BMW Ultimate Drive

Who knew it could be so much fun to support a charity. Well of course it should be fun and meaningful any time you donate time or money to a charity, but today was super special. A coworker who had been diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago, who is a survivor, was honored at the BMW Ultimate Drive support Sunsan G. Komen for the Cure. I am not very close to this coworker, but she is still very inspiring. She and another coworker coordinated a running team for the Fairfield Half Marathon and 5K. This typical athletic event held so much more meaning for this team because they were running for the cure. The Pink Ribbon Runners were made of 30 family members, friends and coworkers, and they all participated in her honor. This special woman, after only months of recovery participated in the 5k. That is strength.
Today we went to the Greenwich BMW to see the CT affiliate of Susan G. Komen honor Laura, and she looked amazing. A picture of her had been placed on silver BMW that had been signed by honorees across the country. She signed beneath her picture commemorating the moment. Part of this ceremony was a fundraising event for Sunsan G. Komen for the Cure. There special Susan G. Komen BMWs that could be test driven. For each mile that a car was driven, BMW will donate $1 to Susan G. Komen. The opportunity to drive any model BMW, at no cost, without obligation, is awesome. It’s an excellent cross-promotion.
My car of choice? An M3, but there were no openings. So instead I went with the Z4 manual, and took it for a 12 mile ride. After going two years without driving a standard, I was terrified that I would make a huge ass out of myself. My coworker and navigator, Dorrie, wasn’t too fearful of the whiplash. The young BMW rep gave us the run down while I fired questions at him about the car. One useful piece of information, the car’s clutch had been replaced 4 times. In my head I was hoping not to be the cause of a fifth replacement. The rep chided kindly that my stilettos would make shifting a little tricky. I love how men always think it must be so tricky to walk in a woman’s shoes. Perhaps if we were speaking figuratively.
The rep presumed I wouldn’t be able to find reverse in the car. I humored him and then reversed the out of the spot. Let me correct that. I skillfully backed out of the spot, and promptly stalled while shifting to first. So much for the skillful part, and so much for my ego. Once I turned the key, and successfully drove a few feet in first gear, I decided to zip out of the parking lot. A quick cover to salvage what was left of my ego. Yes sometimes women are just like men. This could have been more embarrassing if a BMW rep was in the car.
Once out of the road Dorrie was very kind and said her neck didn’t hurt too much. In truth I had been pretty rough on the car when transitioning gears. I got the hang of it after a few miles and decided to open her up a bit. Perhaps I should have paid a little more attention, because instead of putting the car from second to third, I went right to first. Nothing like going from 35 to 15 without using the break. Once we were on the merit (and back in the proper gear) I got it to fourth, and because of my earlier experience, I was terrified to shift into fifth. Dorrie, also nervous, said she preferred not to eat dashboard. So we hovered around 65, without really opening it up. Of course I made it successfully off the highway, but I was sad that I hadn’t gotten it to the highest gear. I wimped out on getting to 6th.
Back at the dealership I maneuvered into the parking spot, with much more confidence. What a great way to spend an midweek afternoon.