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Nashville Oyster Race, Passport 3
When we arrived at the transition area after Passport 2, we were given our next passport. They also told us one person would have to skate, that we would be doing two passports before returning to the transition area, and that one person would be getting wet. Our instructions said that our next passport would be on foot. We put our bikes back in our stall and Isaac's dad said he would check the pressure on Karen's tire. We grabbed Isaac's fleece since we figured it would fit whoever ended up getting wet.
I forgot to mention in the earlier post that we were also asked questions along the way. In the first passport, they asked us how many cities were hosting the Merrell Oyster Racing Series (the answer is 6 - Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, Austin, and Nashville). During the second passport, we were asked for Reggie Hodges jersey number (he plays for the Tennessee Titans). Isaac's dad was very helpful in finding out this answer for us (3). We were told we would need to use the answers later.
For this leg of the race, we needed to make our way to Asphalt Beach, a skate shop over on Woodland Street. Since we had done our homework, we knew exactly were the shop was located. We crossed over the river on the pedestrian bridge and ran past the stadium, where it looked like the Breast Cancer Walk folks were having a celebration.
At this point both of my calves started really cramping up. Since the race was started more quickly than we were prepared for, we didn't really have time to stretch. We had put some Propel in our bike water bottles, and had plain water in our backpacks. I wasn't able to run much but walked as quickly as I possibly could. Most of this section was uphill as well. We passed a guy who looked like he was having some muscle problems as well: his quads were cramping up, so his team just left him! They were a relay team, so I guess they didn't need him at the moment, but I thought that was a bit strange. My team stayed with me, and we tried to get to Asphalt Beach quickly.
We had already strategized about who would do certain tasks if they were asked of us and had decided that Isaac or I would do the skating. Since my legs were giving me trouble, Isaac said he would do the task. He had to put on roller blades, skate around the track in the store twice, navigate a small obstacle course, and then hit a bell hanging from a goal with a ball (hockey-style).
While Karen and I were watching him do all this, we shared a bag of Clif Shot Bloks that were given to us at check-in Friday night. I used to use the Clif Shots (a thick liquid goo) when I hiked in the Tetons. They really do a great job of providing energy and electrolytes, but we had decided they would be too messy for this race. Since the Bloks are more the consistancy of gummies, we went ahead and packed themin our bags. They were awesome! I don't remember much about what they tasted like, but after stretching and eating three of these, my legs were totally fine! I highly recommend them if you are doing a strenuous activity and are prone to muscle cramps.
We got our passport stamped and were told to go to I Dream of Weenie, a local hot dog stand that looks like a VW minibus. It was only a couple blocks further down the street, so we made our way there, passing groups along the way carrying pool floats.
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