sports

Ed. Note: Kalia wrote about the race on July 20th. She is also way too kind in this write up. She was a far tougher competitor than I was.

So I’m sure many of you read last week how awesome the GO Urban Adventure Race was going to be, but now you can hear how awesome it actually was!!! For those of you who signed up and participated I hope you had as great an adventure as PoP and I did. For those of you who thought about it and didn’t get around to it, I hope you will reconsider when next year comes around.

PoP and I arrived a bit early, sorry about that PoP, which gave us a chance to sit back and watch all of our competition arrive team by team. The competition was pretty mixed from very competitive to easy-breezy-they-got-nothing-on-us. Some people wore camel backs and some wore cut off jeans. One team showed up sporting suit vests and cut off dress pants-AWESOME!!! Check in was quick and easy. We were also given our pin on race numbers (just like if we were in a marathon) goody bags with cool stuff from GO Urban as well as from their sponsors and we checked our phone to make sure it had proper textability with their system.

Exactly at noon everyone received their first 4 clues via text and off we went! PoP and I decided to head to Dupont Circle first so we hoofed it up to our first few locations. The texting was a great way to get the clues and man did those clues send us EVERYWHERE!!! We decided to jog/walk everywhere forgoing the use of the metro trains and buses. We are hardcore! ;) Ok well PoP is hardcore; I just want to throw that out there. For those of you who imagine PoP leisurely strolling along on the weekends snapping photos, you are grossly mistaken. PoP walks at an inhuman speed which had me jogging slowly beside him. I can only imagine what the people we passed by thought at the sight of us. Our adventure took us from George Washington to Dupont, from Dupont to the Mall, then on down around the Tidal Basin to see old TJ and back up around to the WWII memorial. It then sent us up to the Farragut N. metro area and oops, back down to the National Aquarium, and ah, crap, back up to Dupont circle because we finally figured out what those clues meant! There were 2 points in Old Town Alexandria which PoP and I decided to not do, so we hoofed it from Dupont back to GW and we were the 7th team to arrive, but the 1st to arrive with all 10 DC points out the total 12. There were some major delays and break downs on the blue line that day so we were thankful we decided not to even bother going. Due to this the GO Urban team decided to let all 50 teams qualify for free to the Championship race July 17, 2010 in DC!!! Continues after the jump. (more…)

Photo provided by GO Urban Adventure Race

Have you ever been driving, biking, walking, whatever, around DC and noticed a ton of people in matching costumes running all around the city together and thought, “God I wish I was them!”?  Well I have and now I’m going to be, and so can you!  GO Urban’s Adventure Race is coming back to DC, Sat, August 1, 2009 and registration is still available.  You and your best friend or even your best frienemy can sign up, put on matching outfits and hit the streets for a chance to win the $400.00 grand prize!!!!!

So what is this GO Urban Adventure Race you ask?  Well let me tell you!  Personally, I didn’t care, I just knew I was going to do it, but for those of you who are less sheep-like than me, it is a citywide scavenger hunt.  The hunt is comprised of mental (i.e. riddles and such) and physical challenges (3-4 min workout) that each team must complete to finish the race.  According to the website  “each team will be supplied with a total of 12 clues that will each lead to a GOpoint (location), for a total of 12 GOpoints. At each GOpoint each team will have to participate in a mental or physical challenge. The race starts at 12pm (noon) and will last a maximum of 5 hours (till 5pm). Most teams should finish within 3 1/2 -5 hours.”  The clues, and your responses will be supplied to the races via SMS Text messaging, so make sure at least one of you have a good texting plan.  Participants can use web phones as well as carry laptops.  Running and public transportation are allowed but no biking, driving, or rollerblading!  This year, the race starts at Kogan Plaza, George Washington University (2132 H ST NW Washington, D.C.)  Continues after the jump. (more…)

This was a great scene. There was a martial arts demonstration outside Eatonville at 14th and V Streets NW on Friday afternoon. I think they’re part of the martial arts studio on U Street around the corner. This kid couldn’t have been older than 4 or 5. He gathered quite the audience during his performance.

The Washington Nationals. The District of Columbia. Each a true reflection of the other. A match made in heaven – or hell, depending on your opinion of both. The parallels are startling, really. Their story is one of twins separated at birth only to reunite years later. One raised in DC, on borrowed land. The other, a country away in Montreal. Together again. At long last, together again.

It took time for the Nats to make this place home, as it no doubt took the Capital some time to come into its own. The seasons housed in RFK spent awkwardly, like wearing someone else’s shoes. The new stadium seemed to come out of thin air. Plop down it went. Just like DC itself, dropped in the middle of swampy wetlands. The only major metropolitan area and international powerhouse that developed a city around it, rather than the opposite; a powerhouse emerging from a developed city. It took the efforts of the entire Major League to bring one here. The other depended on the action of a strong centralized “federal” government. For those looking in, both concepts seemed somewhat half-baked.

So maybe you are growing convinced that the District and the Nats share a few traits. However, my argument thus far has been one based on generalities. What about the specifics, you ask. Well, consider the following:

(Former) General Manager, Jim bowden = (Former) Mayor, Marion Barry. So he was never actually convicted of corruption. That doesn’t stop everyone from accepting as truth that he was one corrupt SOB. One fell from grace via a prostitute and crack, the other over allegations of skimming bonus checks from dominican prospects. Either way, definitely not the guy you want steering the ship. Sure, they both have their apologists (more generously called “supporters”), but at the end of the day they will be remembered as those that brought shame upon their franchises. Thankfully, neither are still in charge, but the mess they left in their wake is visible everywhere.

Ryan Zimmerman = “Downtown Washington.” He is the “face of the franchise” – the first thing people think of when they think of the Nats. Everyone has a stake in his well being. He is also painfully expensive. You have to secure that kind of investment, so it doesn’t seem too out of the ordinary to see teams of heavily armed guards patrolling his perimeter. If you live here, you take him for granted. Don’t forget, franchise caliber third-basemen are hard to find, and not everyone has one. Every once in a while you remember he is down there and so you’ll go to simply gaze in amazement. Then the tourists start to drive you crazy and you head back up to the real part of town. There is something a little too easy or common about liking him. As a fan, you have way more street-cred if you like a guy like Elijah Dukes.  Continues after the jump (more…)