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

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Gnomish memories

Hello my fellow relay teammates. I am now back in Colorado and am happy to see the sun is still here. I enjoyed my travel time with the team and seeing sunny California. The whole team was great, the sites, the sounds, the wisdom that was bestowed upon me. I will forever remember those days on the run.I saw so many sites, some memorable like the Golden Gate at night, some less memorable like a certain team member losing his pants.

Anyway, the whole team was so hospitable and welcoming to a gnome like me. Don't believe any stories that you hear about me at the Pre-race dinner, I think that Mark is working on photoshopping some pictures to make it look like I was a drunken gnome. Gnome's can hold their liqueur, it is the little trolls and tree elves that are little hellions.

The energy was tremendous, I watched as the team worked like a well oiled machine. I saw primal screams - not sure if my primal scream was recorded or not. I saw passion, I saw drive, I saw the wackiness of the vans. Everyone finished their run and passed on to the next runner.

At first I was apprehensive about the whole deal of being stuck in a van with these sweaty, stinky runners. My thoughts wandered on how I would be treated and if I would be forgotten somewhere on the long and winding road. Would I be a burden to the team. In the end all of my fears were squashed and the fun began. I saw places that I would never have dreamed of. I visited the beaches, wooded areas, far off cities, and even Inns that my cousin hadn't heard of. I saw all sorts of people, and I gained a new found love of running as I watched my team at work and play.

I tried these things called red bull - WOW good stuff, I had food that I never heard of, at least they told me it was food. The way the snickered when I ate it, makes me wonder now what they did to it... I saw so many teams enjoying themselves, it made me question why people talked about running as boring. The other gnomes would not believe if it wasn't for the pictures.



Then I told them about seeing Dean, and that even I, a little gnome from the mountains became a celebrity. Oh yes, People flocked to me and requested pictures with me and I had my little cheeks pinched and the looks. Oh, the looks were fabulous, they really loved the gnome. Oh, I got so much attention from other runners. I think that some even missed seeing Dean at an exchange because they were enthralled with me.



I spent hours talking with Alex and bestowing gnomish wisdom upon him, I told him to seek the hills and to conquer the inclines. I told him to complete the VH legs and that he could do it. Noel & Dan gave me pointers to smoke 1mile in the straight-aways and helped me with my running form. I was in awe with the maps that mawz put together and how everything was laid out. The Foos told me stories of Foo and how Foo was fast for a Foo, did that make sense? I posed for Mark in all sorts of interesting locations (again, beware of any photoshopping) & Robyn gave me pointers on running endurance races. wondermom made me fell at home and safe in van 2 while I was with them. Susie listened to all of my gnomish tales and stories with intrigue, her attention to detail must be gleaned from partaking in LOST.

There was one member in particular, that really took great care of me. She fixed my shirt, she geared me up in Nike goods and was my traveling companion for alot of time that I spent with the team. I lower my hat and give thanks to the kindness of Mystery Runner. May our paths meet again.

I also learned the art of using the Porta Potty.



I saw so many colorful vans and runners, and I heard about these roadkills that were sought after. I'm still looking into that one. So, being back in the highlands, I think that I will start training, maybe I can run the next relay alongside my mates. Maybe I can run with 1mile somewhere, or even scale a mountain. I hear that the view from the top is gorgeous.

Until next time, this is Gary the Gnike Gnome

The Next Team Waiting for Runs Relay?

Here is a short list of a few relays I found maybe our next one is in the list. Let me know if you have seen any others that should be added to the list.

Relay Del Sol - http://www.ragnarrelay.com/delsol/index.php - February - Arizona - 181.7

The Relay - http://www.therelay.com - May - Calistoga to Santa Cruz - 199 Miles

Green Mountain Relay - http://www.greenmountainrelay.com/ - June - Jeffersonville to Benington Vermont - 200 miles

Madison Chicago Relay - http://mc200.com/ - June - Chicago - 200

Ragnar Relay Utah - http://www.ragnarrelay.com/wasatchback/index.php - June - Logan to Park City - 178 Miles

Ragnar Relay Washington - http://www.ragnarrelay.com/northwestpassage/index.php - July - Blaine to Langley - 189 Miles

Ragnar Relay Great River - http://www.ragnarrelay.com/greatriver/index.php - August - La Crosse to Minneapolis - 198 miles

Wild West Relay - http://www.wildwestrelay.com/ - August - Ft Collins Colorado to Steamboat Springs Colorado - 199 miles

Hood to Coast - http://www.hoodtocoast.com/ - August - Oregon - 197 miles

Ragnar Relay Washington DC - http://www.ragnarrelay.com/dc/index.php - September - Cumberland to DC - 182 miles

Colorado Outbound Relay - http://www.outwardboundrelay.com/ - September - Colorado - 170

Reach the beach relay - http://www.rtbrelay.com/race.php - September - Cannon Mountain, Franconia, NH to Hampton Beach, NH - 200 miles

Ragnar Relay Texas - http://www.ragnarrelay.com/austin/index.php - October - San Antonio to Austin - 196 miles

Ragnar Relay Florida - http://www.ragnarrelay.com/florida/index.php - November - Tampa to Daytona Beach - 191 miles

In Search of Dean

UPDATE 4/24: The results show that Team Dean completed 147.6 miles solo for a complete time of 28 hours 18 minutes finishing at 11:18 AM.

We all looked forward to seeing Dean at the Pre-race dinner, and we were all bummed when he had flight problems and couldn't make it in time for the 7:30 speaking engagement at the Calistoga Inn.

Van #2 got a rare treat as we were driving to the start of Leg 8. We passed Dean as he was tredding along. We stopped and turned around and snapped a few pictures and a little video as he passed. We then continued to the exchange for Leg 8. As we waited, I imagined that I might have a rare chance to run with Dean or try and catch him for mega bonus roadkill points.



Dean then came up to the exchange and entered his motor home (The mothership). He didn't come back out, but his dad continued on as I waited for my team to handoff. I didn't see Dean's dad on that run but talked to him later.

At the end of leg 9 we were waiting for wondermom to hand off to Alex and low and behold we see Dean again. People were cheering as he passed and headed to the hills of the next stage. I hadn't passed Dean's dad on 8, but somewhere on 9 Dean had passed wondermom. Soon wondermom had passed off to Alex and we went on to the next runner exchange.

We waited at the end of leg 10, and the mothership pulled up. Dean's Dad got out and he talked with Robyn, Mark, and I for about 10 minutes. He mentioned how he got off course on leg 8 and used a phone to call and tell that he was off course. He mentioned that he tried to get another lady on track (a lady that I had passed while I was on 8 myself) but she didn't believe that she was going the wrong way. Dean's Dad also mentioned that they were going to run Big Sur next week. Overall a very enjoyable conversation with his dad.



Soon Dean came into the runner exchange and continued on through the cheering and high 5's of the crowd. About 10 minutes later, Alex came into the exchange, he had survived the hardest leg of the relay. Mark took off out of the exchange into the gale force winds chasing after the great Dean.

Halfway through the course we waited for Mark to supply some water for him. Along comes Deans Dad, it seems that there was a substitution somewhere along leg 11. We waved and cheered him on as he started to climb a small hill. We continued on to leg 12 to prep Susie for the last set of legs before the van exchange.

As we sat at the exchange, low and behold here comes Dean again, he is being paced by a few female runners as he came through the exchange. He got the usual high 5's and cheers as he continued on down the road. We made our runner hand off and headed to the van exchange.

It was starting to get dark at the van exchange and soon, Dean came trotting down the road. ne of the volunteers was wondering why he wasn't handing off to another runner and someone shouted, that's Dean, he is running the whole thing by himself, he isn't handing off. This caused a bunch of people to come down to the exchange area and cheer Dean on as he ran down the road. That was the last time anyone from van 2 saw Dean during the 2008 Relay.

His blog at http://dean.runnersworld.com/2008/04/the-relay.html has some info leading up to the relay. His finish time is not on the 2008 results, so I am unsure if he finished or not.

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