Monday, April 02, 2012

Texas Independence Relay 2012

I spent last week driving south-north across (most of) Texas, and then jumped into a van with other Queens of the Road teammates for a West-to-East tour of this great state. I loved what we did last year at TIR and had to come back for more. There's about 203 miles of blog entries I could write about this experience, but for now, I leave you with the Top 17 Things I Want to Remember About TIR2012:


17. Falling out of the van. I predicted I would. I was right.  

Guess who sat in this window seat?? 
16. Meeting the fabulous StephHahnTX live and in person.
Their team smoked by us about 4 AM! 
15. Running my first leg uphill through the state park, amidst charred remains from last year's forest fires. 
Devastating to see the ruins, but it's coming back, slowly.
14. Kristi and I attacking the bag of salt and pepper kettle chips. And the mint M&Ms. Both of those things are made with crack. Have to be. 
We found a way to keep the Pringles from rolling around! 
13Elaine's tiny tiara in her hair. The WHOLE way! 
Elaine sporting tiara AND sparkly glasses!
12Lesley jumping out of the van to take on an extra leg after Dana's fall & injury. TEAM PLAYER all the way!
She only THOUGHT she was done!
And that was after taking on an extra leg already!
11Our driver Jon stopping randomly so I could take pics of wildflowers along the side of the road. 
Saturday's scenery was so, well, scenic! 
10Elizabeth taking on two legs in a row in the heat of the day, like a champ. 
10 miles, midday heat. Done. LIKE A BOSS!
9Fi and Kristi tag-teaming the final leg in matching purple sparkle skirts, pulling sub-10 miles! 

Last little stretch before the monument. Nice job, girls!
8Hanging out in the shade in Flatonia, Borden, and Weimar, waiting on runners to come in. 
Barely could enjoy the porch before it was time to move on! 
7Seeing Julie for literally two minutes at 4 AM off the side of the highway. NINE MILES! 
LOVE THIS GIRL! 
6My little plastic lizard friend on the hotel sink. Thanks, Alicia! 
She might have needed to get some sleep by then!! Silly girl!
5Boob ice!!
Sometimes, you just need ice in your sportsbra. Trust us. 
4Falling out of the van. A second time. Act surprised.  
Our chariot for the weekend. Apologies to whoever rents it next... 
3Longhorn cattle. Big daddy longhorn cattle. In the same field as baby koos! Hells yeah! 

KOOS! 
Looks oddly familiar... 
2. Bluebonnets. BILLIONS of bluebonnets. Swoon. 
God blessed Texas! 
1. Meeting new friends, getting to know others more closely, and seeing the great state of Texas up close & personal in all her hot, humid glory!! 





Queens of the Road. DONE! 

7 comments:

That Pink Girl said...

Great pics! What an incredible experience to share with friends. I'm so thankful that you are SO good about documenting the fun events in photos!

(but sorry there the pics of the, ahem, grass incident didn't ,ake it to the blog!)

Kristi said...

Love the post, chips and m&ms, and pics. Great job documenting the weekend.

Unknown said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS! Feel like I was there! So glad you guys had so much fun! Now get some rest.

Elaine Vallie said...

Ha! I love it & I luv u! U are a ray of sunshine!!!

Stephanie Hahn said...

The pics are GREAT!!! I was so happy to see you Friday night and then scream at you out the window as we drove by exchange 26. And yep, we smoked y'all in the wee hours of the morning. Lol

Anonymous said...

I LOVE IT!! Thanks for sharing your pictures with all of us. I missed being there this year, but feel like I have had a personal tour guide now.

LifeisaRun said...

So many great pictures!! Jealous of this adventure - we so need to do it sometime! Also, why is falling out of the van thing w/you?? Ha! You are awesome!