The Great Urban Race - Part 1

What a fun experience the Great Urban Race was! It involved three of my favorite things: Trivia, Running and being with Brian. I knew I was in for a good time. The race would start and end at Sliders restaurant in downtown Phoenix.

At 12 noon, all the 166 teams of two were given sealed envelopes with the clue. At the signal, we all opened the envelopes together. The first thing we did was sit down in the shade of Chase Stadium, call our phone-a-friend, Allen, for help on the clues and try, without a decent map, to map out our course for the day.

We decided on the closest task below.

Clue 8. Take a photograph of both teammates posing in front of the statue shown.

After just describing the image to Allen, he was able to find out that the location for this sculpture by John Henry Wadell was in front of the Herberger Theater Center, a half mile away. I think I picked the right phone-a-friend! My sister Meliza was also on standby, but I called her later that we should be good.



From the Herberger Theater we decided to run the 0.6 miles to the Phoenix Market.

Clue 12. Find Doug Atkins in the Phoenix Market. Return to the finish with a drawing from this artist. This challenge is only available from 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm! Strategize accordingly.

We were 5th in line for the artist when we got there. He was taking a very long time to sketch a picture for each team, that by the time we were done, there may have been more than 10 teams behind us. He drew us a daisy and we headed to the Phoenix light rail stop at Roosevelt. This was less than a quarter mile away and we can see the train about a quarter mile south of us. We had to sprint just to make it to the stop in time. It was a close one.

We got off the train at the Encanto/Central stop in order to go to the Heard Museum (clue 10), but accidentally ended up following other racers 1/2 mile north to Clue 6.

Clue 6. Find Honey Bears BBQ on Central Avenue. There will be an ear of corn waiting for you in the dining area. Take a picture of all teammates with a completely eaten and bare corn cob. The bare corn cob must be clearly visible in the picture.

We decided to double back to the Heard Museum clue.

Clue 10. It exists today because of Maie, but to go in here you'll have to pay. It'll educate you on peoples of the Southwest. For places like this, it's considered one of the best.
Take a picture of all teammates in front of the abstract stone "person" on this property.

We noticed other racers coming out of a street from behind the Heard Museum and knew another clue must be back there somewhere. We ran the 1/2 mile to Monterey Park for Clue 11.

Clue 11. Find the GUR volunteers at Monterey Park. You must complete the challenging Horse Shoe Puzzle. You must get this clue sheet stamped twice, once when removing the ring and another after the puzzle is returned to its original form. Note: A phone-a-friend may be helpful for this clue!

We didn't think of calling our phone-a-friend for this. But I was able to solve this with about 5 minutes of frustration. When BT asked me how I did it, I joked to him saying "engineering".

We didn’t check the time at all, but so far, we had finished 4 clues and have run 2.8 miles and we still had 7 more clues to go!

Race Day

Items to Bring

During the race you must have the following:
1. A fun attitude! - CHECK
2. A sense of humor! - CHECK
3. Digital camera. - CHECK
4. Cell phone. oOOps! I wonder if I charged it. Nope - just one bar of battery life left. Let's see how much charge I can get in one hour...
5. Pen and paper. ooo...lucky I'm going through this list. OK. CHECK.
6. Identification. - CHECK
7. Matching uniforms (provided race t-shirts are okay). CHECK
8. $10 or more in cash. - CHECK

Up to you:
1. Water / snacks. - CHECK
2. A backpack. - CHECK
3. GPS. - NO
4. Maps. - CHECK
5. Guidebooks. - NO
6. Laptop. - NOPE

Alrighty. I think we're ready to go!

The Great Urban Race

Brian and I will be running the Great Urban Race this Saturday in Phoenix. It's sort of like a high tech Scavenger Hunt that you run in teams of two - answering clues, performing tasks and taking pictures along the way.

Having only lived in the valley for 4 years and spending most of that time in Scottsdale, it'll be a great way to learn about Phoenix. Unfortunately, not knowing much about Phoenix may be our downfall. I'm going to have to pick up a few maps to study before Saturday.

I have to make a good showing in this race! We learned about this race from Brian's ex-girlfriend, Yoko. Yoko and her team mate, Annelise placed first in 2008's Great Urban Race in San Francisco. That whole ex-girlfriend-thing can bring out the competitive edge in anyone. Don't get me wrong, I love Yoko!!! And I'm so glad she told us about it. This is the picture of them at the finish line last year.

Who knows, if BT & I place in the top 25 teams, we just might be meeting Yoko and Annelise in the Championships in New Orleans at the end of the year! Woohoo!

But I'm getting ahead of myself...

The "Pre-Race Tid Bits" email says, "This race should challenge you mentally and physically. You may struggle to answer some of the questions, you'll cover lots of ground on foot, and you may even be nudged out of your comfort zone - expect some interaction with strangers.

It'll be beneficial to have a phone-a-friend available during the race - it wouldn't hurt if he/she is a superstar Googler."

I'll have to thank Allen Cook and Meliza Sumortin for being willing to sit around on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in front of a computer for offering to be my phone a friends in case we can't find any free wi-fi in Phoenix.

We will be racing in matching Blue Survivor Buffs. I don't even remember the Team name we settled on. It was a couple months ago and I don't remember getting very creative with the team name. But, oh well. At least we have the obligatory matching outfit. Being that the temperature in Phoenix will be in the mid-eighties on Saturday, I will most likely be wearing it as a tube top, while BT sports a skull cap/headband. The buff even came with this little instructional insert "How to Wear a Buff":



I'm not sure it I can fit it in, but I may live-tweet the race (http://twitter.com/jainz57). I'll see if I can get Meliza to live-tweet for me.

Wish us luck and stay tuned for a post-race report.

I'm Ready to Rock!!

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

I'll be running my second Marathon, the PF Chang's Rock N' Roll Marathon in Phoenix/Tempe/Scottsdale. Track my progress at http://www.liveraceresults.com/liveelite/Default.aspx

I'm bib # 8567

You can also track my friends, if you know 'em, or if you don't and just enjoy stalking people...

Allen Cook - #8648
Ryan Burke (half marathon) - #29530
@zstruck - #7027

Last year my pace was 13 min miles (ugh!) and finished in 5:42. Let's see if I can set a PR (Personal Record). I'm hoping to be all done before the Cardinals and Eagles Kick off.

GO CARDS!!!!!! Go all my buddies running tomorrow!!! Go me! :P

I may also be live tweeting at http://twitter.com/jainz57 (maybe...)

Time to Taper

And the countdown begins.
12 more days until the PF Chang's marathon. My schedule calls for a 4, 3, 4 and 8 mile week. I feel like I have so much time on my hands that I don't know what to do. This leaves me with way too much time to think. Too much time to think about the challenge ahead and what mistakes I made at last years marathon. Then, how am I going to over come those mistakes this year.

My stream of conscientiousness.
I can't believe the minutia that flows through my head during this time. "What am I going to eat for breakfast before the race...I better not drink too much coffee or I'll have to take too many bathroom breaks...I wonder if they make adult diapers for marathon runners...they make them for astronauts...what should I wear...what should I eat the night before...why am I doing this again..."

I'm running how far?
I know, it's far, but what really bugs me is the elevation gain. I remember running up Indian School Road last year and thinking, when is this hill ever going to end??? So, today I decided to look at my elevation profile from my 20 miler and compare it to the race elevation profile.



I gain a maximum of 200 ft in elevation over the course of 2.25 miles. The actual race has a 130 ft elevation gain over 7 miles. I guess it's not much of a gain, but over 7 miles!! No wonder I felt like the hill never ended.



I know, I know, all you experienced racers are laughing at me. Compared to other marathons, Phoenix is fairly flat. But a hill is a hill. Doing this little analysis will help me get it through my head that I'm ready.

I am ready...right?