transient travels

As always, the arrival of Labor Day weekend creates a sense of urgency for me in which I am pushed to get out and enjoy the final days of summer before all the snow comes.

Okay, I know we do have fall and it’s actually my favorite season, but those harsh memories of being buried in a New England snow storm tend to stick and as soon as the weather cools, many of us here can’t help but begin to dread digging out our cars from under a snowbank again and again.

But I digress…

With an annual weekend to Gloucester pushed back due to plain old procrastination, I conveniently received an email from the folks at GO Urban inviting me to an activity that I thought was a perfect bookend for the summer season.

GO Urban Adventure Race is a series of races in thirteen cities that aim to promote a healthier lifestyle and increase awareness of healthy local businesses. They also offer an opportunity to explore your city from a very unique perspective. All teams are made up of two and my sister Jenny was kind enough to join me last Saturday.

At the start of the race we were supplied with four clues via text that each led to a specific GOpoint location. Once each location was reached, and a mental or physical challenge completed, we received a GOpoint and in some cases, another text message guiding us to another location. There were a total of eight locations across Boston and we had to take a picture at each one to prove that we were there.

It was  basically a really intense scavenger hunt for adults. Jenny and I didn’t quite finish every task because we sort of got off on the wrong track in the very beginning, but once we got our first clue, we definitely got the hang of it.

The very first clue took us to the Frog Pond at the Boston Common where we had to take a picture of at least one team member with their feet in the water.

After Jenny dried off, we rushed to our next task…

Once complete, we fled to one of the few other clues we knew without having to phone a friend and we arrived at the Paul Revere Mall in the North End. Per SMS instruction, we took a picture under the famous lantern.

After that we hopped on the T and headed to the most challenging location – Cross Fit Boston. Here, they had us do 3 sets of 10 burpees and 10 pull ups. Back in college I could actually do a pull up or two, but these days, I needed to use a band that ties around your feet and provides assistance.

Despite the “assistance,” I still can’t straighten my arms and it has been two days and I’m not exaggerating. I feel like I played two rugby games back to back – minus the bruises. My sister on the other hand is a cross fit maniac and she was able to complete 30 pull ups unassisted. The cross fit people loved her.

As we got closer to 5 p.m., the end of the race, we made a valiant effort to fit in one last clue. It had something to do with a grasshopper on a weather vane, but we never actually figured it out.

At the end of the race we had a ceremony at Ned Devine’s celebrating the winners, who earned a great prize, and enjoyed a complementary beer. Jenny also got to mingle with some other cross fitters. While they talked about their passion for working out constantly and the benefits of being on a paleo diet for a good hour and a half, I enjoyed a second beer with a sandwich and fries and thought about how my friends must feel when I go on about things like blogging.

Jenny and I definitely had a blast and I would highly recommend trying out the race. It’s a great opportunity to meet new people, explore your city and most of all, get active. My one recommendation would be to STRETCH before the race, you never know what you’re getting yourself into.

So, how did you all spend your last official days of summer?