I know all of you were worried about me, so I wanted to let you know that I survived the Texas Independence Relay. Let’s start with the basics. Yes, we finished all 203 .2 miles, but you’ll have to wait to find out how we did. I ran 4 legs totaling 20.5 miles. Btw, 20.5 in a day is a new distance record for me. Since it was a relay I think it is fitting that I write up the experience in a series of posts. OK, and it would be a really long post that I might not ever finish if I tried to do it all at once (notice how long it took me to get just this part out).

A team of 10 people in two vans involves some logistical challenges. Luckily, our team captain, Chris, had run it last year and was all over it and, of course, it was powered by LabVIEW.  Race day came and we loaded up our two vans Saturday morning and headed down to Gonzales. The beginning of the race was kind of anti-climatic. Since there were a wide variety of teams running at different speeds, some teams started as early as 6 AM while we started at about 1 PM. So every once in a while they would fire the canon and a team would take off running. The canon was a replica of the famed “Come and Take It” canon, which was actually quite small. To top it off, when it was our turn to start we didn’t even get the canon. They told our team captain to hit a gong. Then we stood around looking at each other. The wind blew the gong over as we tried to figure out if we had officially “started” and then a photographer told us to run. So we did.

The race started with a 1.1 mile “prologue” which the entire team runs together. Trying to not look too much like the weak link, I kept up with their 7 minute mile pace alright. It was enough to get the heart rate up and a little sweat going, just so that I could jump in the rest van. We left the active van of five people with the runner and the four of us drove ahead four legs where we were supposed to rest. That took us to Shiner, Texas and the transition point was next to the high school track. Laying beside the track on a blanket with a towel over my head reminded me of my high school track days.  Which for the record, my event was the 200 meters, not 200 miles. I was able to rest, but I could tell that getting any sleep over the course of this race was going to be tough.

Coming soon… TIR: Leg 1