It has been almost a week since the relay and I still can't stop thinking about it. It was such an incredible weekend. I really don't think I could do it justice by describing it here. Everything was great. That's not to say that everything went according to plan, but we still had a fantastic time.
We got in on Friday evening and stayed in Flatonia, which was about 25 minutes away from Gonzales. We stayed at a lovely bread and breakfast called the Olle Hotel that I would highly recommend. The place was gorgeous and Katherine, the owner, was the sweetest hostess. We had a team dinner that night at this steak house a few blocks away. Most of us ordered pasta, of course. After dinner, we returned to the hotel and had a last team meeting before our early start to the race the next morning. We adjourned and tried to enjoy the last bit of real rest before our adventure began.
We got up at 4:30 AM for breakfast and checked out shortly after 5:00. We had a little bit of trouble locating the starting area for the race, even while using our GPS navigation systems. We had a scheduled start time of 6:24 and it looked as though we'd surely be late for it. They has us park a block or two away from the actual starting area, so we rushed to the check in table as soon as we could to get our race bibs and other goodies. We then had to rush over to the starting line while trying to pin our bibs on our shirts. We were late, but they allowed us to start about 15 minutes later than our scheduled start. Our race had officially started.
So the way it works is that your entire team runs this "Prologue leg" before starting on the actual legs. The prologue leg was just 1.15 miles long, but it was a great way to get the team pumped up for the race. My cousin Duy flew through the first leg then handed it to me for the second. I was excited to be the second runner and knew that I would benefit from the early start. A super dense fog still blanketed the area so it was difficult to see more than a few hundred feet away. I caught up to a runner in front of me and chatted with her for about half a mile. She was from an all teacher running team from the Woodlands. We had a nice little chat before we parted ways. I finished my short 4.85 miles at a decent pace and handed it off to our strongest and most experienced runner, Parker. This next leg was rated the most difficult due to its distance and net uphill elevation gain. I had complete confidence in him and expected him to run at a very strong pace, despite knowing that he had had kidney stones removed just a week before (for the record, his doctors strongly advised he not run). The leg was 8.78 miles long and since I knew he was capable of a long distance pace of 6 minutes/mile, we made sure to get to the exchange early. As we waited for his silhouette to break the fog, we starting seeing runners on teams I knew I had already passed. We looked at the clock and started to grow concerned. We called him on the designated runner's cell phone to check up on him. I asked him how he was doing. He replied "Bad. I'm really hurting." At that point I just wanted to make sure he didn't seriously hurt himself and hoped he was close enough to the exchange point where we could help him. A little less then ten minutes later, we see him. It's obvious that he's struggling but he makes a strong sprint towards us. He hands of the race bracelet to my cousin Quan, then just collapses to the ground. We did everything we could to rehydrate him and get him comfortable. It was clear that the race was over for him. On the drive to the next exchange, we were scheduled to meet up the rest of the team. I tried to figure out how I would break the news for them. Deep down, I concluded that our chances of finishing on time were shot with our strongest runner out and his three difficult legs remaining to be distributed among the team. Little did I know that this moment would be the defining moment for me for the entire weekend. I broke the news to the team and was totally impressed with how the team just pulled together to figure out the solution. We ended up switching up several leg assignments. Three of them volunteered to take on an additional leg, and we switched my brother Long to two of Parker's remaining legs. Though I felt good about the decision, I was serious worried about my little brother. I knew he had been training hard, but he was relatively new to running and had never run more than five miles in the gym.
And now, I was asking him to run a mid-day 6.36 mile leg and a late night 6.76 mile leg. At the exchange where Long was to take over for Parker, I spent a great deal of time talking with him. I gave him pointers and reminded him to stick with what he felt comfortable with. I made sure he got his gear on and instructed him how to use it. I kept following him to make sure he was ready. And when he finally got the hand off, I watched him speed away. I was anxious and nervous to see how he'd do in the mid-day heat for such a distance. As soon as I got word that he finished, I realized that he had done great. At that moment, I couldn't have been more proud of him.
It should be noted that everyone on this team did an outstanding job. Everyone made huge contributions and I feel truly honored to have been a part of it. We had our ups and downs, but we kept at it and outperformed my every expectation. I am so proud of everyone and I can't wait to do it again.
We got in on Friday evening and stayed in Flatonia, which was about 25 minutes away from Gonzales. We stayed at a lovely bread and breakfast called the Olle Hotel that I would highly recommend. The place was gorgeous and Katherine, the owner, was the sweetest hostess. We had a team dinner that night at this steak house a few blocks away. Most of us ordered pasta, of course. After dinner, we returned to the hotel and had a last team meeting before our early start to the race the next morning. We adjourned and tried to enjoy the last bit of real rest before our adventure began.
We got up at 4:30 AM for breakfast and checked out shortly after 5:00. We had a little bit of trouble locating the starting area for the race, even while using our GPS navigation systems. We had a scheduled start time of 6:24 and it looked as though we'd surely be late for it. They has us park a block or two away from the actual starting area, so we rushed to the check in table as soon as we could to get our race bibs and other goodies. We then had to rush over to the starting line while trying to pin our bibs on our shirts. We were late, but they allowed us to start about 15 minutes later than our scheduled start. Our race had officially started.
So the way it works is that your entire team runs this "Prologue leg" before starting on the actual legs. The prologue leg was just 1.15 miles long, but it was a great way to get the team pumped up for the race. My cousin Duy flew through the first leg then handed it to me for the second. I was excited to be the second runner and knew that I would benefit from the early start. A super dense fog still blanketed the area so it was difficult to see more than a few hundred feet away. I caught up to a runner in front of me and chatted with her for about half a mile. She was from an all teacher running team from the Woodlands. We had a nice little chat before we parted ways. I finished my short 4.85 miles at a decent pace and handed it off to our strongest and most experienced runner, Parker. This next leg was rated the most difficult due to its distance and net uphill elevation gain. I had complete confidence in him and expected him to run at a very strong pace, despite knowing that he had had kidney stones removed just a week before (for the record, his doctors strongly advised he not run). The leg was 8.78 miles long and since I knew he was capable of a long distance pace of 6 minutes/mile, we made sure to get to the exchange early. As we waited for his silhouette to break the fog, we starting seeing runners on teams I knew I had already passed. We looked at the clock and started to grow concerned. We called him on the designated runner's cell phone to check up on him. I asked him how he was doing. He replied "Bad. I'm really hurting." At that point I just wanted to make sure he didn't seriously hurt himself and hoped he was close enough to the exchange point where we could help him. A little less then ten minutes later, we see him. It's obvious that he's struggling but he makes a strong sprint towards us. He hands of the race bracelet to my cousin Quan, then just collapses to the ground. We did everything we could to rehydrate him and get him comfortable. It was clear that the race was over for him. On the drive to the next exchange, we were scheduled to meet up the rest of the team. I tried to figure out how I would break the news for them. Deep down, I concluded that our chances of finishing on time were shot with our strongest runner out and his three difficult legs remaining to be distributed among the team. Little did I know that this moment would be the defining moment for me for the entire weekend. I broke the news to the team and was totally impressed with how the team just pulled together to figure out the solution. We ended up switching up several leg assignments. Three of them volunteered to take on an additional leg, and we switched my brother Long to two of Parker's remaining legs. Though I felt good about the decision, I was serious worried about my little brother. I knew he had been training hard, but he was relatively new to running and had never run more than five miles in the gym.
And now, I was asking him to run a mid-day 6.36 mile leg and a late night 6.76 mile leg. At the exchange where Long was to take over for Parker, I spent a great deal of time talking with him. I gave him pointers and reminded him to stick with what he felt comfortable with. I made sure he got his gear on and instructed him how to use it. I kept following him to make sure he was ready. And when he finally got the hand off, I watched him speed away. I was anxious and nervous to see how he'd do in the mid-day heat for such a distance. As soon as I got word that he finished, I realized that he had done great. At that moment, I couldn't have been more proud of him.It should be noted that everyone on this team did an outstanding job. Everyone made huge contributions and I feel truly honored to have been a part of it. We had our ups and downs, but we kept at it and outperformed my every expectation. I am so proud of everyone and I can't wait to do it again.
