We encountered Keith and Laura on our short 1/2 mile hike back to the competitor fields. I had a feeling Keith didn't just happen by, seeing as we were well away from where motorized vehicles were allowed. But Keith being Keith, rules were merely guidelines and he was on a motorcycle and who cared anyway...?
Once we got within sight of the competitor fields we heard them before we saw them. CowBells. "I got a fever, and the only cure is more CowBells..." Cowbells only could mean one thing. OK two things, either we were in Europe for Tour de France or the Edney clan was in town. Bear Team supporters in full regalia. Everyone had their own Bear Team shirt and most everyone was ringing some form of CowBell. It was great! The other competitors didn't know what to make of it. That was even better! We were destined for greatness! Among our spectator fans were My wife Nancy, Jacks friend Laura, (Her boys were off playing the the second round of 18 holes of disc golf of the day. They eventually completed over six 18 hole games that weekend..)Bear valley has an amazing disc golf course). I digress... Keith drove down from Folsom to be with us, My parents came up from Pleasanton for the weekend, and our good friends Mike and Jeni came up the hill, braving the smoke from the Rim Fire, to watch and cheer us on. (I think they have a crush on Jack...) Thank You all!
We hugged and kissed our brief hellos, and went to report in for Feats of Strength. As we were checking in we noticed a couple other teams struggling across the soccer field carrying or dragging or pushing various pieces of weight. (Not to be confused with pieces of eight which some people would gladly carry off. Arrgh) While waiting we managed to chomp down a few calories and drink a few ounces of electrolytes (alcohol is banned during this event.). When our turn was called we had a cheering section to rival any european soccer match during a 0-0 tie with :05 minutes to go in the game...OK maybe they weren't singing but they were cheering and ringing them bells...
Keith chose to cross yet another line and came on to the field with us as official photographer and personal coach. I guess as long as you have a camera out you are allowed... As we surveyed the various items to be moved we came up with a game plan. Carry the only two man weight first then "grab and go" with the others. We saw nothing else either one of us couldn't carry alone and one item (ok actually two items, weighted pulley wheels, about 50lb each) that could be rolled together. Along with the wheels were a 8 ft length of RXR tie, a rock, a rolled up bundle of sod netting, two ski lift chairs and a 24"x 24" box jump box. None of these were overly heavy but most of them were cumbersome and difficult to handle. Each item had to be moved the length of the soccer field, deposited there until all pieces were on the north end, then returned to their original location on the south end. No Problem.
Three, Two, One, we were off. Keith was a great photog and coach except we totally ignored him.(another reason I chose Jack over Keith, you can only ignore Keith for so long. It's when you start to listen to him that the trouble begins...) I can hardly wait to see the videos of this event as we chose to compete here in our cut off sleeve Hawaiian shirts. The way the crowd was cheering I can only imagine our muscles were bulging and drawing fans from afar...Was I dreaming or did it really happen?
We made it through this event with a personal record. The crowd was on their feet when we came off the field. They had left all their chairs over at the Obstacle Course where we were headed to next.
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