The Great Urban Race

This past weekend James and I participated in the Great Urban Race in Portland. You can get more info at www.greaturbanrace.com but it is basically a scavenger hunt around Portland. At 12 noon, we were handed an envelope containing our 12 clues for the day. Some of them were straight forward and others involved solving cryptograms, riddles, or trivia to find the correct location. At each location, a picture was taken to prove we had completed the task.

Some of the best clues involved solving a murder mystery logic puzzle, creating a ransom note style letter with cutout letters and words from newspapers or magazines, and asking 10 random strangers to pose with us at a fountain while we all flexed our muscles. It was so fun! We finished all 12 clues in about 2 hours 15 minutes. We had the option of skipping one clue if we wanted but we chose not to since we were having so much fun. Most of the teams that finished close to the top did in fact skip one of the clues so I'd be interested to see the times of the teams that actually did ALL the clues.

We can't wait to do the race again next year...perhaps with a more outrageous costume. I don't like to stand out, but there was no way we would stand out with the costumes some people had. There were 2 guys covered in blue paint like the guys in arrested development, 2 ladies dressed as minnie mouse, and 2 girls with tutus made of plastic shopping bags. It was fun to see everyone's costumes and I'm sure people were wondering what the hell was going on!

Some pics: