TIR 2009: Wrap Up

I received a wrap-up email from the race directors of the Texas Independence Relay. Apparently we are the winners of the Open Mixed division. Somehow that is different than the "Overall Mixed Champion" which was won by another team.

I had fun during the race and I think most everyone else did too. Despite being rookies and having a few mishaps along the way, we managed to come in under our predicted finish time. Our time would have gotten us 2nd overall in 2008, but the teams were a little stronger this year. The most incredible thing was the 6-man team that finished 2nd overall and smoked us by more than an hour.

Finish Results

The finish results can be found here.

We finished 6th overall in 23:17:48. That put us 2nd in the Open Mixed category.

6:53/mile for 202 miles sounds pretty good to me.

Our Finishers Medals

After the Race

After Jean-Marie crossed the finish line, we all walked together down to the San Jacinto Monument to receive our finisher medals and to take picture. It's kind of a parade of teams as everyone finishes and walked the last 1/4 mile or so. They announced all the teams as they approached the monument.

Afterwards Mac set up his tent and we sat out on the lawn eating pizza. There weren't any results posted or awards ceremony that we saw. Since the finishing times are all so far apart, I'm guessing it might take a day or two to see how we did. We're guessing 2nd in the Open Mixed category.

Our overall time was about 23 hours and 20 minutes. That was in line with our goal at the start. Last year that would have put us 2nd overall, but it looks like there were a few more strong teams this year.

Special thanks goes out to Mac's mom who was there along the way for us and got the hotel room for us in Houston that allowed us to clean up and get a little rest.

The Finish

Linda ran Leg 38 and it was one of the toughest legs that I got to witness. It was long (6.5 miles), had more turns than any other leg and was really hot. So hot she had us fill up her water bottle after a few miles. She managed to stay on course even though several of the guys ahead of her missed or made wrong turns. We were able to get one guy to turn around, but the other two we saw looked determined to run to Louisiana. We were in Pasadena, not the most scenic part of Houston.

Nora was next and had a short 3.3 mile leg. She was moving fast and well over halfway by the time we were able to catch her in the van. I think her split was right at 20 minutes.

Jean-Marie ran the last leg (in my shirt :) ) and looked like he killed it. It was 5.3 miles through beautiful oil and gas refineries and warehouses. If we hadn't left for the finish early we wouldn't have beaten him there because of the traffic at the monument. Here he is approaching the finish.

Leg 37

I ran Leg 37 starting in Mason Park. I think this one was a little payback for getting the fast downwind leg yesterday. This leg ran out of the park into the neighborhoods. It made 4-5 turns in the first couple miles and then goes straight on Galveston Rd for 2.4 miles. Straight into the wind. I could feel myself fading but I kept seeing slower runners in the distance and just tried to reel them in. The wind was just killing me and I knew I was slowing down. I didn't want to look at my Garmin to know how fast I was going. I just wanted to catch the people I could see.

I could see the finish from quite a ways off. The adrenaline helped me pick it up some and catch the Boy Scout team. I handed off to Linda (one of the few times I saw her during the race) and was ready to get in the van. The watch said 4.4 miles at 6:48/mile.

This was a hard leg for me because of where it fell in the race. Earlier in the race it wouldn't have been that bad. I know some of the others had much more difficult legs. It wasn't too long and didn't have many hills in it, but the miles and paces I had already run and the lack of sleep combined to make it feel pretty tough.

I also ran this one in Jean-Marie's shirt because we got them mixed up at the last rest point. We had all rinsed out our shirts and hung them to dry. I grabbed the wrong one when I left. I like my shirts a little bigger, so I knew something was up when I put it on and it was pretty tight. I had a little chafing going on during my run.

Catching up on the last few legs

The sun came out and the heat went up as we made our way into Houston. Mac picked up Aaron and me to take us out to our last few legs. We met Manny at the end of Leg 34 in Memorial Park where he handed off to Mac. Manny told us it was getting really hot and it was getting pretty tough. Mac's route took him through the park and into downtown Houston via a long trail system. It looked like a pretty nice run even though it looked a little hilly.

At the Leg 35 exchange we caught up with the Governor's team. He was there taking pictures and hanging with the Runtex guys and APD running team. We could also see some of the tall buildings that still had broken windows from the hurricane last year.

Mac handed off to Aaron and took off towards the Toyota Center. We jumped back in the van and took off for the next exchange point where I would run my last leg.

We're Here

We've made it to the San Jacinto Monument in just a little over 23
hours. Jean-Marie is running the last leg.

Hey Sadie. I'm D-U-N!

Downtown H-town

We're in downtown Houston. Everyone is getting their final legs in.
Aaron is running now. I'm next followed by Linda, Nora, & Jean-Marie.

It's pretty hot now and the sun is out. I'll probably run with water.
We're basically restricted to sidewalks now.

Leg 28: sun's coming up

We've made it through leg 28 finishing at Luke's Locker in Cinco Ranch
on the outskirts of Houston. Jean-Marie just killed a short 3.5 mile
leg.

I ran my longest leg of the race at 6.5 miles. It followed hwy 1030
for 5 miles before turning into a subdivision. I finally got to get
my fishing pole out and was able to reel some people in. I think I
passed 7 teams.

Now we're off to another rest stop before we close it out on Houston.

Waking up & Crisis averted

We narrowly averted a disaster at the Jr high. The group that was
running made up a lot of time and called Mac to say they would be 30
minutes early. Mac couldn't find Aaron & me in the gym. The ringer
was off on my phone so we couldn't hear his calls. Luckily Manny was
running first, so Mac ran him out to his start and then came back for
us. Meanwhile I woke up, saw the messages and missed calls and
started frantically throwing stuff in bags. Keri, Nora & Travis came
running in and helped us get out.

We're starting to pass a lot of teams now, so it should feel a lot
less lonely out there.

Time to rest

Back on the rest bus. Manny, Aaron, Mac & I are headed to a school in
Wallis that is opening the gym to let people rest. Our van really
stinks right now, so getting out for a couple hours will be nice.

Through Aaron's leg out of Columbus we're 4 min ahead of our projected
pace. We're starting to pick off some of the slower teams ahead of
us. During the last leg we passed one girl that apparently got
clipped by a car. Paramedics were with her.

Into Columbus

I just finished my 2nd leg from Borden to Columbus. My split was
38:35 for 5.88 miles. It rained on me which felt good.

It's a little weird running in the dark down an empty highway. You
hear sounds and imagine all kinds of crazy things.

Back on the road

We've swapped buses back to the active van. It's Aaron, Manny, Travis
& me.

It's very dark on the road between Weimar & Borden. We somehow have
fallen about 20-30 minutes behind the other groups we started with.

Weimar

We're here in Weimar at the exchange point and we're waiting for the
other van. Governor Perry just finished his leg and was taking some
pictures. My picture was too blurry.

We're just hanging in the van and listening to the music. It's varied
from George Strait to Ratt to "Car Wash".

Dinner

We stopped in Schulenberg for dinner and had a great veggie pizza at
Mama's Pizza Kitchen. Sorry for the blurry picture

Splits thru 6

Leg 3: Jean-Marie 54:05 (2:05:08)

Leg 4: Mac 31:09 (2:36:17)

Leg 5: Kerry 18:09 (2:54:26)

Leg 6: Chad 25:58 (3:20:24)

On the rest bus

Nora, Jean-Marie, Travis, & I are now on the rest bus. Mac had a
tough hilly run. He handed off to Kerry who had a fast 2.5 mile run
to the Shiner Brewery. I took it from there and had a good 4.14 mile
leg that was all downwind. 25:58 for my part. I'll have to update
everyone's splits when we get back I'm the active van.

I'm thankful I got the downwind leg. It's howling out here.

Waiting for Jean-Marie