So the story picks back up when the active van arrives at the transition point. At that point, I’ve only run 1 mile, ate some food, took a nap; I’m having a great time. I switched from the rest van to the active van as Ed took off running his leg and we headed toward the next transition point. This is where I realized that it was going to be challenging to keep up with everything logistically. One challenge was figuring out where to go as we couldn’t just follow the course because on this leg it took a path over some railroad tracks and then a foot bridge across a creek. With it being a 2.5 mile leg, that only gave us 15 minutes to be in place and ready. Did I mention these guys were really fast? Anyway, we made it to the foot bridge and weren’t confident we’d make it to the transition, so we kicked Matt out half a mile early and told him to “warm up” the rest of the way. In the end we made it in time, barely. Most of the legs were about 5 miles, so our usual strategy was to let the guy who just ran cool down for about 5 minutes. Then catch the current runner half way and give him some water. And then to the transition point to let the next guy warm up. And then repeat. All of that was really non-stop action. There was definitely no resting in the active van.

I was the last one to run a leg and while Noel was running leg 9, Matt started crunching some numbers. Remember this is a bunch of engineers. It turns out that everyone was running much faster than their predicted “conservative” 10 K pace and by his calculations we had a chance of breaking 24 hours. Everyone was quick to point out that we were just doing it for fun but we’re also all pretty competitive. My first leg was started in Flatonia. I thought Flatonia sounded like a nice place to start; better than Hillonia. It actually was a nice little town. The fire department had set up some showers using PVC pipe and tarps behind the theater which everyone except me got to enjoy. But I was focused on my run, leg 10 which was 6.1 miles, just short of a 10K. It was about 6:30 PM by then so I was also the first one to have to wear the night gear. That included a headlamp, a reflective belt, and a clip-on blinking bike light. It was still pretty light out, though, so I didn’t have to use the headlamp. I was concerned about what pace to run since I had no idea what it would be like to run another 10K six hours later. My “conservative” 10K pace was an 8:30 min/mile. I knew I could do all of my miles at that pace because it would be my fast marathon pace, but I wasn’t sure what would happen if I ran faster.

Noel came running in and slapped the bracelet which was used as the relay “baton” on me. No really, it was a slap bracelet. Yes admit it, you remember it from the 1980′s. Anyway, I took off running and felt really good. Amazingly good from what my GPS watch was telling me since my pace was wicked fast. Then I realized that I hadn’t reset my watch from the Prologue and it was averaging in that 7 minute mile. After I fixed that my pace actually made sense, and was still good. The leg was somewhat scenic, some small rolling hills through the Texas countryside. About half way there was a sign for the town of Praha (which is the Czech spelling of Prague) which made me smile since I’ve been there (both in the Czech Republic and in Nebraska). The team was also there to give me Gatorade to wash down my Gu packet. I felt really good but that doesn’t mean I looked good. I’ve never had a picture of myself running look flattering and I wasn’t going to share this, but since you are still reading… here you go (thanks Rich). But then up ahead I spotted my mark. My first roadkill. No not an armadillo. Roadkill is what it was called when you passed someone or when someone passed you. It was different from other races I’ve run since there was the staggered start due to the diversity of the teams. So it was cool to be able to see someone up ahead and chase them down. Especially at night since everyone had a flashing red light on their back. Slowly I reeled him in and passed him. OK, so he was older than me. Much older, and running almost as fast as me, but I still passed him. Shortly after that some other guy roadkilled me and put me back in my place which was really running to push myself. The 6 miles flew by and before I knew it I was at the transition. It also caught our next runner off guard since I was more than a little early. Luckily he was ready. It was just getting dark when I finished and by the time I cooled down it was dark. I hopped in the rest van and off we went to the next rest stop. Just enough time to try to down some food (which mostly consisted of PB&J, Powerbars, and Cliff bars) and try to rehydrate.

Leg 1 complete. Distance: 6.09 miles. Time: 47:32. Pace 7:48.

Can I keep up this pace for 16 more miles? Stay tuned…

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

The Texas Revolution began in Gonzales, Texas when Mexican soldiers attempted to retrieve a canon previously given to the American colonists who defiantly replied, “Come and take it!” There was some fighting. Sam Houston signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. There was a battle at the Alamo. Texas lost. All the men in the Alamo were executed. General Houston ordered the “Runaway Scrape” where Texans fled east and burned everything behind them. General Santa Anna chased them. Houston ambushed Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto where Texans cried “Remember the Alamo!” Texas won. Hurray!

OK, so you may be wondering why I’m sharing this Texas history with you. Well, in celebration of Texas Independence Day (March 2), I’ll be taking a step towards becoming an official Texas citizen (apparently you can’t become a citizen just by drinking Shiner and Lone Star). I’m going on an exciting journey through some of Texas’ historic sites (including the town of Shiner) by participating in the Texas Independence Relay this Saturday and Sunday. It starts in Gonzales and ends at the battle grounds of San Jacinto. So… What’s that? Relay? Yeah, it’s a relay where a team of 8-12 people take turns running. Uh? Yeah, it is Saturday AND Sunday. How far is it? Well, it is a little over 200 miles. What? Hell no I’m not running the whole thing. Do you think I’m crazy? (Well get to that later.) It’s a relay, remember. There are 10 people on my team so we’re each covering about 20 miles. That’s enough questions for now, I’ll give you a full report when if I survive. OK, so I know you have one last question? Am I crazy? I think the collection of items I’ll be using for the race in this photo answer that.

Thanks for the Anti-Drozmonkey Butt Powder Mom!