Hurricane Sandy- A Response

Journey to New York November 14-19, 2012

Satellite of Sandy pre-landfall

Long Island Storm Surge map

Recently I was given the unique opportunity to travel to New York to help with the Hurricane Sandy Disaster Response effort. I volunteered to go and my employer the Volunteer Center of North Texas (http://www.vcnt.org/disaster/) was kind enough to allow it. As the Senior Manager of Disaster Preparedness, I work every day to prepare North Texas for large disasters and this would allow me to see a large response in a metropolitan area, while providing support to the local staff. 

Waiting at La Guardia Cab Stand

Hurricane Sandy was at Category 1 strength when it made landfall just south of Atlantic City, NJ on October 29, 2012. At 1,100 miles in diameter, it has been noted as the largest Atlantic Hurricane on record. FEMA has opened 76 recovery centers (37 NY, 31 NJ, 8 CT) and more than 453,000 people have registered for assistance. The Long Island Volunteer Center has registered 2,378 volunteers since the storm began. 

Long Island Railroad

AmeriCorps Trailer outside church

My arrival on the scene was more than two weeks after the storm and I was expecting to see blue tarps as I flew in to New York City. I was surprised when I saw none. You see in Texas, when disasters occur, they are usually tornadoes or hail and blue tarps follow quickly. I would learn later that a lot of the damage from Sandy was flooding and is devious in that you can't always see the damage on the exterior. It took two planes, a cab, three trains (though two of them were just due to my error and lack of understanding of the Long Island Railroad) and a 1/2 mile walk to get me to the United Methodist Church in Hicksville, NY. Yes, Hicksville is the name of an actual place and I have now been there. 

Matt and Phobe in the "office"

Women's Dormitory Space

I was excited to see an AmeriCorps trailer as I approached the church. I had heard there were a lot of AmeriCorps members (including FEMA corps) that were a part of the response and I had hoped to get to meet some of them. My first contact at the church was the receptionist Chris, who was quite kind to this weary traveler and showed me to a conference room to await other staff who were off-site at a meeting when I arrived. Phoebe Bicknell and Matt Lyttle from Volunteer Fairfax (Virginia) arrived a bit later to brief me on the disaster response. They had been on site since Sunday, November 11 and had been able to lay quite a bit of groundwork in their time there. They had begun to work with local emergency management to begin identifying volunteer needs and coordinate the housing situation for the volunteers staying at the church. I learned that there were about 30 people staying at the church. Some were affiliated with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) (http://www.umcor.org/UMCOR/About-Us) and were doing muck out/debris removal from homes. The other group staying there was from AmeriCorps St. Louis (http://www.americorps-stl.org/) and they were out at the FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers gathering information about community needs that volunteers might be able to address. Yes! An AmeriCorps team. 

I learned that our part of the response would be support the Long Island Volunteer Center (http://www.longislandvolunteercenter.org/), which like the Volunteer Center of North Texas and Volunteer Fairfax (http://www.volunteerfairfax.org/) is an Affiliate of the HandsOn Network (http://www.handsonnetwork.org/). It is this affiliation that allowed me to participate in this response. A few quick facts about Long Island that I learned along the way. Long Island is 118 miles long and 23 miles wide. It is comprised mainly of Suffolk and Nassau Counties. The population during 2010 census was 7,568,304 people and If it were a state it would rank 14^th in population and 1^st in population density. That means this disaster affected a lot of people over a large geography as much of the response was along coastal areas which Long Island has in abundance. 

My first night accommodations

A beautiful treat

Cafeteria/church basement/office

That first night I found a couch in the youth room of the church to sleep on as all of the floor space in the women's dormitory space next door was taken. It was more comfortable than I expected to be while on this disaster response assignment. The next morning Phoebe and Matt took me to a local bagel place so we could get breakfast before meeting with the Long Island Volunteer Center (LIVC) staff. We also stopped at a bakery for treats on our way back to the church.  I was trying to get as much information as I could from the Volunteer Fairfax team as they were both leaving that afternoon. I will admit to being a little anxious at the prospect of taking the reins from them alone. Fortunately when I met Diana O'Neill and Pat Moynihan from Long Island Volunteer Center my concerns were completely alleviated. They were wonderful 

Pat/Phoebe/Diana/Matt

and had been handling this response since the beginning. Diana is the Executive Director and Pat is a long-time volunteer. The most amazing thing about LIVC that I learned is that they are made up of 24 staff members and they are 100% volunteers. Not one of them is a paid staff member. Each and every one of them was impacted personally by the storm. Some were without power for up to 15 days, others had trees fall through their roof and nearly all of them had friends or family members that needed help with cleanup as well. Their dedication to the effort was heroic. They had been through so much and yet they were doing everything they could to help others serve the community. I was humbled to be in their presence and to help in any way I possibly could. 

New office space

The first thing I was able to actually do was to participate in the Long Island Voluntary Agencies Active in Disaster (LIVOAD) conference call. It was on this call that I learned about the larger response and the work being done in the community. I provided the report on the previous days efforts by the AmeriCorps team and that LIVC was making efforts to secure a facility to serve as a volunteer reception center. It was nice to work with the VOAD there as I am familiar with the collaboration that takes place within VOADs (I serve on four counties in Texas- Dallas, Tarrant, Denton and Collin). Many of the players were the same and the good work translated easily.  After the meeting we moved the "office" from the women's dormitory space to the youth education office as the ladies who were working in the field were being disturbed by the after hours work that needed to be done on the computer. Immediately after moving the office we headed to a meeting with a board member of LIVC in order to discuss the potential site for the Volunteer Reception Center. This site would be a place where the different groups who could use volunteers would operate. The coordination between groups is crucial to large relief operations. Also participating in this meeting was Kellie Bentz, Director of Disaster Services with Points of Light, who had facilitated my engagement in this disaster response, Bruce Bailey, Executive Director of AmeriCorps St. Louis, Gwen O'Shea, President LIVOAD, and the LIVC board member who had client contacts with regards to real estate on Long Island. Apparently real estate for such and endeavor is limited on Long Island and the coordination meeting was quite necessary. 

Work Order System Captured information from community

After the meeting I was taken back to the church to get settled and to prepare for a training that would take place that evening. Upon arrival at the church I was able to meet with Starbuck Ballner of Nechama- Jewish Response to Disaster (http://www.nechama.org/). His group has a unique specialty in that they are willing to take on spontaneous volunteers and lead them in heavy duty clean-up efforts. While the coordination was in the early stages, the Nechama group had been on the ground working in the affected communities already and were eager to partner with LIVC to put some of the 2300 spontaneous volunteers to work. 

Color coded work order needs

The training that evening was on a work order system created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. People needing assistance could call 211 to ask for help and the operator would go through a series of questions about their needs. Do they have power? Can volunteers help them with cleanup? Do they have fallen trees that need to be cleared? The operator could create the work order in the system and then relief agencies could assign themselves to the projects. The information is found on a map, so that projects could be in a concentrated area. Projects were color coded- red meant the project was unassigned, yellow meant it was assigned, green meant completed. There were also indications as to the type of work that needed to be complete. This seemed a most efficient way to get the help to the people in the impacted communities. I was happy to have the training as it may be something that could also be used in north Texas should a disaster occur.  

Water and fruit are my friends

That evening I slept on the floor of the office space. I was overcome by a terrible stomach ache. I attributed that to the poor eating habits I had acquired while on the assignment. I never drink coffee and I had 2 cups. I had been eating fast food and few healthy items at all. I resolved to take much better care of myself for the rest of the response.  More fruits and vegetable, and lots of water. This helped tremendously.

Thank you AmeriCorps St. Louis

The next morning all of the groups gathered for breakfast in the cafeteria/basement area. Each group was responsible for their own meals and had storage space in the church kitchen. I asked the AmeriCorps leader Lisa if I could give her team something at their morning meeting. You see, AmeriCorps Alums of North Texas (http://americorpsalumsnorthtexas.wordpress.com/) of which I am a part had conducted a September 11th commemoration project in which we created thank you cards to two specific groups. We made cards for Veterans and for AmeriCorps 

Opening their cards

members serving on disaster relief assignment. I was just able to give them their cards in person rather than having to mail them. I really enjoyed their smiles and laughter as they opened them. Most of the cards had been written by alums like myself who had served previously and just wanted to encourage the members during challenging circumstances. It was great to see a project through to completion.  The St. Louis group really seemed to like them and it was a good start to the day. 


Afterwards I had to make arrangements for setting up a meeting with Mary Beth Guyther, Program Officer with the Long Island 

Meeting with the Long Island
Foundation

Community Foundation. She was meeting with LIVC to ascertain the needs the community might have and to learn about the response. I had to coordinate with Karl Acker caretaker from the Hicksville Methodist Church to find a meeting space as the basement area was regularly used for a food and clothing pantry on Friday mornings during the specific time we needed to meet.  I was quite pleased to be an active participant in the meeting. I was able to provide information on the Hurricane Sandy Response (using much of

Food and Clothing Pantry 

the information provided from Phoebe, Matt, Diana, and Pat) as well as share from my previous experiences with disasters on a large scale and I also spoke of the work being done in North Texas. She had a lot of questions and the meeting ran well past the hour she had initially allotted.  Afterwards I participated in another VOAD conference call and provided updates while Sara Hamilton, from Boston Cares conducted training with Pat and Anna Lyons (another dear member of LIVC that I met just

HandsOn Connect Training

 that day). Sara was helping them learn the finer points of HandsOn Connect a Salesforce based system that would allow volunteers to sign up for posted service opportunities.  While LIVC had already been using this system, Sara knew all of the bells and whistles and helped Anna and Pat learn more tricks of the trade to make it easier to post things and to get some templates made for upcoming posting with the Nechama group and others. 

Such a blessing

I am immensely grateful to Pat for taking me in for the next three days. While the church was a kind and considerate 

My home away from home in NY

accommodation, I was blessed to be provided with an actual bed to sleep in in her beautiful home in Cold Spring Harbor, NY.  She and her daughter (law student extraordinaire) allowed me to stay in their guest room.  That evening Pat took me to a local pizza place where I was able to get "real" New York pizza. As we drove to her home she showed me the giant trees that had fallen all around and that had at one time taken down power lines and blocked roadways.  There were piles and piles of wood everywhere. People in the area won't exactly be looking for firewood this winter. 

AmeriCorps St. Louis
builds a registration area

Tools for cleanup efforts

Volunteers of all ages and ethnicity

Handing out
personal protective equipment
like gloves and dust masks

The next day (Saturday, November 17th) as there were no meetings scheduled for LIVC and Diana and Pat were otherwise committed I made arrangements to go to Long Beach with the AmeriCorps St. Louis group.  I was quite excited to get a chance to be "in the field" with an AmeriCorps team and to be working directly with volunteers. The team was setting up an area for registration when Pat dropped me off (not only did she provide a roof over my head, she was also an amazing chauffeur).   I was surprised to find the Indiana Department of Homeland Security had a mobile

Sending volunteers
out to do surveys

Long Beach grid for
volunteer assignments

command center and several trailers of supplies on the site. A group I had never heard of called Humanity First (http://www.humanityfirst.org/ an organization started by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community) was leading the efforts to get volunteers out to help

with the response. There were 6 main projects for the day- home cleanup, street cleanup, beach cleanup, donations sorting, feeding with the Red Cross, and door-to-door surveys in conjunction with the police department. Next 

Command Center from 

Stuff  in the stands of the
ice rink

door to the Volunteer Site where I was working was the Ice Skating rink where they were taking donations of all kinds. The piles of donations were taller than my head and completely filled the stands. Volunteers were working furiously to sort through things, but I don't believe and army of volunteers working night and day would be able to get through all of the stuff that was in that ice rink. Like ever. I find donations management to be a particularly difficult part of any disaster. People mean well and want to help, but dealing with the stuff while maintaining health standards is virtually impossible . It's a mess. However, I did get some ideas that might help with donations management planning in North Texas from the Volunteer Fairfax team. 

Debris moved to the curb
 in Long Beach

Piles of Debris in Long Beach

More than 500 volunteers came through the area that day and were assigned to projects. I was struck by the religious, ethnic and diversity of ages that were participating. I saw everyone from Southern Baptists to the Church of Scientology (who have very fancy jackets). Little kids to older folks. Everyone pitching in as best they could. 

Long Beach 

What moved me the most was the smiles on the faces of the 
volunteers as they dropped off tools and gloves. People who did not know each other at the beginning of the day were laughing and joking with one another at the end of the day. It seemed as if they did not want the day to end. I loved working with the AmeriCorps St. Louis team. They reminded me so much of the National Civilian Community Corps Teams I had worked with years before. They seemed like such a close and cohesive team that truly enjoyed working with one another. They also seemed to be very low key and flexible when it came to disaster and that is incredibly crucial. Every time the situation changed, they adapted and did so with positive attitudes and eagerness. 

Damaged pier with debris on shore.

Tree in local park near
Cold Spring Harbor

Sunday, November 18th our schedule started a little later in the day, so Pat took me around to see some areas that had been impacted by the storm. I got to see the beach and a pier that had been damaged by the storm with parts washed up along the shore. I was thankful to get to several beautiful areas of Long Island, but it was marred by reminders of the storm along the way. The rest of the day was spent in the office at the church working on posting volunteer opportunities, following up with organizations who needed support and helping to create reports on the LIVC response from the early stages of the disaster.  

Long Island VOAD Long Term
Recovery Committee Meeting

Monday morning began with a meeting of the Long Island VOAD Long Term Recovery Committee (LTR). It was very well attended with approximately 45 people representing about 40 agencies present.  It was nice to put faces with the names of all of the people from the conference calls. I really enjoyed seeing Gwen again who ran a very informative and efficient meeting. Topics included unmet needs, donations management, matching funding with needs, disaster mental health, disaster case management, an overview of some FEMA programs, and discussion of upcoming training for long term recovery. There was also an application process for participation in the LIVOAD Long Term Recovery Committee and a request for volunteers to lead these efforts.  While it was still early in the process for LTR, I was encouraged by the 

participation and knowledge of the people in the room. 

Long Island Volunteer
Center office

Long Island Volunteer Center

After the meeting Pat took me to see the actual Long Island Volunteer Center. Their office is on the fourth floor of a home that had been converted into office space primarily used by lawyers. I was glad to have gotten the chance to meet Anne who was there answering phone calls and returning messages. Pat and Anne swapped stories of the disaster with one another as most of the staff had been scattered throughout the response. While each of them took on different responsibilities, I got the sense that just seeing each other and sharing was comforting. In fact, this was the sense I got in each of the meetings I had participated in. That they all really liked working together and their compassion for the community was overwhelming. They absolutely had frustrations and most of them were uncertain as to where the next stage of the response would take them, but they were determined and wouldn't give up.  

One of hundreds of
fallen trees

After stopping by the office, Pat then showed me the neighborhood where Diana lived where the trees looked as if they had been knocked down by angry giants walking down the street. One after another we saw the remaining trunks with root balls the size of small cars sticking up out of the ground. The trees had ripped up sidewalks and in at least one case ruptured a gas line that caused a fire in a home less than a block from Diana's. I just admire the determination it takes to sustain a response with the reminders constantly surrounding you. I have helped with disasters many times, but never one while being personally affected. 

Me and Diana

Me and Pat

As she drove me to the airport at the end of my time with the Long Island Volunteer Center, Diana told me a story of the scallop shell that is the symbol for the LIVC. It is a symbol from the Camino de Santiago which is a large network of ancient pilgrim routes across Europe and coming together at the tomb of St. James. People take the journey for many reasons and must rely on the kindness of others to take them in and help them along the way. At the end of their journey they receive a scallop shell to symbolize the journey.  I was allowed to pick my scallop shell to commemorate the end of this journey. 

I was reluctant to leave. They had just gotten the approval to begin the process to open the Volunteer Reception Center the day I was leaving. I knew they had a long road ahead of them and I wouldn't be there to help. I know the support I provided was valuable, but it certainly wasn't as much as I would have liked to have given. I assured them they could contact me if there was anything I could do from back in Texas.  I hope they do. 

31 days of simple service



Class Tracking Poster

This month marks the 15th year of serving my community (though that community location has changed a time or two). It all started when I joined AmeriCorps *National Civilian Community Corps on October 1, 1997. While I continue to serve, I feel I have gotten a bit off track from the true joy of it. This past year I experienced something I had never felt before. I had been participating in a project consistently for 9 consecutive years and it had become drudgery and obligation and I was really not serving anyone well. So I did something I never thought I would do...I quit. Just like that. Turned in my key and said "best of luck". Now there were other things going on and the leadership had changed and while I still believe in the mission of the organization, I could not actively participate and still really like myself. It had gotten pretty bad. I had come to realize there was absolutely no joy in the project any more. After 9 years of hard work, I realized I had nothing more to offer. So this brings me to this month of simple service. I was prompted to begin this journey by a challenge offered up at my yoga studio. The challenge had two parts, set a goal for the month of October and participate in 23 yoga classes. I decided that my goal would be Complete 31 days of service in the month of October in order to celebrate my 15 years of service. Reconnecting with that which means so much to me I did the cliche thing and looked up service in the dictionary. The first definition will work quite nicely- Service- an act of helpful activity. Each day I will keep my eyes open for opportunities to serve. Some days I will already have planned what to do, others I will wing it and hope something comes up. It shouldn't be too hard as I work for a volunteer center and I live in a city with a plethora of needs. What will count? Anything I want really. The point isn't to check off the list. It's to serve intentionally and with some sense of WANTING to be helpful.

Day 1- I couldn't start this without planning for day 1. So I gathered up my recycling and dropped it off. You may say it has taken me a month to do this one as I recycle every day. But that really is the point. I recycle. I have a separate receptacle at home and I use it for paper, plastic, aluminum and glass. It's not hard, but it does require attention regularly. Also, I picked up the newspaper off the sidewalk as I went into the office rather than walking over it. That one made me grumble a bit, but for no good reason. Someone has to do it.

My Volunteer Susan

Day 2- I have a wonderful volunteer that works with me named Susan. We made plans to go to a surplus store to look at bicycles. These are left behind by students after the semester is over and they sell them for $40. Susan found a great cruiser with a basket on it and I helped her transport it to the bicycle shop. I enjoy having Susan's help with recruiting volunteers, so any opportunity to help her is just a bonus. Also, donated some sharpies to the yoga studio for tracking classes in the month of October. Just wanted people to be able to make the tracking poster pretty.

Red Cross Training Class

Day 3- I serve as a volunteer partner at the American Red Cross. That means I help a staff member and provide backup in emergency situations. Jonathan (the Red Cross staffer) asked me to attend a pilot training for New Employee/Volunteer Orientation and Disaster Services Overview. He wanted my perspective on the class and to show me what the content might be as an instructor for them. It was interesting to see what they had put together and I got to see several friends and some of my favorite volunteers that I had not seen in a while. It also reconnected me to the reason I volunteer for the Red Cross. They have a unique culture in regards to volunteers and I love that you can't easily tell the difference between paid and volunteer staff. The fact that they have 97 volunteers for every 1 paid staff member is exciting to me. More organizations should follow this lead in my opinion. Also, brought stickers to yoga for the poster because as adults we don't spend nearly enough time playing with stickers.

Day 4- Much more of a challenge today. Just irritated with some co-workers and not feeling much like serving. It happens. I ended up staying a little late staring at a spreadsheet and prepping for a meeting the next day. Was in a rush to leave and my last stop was the work room to grab something off of the printer. When I got there I realized I had the opportunity to be the tiniest bit considerate. I could refill the paper in the large copier. So that's what I did, a small helpful activity that I should probably do more often.

Day 5- Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters, pretty self explanatory title. These are the non-governmental organizations (some faith based) that help communities before, during and after disasters occur. I participate in four of these VOADs as a part of my job. You might say “wait a minute isn’t this supposed to be about service?” Well you are correct, but the reason I am in my field is because my job is service. I chose my current position because it blends my passion for service with my need to eat and have a roof over my head. Besides my job is to attend such meetings, not to take on leadership roles necessarily. However, for Tarrant County I have become the secretary, which means I am a member of the executive committee and I help set the agenda and take the minutes and make sure people are kept informed about what is going on. On this day we held a meeting and it was a notable one because our president stepped down. She was a great leader for us, and the organization has grown stronger this year because of it. But her opportunities dragged her away to Longview, so we are going to have to replace her. The meeting went well and we had some new members join and others expressing interest.

Me N Maddie

Gabe and Elijah

Day 6- My brother and his wife went to a conference with their church. I had the distinct pleasure of helping the grandparents watch over their three beautiful children the ENTIRE weekend while they were away. I don’t often get to spend time with my nephews and niece (Gabriel 8, Elijah 5 and Madeline 2), but this weekend was full on Aunt Lisa time and we had a blast. Birthday parties and watching the Avengers movie may not sound like service, but when you are watching kids and are not used to doing it over several days it is WORK.

Day 7- While in Oklahoma I got the opportunity to help my brother Mickey install a toilet in his new home. I know you are thinking GLAMOROUS life, right? I enjoyed the opportunity to help out as I had helped install some before when I was in Alaska with AmeriCorps. Also, it was the first time I was able to see his new home. It was a family bonding moment as well, but dad or Mick will have to tell you that story.

Proud Homeowner

Day 8- Serving always makes me grateful. Expressing true thankfulness for what you have been given and how others have served or provided is important. I decided this day would be a day of gratitude, so I wrote 5 thank you cards.
1. Jess- the owner of the yoga studio Super Yoga Palace because I am extremely grateful to be able to come somewhere and feel. Be. Do.
2. Mike/Laura- the leaders of my church home group. They serve so tirelessly and I don’t think they get nearly enough thanks.
3. The Stewart Family- they welcomed me into their home for dinner and getting to spend time with Al and Chris and their amazing children (Grant, Curt, Isla, Emery) is always so special to me. Plus the food is delicious.
4. Andea- the leader of my Women’s Bible Study. She too gives so graciously and I wanted to take the time to thank her for her kindness and leadership.


Freshly painted wall

5. The City of Dallas- yes, you read that correctly. The City of Dallas has a graffiti removal program. Recently one of the structures on my favorite trail was defaced with graffiti and not the artistic cool kind. Someone had crudely sprayed male and female genitals on an area I pass each time I go for a run, walk, ride. I was so glad when they painted over it that I wanted to thank them. You KNOW they can’t get many thanks. If you every want a group volunteer project, you should consider joining them. They don’t destroy the artistic stuff and that is something I appreciate.


AmeriCorps Alums of North Texas Leaders

Day 9- In 2005 I started the AmeriCorps Alums chapter in North Texas. Ever since then I have been trying to re-engage individuals who have served in AmeriCorps in a variety of ways. Networking events- so people can get to now one another. Service projects- to help the community in some small way and to help alums continue their LIFETIME OF SERVICE. We also try to provide support to current programs with training and consultation whenever possible. Well today we had a meeting of the leadership where we planned out our next event and worked on our strategic plan. It was a lot of fun and I am eager to see how things turn out. I really enjoy working with people who enjoy service as much as I do.

Dallas VOAD Exercise

Day 10- Dallas County VOAD has a Disaster Tabletop Exercise on this day. It was facilitated by the City of Dallas and was a very eye-opening experience. I learned a lot about how the city and county hope to work with the agencies that are a part of the VOAD to help people in times of emergency. This event reminded me why I am in the field I am in and why I do what I do. I truly hope that the work we do to prepare will ultimately make the community safer and better able to handle a crisis when one occurs.

Day 11- Upon review of my calendar I cannot think of a single service I provided to anyone on this day. Unfortunate.



Edward gets a corndog

Day 12- I have a dear friend, Nancy, who has a little boy, Edward (5), she is raising on her own. I love this kid. Each year he asks if I am taking them to the Texas State Fair. Each year I do. The kid had three goals for this adventure. He wanted to see the giraffe. He wanted to eat a corn dog and he wanted to play a game. We managed to see the giraffe and eat a corn dog, but they had some weird game playing system where you had to buy a card that was expensive, so we didn't end up playing. Two out of three ain't bad.

Day 13- I started writing a letter to my cousin who is in prison. I haven't sent him anything in months. He's a year younger than me, but is more like a brother than a cousin. We were very close growing up. He got caught up in drugs and has been in an out of jail most of his life. I got a letter from him, so I decided to write back.

Day 14- One thing you notice when you start regularly riding a bike is that there are a lot of hazards out there. Squirrels, little kids on bikes and especially large sticks that end up in your path. I went for a walk/run this day and threw sticks off the side of the trail. There had been a storm the day before, so there were quite a few.
Also, I helped serve communion at church on this day.

Day 15- I went to the store and bought a huge thing of grapes. I brought them in to the office to share with some co-workers.

Day 16- Some days it is all you can do to help someone when they ask. Our yoga teacher asked for help blowing out the candles at the end of class. So I did. At this midway point in the challenge, I felt my energy waning.  I had to remind myself that sometimes the small things mean a lot.

Day 17- This day I was contacted by a local AmeriCorps Program to help review their grant that they were writing for 2013. I was unable to help out as I intended to apply to be a reviewer for the State Commission for these grants. So instead of reviewing it, I found them a completely awesome substitute- Dhriti, who is the person I would want to review any grant I would write. So sometimes serving isn't doing the work yourself, but connecting resources. That little nugget was 100% for free.

Me n Edward at the Arboretum

Day 18- The was the day I applied for the position as a reviewer for the AmeriCorps grants for the State Commission. I don't know yet if I will be accepted, but I am excited to try. If selected I will get to see if programs are able to deliver services to the community and that AmeriCorps Members will have a good experience. 

Day 19- Nancy and I took Edward to the Dallas Arboretum to enjoy the day and to see the Chilhuly Exhibit. It was a lot of fun and was kind of exciting to "discover" the artwork hidden throughout the entire garden. It was also Fall when they have the pumpkins everywhere. Edward kept trying to find a pumpkins too big for him to sit on. It was awesome to watch him enjoy everything so much. I found out later that it was Nancy's first time to the Arboretum as well. We will definitely need to go again.

Day 20- My boss gave me free tickets to get into the Texas State Fair. I had hoped to be able to take my family as they were coming into town to see me run my triathlon the next day. Well, there just wasn't enough time to get there. I gave the tickets to Dhriti who was planning to go anyway and was going to have to buy her tickets. Also, Dhriti almost always signs me in to the yoga classes we attend together. On this day, I signed her in. Yes, it was such a momentous and rare occasion it warrants me writing about it.

 



Potluck Crew

Day 21- Dhriti and I joined several other community members for a Pay it Forward Potluck at the coffee shop Mokah which is next to Super Yoga Palace (our second home). We were there to learn more about the efforts being made in the local community to help at-risk, neglected, exploited and trafficked youth through the Letot Center www.breatheplaynamaste.org and www.letotgirlscenter.org I had heard about these work that was being done. I knew they taught yoga to the girls who were staying in the facility. I had always been curious to know more, but never took the steps to ask. It was a wonderful event where the community all brought food and asked great questions. I am excited to find a way to help support this effort in the future. 

Day 22- Once a year they offer free yoga classes at studios throughout  the Metroplex (Labor Day, September 3, 2012). At the last class of the day a guy was handing out free yoga mats and gave me one. Now, I knew I already had a mat.  The guy seemed so eager to hand them all out quickly and when he handed me one I decided I would give it to the next student who started coming to the studio regularly and who needed one.  Dhriti's friend Misty had been coming consistently and we decided that she should have it.

Day 23- There are several AmeriCorps Programs in North Texas. A few years ago the AmeriCorps Alums of North Texas started joining forces for National Service Days. Last year was our most successful year for this partnership. We hosted joint projects for Martin Luther King Day of Service and held a great Life After AmeriCorps Event with several programs participating. On this day we began our planning for 2013 and the events we would host all together.

Day 24- Another day where the act was simple. After yoga class the instructor has to lock up. Sometimes it can be a pain to try to close the security gate and hold the door open. I helped by holding the door open so she could close the gate. 

This was also the day of what I like to call my "final exam" at work. We had our annual Disaster Exercise for the Mass Care Task Force. We were testing our Volunteer Management Systems and our ability to communicate internally and with the community in times of Disaster in North Texas. While we still have a lot of work to do, the exercise went relatively well. We are inching closer to the goal of having a safer, more prepared community.

FEMA Corps visiting Texas

Day 25- I was super excited for the opportunity to speak to two FEMA Corps teams who are in Texas for training. I was invited by Jonathan Wallace of the American Red Cross to talk to them about the Red Cross and AmeriCorps Alums. It was great to see their eagerness to learn about disaster response and how the Red Cross works. I was just so curious about their experience and just to talk to them. Their program has a lot in common with the program that I was in 15 years ago. You could say it felt like many things had come full circle with this meeting. I did not get to talk to them much, but it was nice to show them around and to show them the response vehicles and supplies.  I also hope that this is just the beginning.

This was also my first opportunity to participate in the HandsOn Network Disaster Task Force Conference Call. I had recently been approved as a member of this group which is putting in place a network of volunteer centers across the nation which have a disaster component. It was great to hear the ideas shared and to talk about our Disaster Exercise which had taken place the day before the call.

Day 26- I participated in the community reviewer training for the AmeriCorps grant process today. Still don't know if I will be chosen to help out with the project, but hoping that it works out.

Another unique opportunity presented itself. I was asked to write a letter of recommendation for the Points of Light Foundation on behalf of AmeriCorps Alums of North Texas. They are applying for a grant to get AmeriCorps Alums involved in Disaster Relief. It required a pretty quick turn around, but I was happy to help. I hope the grant works out as we could certainly used more trained/experienced people to help with local and national disaster response.

SYP at Clyde Warren Park Opening

Day 27- This was the day of the opening of Klyde Warren Park. This park was built over the highway in downtown Dallas. I had been looking forward to this event for weeks. I combined many of my favorite things- a community coming together to celebrate, the great outdoors, music, food trucks, yoga, spending time with friends, taking public transportation, and fireworks. I had gotten four wristbands to attend the concert that evening. Dhriti and I wanted to invite people from our yoga studio so we could all support/celebrate Jessica who was performing. Any opportunity to bring the community closer is a good thing. So when Alicia and Craig said they were available we were excited. The best part was that they came in costume. Alicia showed off her killer make-up skills and Craig wore a home-made Storm Trooper outfit. Let me just say, you have not been to an event until you attend with a Storm Trooper. He was CONSTANTLY getting stopped by people wanting to have their picture taken with him. It was fabulous. He made a lot of little kids (and many adults) very happy when he posed with them. It was a wonderful evening and I don't know if I ever enjoyed an outdoor community event more. Trombone Shorty blew me away (pun intended). I really liked their music. Definitely would like to see them again. But the Polyphonic Spree were the highlight of the night. I had never seen them before. The only thing I knew about them is that there were a lot of them and they wore robes. It was easy to see why so many of my friends like them. Their music is light and energizing. Makes you want to go dancing through a field...wait, maybe a park. :)

Day 28- Civic service day. I voted! I never knew that early voting was a possibility. I always thought that you had to have a reason like you were going to be out of state on election day or something. I got a thing in the mail that told me the polling places and the hours, so I went after church but before the 29 Gifts yoga workshop. There was a bit of a line, but nothing like what I imagine there will be on election day. It is quite a relief to have it already done.

Day 29-Today I got another amazing opportunity. The CEO of my company sent me an email. Seems there is the training that she was invited to by the Points of Light Foundation. State Service Commissions Executive Directors and HandsOn Network Executive Directors have been invited to Spontaneous Volunteer Management Training at FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Since my CEO had a conflict, she asked if I could apply to attend instead. She was given the green light, so I submitted my application. I won't know until the end of November, but I like my chances.  I think it would be a great opportunity to learn how to work better with State Service Commissions and to see better how things will operate nationally.  



Alums at Blue Mesa

Day 30-Our monthly event for AmeriCorps Alums of North Texas was a Networking LAB (Lead*Act*Build) at Blue Mesa. Blue Mesa has great specials from 4-6:30 on weekdays. We took advantage of the free quesadilla bar and chips (AmeriCorps Alums love free stuff almost as much as AmeriCorps members). We had a good crew come out and there was a lot of great conversation. People sharing job openings, others telling of job changes, volunteer projects getting hashed out and of course telling service stories.

Day 31- My act of service today was to show my boss how to create a blog. She just came back from the Bahamas and apparently she has some stories to tell.

Reflection- I have greatly appreciated this challenge. I pushed myself and I feel much stronger because of the consistent and elevated practice. It's one thing to do 23 classes (or 30) in one month, but to attach a personal goal to it was amazing. I would not have been so intentional or so mindful of this month had it not been for this challenge. One of the most tangible effects of this experience was bringing the students of SYP closer together. I know several of the students much better from talking about the challenge and the shared experience of a common goal (23 classes).  We talked before class, after class, on facebook and even took our adventures off the mat entirely a time or two.  We encouraged one another, acknowledged difficulty and celebrated our accomplishments. I am grateful to have had the opportunity and I look forward to future challenges with this amazing community.

Triathlon

When I was in AmeriCorps I had a roommate named Jennifer. I remember being impressed when I met her because she had recently participated in a triathlon. It thought it must be fun to do one, but never felt I was in a place physically where I could do one. That was 15 years ago. On the 4th of July my friend Dhriti introduced me to her friend Christina. Christina casually mentioned that she was training for a triathlon in Denton. That tiny seed grew into a curiosity and I looked it up online a couple of weeks later. I found the Monster Triathlon and saw it was late October. So I mulled it over for a while. Then in late July just chatting before yoga class the instructor Emily mentioned she wanted to run a triathlon. So I told her about the one in Denton. She got super excited. Up to that point I had not really decided to do it, but her enthusiasm was contagious. I signed up the next day.

The next step was to figure out some sort of training plan. My friend and adopted coach Dhriti emailed a plan she found online. It required six days a week of training and many of those were a swim followed by a bike ride. Now, I know that I was going to have to do this for the race, but I did not want to repeatedly do it week after week. So when my friend Tammi sent me a training plan- http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_trainingprograms/10wtp.pdf that had a little of everything, but fewer swim to bike days and had two days off early and late in the training, I jumped on it. This really worked for me as I simply refused to cut back on my yoga classes. After all, I credit my consistent yoga practice with helping me build enough strength, stamina, and confidence in myself physically to even try this in the first place.

I started consulting my friends who had participated in triathlons before. First up was Tina. She had lots of advice. Practice the transitions, get the right gear (triathlon shorts, road bike, and good shoes.) Then Dena who made me a little nervous when she told me about her race experience. She mentioned people getting disqualified. The thought had never occurred to me. She said people got disqualified for holding on to the rope during the swim. I decided to learn as much as I could to make sure that didn't happen to me.

The next 11 weeks would find me swimming, biking and running my butt off (almost literally). I did a lot of studying as well. YouTube videos of triathlons, learning how to properly peddle and ride uphill, and helping to decide if I needed to get a road bike. The library was a resource for books on bike maintenance and swim technique dvd's. My friends were a great resource as well. Coach Dhriti kept me honest about my eating habits and would remind me to wear my helmet while biking. She also went on a scouting expedition with me to check out the race route and to test the pool. I didn't want the first time I used the pool to be the day of the race. I was immediately intimidated by the hills I would encounter on the bike ride. I counted them--7 giant hills, which actually were 14 if you consider it was going to the turnaround and back. There is a lot of equipment needed for these races. After seeing those hills I knew I needed a road bike so I bought one from Craigslist. I got goggles for swimming. Triathlon shorts (truly a great investment). No tie shoe laces (cause who wants to tie their shoes in the middle of a race?) . This triathlon stuff is an INVESTMENT. Anyone thinking of doing a triathlon should consider that there is quite a cost involved with all the stuff.

I also started studying on nutrition. I knew that I would need to eat more, but keep it smart. Carbs for energy to do the training and protein to help with muscle recovery and lots of fruits and veggies. Another heads up for those hoping to do a race like this- training for triathlons takes a LOT of time. Time to train, time to plan/buy/prepare/eat, time studying up on everything. It was as much of a time investment as it was a financial or physical one.
RACE MORNING My friend/pseudo-mom Kelly suggested I write my pre-race thoughts, so here I am 6 am day before the race. I am in bed thinking about the transitions and how to place my race number on my bike. Also, how do you pass someone while swimming? Not that I anticipate passing anyone but you never know. My family should be on the road headed this way from Oklahoma any minute. I am excited to see them and my house is pretty clean. I do need to run to the store to pick up a few things like deodorant so I am not offensive to anyone later today. I also want to hit a yoga class to help with staying loose for the race tomorrow. It's a beginner’s class, so I should be fine. Usually I would stay for both the 9 and the 10:15, but I absolutely don't want to push it too hard. I am beyond excited. I have spent a lot of time preparing for this adventure. I have logged a lot of time thinking, running, biking (especially biking) swimming and studying for this. I have all my gear, all my plans, and my own cheering section. Good friends and family who are coming to support me and many more supporting from distant sidelines. I spend a little time watching YouTube videos on transitions and stuff. Mostly reassuring as the things they show are things I have prepped for already. I need a lot of reassurance. I don't like being dropped in a situation and having no clue what is going on. A quick check of the weather says it will be 70 with a 10% chance of rain and windy tomorrow at race start time. No big deal. Since I am mentally prepared for rain if it happens and I have experienced quite a bit of wind during training. Gonna get up and eat breakfast. Singing and dancing in my car on the way to yoga. Just getting excited. Still running through things in my head, but letting go of things that are not important.

My friend/coach Dhriti gives me a gift before yoga class. The note reads as follows: Dear Lisa,
In preparation for your race, we wanted to ensure that you had all the elements on your side.
*a flower- Earth- because you're going to rock those hills
*headbands-Wind- to keep the hair out if your way
*Coconut Water- Water- isotonic to blood to keep you hydrated
*Hot Chocolate- fire- waiting to soothe you when you get home
We know you will be a rock star. And after the race, it will be one more milestone reached in October. Much love, Dhriti and Matt

Wanna feel awesome? Shaving before a race. Like you've heard all your life about swimmers doing to reduce drag. I am pretty sure my race performance will not really improve in the least, but at least I won't feel like a yeti. Picked up a rented bike rack from Richardson Bike Mart. I then accidentally dropped it (the trunk)on my head when I forgot it was there while cleaning out my car.


i texted Emily to see If she is ready for race and was pleasantly surprised when she called to talk about preparations and plans. She sounded somewhat nervous but mostly excited. She had made arrangements to pick up her packet in the morning. That would make me exceedingly nervous. I shared with her how I planned to layout everything. She told me she bought an iPod nano so she could listen to music. I told her I was going to do without. We shall see how that works out. She had also gone to check out the race venue and route. The hills intimidated her too a little I think. The morning of the race I got up before the alarm and all I could think about was whether I forgot to bring anything. My family came to town just to cheer me on for the race.

It was wonderful to have four generations of Tatums on my side. My mother made everyone Team Tatum t-shirts. My sister helped me get everything set up the morning of the race. My grandmother was part of my inspiration (cause she is absolutely awesome). I was so glad my niece was there as I always try to set a good example for her. Just to have them surround me before the race and to get caught up in their excitement made me feel like I had won before I had even started.

THE RACE I jumped out of bed and ate my breakfast. I knew I would need fuel for the race, so I had oatmeal with raisins and walnuts. Incidentally the breakfast I had eaten throughout my training. It seemed to take everyone a long time to get ready. I think I was just eager to get on the road and get to the race site. My mother drove, which was incredibly nice, but I got pretty frustrated when she missed the turn to get on the highway. My sister was INCREDIBLY reassuring at this time. It was 5:30 in the morning and the stars were still out. That was something that surprised me. I hadn't considered having to get started in the dark. We drove to Denton and I was trying to direct my mother as best I could. Then we started seeing cars with bikes attached to them. I said "my people" and told mom to follow them. We all chuckled. I remember getting caught at a red light and watching the cars with bikes pulling away. I said "this is going to be my view on the race, all those bikes leaving me in the dust". My sister chastised me and said that I was there to do the best I could and to quit being negative. She was right. (she will also love that I put that sentence in here).

Once we got there, we indeed had to set up in the dark. My sister carried my bags while I pushed my bike and we went to where they were putting the markings on people. My number 337 was written on both arms, and my left leg. On my right calf they wrote my age. I was a little surprised by this. Did I want my age on display for all to see? Not really. But it's a small price to pay. Plus, throughout the race I noticed people's numbers. When someone with a lower number passed me, I thought well at least they are younger. When someone with a higher number passed me, I was like "you go Mr. 64 and kicking my butt". My sister, being the awesome twin she is asked the marking people if they would put my number on her arm as well. I was very proud of that moment. My sister was not allowed into the transition area where I needed to set up my bike and stuff, so she waited outside the fence while I laid out my towel and my stuff. Emily was nearby and had already set up by the time I got there. She was excited and that certainly rubbed off on me.

All of our bikes were set up by race number. My neighbor, Mr. 332 was a first time triathlete as well. He looked pretty nervous, but seemed to have studied up on things and his transition area was very neat. Soon after I set things up we needed to see if there were some parking arrangements for my mother and grandmother. I had my sister speak to the police officers to see if handicapped parking could be available for spectators (she's a deputy with Tulsa County Sheriff's department and speaks cop fluently). She was able to get them a great parking spot very close to the natatorium. We also noticed that there were bleachers set up near the finish line, so they would know where to go. I was also very pleased that the natatorium had an elevator to the viewing area over the pool. I had been nervous that my family would travel 10 hours and not be able to see much. Coach Dhriti, my friend Rachel and my friend Kristin also came to watch. Just some awesome support all around. I am very fortunate. The swim portion of the race started with a lot of waiting. Everyone was to line up according to race number. Since I was in the 300's it was going to be a while of waiting. Emily and I got into line and ran into Christina (who really was responsible for all of us signing up for this race). The three of us waited in line and talked about how we all trained and watched people in the pool. Mr. 332 was there too and some other folks around us joined in the conversation. The one thing I will note about the swim is that I had no idea how it worked when I got there. I knew we were going to swim 250 yards, but were we swimming laps with other people in the lane? It wasn't until I was the first swimmer went that I realized you swim to the end of the pool and when you turn to go back, you simply dive under the lane divider and go back and forth in a zig-zag pattern until you have done your 10 lengths of the pool. In all the studying I did and all of the videos I watched and all of the people I spoke to, this was the one thing that was a mystery. They let people get into the pool (feet first required) and space people out at intervals. However, some people must have represented their swimming abilities differently as some were faster than others who went at the same time. People would get jammed up at the end of lanes trying to turn. Some people stopped altogether along the wall. It was quite frustrating for me to try to swim around people. I wanted to touch the wall and turn, but there were people in the way all the time. I will say it felt good to pass people. I was passed by my dear friend Emily which only bugged me slightly. I give credit to the swim cap she was wearing. :)

After the swim, they take your picture right as you get out of the pool. This strikes me as particularly cruel and unusual punishment. You are kind of vulnerable. Just having battled your way through swimmers and lanes and then jump out of the pool to hit the transition area. I was ready for the transition (total transition time 2 minutes 47 seconds). Put on my shirt with my number (modesty requirements for me alone) then socks and shoes. Helmet, sunglasses and then hit the road for the 16 mile bike. At first it was kind of nice. Flat road through idyllic farmlands. The sun was just rising and it was a truly beautiful morning. See the cows and the horses and the Canadian geese. Oh wait, those are fake geese. Then you start hitting the hills. 7 hills heading to Argyle Middle School and 7 hills heading back- 14 total. I lost count almost immediately. They were tough and I kept passing people on the straightaways, only to have them pass me on the uphills. Emily passed me early on and I saw she was wearing an orange shirt. I decided to try to keep her in my view if I could. As I was nearing the turn around, she passed me going the other direction. It turns out I was tracking the wrong orange shirt. This made me laugh a little. I was had been focused on a complete stranger. You play funny games when you are on a long bike ride.

About 2 miles before the end the wind was brutally in my face. It felt like riding uphill, when it was in fact very flat. One thing that made me laugh towards the end was that there were ACTUALLY vultures circling overhead. I am not being dramatic. A pretty good sized group of them. I was determined they weren't going to claim me as road kill, so I pushed on. At the end my body was very unhappy with me. It never wanted to see a bicycle seat ever again. I was actually looking forward to the 3.1 mike (5K) run. The second transition consisted of putting up my bike and taking off my helmet (Transition 2 took 51 seconds).

My cheering section was there in force at the transition area. I got a couple of high fives as I exited to the run. That was such a great feeling. My people there for ME. I saw Emily finishing as I was leaving the run. I tried to get her attention, but she couldn't hear me. My legs were heavy as I started to settle into the run. The run route is beautifully flat. The only problem is you have to do 2 laps. This is not very comforting when you are on your first lap. You just want it to end.

I struggled a little on the run. Just wanted to walk or more precisely take a nap, but I made myself keep going. Later in my first lap I saw Emily once again. Apparently she had missed that it was two laps. So she had to go again around once again. Had that been me I would have been frustrated me to no end, but she was smiling and looked like she was having a blast. It wasn't until my 2nd lap on the run that I realized I had forgotten to pull one of my shoe laces tight. I ran the whole 5k with a loose shoe. I figured if I had run that long on it loose, it could stay that way. Plus I was trying to conserve energy at that point. So I rounded the last curve and the finish line was at the top of a hill (cruel) so I started pushing it. After all, I wanted to finish strong (total run time 44 minutes 31 seconds). I loved hearing my name announced as I crossed. My sister was just across the finish line and I gave her the biggest hug ever. I may or may not have cried a bit on her shoulder. Ok, I sobbed like a baby there for a few seconds. Then I hugged my niece and saw the rest of the crew. It was such a welcoming party. People asked me if I wanted to sit down or wanted something to eat or water. I just wanted to move slowly and took my shoes off. Lots of hugs and lots of congratulations. Quite the perfect way to end a race. Emily was there and we went over after a while to have the trainer people help us stretch. This is something I would have never done on my own. I was glad she led the way because the stretch was wonderful. I attribute it for not being as sore the next day. Don't get me wrong I was sore, but not as bad as I had been during some training days. So that is my tale. It was quite an adventure. The question I get asked most often is whether I will do one again. The answer is "absolutely". I now know that I am capable and I know where my weaknesses are. Plus I have to beat my time of 2 hours and 6 minutes. Until next time...

Yoga with a Why

2011 was a very sedentary year for me. I had taken a new position for work that put me behind a desk most of the time and I didn't move around a lot. I would take little walks in the woods near my apartment, but not much else. While on those little walks I would pick up a little stone and when I got home I wrote the date on it. It was my fun little way of tracking my efforts. Through that whole year I picked up 65 stones. That means for 300 days I didn't do jack. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Well my goal in 2012 was to beat that 65. So I added a little calendar to the back of my day planner. Each day I did some sort of physical activity, I would write a little smiley face. In February a perfect storm of events occurred to bring me to start doing yoga. I had gone once the previous October with my friend Dhriti because she loved it. I would see her each day at the office and she would recount her classes and ask me to return. I promised to go back, but never did. I had found it difficult and I had always had a problem paying to work out when I had access to a good trail or an apartment gym for free. Well in February Dhriti found a new job and I would not see her on a daily basis any more. She also told me about this special being offered through Voice Daily Deals. $29 for unlimited yoga classes. It was winter and the great outdoors were being less than hospitable and I needed to get up off the couch. So I signed up.

The first time I went back in October, I wore a pair of slick track pants and a t-shirt. I slid around quite a bit and the t-shirt almost choked me when I went into forward fold. This time around I invested in a pair of yoga pants and a sports top with a built in support. I was a little worried that it wouldn't hold, but it managed to keep the right things concealed. The practice was difficult and I tried my best to keep up. I realized immediately there were a lot of things I would not be able to do. I knew I was out of shape. I knew the only way to get better was to try and so I did the best I could and learned the first and most important lesson I have learned from yoga Have compassion for yourself This lesson applies to the dreaded twisting moves which I still do not do well and has translated well into my life "off the mat". When I cannot do something, I try my best and forgive myself for not being perfect (or really even close). For the first month I had to sit down for a bit before being able to walk out of the studio and drive home. I went eleven times in February, more than making it worth the initial investment. By the end of the month I found myself enjoying it more and more, and realizing that I would be willing to invest in a healthier lifestyle. So I signed up on a monthly basis (though the rate is more than affordable). I determined early on that I could not eat dinner and then do yoga. So I waited until afterwards to do so. The strange thing is that after class I could not bring myself to pick up a hamburger or other fast food. It just felt wrong to eat junk after putting in all that work. So as a result my eating habits changed. Somewhat drastically. Fresh fruits and vegetables found their way into my shopping cart quite regularly. As strange as it sounds, I just had to eat better to make it all worthwhile. In addition to eating better I also decided to drink only water durng Lent which began February 22. This decision effectively removed caffeine from my system, which made it a lot easier to manage my energy levels throughout the day. Now I have been going for over seven months, have taken more than 115 classes and have absolutely blown my original goal out of the water (having been physically active for 184 days thus far. Because of my newfound energy and strength I have a new goal to run a triathlon in October 2012 and have already started training (more on that in a future post). I was reading a book lately that perfectly mirrored my feelings toward my studio: "This place is great because you get to mess up, to lose your balance a little, lose rhythm, get out of sync and still be okay. Except that we were moving in the same rhythm, in a room where everyone had opened up to being together in the cluelessness, and in kindness." Anne Lamott- Some Assembly Required

Urban Dare Dallas- A Cinco De Mayo Adventure

I would like to preface this post-race tale with a warning. Included in this blog are some of the worst pictures ever taken of me. Should you wish to ignore the photos and just read the story, I would be just fine with that. You would think that this being our 7th race that there would be no surprises. That we would have everything well under control and all would go smoothly. Absolutely wrong. We were thrown off from the very beginning. Did we meet up to drive the streets to familiarize ourselves with surroundings? Nope.

Did we bring our headphones/bluetooth devices to make it easier to communicate with people while running? Nope. Did we have a healthy breakfast and wear our sunscreen? Yes, yes, we did do that. (my mother reads this thing). We stopped at Baker Brothers next door for a small bite to eat before heading to the Gingerman (2718 Boll St). Upon checking in we grabbed our numbers, t-shirts and our passport. I noticed that the Scrabble word was not printed on our passport (as it usually is). I was nervous as that is one race challenge we typically do well.

Would there not be one? Did ours get skipped? No, none of them were stamped that I could tell. We waited for the race to start, eager to see what else would be different. We started in a nearby parking lot. The usual costume contest was held. The finalists were The Mustaches or Slumdog Urban Dare (cute name). We had met the winners the Mustaches earlier and they commented on my AmeriCorps shirt. One of them works for a local AmeriCorps program Project Transformation. So excited to be Representing! After that we stuck near the fringes of the crowd and were lucky to be one of the first to get a clue sheet. Jonathan and I headed away from the crowd to call our researchers. One of the clues I knew right away from remembering it from a previous race. 9. Get your picture with Line of Thought. We made our way to the statue. I was furiously trying to figure out the best route and was looking at the clip board when Jonathan snapped the first of several unflattering pictures of the top half of my head. Our next clue was solved by our call to my nephew Wesley (working in conjunction with my mom) 11. He was Texas Highway commissioner from 1935-1941. Go to his memorial park for your scrabble stick dare. Just like Scrabble, you will need to find the value on the letters on our scrabble sticks. Harry Hines Memorial Park (2402 Harry Hines) So we actually got our word Entourage at the park. We made quick work of this challenge and Jonathan did the math to get our total 124. Jonathan's Aunt Karen got us our next clue 3. Go to the birthplace of Dallas for your three legged dare. Dealy Plaza is what is known as the birthplace of Dallas. (411 Elm) The three legged race was around a beautiful fountain. It was very tempting to run through it since it was so hot. At 91 degrees it was the hottest race temperature we had experienced.

Right next to the fountain we found tourists to pose for our next clue. 6. Photo Hunt- Get a picture of three people doing hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. AND get a picture of two people reenacting the famous WWII photo by Alfred Eisenstadt. You may not use anyone in the race for these photos. Jonathan loves asking strangers to do things for us, so this was pretty easy.

We got the initial location for our next clue from our friend Dhriti. 12. Go to the sculpture Harrow for your wheelbarrow dare. Luben Plaza (Belo building near corner of Young and Houston) Only when we got there we couldn't find it. We had to call Jonathan's parent to get more direction. Turns out the park was on the opposite corner of the building. Thankfully the wheelbarrow dare was a short route (Jonathan has the hard part of beeing the "wheel" and this part of the race always saps his energy).

Aunt Karen came to the rescue once again on our next clue 8. AT&T must be sponsoring the Olympics this year. Go to their HQ and get your picture with their countdown to London clock. (208 S. Akard) This was the first stop on our race where we encountered other racers and there were a lot of them congregating near the clock so we took our picture near the corner so we wouldn't be easily entangled.

I knew the best person to call for our next clue was our friend Dhriti again as it was a physics question. She's good with all things Math/Science related 10. This unit is the energy expended in applying a force of one newton over the distance of one meter. Get your picture with a hotel that goes by this name. (Joule Hotel 1530 Main) It was literally just around the corner. I was pretty beat at this point as the photo shows.

I tried to call my friend Tabitha for the next clue as she is a dancer, but Aunt Karen came through once more. 1. This is the position in which a person has his or her arms outstretched and legs apart. It is commonly used dance routines, especially at the conclusion, in figure skating. Get your picture in front of the restaurant that goes by this name. (1608 Elm) Spread Eagle Saloon. You would think that this one was common sense and it is, but when you are running the race, common sense isn't always available.

We were pretty confident as we came to Thanksgiving Square for our next clue 7. She wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb, and was a major force in making Thanksgiving a national holiday. Go by Thanksgiving Square and get your picture in front of her quote on a column. Aunt Karen got us the name of the person we were seeking Sarah Josepha Hale. We looked all around that square. As we looked, we saw lots of famous sayings. We saw lots of historical information about Thanksgiving. But no column with exactly what we needed. Many teams converged on the square. All looking perplexed. I went inside the information center to ask if there were any columns with quotes on them. Turns out the column was across the street near the post office. We were followed by a slew of people. The quote? "There is a moral value in counting our blessings collectively" I am guessing that many people were collectively counting their blessings to have that clue solved. This was the second race where we got tied up trying to find things near Thanksgiving Square.

Our last stop in the downtown area was for this clue 2. Get your picture with la llarga nit. We knew (thanks to Driti again) that we were heading to the Nasher Sculpture Museum (1627 Pacific)However, we did not know what the statue looked like. The photos online were glowing in the dark and it was bright and sunny outside. There is a fee to go inside the museum, so we knew it had to be outside somewhere. Fortunately there was a team taking a picture right when we got to the entrance. It is a light! Up on a pole just in front of the museum. A statue of a seated person that is lit in the evenings.

Once we made our way back to the Uptown area we only had two clues remaining. As luck would have it we were able to catch the McKinney Trolley for about a half a mile (public transportation is allowed on the race). As you can see from the photo, I was very pleased to be in air conditioning and off of my feet for a few minutes. I did feel badly for the people we sat near as I am sure our aroma was not pleasant.

Our next clue was fairly easy. 5. It’s a term you could use for a left-handed pitcher in baseball. Get your picture with a restaurant that goes by his name. I came up with Southpaw (being lefthanded my entire life) and Jonathan's parents got us the addres 3227 McKinney Ave. Even with the address we struggled a little with finding it. It was right next door to Frankie's bar and Grill.

Our last stop was right next to the end of the race 4. This restaurant is named after the the town famed for its violin makers. Stradivarius and Amati were a couple. Get your pictures in front of it. Cremona, Italy is the famous town and my nephew Wesley helped us with the location. (2704 Worthington)

We ran the block back to the Gingerman and the finish line. Official time 2 hours and 21 minutes. Total distance traveled 5 miles. We finished 14th out of 153 teams. We decided to celebrate by heading down the block to Jakes Hamburgers where we treated ourselves to a beer, a burger and some fried pickles. We debriefed our advenutre and reminisced about our previous races. Oh, and Jonathan is offically fired from taking photos in future races. To read about some of our other races check out these blogs (both written by Jonathan): http://themav211.blogspot.com/ http://adventuresinwallaceworld.blogspot.com/