arlene’s Grocery where we offered our best rendition of Living on a Prayer. After we finished, the guitar player said “can we take that song off the list?” Why? Because we were so awesome?
8. Off to find something that sells meat pies. Ran past it—and then back again, where Alex had to throw back a pie filled with chicken hearts. The judges were so impressed with his speed.
9. Up to Crif Dogs! Remember the menu and then recite the ingredients in a… Chihuahua dog. Er. Cream cheese? No?! Back to remember the menu again! Ok, got it. Sour cream! Jalapenos! This place is racist!
10. Time to find something called Lucky on Avenue A. We ran all the way to 14th street before we realized we headed in the wrong direction, so we headed back down again and found some bar where we need to beat box. I am not kidding. I mean, have you seen my itunes? Ugh. I was awful. I pretty much sounded like I was making fart noises the whole time. Alex was awesome though. They even tried to make me freestyle! FREESTYLE? I don’t even know what that means.
We finally finished our 10 tasks in 3.5 hours and we were racing back to the finish line at Webster Hall. We assumed tons of teams were in front of us, but as we got up to the hall, everyone standing around said “You’re the 4th place team! Go upstairs!” So we ran upstairs, clocked in, had a few beers and then headed home to celebrate with our secret weapon homebase (aka Micah at his computer).
Sweaty Team Kane Street.
* Have I ever mentioned that I made “snake stomping shoes” in my 3D art class in college that had nails for traction? I really hate snakes (but this one was actually super nice).
