After last year's race, I was so sore that I could barely walk for several days. So in preparation for this year...uh, I didn't do anything different. Well, the night before I stretched extensively and then I stretched again the next morning. Then, about 15 minutes before the race started, I took 2 advil and hoped for the best.
Since we had done the race before, we had an idea of what to expect from the clues. We knew that they like to have people go to places with interesting names and places that are easy to write questions about. Since I now work downtown, I was making mental notes of every interesting sounding restaurant and bar that I drove by. We also researched the 5280 best restaurants/bar list to try to commit to memory as many places as we could.
At noon, the first clue gets unfurled at Stoney's Bar and Grill (11th and Lincoln) to give us the first checkpoint.
>>I don't remember what the other multiple choice answers were, but once I saw "Tim Allen," I knew that was it. After each multiple choice answer there was a location. That's where you go to get the packet of 10 clues to solve and start the race. The Tim Allen location was at 14th and Broadway, Civic Center Park.
Note: Last year, the first place was at the Capitol. We knew the first clue has to be a place where lots of people can gather and sit and solve the other 10 clues. So I was thinking it would be Civic Center Park and that just confirmed that Tim Allen was the correct answer.
So, we ran (yes, RAN!) from Stoney's to Civic Center Park, grabbed the clue packet, found a bench, and got to work. We started figuring out the clues and quickly discovered that 200 people all in the same place, accessing the same internet was bogging down everyone's service. It was extremely frustrating! It took 15 minutes for one page to load. Grrr!! Anyway, we had most of the clues figured out and just decided that the ones we still had to look up could wait till we were on our way and got better cell service.
Here was our route:
Q4: Are these really cheaper? Unscramble the following words, and identify the serving size they often share. Add one to that number get the Avenue this checkpoint is located on. You'll find your destination on the 200 block, with the help of the numerical theme. Words: SHOTMN, SOERS, GESG, SELGAB, ROJSUR, SUNDOT.
>>After "MONTHS" and "ROSES", I knew the answer was dozen and the place was Dozens Cafe. Oddly enough, this was one of the places I drove by and thought, "I'm gonna remember this place just in case it's one of the clues." Ta da! Dozens on 13th was our first checkpoint.
Q8: Now that's what I call music. The Dave Matthews Band and The Counting Crows have songs with the same celestial body in the title. Find a pub near Grant and E Colfax whose name shares the subject of the song.
>>We didn't really know what this one was. But we knew Grant and Colfax was nearby so we figured we would just go there and find it. And we did: Satellite Bar.
Q10: Go directly to jail, do not pass go...This checkpoint is a cafe at the intersection of two streets. 1) One street is known for a railroad sandwiched between a block of magenta properties and a block of orange properties. 2) The cross street is a numbered Eastern Avenue. To find this correct avenue, you must know how many spaces needed to travel on the Monopoly board - starting on GO - to get to New York Avenue. When you find this locale, locate the Yelp staff and they'll take you through a fun activity.
>> Megan knew the railroad was Pennsylvania so at least we could start there. I was trying to find a monopoly board picture on my phone, but it was taking 500 years. So I had to look this up while we were walking to the Satellite Bar. Finally, it came up and the answer to the second part of the question was 19 - So 19th and Pennsylvania was our next stop (a place I drive by everyday). It was a coffee shop and once we got there, we had to find a menu item that was inspired by a cookie. We found that it was snickerdoodle, told the Yelp person, got our picture taken and away we went.
Q2: Mural mural on the wall...Find this public art, it's located very close to a lounge whose name is the logo on the helmet of Peyton Manning's former team. (It gave a picture of the mural).
>>Ok, so of course we knew immediately that it was a horseshoe. Last year, we had trouble finding the Horseshoe Lounge, but thought that had to be it again. And that lounge was right by the coffee shop above. We literally turned the corner and the mural was right there. Hooray!
Q7: You're beautiful...People Magazine recently came out with its Most Beautiful issue, but CitySolve ain't gonna make you find Beyonce. Instead, you'll need to find things CitySolve thinks is beautiful..FOOD! Find someone taking a bite of a cupcake, taco, or donut. The person must be a non-racer.
>>We thought we were gonna skip this one as our free skip. But one of the other clues (VooDoo Comedy Club) was kind of far out from all the other clues, so we decided to skip that one instead. Luckily, we decided this just as we were passing a convenient store. We rushed inside and asked the clerk if he'd be willing to eat a donut for us (after we purchased it of course). He was a little confused, but he agreed. We bought a pack of donuts and he took a bite. Just as we were taking this photo, a few other teams came in and probably had the same idea. We were glad we got there first because this guy probably had to start turning people down as the day went on.
Q9: You call that a range....This checkpoint is a shop where you can find home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play. You may also remember the name from a 1980 Gonzo bio-pic. You'll find this checkpoint on 16th Street.
>>I was kinda clueless about this one, but Megan thought pretty quickly of the store, Where the Buffalo Roam. After some quick searching of the 1980 movie hint, we confirmed that was right.
Q5: Everything's better down where it's wetter...Solve the poem below. You'll find it on Champa Street. Poem: Once mistook for manatees, they rose up from the sea. Investing wealth from Disney fame, begot this bakery.
>>Duh..the little mermaid. Evan searched Mermaid Bakery and bam the next checkpoint was easy to find.
Q3: Hold the anchovies...This checkpoint will take you just about as far up the 16th st mall as you can go without walking into the river. To find the block number, multiply Julius Thomas's jersey by Wilin Rosario's jersey. You're looking for a place that might make a clover cobbler and a rabbit's foot pizza. When you arrive, you'll meet the official charity and they will take you through a challenge.
>>This one really confused us. We knew we were headed to north 16th street mall, but could not think of what pizza place this was referencing. We tried searching menus and even called a few places to see if they made clover cobbler. Nothing was coming up. Then, as we were walking to the 3rd checkpoint, it dawned on me- we were being too literal. Clover and rabbit's foot were both good luck charms...it had to do something with luck or lucky. Then it hit me Lucky Pie!! I knew there was one in Louisville, so Evan searched it and they also had a location on 16th street. Woohoo! We got there and the "challenge" was to donate $5 to the charity. Good thing we had cash...
Q1: Why isn't there a queen of beers? To find this checkpoint, fill in the following clues. Then, unscramble the parenthesized letters to spell the name of a thematic destination located 1/3 mile of Coors Field.
-Source of bitterness in brewing H(O)PS
-Home of Coors: G(O)LDE(N)
-Amber Lager brewed by Coors: (I didn't know this one)
-Not Bottled by on _____: TA(P)
-2 hydrogen + 1 oxygen: (W)ATER
-Fermentation ingredient: (Y)EAST
>>So I had the letters OON?PWY. I didn't need the "K" to know this was Wynkoop.
And that's it!! We were done!! Now all we had to do was take the 16th street bus back up to Civic Center Park and make our way back to the finish line at Stoney's. We kept checking and double checking our list to make sure we didn't forget a clue (other than our 1 intentional skip). And we didn't, we were done! Once we got off the bus, we ran a little to get to Stoney's and ended up beating one other group by a few seconds.
They marked down our time and we go inside to get our photos checked. We notice that there are not too many teams hanging about the restaurant. We start thinking that maybe we are one of the first few finishers. The top 3 teams win prizes and the top 25 teams earn entry into the national race in Miami in November. The results were posted yesterday...with a time of 1 hour 38 minutes and 41 seconds....we placed 14th!!!!! There were 130 teams this year. We are stoked!!
Whether or not we will actually do the Miami race is yet to be determined. And maybe the best part of the whole thing is that I felt great afterward! No soreness, no blisters, nothing. (Well, the next day my foot started hurting really badly, but on Saturday I was fine!) It's important to note that the checkpoints were much closer together than last year and we didn't lose time trying to find a clue. Overall, a super success and another fun day running around Denver!
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