This past weekend my friends John, Jen, Ligaya, Ben, and I participated in the first Chiditarod, Chicago's very own urban Iditarod.  Teams of five sign up to wildly steer their souped up shopping carts around Chicago, stop in at check-points, and race to the finish line.

Our team, Snakes on a Plane, came in 8th out of 22 teams--amazing!.  Ligaya and Jen did most of the work to convert our green Hyde Park Co-op shopping cart into HPK-Air, the most terrifying plane on the planet (with snakes!).

The Chiditarod is a food drive and all together the teams collected nearly 1,000 lbs. of non-perishable food to donate to Vital Bridges.  Nice work everyone!

Here is our lovely team post finish line (obviously): Ben, Ligaya, Jen, Gemma, and John (and our friend Paul on the right).

Some of the carts and costumes were truly spectacular.  I am already thinking about what to plan for next year.  This was my favorite cart.  The cowboy costumed runners even tied her up at all the stops.  Awesome.

Finish line party at the Hideout.

The race began at the Pontiac Cafe with intermediate stops at Club Lucky and Phyllis' Musical Inn.

There are other urban iditarods that take place in New York City, San Francisco, and Portland. 

My second favorite, team Double Dare.  You can see 'Marc Summers' there to the left.  Brilliant.

Way to go team Snakes on a Plane!

(And thanks to Colie and Paul for coming to cheer us on and take pictures.)