The Fourth of December found Jonathan and I running in our fourth Urban Dare Race. It was a decidedly windy day, but the temperature was not too bad. We drove around downtown Ft. Worth scoping out potential targets for the race, just as we have for previous races. We did, however stop by the bus station to purchase bus passes and to get maps for the routes. We really were planning to use the public transportation system to shave some time (which is allowed for the races).
We then proceeded to the starting point of the race- the Magnolia Motor Lounge- a very cool new restaurant near 7th street in Fort Worth. There were a few teams there and they just kept coming. We knew right away that this race was going to be huge. Usually we stay at the meet-up location until the start of the race, but this time we headed to a nearby field to await the trivia questions that would get us going.
As usual, there was a costume contest. My question? Who wants to run around downtown Ft. Worth dresses as Avatars or Ballerinas? The winners were a couple dressed in golfing attire- their team name "Foreplay".
The anticipated trivia questions never occurred, so everyone scrambled to grab sheets of clues from the nearby helpers.
Our first clue was very familiar:
December 4, 2010 (Clue 9)Get your picture with Miro's woman addressing the public
This clue was used on the previous Ft. Worth Urban Dare. We decided to get there and get away from the crowd (which has been extremely helpful in past races. We started calling our support to help with the clues along the way (my mom and sister, Jonathan's mom and Dad- who were quite helpful yet again).
Then we headed across the street to the site of our second clue:
(Clue 7) Do you suppose he really never met a man he didn't like? Go to his statue for your wheelbarrow dare.
On the way to the statue of Will Rogers, we started to cross the street in between the museums in the art district and I was so busy looking to make sure there were no cars coming, that I didn't see the sprinkler head poking out of the grass. I tripped quite elaborately into the street, tucked into a SWAT team roll, protecting my iPhone the entire time and kept running.
We have never gotten to the wheel barrow portion of the race early. Jonathan's arms are usually spaghetti and I am usually about to fall over. So we wound our way through the cones quite quickly and were on our way to downtown for more clues.
We decided to try to take public transportation. The previously scouted out bus stop was next to a Christmas Tree Farm. We decided to make the most of our time waiting for the bus to take care of some of our photo clues.
(Clue 5) Photo Hunt- Get a picture of someone not in the race doing a cartwheel. Get a picture of 4 people not in the race posed as if they were shooting a bow and arow.
(5:00 minute bonus)- Get a picture of 3 people not in the race doing see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
So the bus never came. We didn't wait long before we began the 2.4 mile trek to downtown. On our way we saw folks running through the park below. We were worried that we had missed a clue. We ran through every question again and did change one answer, but it was also downtown so we knew we were on the right track.
Finally after our long run we stopped at our next spot.
(Clue 6) Save the future is a sculpture of a fireman rescuing a baby. get your picture with it.
Just across the park nearby was our next stop:
(Clue 1) Go to Burnett Park for your 3-legged dare.
There were numerous teams there and we did fairly well (though typically our worst event).
Not far away was the spot of our next clue. (Clue 10) Born September 16, 1831, he is known as the father of Fort Worth. Go to his bust for your scrabble stick dare. Using the numbers on the scrabble sticks, add up the value of the word on your passport.
This is the one we changed our answer on a couple of times. One of our helpers said this was Amon Carter, but we discovered it was John Peter Smith and this statue was at the corner of Throckmorton and 10th St. I can honestly say I don't think I even saw the statue. I just saw little sticks with numbers and that totally has my focus. Our work was Mendicant (truly a word I have never heard before). We tried adding three times before we got the right amount (111) and could head to our next clue.
(Clue 2)- The name of this restaurant means the prohibition of commerce and trade with a particular country. It reflects our trade policy towards Cuba. Get your picture in front of this restaurant.
I may not have known what Mendicant means, but I know our policy towards Cuba is an Embargo. Jonathan knew immediately where to find it.
There were teams running all over downtown. I knew our next clue would be near Sundance Square (and I knew what a topiary was too!)
(Clue 11)- Get your picture with a topiary featuring a cowboy on a horse.
Across downtown to the Courthouse where we found the site of our next clue:
(Clue 4)- Get your picture with the memorial for our military who were prisoners of war or missing in action.
You can't see much of the statue. One thing you can't really do is have good pictures in these events. You just have to hope they will accept it at the finish line.
We tried unsuccessfully to find the bus again before we headed towards Montgomery Plaza. I though Jonathan was going to kill me because I kept complaining on that run back towards the finish. He really acted as a guide on this race (as this was his city).
Our next clue:
(Clue 3)- Anita Eckberg played Syliva in this Fellini Film. Get your picture in front of the store that goes by the name of this movie.
The Movie "La Dolce Vita", the restaurant-- so far away. We chased the Blue Dudes for the couple of miles out of downtown.
Our final clue:
(Clue 8)- The name of this restaurant goes from the title of a hit song by the B-52's from their album Cosmic Thing. Get your picture in front of this restaurant.
I know this one is the LOVE SHACK Baby! I had actually eaten there with Jonathan a while back. Good burgers, good prices- I highly recommend it.
Now back to the Magnolia Motor Lounge where we found the finish line and more people than we would have liked. We finished in less than two hours;our best race yet. My friend Julia joined us at the end for a quick bite and a beer(actually there was nothing quick about it as we needed to rest for a minute).
The Race Results
Our official time-1:56:45
We finished 32nd out of 196 teams.
Total distance traveled-6.25 miles
