Heading out to the beautiful Mojave desert . . .
Exchange point during the day . . .
Exchange point at night . . .
A runner catches a nap . . .
Night crew . . .
Hospitality (aka party suite) . . .
Only (after) the race . . .
Post celebration moved on to other stages . . .
Got the funk on with Purple Reign (Prince Tribute Band). . . .
There were many exciting moments that happened over the weekend, but I'll share one that I thought was really funny. Around 2:30 in the morning, our shuttle van got stuck in some soft gravel. The more we gunned the engine the deeper we sunk. Finally, we all leaped out to lighten the van then had to kick the gravel to fill up the hole. After a few more trys our van finally gets out and we all had to quickly pile back into the van before we received a penalty for blocking the roadway. It was like this comedy. I can't believe that I didn't snap a photo!
Although our team wasn't fast enough to receive an award we did better our time from last year. And more importantly, we finished and had a fun time!
I'm glad to be home again and am looking so forward to catching up with all my favorite bloggers!
Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
Kathy, it's sounds so exciting and like lots of fun! Love the van/gravel story, I bet you all were cracking up. And a Prince tribute band! How great is that? I have never been to a House of Blues but would love to go to one sometime.
ReplyDeleteSo tonight on AI, it's Grand Ole Opry Night. It'll be interesting to see how some of them, like Adam, handle the whole country thang!
Glad you had a great weekend and I'm really glad that you only bet $20 on the Heels! We did end up getting a Number One seed anyway but Ty Lawson is still "status unknown" for our first game this Thursday. I hope he is healing up!
Hi Annie, glad you enjoyed the gravel story! :) Grand ole opera will be very interesting tonight and I'm looking forward to seeing what Adam will do with it too! Like David Cook was last, I think Adam will be the creative one to watch this year. Very glad to hear that you're heels are the number one seed! Whoo hoo!
ReplyDeleteHave a great day today Annie!
Kathy,
ReplyDeleteCongrats to you and your team for finishing.
It sounds and "looks" like you guys had a lot of fun.
Happy St Patty's day!
Sounds like a fun time, Kathy - even pushing the car!
ReplyDeleteHi Nancy, thanks so much for your comments. And yes, everything was very exciting including the gravel incident! :) So glad we were able to get out of that!
ReplyDeleteThanks and have a great evening Nancy.
Looks like you had a great time. Enjoyed the photos and the video. I remember your post last year about this race. The van story reminded me of the van scenes in Little Miss Sunshine when they had to get out and push. Glad you enjoyed yourself.
ReplyDeleteHi Girasoli, thanks for your comments. I don't think that I saw that movie....I'm sure that scene was pretty funny. It was a fun event and as hard and challenging as it was, I just love the teamwork aspect of it.
ReplyDeleteThanks again and have a great day!
Hi Kathy, wow -- congratulations on finishing the event. I'm always in awe of teams that can organize themselves to take part in a 24-hour race.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a lot of fun, right down to the tribute band, the bar and the van mishap (it DOES sound like something out of Little Miss Sunshine, I loved that movie!)
Kathy, thank you for sharing the photos and video. It sounds like everyone had a lot of fun. Love seeing the part about the race at night. I can only imagine how much preparation goes into this race.
ReplyDeleteThe van part was very funny. Teamwork at its best!
I hope you have rested up and are having a wonderful week.
Wow-I missed your photos the first time around - what fun ~ chuckle and kudos for the fun factor - winning isn't aways everything now, is it? Menehune
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the wonderful comments everyone!
ReplyDeleteCandi, thanks so much for the congrats. It was a challenge and took a lot of logistical planning for nearly 8 months prior to the race weekend. But in the end it was all worth it and everyone really had a lot of fun! Hope you had a great St Patty's day yesterday.
Sandra, thanks for the congrats. There were some hick-ups along the way and we all pretty much loss our voices by the end of the race but man was it a blast! There was this cool all women's team from Canada and it was their first time. Our team captain had several pep talks with their team captain because she was so concerned about the logistics. We ran into them throughout the course and really enjoyed talking with them. I'm not sure where they finished in the race standings but they were very nice! I will have to watch that Movie now, because Girasoli also mentioned that episode. :)
Maria, my pleasure to share my photos. I'm such a visual person that I think sometimes it's easier to describe with photos than me describing what happened. Thanks for your comments. We really did have so much fun pre, during and post race. Our team captains did most of the work but it was very much a team effort and it really took a lot of trust and confidence in each other to pull it off and we did! I wish I had remembered to take a photo of all of us kicking the gravel to fill that hole! :) I'm pretty much rested now and am having a great week so far. Looking forward to the weekend though! :)
Menehune, thanks for your comments. This event definitely had a high fun factor which is something I really place a great deal of value in. Winning would be nice, but participation and just having fun is what I treasure the most!
Thanks again everyone. I appreciate all your kind comments.
Kathy, if you get a chance, you should rent Little Miss Sunshine -- it is hilarious!
ReplyDeleteThat was so kind of your team to help the Canadian women -- I imagine that logistics for such a big event would be pretty tough!
Hi Sandra, I will add Little Miss Sunshine to my Netflix queue! Sounds like a great movie and something I'd enjoy!
ReplyDeleteSince our Team Captain went through the logistical planning herself for the first time last year she knew what she was going through. It's an incredible logistical challange but rewarding in the end. There was great team spirit not only amongst our own team members but also among all the other teams. When people ran out of water we offered our water, etc. It was great fun!