the great urban race of LA

after weeks & weeks of waiting, judy & i finally made it out to the great urban race of LA! we schlepped over to pershing square park, and we were greeted by the sight of 480 teams, some of which were dressed up in some CRAZY outfits. it was awesome and it totally got us revved up for the big day! dressed in santa monica classic t-shirts, red headbands, and red wristbands, we were SO ready to go. : )

a little after noon, we picked up our packet of clues from one of the race volunteers, and we proceeded to plop down for our strategy session. we had 12 clues (1 of which we were allowed to skip), and we picked out which ones we needed to dial a friend for. thanks to dave and my little brother (and their google prowess), we were able to figure out a whole bunch of clues. for the rest, it was all GIRL POWER!!

even with judy's bum leg, we were still able to move pretty darn quickly. and the great thing about the race was that it really got you to check out random parts of LA that you wouldn't otherwise see. (granted, i'd actually seen a lot of it schlepping around w/jenn last year to watch david during the LA marathon!) plus it was awesome to see so many folks in the orange race shirts! it really seemed to make the city a little smaller.

it also made anyone who's usually in a car realize how tragic the public transportation system really is. and with the protest in hollywood, and the enusing traffic, it was even harder to get around than usual. thankfully, judy & i were more about having fun than killing ourselves to get to the finish line. so we definitely made a point of checking out the cool architecture & design of the subway stations, and the yummy smells wafting from the street carts.

from judy's point of view, the race definitely gave you new perspective on the sights & sounds of LA. there are things you'd simply never notice from the driver's or passenger's seat of a car. on the one hand, this can be great. like the cute shops and eateries on olvera street. on the other hand, this can be sobering. like the dirty, poop-covered paths in macarthur park. as always, i can't help thinking that LA simply isn't the city for me.

that being said, it was still a great race. judy & i weren't quite sure we'd make it to our last stops in time, but we got all of our clues completed by 4:56PM, and we got checked in at the finish line by 5:15PM. WOOHOO!! the announcer indicated that the first team completed the event w/in 3 hours and 9 minutes, so we didn't feel *too* bad. (especially since we'd been told that teams completed w/in 2 hours in prior years. i mean, seriously?!) that and the fact that there were teams who came back WAY after they'd shut down the check-in tables. i'm sorry, but even though i don't need to be first, i DEFINITELY don't want to be last!

we're thinking they should've extended things by another hour, but i swear we would've died from starvation if we'd had to wait any longer to eat. throughout the entire day, we met a ton of people who hadn't eaten in the morning. and we ourselves had (somehow) thought we'd be finished w/in 2.5 hours. OBVIOUSLY, we were delusional.

so to treat ourselves, we schlepped off to sizzler's after the race. and i got to have my lip-smacking ribs. mmm.... (who remembers that infamous taste of santa monica?!) a great way to end a great day. pics will soon be posted on FB! and for those who care, i'm seriously thinking of heading back to nyc for the one in august!!

http://www.greaturbanrace.com/
http://www.sizzler.com/