Texas Independence Relay

The first weekend in March, I did the craziest race I have ever done. Texas Independence Relay is a 203 mile relay race from Gonzales, TX, to the San Jacinto Monument on the Houston Ship Channel. Teams can have anywhere from 8-12 runners, and the 40 legs were anywhere from 2.3 miles to 8.78 miles. Most legs were between four and six miles.

I had not been expecting to run this race. I knew several people that had run it in previous years, but never thought I would be doing it. I got recruited by my friend Carlos to run about two weeks before the race. The team he was running on had some spots open up, and they need a couple of runners. Carlos was the only person I knew on the team, and I met two of the other runners two weeks before the race at a Pearland Area Runners Club happy hour. That's how I became a member of the Professional Pavement Pounders.



Our team of ten runners started in Gonzales at 11:12AM on March 5. Over the next day and night, we ran the roads of Texas throughout the light and dark hours. It took us 26 hours, 39 minutes, and 24 seconds to cover the 203 miles. We arrived at the Monument in the early afternoon on March 6, dirty, sweaty, tired, hungry, and not smelling so great, but we all had a blast. I was nervous going into the race because I didn't know what to expect, but I hope there's a spot open on the team for me next year.