There is absolutely no way that I can possibly blog about the entire experience of this weekend at the Texas Independence Relay.
I'll try to hit the highlights without boring you.
Tommy did a great job of creating a word salad packed with memories for those of us who were there.
The whole experience was probably the most fun I have ever had with a van full of almost strangers. Sure, we've come to know one another through the blogging world, but who, in their right mind, signs up to spend an entire weekend in a mini-van (and I do stress the word mini) with people other than family, most of whom you've never met in person? The real world will tell you that this is crazy! And they would be right, except that in this case crazy worked very well!
The weekend started at 1:00 am Saturday morning as I waited for the alarm to go off. I think I had a total of 45 mins of sleep. This was to be expected as I was nervous about forgetting something. As my bag would indicate by its sheer weight, I didn't forget a thing! First lesson that I will take away from TIR is to thoroughly evaluate every single item I packed and determine if I used it or needed it. This will help me in future races, ultras in particular.
Dave and Holden picked me up at about 2:15 or so and we headed to Jon's house for our departure to Gonzales. It is a very good thing that I wasn't in charge of the map or driving on TIR, as I managed to get us lost within the first 20 mins of our trip!
Once we arrived at Jon's we had a few introductions, Edwin, and then Katy, and Adrienne. We met Cassie and her van just outside of Gonzales and followed one another in.
After the two vans parked and introductions were complete, the first order of business once we arrived was to find the restroom. Thank goodness for 24 hour Whataburger. Truly my biggest fear about TIR was my tiny bladder capacity. I was able to overcome the fear I have of port-a-potties pretty quick.
As the sun rose, we met Bill's team, the Texian Road Warriors, gathered together and offered prayer for a safe and fun weekend. God was very good to us.
Gonzales was a great town. They really came out to support us with free breakfast tacos, coffee, and a cannon blast or a bang of the gong to each team as they crossed the start line.
photo courtesy of Joe C
The prologue was a great start to the race. We all ran together for the first mile. Afterwhich, Dave started us on our journey of 40 legs to the San Jacinto.
Our van headed out to find some breakfast and we were treated to a buffet in a little restaurant in Shiner. There was only one waitress in the place and there were several TIR teams. I saw several folks from the Champions Fit group. The coffee was nothing to brag about, but it was a great time to sit back and get to know one another.
From breakfast we went to the first Van exchange at the Shiner Brewery. Keith would be handing off to Sarah as she began leg 7. Blogger 1 Van had a nice morning to run, cooler temps, but lots of fog. As soon as Sarah hit the road, the sun came out and the temps began to soar. On top of 70+ temps, we had a nice set of hills to conquer. As the baton was passed from teammate to teammate, our commoraderie grew. We realized that if we were going to make it through this weekend, we were going to have to take care of one another, cheer each other on, maybe even make sure that we were wearing the right gear! At one point, Jon realized he didn't have his bib on, so one of the runners ran one out to him. At another point, we realized that Jon didn't have any reflective gear on, so we took care of that. Jon was so busy making sure that we were all taken care of that he forgot to take care of himself. Watching my teammates show the care that we should all show to one another every day was an awe inspiring event. It was one of those beautiful moments in life that I hope I never forget.
dinner at Schobel's in Columbus (I think) photo courtesy of Joe C
On top of the incredible experience of running the TIR, we had the added fun of a Texas Throwdown between us and the Texian Road Warriors.
Coach Bill and the Texian Road Warriors as they cross the finish line
While we enjoyed the competitive angle of the Throwdown, I think we all enjoyed cheering one another on, making sure we were all safe, and sharing the joy of the finish with both teams.
Battling Bloggers of the Texas Republic 2008
Some memories that I'll state in no specific order will not mean much to anyone other than my teammates.
Back seat of the Sienna - ouch
Jose and Manny - Drivers/Saints could not have done this without them!
Trains - Keith kept imagining them
Dogs - there's dumb and then there is Texas Dog Dumb!
Pepper Spray - not so effective on Texas Dog Dumb dogs
Sleep - 90 mins is all you need
Shower - the best thing since sliced bread
Red Bull - desperate times call for desperate measures
Gummy Bears - Keith's only request
The guy who was "just a guy" running
Last Hill- it wasn't on the map
Epilogue
Each saying this is a once in a life-time event and then wondering when registration for 2009 will be
Jon's face as he watched his daughter sing at the base of the San Jacinto Monument
Family - seeing ours after the weekend away
7 comments:
Oh my - I seriously got shivers as I read your post and that has nothing to do with the temps outside.
You guys were all so modest; it took me reading Bill's blog to finally figure out which team came in ahead of the other!
I just saw Holden's pics which helped me get a picture in my mind of some of the weekend. Next year!
I came across your blog from Tigg's. I saw your sons picture, and I had to find out more. Your relay sounds great. I did the Ragnar Del Sol relay 181 miles this past weekend in 27 hours and 11 minutes. You summed up your experience better than my wordy one. Recover well.
There was no imaginary trains! There was merely a series of amazing coincidences. That's all. Not too hard to believe if you think about it, with various things happening all around us, the same thing might happen several times to the same person. It's bound to happen really. It probably has to happen. I think I've proven my point anyway.
Nice meeting you. Sorry we couldn't have all shared the same van. Related to the earlier point, if there were all twelve of us in one van, most probably somebody would have had some gummy bears.
That last hill. The horrors.
Wow, you couldn't have said it better! Here-here for Whataburger at 5am! (or whatever time it was!)
What fun to read!
You all are amazing and what a weekend of memories for you.
What an absolutely crazy experience, and I feel the same way. During the race, I never wanted to do it again, but after we crossed the finish line... Yeah, I could do it again! :)
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