Ottawa CityChase Adventure Race

The lowdown of race day: which will be in point form as it is so freakin long.

8:30: got to sparks street block 2, went to bathroom
8:45: signed up, went to bathroom
9:00: got coffee, went to bathroom (nerves were really going here)
9:30: preliminaries. Wrote down useless information, hugged strangers, listened to history of city chase. Blahbidy blah.
9:55: we are told that there are clue sheets for us to follow. There will be 19 clues and we need to do 10 and then get to the finish line. Due to the amount of teams, 276, the clue sheets are at 4 different chase points (areas of importance and task). They will be read 45 seconds apart from each other. And there are only 100 clue sheets per chase point. First place was read, but it was 2km away, so we waited. Second place was read, then we started to run, but stopped because a lot of people were going there. Third place was read, we took off. Starbucks at o’connor and laurier. We ran like fools. Got our clue sheet from volunteer and immediately sat down to figure it out.
I will write out the clues in the order that we followed them. It took us about 5 minutes to figure out most of them, and which areas of town to go. We had four choices, westboro, glebe, downtown and vanier. We took a risk and decided to go westboro, glebe then downtown to finish as that was closest to the finish line. We ran like fools to the bus stop, caught the 97 and got off at westboro. We managed to beat everyone to the first chase point.
1. Rapids too big? Start your walk at the ‘head’ of the ‘trail’ in the West end.
Answer: Trailhead.
We had to don lifejackets and portage a canoe down Scott Street, turn at Island Park, down Richmond Road, down the road and back to Trailhead. On the way, we saw teams at Bushtaka so we knew we had to go there next. I must mention that hubby carried the canoe by himself and I just touched the side and we jogged most of it. We were first to finish there.
2. Good with your hands? Go to Westboro to the stop which is named for Austrailian terminology for the huge variety of herbs, and other such gourmet delights down under, to see if you are good wit wheels too.
Answer: Bushtaka. We ran back up the road to there, and we had to fix and inflate a bike tire. Then deflate it. Then we left.
3. Go to LuLu in Westboro where you can breathe deeply in yoga and appreciate the moment.
Answer: LuLu Lemon. We had to get a stranger off the street and pull them into the store and they had to look at a yoga position and then tell us how to get into that position. We snagged a pregnant lady who had no problem helping us.
4. Head to Westboro to find Posh necessities for Tinkerbell, the little canine.
Answer: Head to some pet store down the street. So we ran. There was a line up of teams, so I went to the front to check it out. You had to eat dog food and you rolled for wet or dry. A girl was taking forever to eat her wet stuff (she kept puking) so we took off. Ran up to loblaws (2km), and waited for the bus. Snagged the 2 and were on our way.
5. Purpx va jvgu gur fgnss ng cybhssr cnex.
Answer: Check in with staff at Plouffe Park. Had to call Will on that one. It was at somerset and preston behind laplante pool. Got there and found we had to throw bagels onto a pole. Impossible to do. We only had 3 chances each and then we had to leave. We didn’t make it. So we left. (note: you could have cheated. It said you only had to put your feet behind the line. People figured it out and laid down on the grass with feet behind the line and put bagel on. Grrrr)
6. ‘Head’ into the direction of the centretown purveyor of organic coffee, located on bank street for a challenge of urban proportions.
Answer: Bridgehead at bank and Gilmour. We got off the 2 at queen? Albert? And ran to Gilmour. We had to do a scavenger hunt, 8 out of 12 things. Luckily, a good friend of mine’s store was across the street so I borrowed her for ‘switching shirts with me’ and ‘smashing a tomato on my forehead’ and ‘3 recycled bottles’ (we had to buy one bottle, and one tomato), ‘called will for info on best selling bike’, traded a man a hint for license plate number for facebook page person creator and asked bridgehead info on most languages in coffee country (papau new guinea)
7. So you think you got style in the beads you wear, head to this sassy store on bank.
Answer: Sassy bead on bank and second. Had to either thread a long string with noodles or do a move called ‘thread the needle’ where you cross your leg in front, while standing, and holding your foot, jump other leg through. Hubby had it in two tries, I got it in 4. we took off.
8. (note here: we ran all the way down bank to the glebe)
.emit doog gnirrup a rof ‘mooR’ siht ot teertS knaB ot nwod ‘nuR’. Woem uoy ekam lliw tnioPesahC sihT.
Answer: This ChasePoint will make you meow. Run down to Bank Street to this Room for a purring good time. Running Room on bank and holmwood.
Ran down, drew two cards, a seven and an ace. Then ran to brown’s inlet, and discovered that hubby had to eat ½ cup of wet cat food and I got out of it with my ace. Ran back to running room, he ate it. Yuck. He drank a lot of water after.
9. It’s sad when a city loses it’s football team…twice…but at least we have the old stadium. Visit the B ball court at the park where the boys used to play and be prepared to sink it…or lose it.
Answer: basket ball court behind landsdowne park. We ran. Got to the court. It was busy. You had to sink two baskets from the line. Every time you missed, you had to take off an article of clothing. I did the first basket in four, then on the other side, I was almost out, down to my skivvies, and I sank it. Hubby only lost bag and socks and shoes. We ran away to the bus stop at bank again to catch the 7.
10.In the south Glebe, is a ‘city’ park named for the city across from ‘Motor City. Check in here for a wet and wild challenge.
Answer: Windsor Park (hubby figured this one out, I didn’t. Caught bus to Cameron and Bank, then ran to park. Had to do an obstacle course, with inside legs tied together. First had to run around pylons, kick a soccer ball into the net, jump rope 10 times properly, shoot a basket, go over and around a play structure. Then I had to lock him to a bike stand and go into the kiddie pool, with blacked out goggles and find the key to unlock him. It took 8 keys. But we did it. Then ran back to bank to catch the bus to go downtown. (note: i got crabby at hubby a few times as the running tied together didn't work well, we had no coordination and it hurt. i apologized profusely)

Now if we had managed to get the other two, we’d be done. But we still had two more to do. And it was now 12:15.

11. Gather under Shelobs belly, use your eye for detail to create a piece worthy of the Louvre.
Answer: creepy spider at art gallery. We ran from bank and Wellington to the art gallery. Yes it took forever and I was getting quite exhausted at this time. I had already pulled a hamstring at preston and had snagged some advil to feel better. We were throwing back the water, but there was never enough and eating power bars. Too sweet. Felt gross. But we kept running.
Got to the art gallery. Hubby had to go inside and find a painting by it’s name and painter. He had to memorize it, then come out and tell me how to draw it on the ground with chalk. He took about 10 minutes. He said it was in the last room he came to. We drew it.
12. Across the river, you can study the history of mankidg…or take pictures of it today.
Answer: Museum of Civilization. We ran from the art gallery all the way to the bridge, over the bridge towards the entrance. (long run. Walked half of it. It’s now 1:50)
Had to take palm pilot, learn how to use it, then ‘get 5 strangers to lie down in star formation and take a pic, ‘get 2 strangers to sing with me on video for 10 seconds, we sang le clune samuel’, ‘took video of hubby and I spelling out ‘treo’, took pic of hubby doing handstand on bridge.
Had to run back to sparks street. Do you know how long it is from the other side of the bridge to sparks street? Pretty freakin long! I was done like toast. No water left, no food left, we ran for 20 seconds, then walked for 30 seconds all the way back. It was brutal.
Then we hit the finish line.
Found out we were 5th…I was so proud of me, of hubby. It was amazing. Found out first place got in 59 minutes before us, then 2nd was 40 minutes, 3rd was 30, 4th was 3. and the four teams were marathon runners, and they had done it before….

I was thrilled. Only 1/3 of the teams finished within 6 hours. We did it in 4 and a half.

Yes, I’m exhausted still and I can barely move now. But what an experience. I loved it. I felt so close to hubby, I felt invincible and the best thing was, I never gave up…