I Like Contests!

"Oh Jill, you and your dang contests!" said my friend, Lili.

In July, I saw a facebook post that said: "SOYJOY encourages everyone to find small ways to add real adventure to their everyday lives. Go to SOYJOY’s Facebook page and enter the Show Us Your Real Life Adventure Contest by July 25. Submit your short video for the chance to be one of three winners to earn a real-life adventure: an all-expenses-paid weekend in New York City with a buddy and entry to the Great Urban Race – the most intense urban scavenger hunt you’ll ever participate in. And, of the three winners, the team that finishes strongest in the Great Urban Race will get a $2000 cash prize!"

How could I NOT enter that? That is the perfect contest for me. Be adventurous in your everyday life and win a trip to do a Great Urban Race!?! Awesome!!

Throughout the next week, I shot video clips to make a "week of adventures" video. I mostly did crappy self-filming and ended up making a pretty crappy video showing me hiking, doing agility, trying a new restaurant, registering for an adventure race, getting a new foster and playing soccer. The idea was good, but the execution was poor. I submitted the video even though I was not happy with it. The next step was to get votes via their facebook page. The 10 videos with the most votes made it to the finals where the judges would choose their 3 favorites to win the trip to NYC. So I started campaigning on Facebook, despite being embarrassed by how dorky I appeared in my video. Nicole was going to be my travel and race partner if I won so she campaigned pretty hard, too. Our endless Facebook nagging worked and I came in 2nd in votes. Yay! (Thanks, Facebook friends!)

The next step was to wait impatiently to see if the judges picked my video. There were some really good ones in the top 10. I was crossing my fingers that SOYJOY would just pick the top 3 vote-getters. I don't know if that was their deciding factor, but indeed the top 3 vote-getters were the 3 winners. SUPER YAY! I won a trip to NYC for two that included airfare, hotel for 2 nights, $500 spending money and an entry into the Great Urban Race Manhattan! I WON!

Despite trying things from a million angles, Nicole could not make it work to come to NYC with me. Our flight itineraries had to be the same and she was coming from California, plus there was no one to watch her young'uns on the Friday travel day. Boo. I would have loved to introduce her to urban adventure racing! I think she'd like it. Luckily, Christy was willing and able to step in and go with me. Yay! Pat used frequent flier miles to book his own airfare as soon as he found out I won, so don't go thinking I'm a jerk because I didn't take my husband!

I like contests! And I REALLY like winning contests. SOYJOY is the coolest company ever for sponsoring such a fun contest and for picking me to win. Hurray, SOYJOY!

Read on to see how the Great Urban Race went....