Syracuse 59 SFA 44

Well that didn't go very well. But at least our mascot doesn't look like this:

Syracuse: Prepare for a Jack attack!

My school made the NCAA tournament for the first time in its history and is about to play Syracuse in the first round. It's been fun to see SFA talked about on ESPN and to see stories written about them since its not exactly a school that's well know nationally. Maybe today can be the big upset of the tourney.

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.