Survive DC

Tonight I participated in an exciting race called Survive DC. I'm not sure who organized it but it was a brilliant idea. We all met at a place called Dupont Circle. I was in a group with David Trichler and his sister Michelle who was out here visiting. About 200-300 people (at least) gathered in this little circular park. There were a variety of costumes and crazy running outfits all meant to give some sort of strategic advantage. We were given a blue armband, and orange armband, and a map of the city marking 6 checkpoints. At the start we put on blue armbands. Others signed up to be "chasers" and they used the orange armband. Our goal was to make it to all 6 checkpoints without getting tagged by and orange banded chaser. At each checkpoint there was some sort of activity, some water, and a place to get your map stamped to prove you really made it to each checkpoint. If we were tagged by a chaser, we would have to give up our blue armband to them, and then put on our orange armband. We would become chasers and try to tag as many people as possible. We planned out our strategy very carefully at the beggining, deciding to go the least traveled routes. We were allowed to use the metro and our feet. No cars, buses, skateboards, bikes, etc. were allowed. At 8 pm sharp, the race began. It was awesome to see all of the people pour out of Dupont circle in every direction at the beginning.

Our first goal was the park in front of the White House. We proceeded very cautiously, but didn't see a chaser the whole time. When we made it to the White House, there were tons of people already there. We weren't very committed to finishing the whole race, so we decided to go on to the second point without getting a stamp (I would come to regret that decision). Our next stop was a park near the Capitol. We walked right up the center of the Mall, and didn't see a soul until we got close to the checkpoint. We ran into two people that were lost, and visibly frustrated. We tried to help them get their bearings and then they ran out ahead of us. This turned out to be lucky because a chaser took off after them. They distracted him while we hopped a fence and ran into a thicket. We scared all sorts of sleeping birds on our way through the bushes and trees. It was a perfect hiding spot. We waited there until the coast was clear, and then made a break for the checkpoint. I forgot to mention one more rule. Each of the checkpoints has a safe zone marked on the map. While there you are immune to any sort of chaser attack. We were able to get some water and relax. We decided that we probably were just going to go to the next point and stop. We told the people at the checkpoint that we weren't doing the stamp thing and just took off.

The journey to checkpoint three was a bit sketchy. It was obviously in the more dangerous section of town. David had lived near there when he first came to DC, so he tried to take a route through some of the safer roads. We got back into the safer areas as quickly as possible, and met little resistance on our way to checkpoint three. There we were met with root beer and warm plates of cookies. A girl in a very 50's and very matronly dress invited us to take a seat at a table with crayons and clean paper. She instructed us to draw what we'd like to be when we grow up. Since checkpoint four was so close, we decided that we had better at least try for it. At this point there were chasers everywhere. They actually had taken up the strategy of camping out right in front of the safe zone. We decided that we would just try to outrun them, so we walked up the street casually until they started to chase us, and then we took off full speed. We caught a light at a busy intersection just as it was changing, and left the chasers in the dust.

Checkpoint five was at Howard University. Up to this point, we had adopted a "blending in" strategy. We would just walk and not make eye contact until someone started to run after us, and then we would take off running. This allowed us to get better angles, and escape more easily. For this checkpoint, however, we were the only white kids in the whole neighborhood. Our blending in didn't work so well. As we approached the safe zone, we saw a few suspicious characters on the corner straight ahead. As we got closer, we saw it was a few chaser girls. We crossed the street casually, and timed it perfectly so that we hit the street as the crosswalk turned. We got a bit of a head start, and since there were two of them and three of us they got confused and didn't get any of us. This stop was a camp theme. We sang camp songs, ate some energy bar stuff, and took off. We found out that we were in 33rd place. We decided that there was no way we could give up.

By this time we were exhausted, but we had a nice peaceful walk to the fifth checkpoint. We were in a very nice, very quiet neighborhood, but we couldn't quite find our way through the winding roads. After a bit, we realized that we were a block over from where we thought we were. We had to cut back up a different road, and we ran smack into a bunch of chasers. We all ran in different directions, but we didn't really know where the safe zone was. David and Michelle got caught, and I ran up a driveway behind some bushes. I looked at the map and saw that the safe zone was only a block away. I walked back down towards where David was caught, and there were about 5 chasers. I casually walked by and they all just sort of stared at me. I was able to get to the corner before they realized who I was, and by then it was too late. I sprinted up the hill and made it to the safe zone. David and Michelle followed me, and even though they were technically chasers we walked towards the last checkpoint. When we were almost there they took a different road to get on the metro and go home. I wanted to see if I could finish the game. Being by myself it was pretty easy. I was in a more active part of town, so I just walked in groups of partying college students and tried to blend in. I walked right by several chasers this way. I waltzed in to the last checkpoint at about 11:32. I came in 12th place unofficially, since I had no stamps to prove that I had actually been to the checkpoints. If I had had the stamps to prove it, I would have got a medal. Apparently the top 15 got medals. I've made a Google Map of the course so you can see the whole journey. I'm absolutely loving it out here. It feels like the city is just one giant playground. There's so much to do and see. After my 11 mile journey, I've had enough for the day. I'm going to bed!