Challenge Nation Recap

Five of us "competed" in Challenge Nation on Saturday this past weekend.  It was pretty fun; and I say competed, and yes, it was a race, but we were doing it just for fun so we took our time and enjoyed wandering around downtown Pittsburgh.  (I have to admit, I get competitive really easily and I probably pushed a little more than I should have- and screwed up a clue because I read it too quickly and tried to complete it really fast.  But that slowed me down and made me remember we were there to have fun, not to compete.  And it was a lot of fun.)

Challenge Nation is described on their web site as:

"The Challenge is a ridiculously fun “Amazing Race” style competition packed into one incredible day. Teams of two or more will dash around the city, racing against other Challengers for immortal glory (and cash prizes!) as they solve tricky clues, strategize the best route, and explore undiscovered corners of the city.


Think of it like a 5K that tests your brains as much as your legs, with bigger prizes and a whole lot more fun--we guarantee you’ll have a blast!"

However, although it said 5K, it wasn't a running race.  Although the teams who did win probably ran, with the times that they got.

We were given 12 clues to various buildings in the city.  When we figured out the clue, we had to head to that place and get a picture with the entire team at that location.  The clue also generally gave us instructions on how to pose for each photo.

For example, clue #9 was:

"Clue #9 Sing the entirety of the song that includes "I'll wear those shoes and you will wear that dress" to a stranger. Just kidding! However, identify the band that sings that song - then slice about 75% of its name away, double a letter that remains, and you'll find a restaurant at an intersection downtown: any of the four corners there is your stage: act out any famous movie scene with your team AND a stranger. Be creative!"

That song is Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer.  So we took away most of the name of the band to have Sixpen, added an "N" and got Six Penn Restaurant.  When we got there, we found a family and asked one of them to take our picture and the others to pose with us.  We chose Rocky as our movie to act out, and here is the result:

So we did end up running around quite a bit of the city, having fun, posing for pictures, and had a beer at the end of the race.

Our team name was "That's What She Said" so there was also a lot of responding to things with that quote.  We ended up coming in at 75th place out of 119; not too shabby! ;)  It took us 2 hours 13 minutes, and 45 seconds to take the pictures and get back to the start.  We also only had to do 11 of the 12 clues, but we did them all before we headed back.

Here are a few more pictures: