Wicked Fun

Last weekend was our annual Wanda Witch Race. My girlfriend, Rickie, didn't hate me too much after last year and agreed to do it again this year. I love Rickie and we have so much fun planning this! We seriously start in August and then we discuss it non-stop until October. She's also my running buddy so we'll plan routes to check out places, or come up with ideas mid-run. We're always trying to come up with fun ways to earn points and get the teams to work together so this year we introduced a few fun twists.

Instead of pulling pranks on each other, like last year, we thought we'd go nice and have the teams bribe US. I don't think we were prepared for their generosity and the guilt that would result. Our friends have to be the yummiest bakers, best crafters and most creative people in the Valley. We had so much fun seeing what they would bring us: a pizookie and ice cream, orange rolls from the red team, capes and brooms in trash bags from our husbands' team, snickerdoodle blondies, Kitty Katrina cake all the way from Utah, necklaces, oreo bark, cute Halloween crafts. . . If you want to see all the bribes, you'll have to check out our Race Blog.

Another hit was the team uniforms. Usually teams just wear matching shirts, but this year the costumes were THE BEST! The Ghastly Green Goblins -- someone was even injured in the making of that flagThe Red Devils -- those costumes are too cute
Purple Rain -- Tribute to Prince & all things 80s
The Gimp O'Lanterns -- Chris broke his ankle a month or so before the race so this an homage to him.
The Golden Ghouls -- our team of newbies! They showed up a little late for the race (they obviously didn't realize how competitive this has gotten over the years) and I didn't get a picture of them until the party ended.And winners of the costume contest -- The Wicked White Trash of the West

Maybe our worst idea was the starting location dare. We thought it would be really funny if you had to stick your hand into something disgusting to get an extra help. We thought about worms or crickets or dead scorpions. . . but logistically (and economically) it worked out better to fill #10 cans with gross foods from the grocery store. Only did you know you can buy pickled pigs feet at the grocery store? Oh my gosh, it was so gross. And the worst part was that some of it spilled in my car during transport. I guess payback's brutal sometimes.

The race went well -- no real drama except for the Security Guard at the parking garage who collected all of our clues and ran an Inquisition of the poor Green Team. Thankfully he put all the clues back. And there was the poor Yellow Team who solved a clue incorrectly and ended up at the Reservation where Steve signed a flashlight into a car where some seedy business was going down. . . but all in all, everyone had fun. Especially the WINNERS!

After *most* of the teams got back (I won't say which team got back last), we enjoyed lots of food from our food contest. Some of it was cute some of it was beautiful some of it was revolting . . .

I won't go into too many details about the race because it's all over on the blog, but I do want to say a HUGE thank you to all of our friends who come every year and make it such a fun party. I love your enthusiasm! I love your funny names and costumes and all the details. And I appreciate you patience and understanding when things go wrong. Love you all and can't wait for next year!!