2012 Texas Independence Relay

I had absolutely the best time on the Texas Independence Relay with Steve Shepard’s Westside Occasionals lats weekend. Met some interesting new people, got to know some others better and re-learnt lessons about the volatile mix of speed, distance – and heat. Amazed and delighted by all the young people – women in particular – participating in this grueling event.

The organization/logistics were flawless and the vehicles - a couple of sleek and powerful Suburbans - were fantastic! The real luxury was being able to spend some time resting up at the Shepards' home on Saturday night - it made a huge difference for me personally compared with my previous experience.  I actually had something left for the first 4-mile run on Sunday morning - which turned out to be the best one of the lot, notching no less than 12 'road kills', i.e. catching up to other runners who presumably started before we did.  Nobody passed me on that leg either!

Every member of our time was affected by the unseasonably warm weather: by mid-afternoon on Saturday the temperatures were in the mid 80's Fahrenheit!  Combine that with some nasty hills and you get a very unfriendly running environment. Even so we did very well, finishing in about 27 hrs and 40 minutes, well ahead of our competition in the 'Mixed Veterans' category.

I really enjoyed meeting several new people including Elias, Larry, Rob and Cyndie and Marie, and getting together with some other members of the team whom I had run with previously.  It was particularly good to get to know David Rushing a bit better - what a nice guy; he even finished my last 3-mile run - which was a killer as my legs were shot - with me.

It would be great to go for the Mixed Veteran team record next year, hopefully when weather conditions are a bit more favorable!  

Some pics to follow.