Texas Independence Relay Info

The Texas Independence Relay is composed of 40 relay legs of various lengths, totaling over 200 miles. The course starts in Gonzales, TX, where the Texas Revolution began, and it finishes at the San Jacinto Monument, where Texas Independence was won!

The relay will run from March 7th - 8th.

8 original Waiting for Runs Relay members will be returning (we will miss abelisle, the Foos, & Mystery runner)

This time, we will up the challenge and have 9 runners in a luxurious 15 passenger van. This means no resting time for the 2nd van.

Keep an eye out here for updated info and up to the minute updates.

2009 Texas Independence Relay Runners

  • 1) 1Miletogo
  • 2) Monk_Monkey
  • 3) noels71
  • 4) texasbuckeye
  • 5) mawz76
  • 6) wondermom24
  • 7) slowashell
  • 8) James
  • 9) SusieQ

Texas Independence Relay Map

Texas Independence Relay Map
Click the Map for individual Leg Maps

Monday, April 21, 2008

Don't quote me on that....

I was thinking today about a couple of memorable quotes heard over the course of the relay adventure. Here are just a few.....

I 'Aspire' not to own that car...
Do the squiggles on the map match the squiggles on the GPS?
It's almost like a bloodlust, I want those kills!
And it'll have a one-piece extruded aluminum tube to drink the beer with, but you can upgrade to a titanium tube...

And here's a photo that just about says it all!



I already miss everyone...

~Monk

P.S. Big Kudos to GGP!

Good friends and noble gestures

Sometimes we don't know who are real friends are until we are in need. This happened during this Relay. GGPRunner proved to be a great friend and host for our team and must be given "major props!" She not only opened her house but fed us and let us store things in her house. And we (van #2) were able to crash at her house near the Golden Gate Bridge exchange.



And 1Mile did a very noble thing. When one of our team members got sick on the run, he stepped up and ran that person's leg, giving himself 4 legs! His first 3 legs were run at a fast pace , so this wasn't a walk in the park. That's what teammates do - they have each other's back and step up without being asked! That's what you call a "stand-up guy". 

When I was suffering on my last leg other teams offered me help w/water and gels. They didn't have to since I wasn't on their team, but they did. I appreciated that and realized that runners are basically good people especially when we all are sharing in the same pain and effort.

Other members offered significant monetary support. All in all, the team concept brought out the best in people! 

Alex's Photobucket album

Here's the link to my album. Lots more pics to come!
http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q79/aebelisle/The%20Relay/



Moonlight Run

I think the hardest thing about the relay was waiting for runs.  It was exciting and wild running from one exchange to another, trying to estimate when your teammate would be finished with a run so we'd be at the exchange in time, scouting out places to park, scouting out porta potties, trying to stay warm, but it seemed like a long time between runs and it kept getting colder and colder.  My second run was anticipated to be between 3 and 4 am.  I usually don't get cold easily, but this was COLD.  About 1 am, I started wondering how I was going to make myself get out there to run and what I should wear when I run.  Jacket or no?  Tired, sleepy, cold, I stayed in the van until about 5 minutes before 1 Mile was scheduled to come in.  I usually heat up quickly when I start running so I decided to trust experience and run with my team jersey, long sleeve shirt, and gloves.  I forced myself to get out of the van just in time to see 1 Mile come tearing around the corner.  He was moving so fast he didn't even seem to see me and I had to yell to get his attention.  I started up the street to the first turn, and it was amazing!  Before I even got to the first turn, I was warm and feeling GREAT to be running.  I felt better than I had in hours even though it was 3:30 am.  It was my first time running with a headlamp.  It was pretty cool and 1 Mile and Monk had told me to shine it ahead of me so I could see the ground. There was a lot of brush and debris so I was really watching to not trip.  I was so intent on looking at the ground at one point, I looked up just in time to see a huge branch coming straight at my face.  I ducked down barely in time to avoid getting smacked in the face.  The rest of the run was along a bike path that was below the level of the road.  There were trees on both sides of the path with a big  reservoir on the right side.  A full moon lit the night with the reflection  shining off the reservoir.  I saw very few runners on that stretch so it was peaceful and beautiful and a fantastic run.  My finish time was a little faster than my anticipated time and I recorded 1 roadkill.  (We won't talk about the negative roadkills :) )  

Leg Two-It's dark out here

So leg two was part of the "night running" portion. I expected that I would run at dark at some juncture, but never sorted it prior to starting.
My second leg was the night run. The run started at the San Geronimo Presbyterian Church. They had some homemade soup that runners could buy. It smelled really good, but unfortunately my time was short, so I could not partake.

I was not sure what to wear for the run. The night was really cold and the wind was viscous. It seemed a bit better where we were, but I was still feeling the cold. Even up to the last minute as I waited for mysteryrunner to come in. I settled on wearing the pants and a long sleeve shirt. I was also outfitted with a vest and a red blinking light attached to the vest in the back. I also had on a headlamp, and carried a small flashlight. I also was wearing a pair of gloves. Noels asked if I needed anything else. I was a little thirsty, and remembering how parched I was on my first leg, I said a gateraid would be great. He said he would pass it to me as the drove by.

I was very excited to start. I was really looking forward to getting out there. I do a lot of my running during the evening, so running in the dark was nothing new. But I also run in a city with a lot of street lamps.
The leg was #15, it was 6.5 miles and was listed as hard. It started at 79', and hit a high of 471' feet. But I didn't really know that, so mentally I wasn't worried. It also was a straight shot and ended in the town of San Anselmo.
I made the exchange with mysteryrunner and headed out. It was just wonderful being out there. At one point there was no traffic or other runners. It was just me the moon. The wind died down, so it ended up being warmer. I wish I had stuck with a short sleeve and shorts. But it is hard to judge.
The relay van stopped as they were passing me and I grabbed a gateraid out of an outstretched hand and kept running.
I felt really great and hit the hill. It wasn't until I was nearly done that I registered that I was climbing a pretty steep hill. I could really start feeling it, but pushed on and hit the top. The downhill was just wild. I was flying down! I thought I was going to tumble and had to work hard to slow down. It was a thrill though.
I hit the town and knew I was getting close, but I wasn't sure how long the leg was. I just kept at it. Back in the van I started to feel the effects of the run and the long day, I was ready to get some sleep. But that would not really happen.

Whatcha Got to eat?

Here is a semi correct account of what I consumed during my time of the relay. This may be just filler or someone may find it interesting. Don't know. (I'm trying to recall all of this, so...)

Friday Night - (Pre Race Dinner at Calistoga Inn)
Chicken with Mango salsa, roasted Potatoes, Corn, bread, (not cornbread) Strawberry/Rhubarb crumble with Ice cream, Ice tea

Saturday Morning -
Before Relay (6 AM) - banana
At first Van Relay (10 AM) - Apple Chicken Sausage omlette with potatoes. Muffin & Diet Coke.

Saturday Afternoon-
pre run (1PM) - mixed nuts & GU (not together though)
After first Leg (3 PM) - PowerBar Recovery bar & 8 oz gatorade
Afternoon Snack (5 PM) - Granola bar

Saturday Evening -
Dinner (7PM) - Ham & Cheese Sandwich & Minostrone Tortollini Soup, Diet Dr Pepper.
Sometime in the evening - more granola bars, more mixed nuts, and an energy drink with a funny name.

Late Night - mixed nuts, some dark chocolate pieces, more granola bars, some kind of chocolate mint thing, 100 calorie pack of something, it was there and I ate it :)

Sunday Morning -
After 2nd leg ( 3:15 AM)PowerBar Recovery bar & 8 oz gatorade

Late Morning - Peanut Butter sandwich, mixed nuts, more granola bars, another of those energy drinks with a funny name that makes your skin glow :)

After 3rd Leg (12:30 PM) PowerBar Recovery bar & 8 oz gatorade

After 4th Leg (4:00 PM) Ate something, probabably granola bars & mixed nuts :) and a diet coke & water

Finish Line ( 5:00 PM) Chicken sandwich, salad, fruit, soup & PIE!

I know there are some missing things in there, I guess just add granola bars and mixed nuts in those locations along with water & gatorade.

1Mile's Relay Race Report

I posted a Relay Race Report on my blog. I grabbed my leg descriptions, sprinkled them with Garmin Graphs and then tossed in some stuff that happened in between. Viola, the new and improved race report.

New and Improved race report

clover primal scream

noel's primal scream

texasbuckeye's primal scream

Van Exchanges - sometimes like finding a needle a very annoying needle

Most of the Van exchanges that Van 2 witnessed were not too bad to get to. Then there was Exchange #5. Which started innocently enough disguised as a nice little drive through the mountains and ended as the never ending winding ride. Props to Mark for getting Van 2 to our destination while maintaining Sanity and to his copilot Robyn who expertly handled the garmin GPS and the TOM TOM to save the day!

So, we left the canada college in the quiet region of Redwood City. After handing the running reigns over to Van 1 we decided to start the trek to the next van relay and get some sleep and eat whatever they had there. We followed the instructions and could not find Highway 35 (Skyline Blvd). We drove for a little while and ended back where we started.

We asked some people sweeping outside the store where Skyline Blvd was and they just looked at us and shrugged. Perplexed, Mark entered the store and inquired. They directed us down the way we had just adventured. Hmm, maybe we missed it, so it turns out that the instructions failed to mention a step about following HWY 85.

So, we are now on the right track, we figure, OK, we should be there before long... The road was the windiest thing ever invented. about 13 miles of the winding road seemed closer to 100. After this turn was another and then another and then....

So we finally popped out on a somewhat non windy part of the road and we thought wow, we have to be close, nope, another 20 or so minutes and we finally end up at the van exchange and then found out that there was not any place to eat. Luckily, we had an huge supply of Peanut Butter and Bread. So our 2nd Breakfast of the race consisted of Peanut Butter sandwiches and granola bars. Not quite the pancakes or the awesome breakfast from the day before. But that is the way to rough it!

After the grub, some of the members napped while the rest of us mulled around, checked out the area, and found out that we had no Internet Service. So no updates came at that time.

The cops at the leg 30 exchange were very picky about your tires being completly off the road. We later heard that van 1 actually got a ticket for the tires being just inside the white line.

1Mile's Leg Reports

Well, I have some time so I will post about my legs that I ran. I will post nice graphs and charts and the such on my blog under my full race report at 1miletogo.blogspot.com.

1st Leg - Leg #8 7.4 Miles
starting - deep in the vineyards
ending - Roadkill Highway
MAP
Start Time: 2:05 PM
End Time: 2:59 PM
Running Time: 54 Mins
Kills: 11
Difficulty: Moderate
Clothing: Shorts & shirt
Splits: 8:20, 7:06, 7:33, 7:57, 7:34, 6:57, 7:07, 1:49 (.26) - Average Pace - 7:29

Right before starting this leg we passed Dean! He was coming up to this leg, and I though "Oh Boy, I will have a chance to pass Dean!" He soon got to the check point and stepped into the MotherShip. His father ran this leg for him, I talked to his father later (Very Nice Guy) at Leg#10 and found out that he had gotten lost on leg #8 along with numerous other runners.

This leg started off as a great tranquil run through the vineyards, there was a steep hill at the beginning, but it was over quickly. There was some gusty winds that started to pick up during this leg that continued throughout the rest of Van 2's legs. I ran through the countryside and passed a house with a lot of barking small dogs. I only saw 2 people in the vineyards. Soon after I exited the vineyards and entered the highway, there was a little bit of an incline and soon I started seeing more and more people. Not much more to report other than a few actual roadkills.

2nd Leg - Leg #20 (5.9)
Starting - the chilly beaches with a full moon and tranquil crashing waves
ending - a closed gas station after endless hills
MAP
Start time: 2:27 AM
End Time: 3:14 AM
Running Time: 47 minutes
Kills: 11
Difficulty: Hard
Clothing: Running Pants, long sleeve & short sleeve tech shirts, gloves, beanie.
Splits: 7:26, 7:56, 7:32, 8:39, 8:24, 7:10 (.92) -Average Pace - 7:57

We waited along the beach for Monk_Monkey to finish her leg. There was a slight breeze and a chill to the air. I was pumped, this would be my hardest leg with alot of uphill running. I was looking forward to it and I was also fearing it. I saw Monk coming from some distance since she put a glow stick in her water bottle. Then I was off. At the beginning there were a few sand dunes across the road. About one mile in, I had my only pass of my original 3 legs, team google came from nowhere looking easy and said something and he was gone into the night, disappearing into the darkness. I am still not sure that he passed me at all, maybe I need a recount...

The moon was reflected out on the water and the waves crashed, it was a great start of the run. Soon I left those great sites behind and the hills came, and I ran on. One after another I racked up the roadkill and I felt great. I never felt great on hills, but tonight I did. I continued on and so did the hills. I passed one guy and he asked if he could hook a rope up to me. I passed a lady and she asked when the hills would end and I said soon. But then the biggest one hit as we ran through a neighborhood.

I slowed my pace a little, but kept on going never stopping to walk. I came screaming down the other side of the hill and picked up a few more kills. All right 11 now. Then I saw 12 & 13 and my pulse quickened as well as my pace. They were still about 400 meters out and they must of sensed the predator coming, for their pace also quickened. I bridged the gap to under 100 meters and they turned a corner and found safety in the runner exchange - Dang, next time...

3nd Leg - Leg #32 (4.7)
Starting - A sunny run down the hills under tree cover
ending - The street on the way down
MAP
Start time: High Noon
End Time: 12:30 PM
Running Time: 30 minutes
Kills: 10
Difficulty: Easy
Clothing: Shorts & Shirt
Splits: 6:09, 6:13, 6:46, 6:53, 4:34 (.69) -Average Pace - 6:31

I stood on the decline waiting for Monk to come down, I was told I needed a bunch of kills to take the lead, 16 in total -things looked grim. I saw some people pass and I itched at my oppurtunity to run on a course that I knew would be fast, I had no idea on just how fast.

Soon Monk came around the corner, we did a quick wondertwins knucle punch and I was off screaming down the hill. the whole leg was downhill, there was a slight incline somewhere, but it was a blur. I ran fast and it felt good, I passed someone early, but then I didn't see anyone for a few miles, a high kill count didn't look good. The scenery was great, large trees, shade, but not any people. My stride was long and fast and I felt great. I passed a few vans and they cheered me at my pace and yelled encouragement. the first mile whizzed by - holy &%$#! 6:09, a new mile PR and almost sub 6! The second mile flew by 6:13, wow, this felt good! I knew it was a combo of my recent training, the elevation, and downhill.

When I passed my 5K at a sub 20 I was ecstatic! Now that I knew I could do it, I envisioned an upcoming 5K with an easy sub 20.

Soon I started to see victims and wracked up the numbers. I had 9 and saw one more in the distance and also the runner exchange. I emptied the tank and took off after, she sensed me and hurried her pace, but it wasn't enough. In the last few seconds before the exchange I had her and 10 for the leg. Little would I know at that moment that 10 was enough to beat out noels by 1, but 1 shy of passing Tex. oh well, a mile PR and 5K PR on one run and I felt great!

4th Leg - Leg #35 6.5 - ran 5.9
Starting - Slowashell was not feeling well and I picked up this leg for him. (he felt better later)
ending - the Streets of Santa Cruz (sounds like a cop drama)
MAP
Start time: 3:10 PM
End Time: 3:55 PM
Running Time: 45 minutes
Kills: N/A
Difficulty: Hard
Clothing: Shorts and Shirt
Splits: 8:47, 7:52, 7:27, 7:23, 7:10, 6:40 (.85) -Average Pace - 7:44

At the start of this Leg Mark did not feel well at all. Like a trooper he started the leg with the heart of a true waiting for runs team member. We caught up to him at the top of the killer hill .6 miles into the run. He did not look good at all and we had him get into the van. I took over the leg and continued on to meet Susie at the final runner station.

The beginning of the run was through a peaceful wooded area. There was a lot of van support as other teams offered up water. I felt good and continued on, opting not to stop. I passed one lady and told her she was doing great. I saw another lady in front and decided to try and reach her and pace her. I couldn't do it, she was doing my same pace. I was taking a pretty easy pace and soon found my legs wanting to open up. I let them go and each leg got increasingly faster.

I broke out of the woods and saw the ocean open up in front of me. WOW is all I could think we are so close to the end of this. I continued on down a hill and saw masses of people walking slowly. At first I thought I was stuck in a PMag gauntlet challenge, but the just walked past me, I still don't know where they were all headed. I continued on, the lady was still about 300 yards in front of me. Then I heard the footsteps behind me around mile 4 and I thought not today, I increased my pace and looked back, he was a little way behind me.

I kept the guy at bay, the vehicle traffic was getting heavy and I was weaving in and out of people. A guy opened his car door and I had to jump out of the way and run up on the sidewalk. The guy shouted sorry, but I was already gone. Then I came up to a stop light and my hunter stopped with me. There went the lead. Then we were off again, I regained my small lead and looked at my watch 5.25 miles, I wasn't sure of the length of this leg, I knew it was something over 6, but that was all.

Dang another stop light. Again we both sat there waiting, then it turned green and he took off and dusted me. Crap, I couldn't catch him, I saw the exchange and ended strong and watched Susie bring us home!

Everyone Heading home

Well, the relay has come and like all great events it was over too fast. Everyone is heading home, a few left last night. A few are leaving today, and the rest are staying a few extra days and enjoying California.

It was a great adventure, it is amazing how well everything went with all of us not having met each other and traveling into the city. We had a great support group and team members really stepped up and ensured that we had reservations, map books, food items, and everything else that we needed.

Now that the event is over, we are all looking forward to the next time that we can all get together and run as one! I will be updating the blog today with some of my recollections, I couldn't get my camera to upload my pictures, so I will be uploading those at a later date. Hopefully we will be able to get all of the pictures in one online location.

I'm also sure that the Gnome's exploits will be well documented and videod somewhere! I raise my bottle of water to Team Waiting For Runs - you were all great company and a great team. We came and conquered!

Again, a hearty thanks to GGPRunner, who was such a great hostess and welcomed us into her home and helped us tremendously, to all of our Nike+ supporters and those who donated - a special thank you to Henk who donated twice for $180, to MightyWeezie, the supplier of the limited edition Relay WeezieWipes, to Texasbuckeye for all of his planning and legwork, to mawz for her awesome relay handbooks and minimaps and for her planning, challenge creation and donation setup, thanks to both Susie & Alex for kicking in more money to pay for van rental, gas, & shipping of our relay equipment, to all of my team mates for accomplishing an amazing feat. Sorry for anyone that I missed, (still working the cobwebs out :) )

It was great people, hopefully we will all meet again soon!

my leg reports

since my flight is delayed and I have some time on my hands I thought I would post a race report of sorts. The more I think about it, the more remarkable our feat seems to be. 199 miles in 32 hours!
leg #6 this was my first leg and it was flat and borning butmy later legs would more than make up for them. I pretty much ran on a service road next to a highway. It was listed as 4.5 miles but my forerunner only measured 4.3. My total time was 28:37 with mile splits of 6:14, 6:37, 6:47, 7:03, and the last .3 mile was run at 6:32. I went out fast because I was so anxious to run after seeing all my van mates already complete their legs. Nothing much of interest in terms of anything else, the 6 kills were cool and that really had me running some people down.
Leg #12 this was the golden gas bridge run which started out in town and then ran up to the bridge then accross. It was amazing, the 5.8 miles were run in 42:15 with my mile splits being 7:07, 6:59, 8:04, 7:36, 7:17, and the last .80 mile run at 6:31. It was amazing, the run felt great and it had lots of different challenges in it, the big hills during mile 3 was a nice climb. I ended up with 15 kills and they came from all over, mawz hooked me up by setting me up to take down a handfull right away and them the hills got some and the bridge slowed lots down. I thought this was going I be my best leg but...
leg #30 this was the monster that I had been looking forward to. The 12 kills that I had are hard to believe, see my previous post for detals. I ran the 3.1 miles in 27:15 with mile splits at 8:23, 9:12, 9:24 and finished the .10 mile at 8:12.
All in all I loved my job as runner 6 and I am very happy with the way I ran. I have a marathon next weekend so I didn't wantto overdo it and sitting here in the airport I dont feel like I did. More memories later.

Relay Medal

Relay Medal

Team Waiting for Runs - Slideshow

1Mile's Relay Photo Stream

Texasbuckeye's pics

wondermom24's photos

abelisle's Relay Photos

mawz76's Relay Photos