Amazing Race

One of our favorite television programs over the past several years has been Amazing Race. This reality show takes 11 or 12 couples on a race around the world. Competitors have to perform challenges in each country, usually at least one of which involves a traditional ceremony, athletic endeavor, puzzle or food.
A team gets eliminated almost every week by finishing last in that leg of the journey pit stop. First prize is $1 million and the winner of each stage gets a free trip, cash or a car.

For many years Jan and I couldn't apply to be selected for the show because one of our daughters worked for Disney. When that was no longer a problem there were health issues. Now we are finally clear and we just sent in our application and video.

The odds of us getting selected to make it to the next stage of tryouts are slim, but there is hope. We believe being over fifty and in better athletic shape than most people our age, and many younger, will be an advantage. However it's hard to tell exactly what the producers want. Filming begins in late October or November, so it really isn't far off.

Jan and I are already preparing just in case the call comes. We have travel guide books, foreign language cd's to listen to while driving and are studying maps, airline codes and flags of countries. Jan remembers a bit of French from high school and I know the same for German. I'm going to try and learn a few basic Spanish words and maybe one of us can pick up something in Japanese, Chinese or Russian?

If we don't make the cut for Amazing Race we will be prepped for Jeopardy. Hey, you never know!