Yesterday was the closing ceremonies of the Ventura County Corporate Games, at Harbor Cove Beach. Our team was 6 points behind the leader, with only one event left - Tug of War. Now, we have never medaled in Tug of War. We're not even competitive - we're not a very big team of people.
So we pretty much resigned ourselves to 2nd place, and focused our efforts on the sand sculpture contest (which doesn't count toward overall trophy). I was down on the sand helping out, when one of our guys who was digging sand to add to the pile accidentally drove a shovel into my bare toes. Good thing it was soft sand, or I surely would have lost a couple of toes. One loud swear escaped my lips, but then I shut it down. I lost some skin and blood, and am bruised, but nothing too bad, considering.
Time came for us to compete in Tug of War. Even though it was a lost cause, we're not quitters so we found 12 people to pull - 7 women and 5 men. Rules say you can have up to 9 men. So as you can imagine, no one took us very seriously. One of our guys, Alex, said he had heard a strategy about how little people can win tug of war. OK, we've got nothing to lose, let's try it. I was the anchor. Seriously.
Our first pull was against CDR (they always win Tug of War) - their anchor probably went 280. We implemented our strategy. It was an exhausting few minutes. People were screaming, my legs and arms were shaking, my mind couldn't believe what was happening - WE WON! In the picture at the top of the post (from our second pull), all the guys in black behind me - that's CDR!
Such incredulous joy you've never seen! And our rival (1st place overall) lost. That meant if we won the gold medal, we might be able to take the overall lead.
Our rival pulled first against CDR, competing for the bronze medal. THEY LOST! We had to pull against AGIA for the gold or silver medal.
WE WON! Gold medal in Tug of War - with 7 women and 5 men, our largest guy went 195. Average weight was probably 145. NO WAY! I guess it was brains over braun. It was so incredulous, I'm still smiling when I think of it.
When the points were calculated, we were in a TIE with our rivals. Corporate Games organizers proposed a tug-off for the overall win. Our rivals DECLINED. So we ended up as co-champions. That's OK, we know who really won....
AND we got the Silver for our sand sculpture! Theme was 'feats of courage,' and in patagonia fashion, we had a surfer and a climber. Cool!
So we pretty much resigned ourselves to 2nd place, and focused our efforts on the sand sculpture contest (which doesn't count toward overall trophy). I was down on the sand helping out, when one of our guys who was digging sand to add to the pile accidentally drove a shovel into my bare toes. Good thing it was soft sand, or I surely would have lost a couple of toes. One loud swear escaped my lips, but then I shut it down. I lost some skin and blood, and am bruised, but nothing too bad, considering.
Time came for us to compete in Tug of War. Even though it was a lost cause, we're not quitters so we found 12 people to pull - 7 women and 5 men. Rules say you can have up to 9 men. So as you can imagine, no one took us very seriously. One of our guys, Alex, said he had heard a strategy about how little people can win tug of war. OK, we've got nothing to lose, let's try it. I was the anchor. Seriously.
Our first pull was against CDR (they always win Tug of War) - their anchor probably went 280. We implemented our strategy. It was an exhausting few minutes. People were screaming, my legs and arms were shaking, my mind couldn't believe what was happening - WE WON! In the picture at the top of the post (from our second pull), all the guys in black behind me - that's CDR!
Such incredulous joy you've never seen! And our rival (1st place overall) lost. That meant if we won the gold medal, we might be able to take the overall lead.
Our rival pulled first against CDR, competing for the bronze medal. THEY LOST! We had to pull against AGIA for the gold or silver medal.
WE WON! Gold medal in Tug of War - with 7 women and 5 men, our largest guy went 195. Average weight was probably 145. NO WAY! I guess it was brains over braun. It was so incredulous, I'm still smiling when I think of it.
When the points were calculated, we were in a TIE with our rivals. Corporate Games organizers proposed a tug-off for the overall win. Our rivals DECLINED. So we ended up as co-champions. That's OK, we know who really won....
AND we got the Silver for our sand sculpture! Theme was 'feats of courage,' and in patagonia fashion, we had a surfer and a climber. Cool!
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