Texas Independent Relay

The last weekend in March, I participated in my first relay - 200 miles from Gonzales to San Jacinto. NaShay & Jeff have ran the last 4 years and I have always thought they were CRAZY for doing this. Who wants to run that much and run during the night when you could be sleeping?????? Well, NaShay talked me into doing this as they needed some new members of their team, and I told her that I would give it a shot. Well, I was still skeptical about this whole thing until my first run of the event. It was so peaceful running in the middle of nowhere (the country) with the wild flowers blooming and your team riding along side you cheering you on. We made it to Gonzales Friday night for some pre-party events and began our journey Saturday morning at 7:40.

It was start time.....The entire team runs together the first mile around the court house and then NaShay took off on the first run of the relay.

First hand off to Katie

Then I was up for the 5th leg - my first run was 6.31 miles all on dirt road. I guess my adrenalin kicked in, because I average an 8:30 mile. Boy was I ready for a beer!

Susan handing off to Jeff ---check out those legs of his!

Our team was lucky enough to have so many wonderful parents meet us in Columbus and grill us some awesome hamburgers and sides! Jayson and the boys even came to see us.

My next run was at night through the streets of Eagle Lake....ummm not my favorite leg of the relay. It was pretty scary running the dark neighborhoods!

And then I had the pleasure of running the last leg to the San Jacinto Monument

We completed the race in 31 hours and 6 minutes. 

The weekend was long and exhausting, but it was so much fun and rewarding once you finish!

What an awesome team, and look forward to another year!

For more pictures and the whole story - see my sister's blog - Jeff even got lost on one of his legs!