So close yet so far away...I am going to try and tell this story Memento style....backwards, filling in the blanks as I go. We crossed the finish line in about an hour flat. In the past there was a racer or two but this time, not one of the three hundred teams were there. We were first. The GUR staff actually just got there lunch, and they were confused as to why we were back so soon. We were that efficient, and that far ahead of everyone. This is fool proof...we did everything we were supposed to do and had all the proof. Or did we? As Dannel goes and checks off everything we need to show to claim our victory, they ask for the flier from Paddy's. Well we went to Paddy's, counted all 525 bottles on the wall (actually paid the bartender to tell us how many they had), we missed the part where we were supposed to get a flier from the GUR staffer. Now on a normal afternoon, it is really obvious that there is an attendant and you need to look no further. But on Rose Parade day, AND DURING the US-England World Cup Match in an IRISH PUB, it is literally standing room only. There was no staffer (there probably was), but he or she was completely invisible because of all the soccer crazies (or everyone that likes soccer in the state of Oregon) jam packed into this Irish Pub. Now I was already irritated with soccer, but it literally cost us a win. That is not an excuse, if we further read the clue sheet, it said that there was an attendant there. What is so disappointing is how dominant we were(I now look back and see that we won the race by 4 minutes, but it seemed much longer), and the fact that we literally did everything we were supposed to, minus picking up a piece of paper. Now this is nowhere near the disaster of coming so close to a finals race, and it costing us $10000. This is $300 and qualifying for the finals, which we did. Now, if this was the High Trek Adventure, now known as CitySolve, the attendant at Paddy's would have chased us out of Paddy's and would have reminded us to take the flier, literally handing us the win and costing the actual winning team $12,345 dollars! So needless to say, it's good to work out some of the kinks early so we can win Jason Hofsess 's race without any dispute, and preferably do REALLY well in Las Vegas, which is kind of like my home turf part two. Put a race in downtown LA and I will be clueless. Put a race in Las Vegas, and I can do it blindfolded. What is encouraging, although Dannel won't admit it, is that this was our most efficient race yet, and that includes the first race of New Orleans. That includes having to run through the Rose Parade, about ten times. Thank you GUR for letting us have our own slice of pizza instead of having to do something that conflicts with our manhood. We took no public transportation, although most of it was shut down because of the parade. I was not happy about having to handle a live crawfish, although Dannel did an admirable job. This race was actually pretty easy, compared to the last race we did, which was basically two, 2-hour races with about an hour break in between. Jason, since I am sure you are reading this PLEASE give us about 2 hours between races if at all possible. Thank you =) We actually have 3 races in Seattle before we go to New Orleans for Halloween weekend (KICK FREAKIN ASS) and then Vegas in November. I smell 2 wins. Hopefully soccer, my least favorite sport, doesn't interfere this time.
