2009 Great Urban Race
Portland, Oregon
June 6, 2009
With great fear and hope WWT members Greg Bunnell and Mike Webb re-enlisted for the GUR's 2009 visit to the Rose City. After countless meetings and mapping out fourteen square miles of real estate in an effort to locate every thing funky, the day finally came. Actually, there were no meetings and Greg really only looked at stuff while heading out to appointments or lunch in the days leading up to the event. When they decided to sign up, the first decision had to be made - do we keep the same team name or get a new one? Since keeping our original name from last year required little, if any, work the decision was easy. So Mike officially entered the Chateauneuf du Pops several months ago. This year, the folks at GUR had several sponsors, but more importantly, had a charity, Schoolhouse Supplies. Little did we know, but they would factor in the race.
This year we switched up a couple of things. First, Command Central needed a new home as the Kimmer's were out of town. You'd think they would still have offered up their empty home but that offer never materialized. We settled in on using Greg's downtown office for several reasons. Close to the race, free parking and lots of computers. Next, we needed to put together our crack team of Googlers. Greg's dad, Loren, agreed to take part as did Cami Bunnell and Carmal Crumpler, all second time contributors. Greg enlisted his buddy Peter Preston and Carmal's roommate, Jill, also joined us before the race.
Mike Webb (seated), Peter Preston, Jill Brock, Carmal Crumpler and Loren Bunnell (l to r).
Third, we needed to find a better way to get the clue sheet to Command Central. Last year, we tried taking a phone photo, but that didn't work. Then we tried a hotel fax machine, but they only put through one side. As luck would have it, Greg received an e-mail from Ellen, the owner of SuperDog, after she had been "ego surfing" her restaurant asking if she could use a photo of us from last year's race. That was easy - sure. About a week before the race, Greg had this fabulous idea - what if SuperDog had a fax machine? And what if we could use it? Ellen, without hesitation, and with an offer of a pint on the house after the race graciously said yes. Due to Rose Festival happenings, Ellen was working at their second location on SW Sixth, but no worries as she had Shan there to help us. The great thing about SuperDog, apart from killer dogs, is the location to the start of the race. It's just across the street!
So, with everything and everyone in place, the time came to start the race. We decided to bag the backpack (too heavy), the Blue Tooth (Greg could never figure it out) and the Garmin GPS (that's why we had Loren) this year. This year we carried a two phones (used only one), two pens (might have used both) and a pad of paper (just carried it). Last year the weather was a tad warm for everyone - perfect weather this year. Last year, Greg was in pretty decent (bike) shape. This year, Mike had just come off running the Newport Marathon and had been training for eight months. You're wondering - did that make a difference this year? The last photo will answer that question. Think off terms liked "gassed" or "bonked."
Mike and Greg before the race started - and, yes, Mike is standing on his toes.
After some pre-race mumbo jumbo (rule stuff), the envelopes were passed out. We made our way as close to the edge of the lawn near SuperDog as possible to shave at least five seconds off our final time. Once the staff at GUR gave the word, we were tearing open the secret envelope that contained twelve clues. We were told, as we were last year, that we ONLY needed to solve eleven. We quickly made our way across the street and behind the counter at SuperDog where the fax machine was located. Note to us - try a dry run with someone else's machine before the race. After a temporary mechanical glitch, the first page was successfully transmitted to Command Central. The second page was not far behind and we were off. Or, so we thought.
We had decided to change things up from last year with our disappointing place in the Top 10. Really, we only wanted to be ahead of one team. Actually, just one competitor - Jeri Mandelbaum. She had told Greg that she was not going to be in town - really? As it turned out, she had found a partner but came up lame with some bursitis. We'll have to wait until next year for the rematch. Alright, back on topic. So, we agreed to sit down at the bar and start to try and map out our route. We heard this was a good idea after last year's race. We (meaning with the aid of the smart folks at Command Central) learned that two clues were at the Portland State University Campus. We decided we could nail those two while the others were cracking the remaining clues.
To digress for a moment, the folks at GUR do a great job. This year, planned or not, they had the race on the same day as the Rose Parade, Saturday Market, and the Farmer's Market in the Park Blocks. This had some benefits and some draw backs. The benefit became apparent with our first clue - locate the Walk of Heroines. We "learned" that it was on campus, but where? After asking a couple of student-like looking people, we found someone that pointed us in the right direction. We were the first team there and quickly had a nice stranger snap a photo of us. But wait, didn't the clue say something about a quote from Mae West? Yep. Glad we figured that out before we left.
One down - ten more to go.
One of the other clues was a "detour" meaning that we had a choice for the clue. This year's detour gave us the option of having our photo taken with a real person wearing a cowboy hat, or a real person wearing Chuck Taylor's. As we made our way to the second clue on campus, Greg spotted a nice blue pair of Chuck Taylor's.
Thank you complete stranger - two down, nine to go.
Off to the Smith Memorial Student Union for some cutting and pasting. Here, we had to scour magazines for words and letters that matched the quote on the table that went something like "Portland is a great host for the Great Urban Race." A few minutes into this and Greg suggested they skip this clue. Mike convinced him to stay. With the successful completion of this clue, we got our stamp and left with our sticky fingers. Three down and eight to go. Back on the phone with Command Central - where should we go next?
As it would turn out, one of the pages Greg printed the day before (yes, he didn't get any work done on Friday) happened to be one of the clues. It was the sculpture of the salmon that goes through the bricks above South Park. We high tailed it down there on a mission. Mike was already in marathon form leaving Greg in the dust. We managed to swap cameras with another team for the photo - four down, seven to go. On to Columbia Sportswear for a task - zipping an inner fleece to the outer shell. Easy, right? Greg volunteered and located the smallest jacket. Shorter zippers. Sure, but sweaty fingers and a lack of oxygen were already having an impact. Five down and only six to go.
The next clue, we learned later, caught some teams off guard. The Googlers had confirmed the location as the Benson Hotel, but we also needed to have one of AE Doyle's drinking fountains in the phote. We asked the doorman to take the photo. We think he was a little scared he didn't get the photo right the first time, so he took two. We're thinking, we don't have time for two photos silly doorman.
Smart athlete Mike getting nourished with Greg being Greg. Six down, five to go.
We knew that at least two clues were located on the other side of Burnside in the Pearl District. On our way, we made it to our seventh clue and one of Mike's favorite pasttimes - eating pizza. Like last year, Mike "volunteered" to take the bite for the team - again using his keen training skills to get carbs for the balance of the race.
Seven down and four to go - thanks Rocco's.
We (meaning just Mike) sprinted to Jamison Square in the Pearl to locate the red, blue and yellow statue. We actually got luck on this one. We saw some other teams in front of the statue and headed right over for the picture without even noticing that there were other statues that did not contain the correct color combo - close one. Eight down and only three to go at this point.
On the way to the the statue we stopped at the Rite Aid to purchase some goodies for one of the clues - these included pencils and colored markers that would be donated to Schoohouse Supplies. Greg had the foresight to bring his credit card in addition to some petty cash. Good thing as those items rang up to about twenty bucks - far more than we had planned on using for beer at the end of the race. We found our way to the next clue, the drop off for the supplies at Office Max in the Pearl, only to learn that we could have bought the same items for about six dollars. Oh well, what's a few bucks to help stimulate the economy?
Nine down, two to go and Mike still standing on his toes for the photo op.
At this point, we had to make a choice as to which clue we'd skip. We were right in the area for one of the clues, but it required sifting through some fifteen clues - ummm, yes we'll skip that one. But wait, that would give Greg time to catch his breath. No such luck as the two remaining clues were close together near Saturday Market. At this point, Greg could be "heard" huffing, puffing and pounding the cement as he labored to keep up with Mike on the journey to the next stop, the fountain near the old fire station. After what seemed like a 5k, we made it to the fountain for the required photo. Ten down and one to go!
Our last clue was to locate Spoonman Creations at the Saturday Market. With some time lost due to construction detours, we found Spoonman and took our last picture with the funny head gear.
Eleven down, none to go, but a world distance back to the arch in the Park Blocks.
At one point on the way back, we hopped on a bus. When the bus didn't move because of traffic detours from the parade, we continued on our journey (by foot) to the finish line. For Greg, there were several times where fast walking replaced sprinting. With Mike's continued encouragement, we made it to the end. We were encouraged with our time (1:19:00 unofficially) as we had beat our time from last year. While we were going over our photos with GUR staff, we learned that we had crossed the line in 4th place - hot darn. A few minutes later one of the race organizers told us the three teams ahead of us had been given thirty minute penalties so we had one the race. What? Are you serious? You've got to be kidding? We got the same answer each time - yes, we had finished the 2009 Portland GUR in first place. By the time we (mostly Greg) had composed ourselves, we tried reaching the troops at Command Central - the phone rang out. A few minutes later, Carmal and Jill found us and we shared the results and victory with them.
Greg and Mike sharing the victory with two members of the CDP Command Central (Jill and Carmal).
After many congratulations, we ended where we started - at SuperDog for a cold beer courtesy of Ellen. We gave Shan the good news - he called Ellen and shared the results with her. None of this would have been possible without the help from SuperDog, Command Central or the wonderful folks in town that stopped what they were doing to give us directions or take our photo . We never imagined that we'd finish fourth, let alone win the thing. As we were sipping (gulping) our cold brews, Greg's dad made his way to the park blocks to soak it all in while Mike still was pretty giddy about the whole vitory thing.
Mike enjoying the sweet taste of victory!
Greg savoring a cold one and the ability to take a breather.
Definately out of breath, but very thirsty. Mike, Shan (SuperDog) and Greg celebrating the win.
Loren and Greg savoring the victory and a cold one.
While we were resting, Mike completed the GUR Winner's Questionnaire. He's the brains and muscle for the team. One of the race coordinators came over and told us we needed to provide information as to whom the check should be made payable to. What? We won prize money? Greg quickly reminded Mike that accepting the prize money would make him ineligible for upcoming races and suggested a donation to a local charity. We settled on the Oregon Food Bank.
We rushed home to clean up and make it back in time for the "Awards Ceremony." As this is being written, we have no idea how many teams signed up this year. Lots of great costumes this year as evidenced by the sampling below.
From the movie "Juno."
A whole host of characters!
Mike and Greg accepting the medals and check for the Oregon Food Bank.
Enjoying the spoils of victory and the joy of donating the money to a worthy cause.
After the ceremony, we headed over to 23Hoyt for dinner with our beautiful wives. We all shared a nice Champagne and two '05 California Syrah's, droned on about how we had put together the perfect race, and generally got sore shoulders from patting ourselves on the back. At night's end, we agreed the Great Urban race is nothing more than an opportunity to spend a day with good friends. Those days are always good. And this year, the Oregon Food Bank will be able to do their thing "because no one should be hungry." Click on the link for a copy of Greg's letter to the OFB.
Until next year when we defend our title. But wait, placing first gets us in the Championship race on November 7th in New Orleans. We're looking into sponsors this very moment.
Cheers!