May 27, 2006
Amazing Race Day.
Here is Erika's recap:
Hi Family and Friends, We wanted to give you the update on how things went on our Amazing Race on Saturday! The best news is that we raised over $1500.00 for the Salvation Army with your help. We had 42 different sponsors--so THANK YOU SO MUCH! You are just awesome family and friends and we feel so blessed to feel your support and also to support the good work that the Salvation Army does. Overall, we were the 4th best fundraising team who participated, so we are being honored at a dinner in June (actually on our 5 year anniversary!) which will be fun. Unfortunately, we finished 14th out of 15 teams. I know, I know . . .so sorry to disappoint you. But it really wasn't that it was too hard. Our real problem was that I came down with what I thought was food poisoning, but which turned out to be a violent stomach flu on Wednesday that I passed to Sky and then lucky Peter came down with it on Friday afternoon. We almost had to replace Peter with my brother Jonathan, but Peter insisted there was no way he wasn't going to race on Saturday . . .he was IN no matter what . . .so we persevered! We had to pace ourselves due to the heat (87 degrees) and due to the fact that we were walking/running/biking/canoeing all day long. Peter was such a trooper--he did not feel well at all but managed not to get sick during the race. We did more walking than running, but we finished! We were psychologically very bummed out to be dealing with all of this, ofcourse, as we were so excited for this day and felt we had a good chance to win. Bad timing for sure!! However, without Peter's navigating skills (my brothers both call him GPV--Global Positioning Vickerdude) I would have been lost without him! He was an integral part of the team for this kind of race . . .even if I had to eat BOTH chili dogs at the food challenge (I HATE chili dogs--and remember I had just finished the flu as well :() We feel that after measuring the competition, we could have easliy finished near the top--no way were we going to beat the #1 team as they actually climbed over barbed wire fences and preferred to run mile after mile instead of taking buses (which sometimes were a longer route) . . .so they were in much better shape and more determined than anyone to win!! So, the big final prize was probably out of reach no matter how well we were feeling. The best part was just experiencing this together and getting a small taste of what it would be like to be on our favorite show, The Amazing Race! There are ofcourse many stories to tell and pictures to be shared. You can go to www.thesalarmy.com and click on "Race Results" which will give you several pictures. Soon there will be video footage as well! I know some of you saw us on Channel 4--WCCO was a sponsor of the race and so they had coverage of us on from time to time yesterday and followed teams around as they completed their tasks. I haven't seen it yet so I don't know what is on there, but a few friends and family members have called to say that we were on it at the Saints Stadium. The Star Tribune did an article in the Metro section as well. This e-mail is getting really long . . . If you are interested in our race course and the challenges we had, read on, I have listed all of them below. Thanks again so much for thinking of us and supporting us. It really was a great thing to be part of and we never dreamed we would raise so much money for the Salvation Army, so WAY TO GO ALL OF YOU! Love, Erika and Peter Here was our racecourse and challenges that we had to meet: 1. We started outside of the Saints Stadium in St. Paul at 8:00 a.m. We opened a bag of Cracker Jack to find our first clue which was a team challenge: Run into the stadium and choose one of the two challenges: bat five baseballs over the first row of signs in the stadium, or choose a row of bleachers and race to the top of them, collecting one item at a time and brining it down to the bottom until you have all six items. --we first chose the baseball challenge, Peter did it right away, I was terrible, and we quickly went to the bleachers. 2. Clue two told us to find our way to the Salvation Army Headquarters in Minneapolis. This is where all the running started! There were several bus stops within about half a mile of the stadium . . .so off we set running down the road to find a bus stop. Remember we had free all day metro transit passes as well as the use of cell phones . . .so all of us were pounding the pavement on our cell phones or holding our maps, trying to figure out the fastest route. We had programmed in the metro transit number so we called them several times all day! 3. At the Salvation Army Headquarters our clue told us that one teammate had to take a stats quiz while the other teammate took a bike around the corner to the Farmer's Market where they had to look for a man selling geraniums and purchase one of them with a ticket. Peter took off on the bike, I did the stats quiz, and unfortunately once he got to the Farmer's Market he realized he had left the ticket to purchase the geranium back at the start, so he had to turn around and bike back to the Salvation Army Headquarters. Fortunately, the ticket was right on the garage floor, but we lost alot of time in this. He turned around, got the geranium, I finished the stats quiz correctly, and we got our next clue. 4. The next clue was to plant the geranium in the garden in front of the Salvation Army. Once we did that, we got our next clue. 5. Our next clue had us make our way to the DQ Grill and Chill in St. Louis Park on Excelsior Blvd. Again, we took a bus but we just missed one that left every half hour, so we had to wait a while. We also had to transfer at the uptown station . . .so all of this put us close to last place already. At the DQ Grill N Chill we had to eat. Peter was very nervous (understandably) about this challenge and had already said he was not eating chili dogs no matter what. SO . . .ofcourse they wanted us to eat chili dogs . . .also we had to eat the bananas out of two banana splits and drink two full cups of some nasty pop (we think they mixed several sodas together and then let them sit outside to get warm in the sun) We also had to wear garbage bags over our heads because we were not allowed to use our hands when eating! Peter took on the banana splits, I ate the chili dogs, and once the soda was all gone, we were done, and COVERED with ice cream, chili sauce, and totally disguisting. I had a few moments where I thought I was going to get sick . . .remember I just had the flu (and had been much sicker than Peter) so I was still recovering on a diet of bread, peanut butter and pretzels. This was a shock to the system, but I held it together. I now hate chili dogs more than ever, though! 6. Our next clue had us make our way to the Tin Fish. This is located on Lake Calhoun--it is a restaurant and we knew it so that helped. We took a bus there (some teams ran!) Once there, we had to walk around asking "Are you doing the Most Good?" to everyone we saw until we found the "undercover agents" who would respond by giving us our next clue. This was a hilarious challenge due to the responses we got. Alot of people gave blank stares, a few replied "yes, I am" but they gave us no clue. One man that Peter went up to (he had a huge red beard, was sitting in a canoe with fishing gear and a cooler of beer) responded to the question by answering, "hell, no!" in a hilarious way . . . That had us laughing throughout the rest of the race. Finally we found the undercover agents who gave us our next clue. 7. Make your way by canoe across Lake Calhoun to the red and black umbrella. Once there, you must find a marble in a pile of sand. Once you find the marble, keep it, and paddle the canoe back to where you started. Give your marble to the man at the canoe dock and he will give you the next clue. --This was fun. It was a warm day so being on the water felt great. It wasn't too far of a boat ride and we paddled well . . .I found the marble pretty fast and we headed back to where we started for our next clue. 8. Make your way to Lunds. Go upstairs to the cashier and she will give you your next clue. --we ran to the Lunds in Uptown--about a fourth of a mile from the canoe dock at Lake Calhoun. 9. At Lunds the cashier gave us a $35.00 gift card and a clue that told us to buy non-perishable items that did not go over $35.00 but were not under $33.00. We could not buy more than three of the same kind of grocery items. We headed to the canned section of Lund's, priced out our canned items, and checked out. We bagged the items and got our next clue. 10. The next clue was in Spanish, but fortunately we both took enough Spanish in school so that we could decipher most of the clue. It asked us to take the bagged items to a Salvation Army located on Lake Street East. Unfortunately, at first because of the Spanish we thought it was Lake Street West, so we ran there first. We realized this was wrong so we found a bus to take us to Lake Street East. 11. Once at the Salvation Army on Lake Street East, one teammember (me) had to put all of the canned items in their proper places at the foodshelf. After that we got our next clue. 12. Take the lightrail to the 46th Street station. From there, make your way across the Mississippi to the Highland Bank. Come inside the lobby for your next clue. --this was quite an undertaking as we had to walk/run about 3/4 a mile to the lightrail station and by now it was really hot. We were hoping a bus would come along--but no bus so we kept walking. When we got to the station we just missed the light rail so we had to wait another 20 minutes. We made our way across the Mississippi by bus and foud the bank. At the bank we got our next clue 13. Count the change in a salvation army coin bucket, and when your total is correct you will get the next clue. --so, we counted change. we hit the right amount at the first time so that was great. 14. Next clue said to make our way to the Mall of America, which we knew was the final stop. So, back to the bus, then the light rail . . .and once we got there, though, we were on stage, figuring we were done, when we were handed our next clue. 15. We had to go to three different locations in the mall, collecting pieces of a Salvation Army sticker to put together in order to finish. We ran around figuring out where these locations were at, and made it back to the stage. We finished at 2:15, so the race took a little over 6 hours! The first place people finished two hours ahead of us! That is it!
Here is Erika's recap:
Hi Family and Friends, We wanted to give you the update on how things went on our Amazing Race on Saturday! The best news is that we raised over $1500.00 for the Salvation Army with your help. We had 42 different sponsors--so THANK YOU SO MUCH! You are just awesome family and friends and we feel so blessed to feel your support and also to support the good work that the Salvation Army does. Overall, we were the 4th best fundraising team who participated, so we are being honored at a dinner in June (actually on our 5 year anniversary!) which will be fun. Unfortunately, we finished 14th out of 15 teams. I know, I know . . .so sorry to disappoint you. But it really wasn't that it was too hard. Our real problem was that I came down with what I thought was food poisoning, but which turned out to be a violent stomach flu on Wednesday that I passed to Sky and then lucky Peter came down with it on Friday afternoon. We almost had to replace Peter with my brother Jonathan, but Peter insisted there was no way he wasn't going to race on Saturday . . .he was IN no matter what . . .so we persevered! We had to pace ourselves due to the heat (87 degrees) and due to the fact that we were walking/running/biking/canoeing all day long. Peter was such a trooper--he did not feel well at all but managed not to get sick during the race. We did more walking than running, but we finished! We were psychologically very bummed out to be dealing with all of this, ofcourse, as we were so excited for this day and felt we had a good chance to win. Bad timing for sure!! However, without Peter's navigating skills (my brothers both call him GPV--Global Positioning Vickerdude) I would have been lost without him! He was an integral part of the team for this kind of race . . .even if I had to eat BOTH chili dogs at the food challenge (I HATE chili dogs--and remember I had just finished the flu as well :() We feel that after measuring the competition, we could have easliy finished near the top--no way were we going to beat the #1 team as they actually climbed over barbed wire fences and preferred to run mile after mile instead of taking buses (which sometimes were a longer route) . . .so they were in much better shape and more determined than anyone to win!! So, the big final prize was probably out of reach no matter how well we were feeling. The best part was just experiencing this together and getting a small taste of what it would be like to be on our favorite show, The Amazing Race! There are ofcourse many stories to tell and pictures to be shared. You can go to www.thesalarmy.com and click on "Race Results" which will give you several pictures. Soon there will be video footage as well! I know some of you saw us on Channel 4--WCCO was a sponsor of the race and so they had coverage of us on from time to time yesterday and followed teams around as they completed their tasks. I haven't seen it yet so I don't know what is on there, but a few friends and family members have called to say that we were on it at the Saints Stadium. The Star Tribune did an article in the Metro section as well. This e-mail is getting really long . . . If you are interested in our race course and the challenges we had, read on, I have listed all of them below. Thanks again so much for thinking of us and supporting us. It really was a great thing to be part of and we never dreamed we would raise so much money for the Salvation Army, so WAY TO GO ALL OF YOU! Love, Erika and Peter Here was our racecourse and challenges that we had to meet: 1. We started outside of the Saints Stadium in St. Paul at 8:00 a.m. We opened a bag of Cracker Jack to find our first clue which was a team challenge: Run into the stadium and choose one of the two challenges: bat five baseballs over the first row of signs in the stadium, or choose a row of bleachers and race to the top of them, collecting one item at a time and brining it down to the bottom until you have all six items. --we first chose the baseball challenge, Peter did it right away, I was terrible, and we quickly went to the bleachers. 2. Clue two told us to find our way to the Salvation Army Headquarters in Minneapolis. This is where all the running started! There were several bus stops within about half a mile of the stadium . . .so off we set running down the road to find a bus stop. Remember we had free all day metro transit passes as well as the use of cell phones . . .so all of us were pounding the pavement on our cell phones or holding our maps, trying to figure out the fastest route. We had programmed in the metro transit number so we called them several times all day! 3. At the Salvation Army Headquarters our clue told us that one teammate had to take a stats quiz while the other teammate took a bike around the corner to the Farmer's Market where they had to look for a man selling geraniums and purchase one of them with a ticket. Peter took off on the bike, I did the stats quiz, and unfortunately once he got to the Farmer's Market he realized he had left the ticket to purchase the geranium back at the start, so he had to turn around and bike back to the Salvation Army Headquarters. Fortunately, the ticket was right on the garage floor, but we lost alot of time in this. He turned around, got the geranium, I finished the stats quiz correctly, and we got our next clue. 4. The next clue was to plant the geranium in the garden in front of the Salvation Army. Once we did that, we got our next clue. 5. Our next clue had us make our way to the DQ Grill and Chill in St. Louis Park on Excelsior Blvd. Again, we took a bus but we just missed one that left every half hour, so we had to wait a while. We also had to transfer at the uptown station . . .so all of this put us close to last place already. At the DQ Grill N Chill we had to eat. Peter was very nervous (understandably) about this challenge and had already said he was not eating chili dogs no matter what. SO . . .ofcourse they wanted us to eat chili dogs . . .also we had to eat the bananas out of two banana splits and drink two full cups of some nasty pop (we think they mixed several sodas together and then let them sit outside to get warm in the sun) We also had to wear garbage bags over our heads because we were not allowed to use our hands when eating! Peter took on the banana splits, I ate the chili dogs, and once the soda was all gone, we were done, and COVERED with ice cream, chili sauce, and totally disguisting. I had a few moments where I thought I was going to get sick . . .remember I just had the flu (and had been much sicker than Peter) so I was still recovering on a diet of bread, peanut butter and pretzels. This was a shock to the system, but I held it together. I now hate chili dogs more than ever, though! 6. Our next clue had us make our way to the Tin Fish. This is located on Lake Calhoun--it is a restaurant and we knew it so that helped. We took a bus there (some teams ran!) Once there, we had to walk around asking "Are you doing the Most Good?" to everyone we saw until we found the "undercover agents" who would respond by giving us our next clue. This was a hilarious challenge due to the responses we got. Alot of people gave blank stares, a few replied "yes, I am" but they gave us no clue. One man that Peter went up to (he had a huge red beard, was sitting in a canoe with fishing gear and a cooler of beer) responded to the question by answering, "hell, no!" in a hilarious way . . . That had us laughing throughout the rest of the race. Finally we found the undercover agents who gave us our next clue. 7. Make your way by canoe across Lake Calhoun to the red and black umbrella. Once there, you must find a marble in a pile of sand. Once you find the marble, keep it, and paddle the canoe back to where you started. Give your marble to the man at the canoe dock and he will give you the next clue. --This was fun. It was a warm day so being on the water felt great. It wasn't too far of a boat ride and we paddled well . . .I found the marble pretty fast and we headed back to where we started for our next clue. 8. Make your way to Lunds. Go upstairs to the cashier and she will give you your next clue. --we ran to the Lunds in Uptown--about a fourth of a mile from the canoe dock at Lake Calhoun. 9. At Lunds the cashier gave us a $35.00 gift card and a clue that told us to buy non-perishable items that did not go over $35.00 but were not under $33.00. We could not buy more than three of the same kind of grocery items. We headed to the canned section of Lund's, priced out our canned items, and checked out. We bagged the items and got our next clue. 10. The next clue was in Spanish, but fortunately we both took enough Spanish in school so that we could decipher most of the clue. It asked us to take the bagged items to a Salvation Army located on Lake Street East. Unfortunately, at first because of the Spanish we thought it was Lake Street West, so we ran there first. We realized this was wrong so we found a bus to take us to Lake Street East. 11. Once at the Salvation Army on Lake Street East, one teammember (me) had to put all of the canned items in their proper places at the foodshelf. After that we got our next clue. 12. Take the lightrail to the 46th Street station. From there, make your way across the Mississippi to the Highland Bank. Come inside the lobby for your next clue. --this was quite an undertaking as we had to walk/run about 3/4 a mile to the lightrail station and by now it was really hot. We were hoping a bus would come along--but no bus so we kept walking. When we got to the station we just missed the light rail so we had to wait another 20 minutes. We made our way across the Mississippi by bus and foud the bank. At the bank we got our next clue 13. Count the change in a salvation army coin bucket, and when your total is correct you will get the next clue. --so, we counted change. we hit the right amount at the first time so that was great. 14. Next clue said to make our way to the Mall of America, which we knew was the final stop. So, back to the bus, then the light rail . . .and once we got there, though, we were on stage, figuring we were done, when we were handed our next clue. 15. We had to go to three different locations in the mall, collecting pieces of a Salvation Army sticker to put together in order to finish. We ran around figuring out where these locations were at, and made it back to the stage. We finished at 2:15, so the race took a little over 6 hours! The first place people finished two hours ahead of us! That is it!
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