iPhone charger needed!

Does anyone have the kind that plugs into the lighter? Guess these vans don't have a USB port...! There are 2 lighters in each van so we could use a couple per van...

If not, I'll go buy one - my phone won't even last one day! It is dying as I typ.... :-)

Come and Take It! (a.k.a., What to Pack and Some Other Things)

Hi everyone – we had a great meeting Monday night with most of the team present.  For those that couldn’t make it, this blog post will catch you up!

First, Jenifer passed out the team shirts – which are VERY bright, by the way! We may not need a headlamp and reflective vest after all…. They may be asking us to turn down the volume on our shirts, as we are scaring the wild dogs and feral pigs!  (Just kidding... we still need one...)

(Thank you, Cindy Featherston for this awesome photo collage!)

Hanh and Rosie, Jenifer has your shirts, so just coordinate with her if you want to pick them up (or you can get them Friday night).

Now, on to the schedule and details for the weekend:

Friday Plans

We agreed that we would leave at 5:30 pm on Friday evening – we will meet at St. Theresa Catholic School, and you can leave your cars in the parking lot for the weekend. We will go straight to our weekend house in Flatonia (which is on the way to Gonzales), drop off our stuff, and anyone that wants to go on to Gonzales for the TIR party can do that – if you prefer, you can just hang out at the house. The good news is that we do not have an early start Saturday morning, so we can sleep in! Simon apparently is planning to consume plenty of beer Friday night, so we now know we need to watch him…

Saturday/Sunday

Saturday morning start time is 10:04 am. We can either pick up packets Friday night if we decide to go to Gonzales, or we can also just get them before our start time. So we’ll coordinate what time we need to leave the house Saturday morning, but we’ll all be together, so that will be easy.

We will obviously be spending lots of time in the vans over these 48 hours! You pretty much know the schedule – run your leg, get in the van, hang out (and for Simon, consume some beer). Melissa is really looking forward to her midnight run through the woods….. Looking for volunteers to accompany her for that one! And seriously, for any night-time legs, we should consider having a companion running with the leg runner. But we can work all that out in the vans.

Cindy has sent out all the leg information, with estimated times, so be sure to study it - especially if you have fans that want to come watch you along the way, so you can tell them where to be!

Packing

I previously posted the packing list from the TIR website, but we have come up with a few other things you might want to bring. I have noted below what you need to bring as an individual, vs. what we can share as a group (and in fact, already have enough for the team). So just focus on your individual packing list (unless you are bringing something for the team, in which case your name is next to it).

INDIVIDUAL ITEMS

Clothing:

· Running shorts/tops (including extras, if you want to change out of funky clothes)
· TIR team shirt
· Running shoes, and socks (including extras)
· Rain jacket (just in case...)
· Clothes for lounging/sleeping
· Shoes for lounging (so you can get out of your running shoes)
· Er… um…. Undergarments… (definitely bring EXTRAS!) J

Personal care:
· Travel size sundries (shower supplies, toothbrush, etc.) – we will hopefully be able to shower at the school gym in Wallis for $5
· Towels
· Baby wipes (or as the website states, “a creative washing method….”)
· Sun screen — spray on

Race gear:
· Headlamp/flashlight (we can share these, but if you have one, bring it)
· Mace (to repel the dogs and feral pigs!) (For those that weren’t there last night, we got off on a tangent about feral pigs – but I am not sure they will chase you – I think they are afraid of people!)
· Reflective vest (we already have several, so if you don’t already have one, we can all share – they are one size fits all)
· Watch/Garmin if you want…
· Sunglasses
· Cap/visor
· Phone

Lounging:

· Mat/sleeping bag/blanket
· Pillow

Food/drinks – bring whatever you want – we can go grab food for meals if you don’t want to bring actual food – we will be going through several small towns with small-town choices (i.e., local restaurants, and my favorite…. Dairy Queen!!)
· Water/Sports drinks/(beer?)
· Breakfast food for Saturday pre-race, and Sunday mid-race
· Snacks/energy bars/whatever you eat during the day

GROUP ITEMS
· Cell phone charger for iPhone (Caroline and Jenifer to bring) (if you don’t have an iPhone, bring your charger!)
· 2 coolers per van (one for food, and one for beverages) (Caroline, Jenifer and Paul to provide)
· Flip chart size of van 2 running legs, estimated hand-off times, etc. I have one for van 1 as well. (Jenifer)
·  Zero Odor/Febreze (Jenifer and Caroline)
· Flashlights (Caroline, Jenifer, anyone else that has one – we’ll have plenty!)
· Trash bags (Caroline will bring enough for both vans)
· Texas State Map for each van (Caroline and Jenifer)
· Driver directions (Cindy/Amy to print out and bring on Friday)
· First aid kit (Melissa and Kevin) (Kevin, I think you said you had one…?)
· Toilet paper (Caroline will bring enough for both vans)
· Tarp for the seats of the van, if we need to sit on the ground, etc. (Caroline and Kevin)

Updated Leg Info

Hi everyone - only a few more days until our big event!  This week, I received an email with our official start time - 10:04 am.

Jenifer has updated the leg info using our start time, with estimated handoff times at each exchange.  We'll have a copy of this in each van, and we'll track our actuals, so we always have the latest estimates on handoff times - this will make it much easier for the vans to pick up and drop off the runners at the right times.

I am also attaching a link to the leg descriptions - I will print these off, cut them up, and put in sweat-proof ziplocs for each runner to take with them on their legs, but if you want to check them out now, here they are!

http://www.lonestarrelays.com/TIRTESTSITE/InteractiveMap/Interactive%20Map%20Files/2013_TIR_Leg_Descriptions.pdf

Here is some info on course markers:

The types of markers you will see are:
1) Cones
2) Signs (on the dirt roads)
3) Chalked arrows (blue dot, red dot, and white arrow) – these are from Leg 1 to the first half of Leg 25 (excluding the dirt roads)
4) Blue and Red stickers (sometimes with stick flags in the parks) – the stickers are from mid-Leg 25 to Exchange 34 at MacGregor Park.
This is what they look like...



Looking forward to this weekend - hope we have nice weather like we're having today!!

Team Song!

I know the suspense is killing you, because clearly you are all highly interested in our team song!  :-)

After receiving only 4 votes, the poll is officially closed.  The winner ..... drum roll please..... is......

We Can't Get the Hell Out of Texas by George Jones

Confirming Team Meeting - Monday, Mar 18 6 PM

(Adding directions:  See below....)

It's a go!

Hello HART team,

We are confirmed for Monday night at 6 PM at St. Theresa School (Music Room). This is the same location that we met last time, before we had the full team.

Caroline, can you add directions to the facility for those who were not there last time. Your directions were helpful and I cannot find them!

We might congregate at the door, as we have to let in. If anyone arrives late and we've gone in, call or text me at 713-560-7780 and we'll come to get you.

Dana, if you are available we can call you and put you on speaker from my phone.

Melissa, thanks for you hosting!

Thanks, everyone.

Jenifer

Directions to St. Theresa School:

From I-10, exit Westcott/Washington and go south - turn right on Durford, and right on Rodrigo, and the school building is at the end of the street on your left.

From Memorial, go north on Westcott, go through the roundabout and stay straight, turn left on Durford, right on Rodrigo - school building is still at the end of the street on your left.

See y'all Monday!

Team Meeting

Hi everyone,

It looks like we will meet on Monday evening, around 6 PM at St. Theresa School (to be officially confirmed) but please hold that day and time, if possible.

We will go through all the logistics, make final team decisions, etc.

Agenda to include:

• Van departure time on Friday
• equipment / stuff to bring
• food options
• lodging for Saturday night
• How the two vans will stay connected on schedule
• T-shirt distribution (I pick them up on Monday)
• Timing our legs
• leg/route descriptions -- distribution of (possibly laminated) cards with your legs. We might need to make that a individual task
• AOB

Please bring copies of your DL with you, please.

We should probably decide on our post event celebration!

I'll confirm if this a go. Kevin and Caroline will be back in town, so hopefully we'll get the majority of us there.

Jenifer

HART Team Meeting & General Update

Hi everyone,

I am working with Melissa on scheduling a team meeting this week, or possibly the week before the event. We are hoping to have the meeting at St. Theresa's school which is very close to Memorial Park. We are thinking a 6 PM meeting so that we can catch people on their way home from work. However, we can be flexible. Dana, we'll put you on speaker phone!

I will need copies of everyone's driver's licenses at the meeting. More to follow shortly on that.

In general, things are coming together. Briefly:

• I am assuming the leg assignments and van grouping is OK with everyone, as I have not heard any dissent. Please review if you have not done so already to make sure. We can move things around.
• The shirts should arrive at my house Monday. I will take them to the screen printer on Tuesday. It takes a week to print so I might distribute on the Friday night before the event. But, I can make arrangements with those of you who might want them earlier.
• Van 2 team members (Melissa, Dana, Paul, Kevin and me (Jenifer)):  I bought some "dog repellent" today and I think we can share it -- so no need to get any on your own. 
• Van 2 team members -- The driver I arranged may not be able to join us. If any of you have any friends that want to tag along and help drive that would be great. If we have to drive ourselves, it's not the end of the world.
• I am working on getting signs printed for our vans. I am not quite sure how we attach them to the vans. I think it might be difficult to identify our vans from all the others without signage. Other ideas on that are welcome!
• Caroline and I will pick up the vans and Friday late afternoon. Our current thinking is that we all meet at St. Theresa and van pool from there, if possible. We do not have unlimited mileage on the vans and we will be over the limit just getting to Gonzalez and back, so the less off the path driving the better. Cars can be left safely at the school for the weekend. 
• Remember to vote for the song on our blog! 

Leg Assignment - Please review

Hi Everyone,

I changed things up a bit based on "who knows who" information I received. I believe this arrangement balances out the men/women as well as ensure that everyone is in a van with someone they know, which should make it better.

Anyone is free to switch with others. Just let me know because it may change the estimated hand-off times.

I used the 10K pace you entered into your registration unless you sent me information separately, which some of you did.

If you want this via email, please send me an email at jenkihm@yahoo.com.

Jenifer

(Hopefully you can all see the file now...)

Lodging on Friday Night

I believe the only thing we don't have coordinated, that requires advance reservation/ordering, is lodging on Friday night. More to follow on final leg assignments. I'll still working on that.

Re: lodging, from the TIR site:

If accommodations are all booked up in Gonzales, great options to choose from still remain! First, there are many places nearby, and along the course that will have rooms available. Or, if you would like to sleep at the most convenient location relative to the starting line (right across the street from the TIR start line!), you can bring a sleeping bag and pillow and stay in the Gonzales Junior High for just a suggested donation of $5/person. 

I called a few hotels and have not found any rooms. If any of you have ideas on where we can stay Friday night, please either go ahead and reserve (if you are able) or let me know. Otherwise we might be sleeping on the gym floor! 

Revised Logo - Please choose.

Hi Everyone,

I apologize for bombarding you today but I wanted to get some decisions made before our fearless leader, Caroline, heads out for 2 weeks of work related travel.

Given we are printing on one side of the shirt only, so we won't be able to accommodate the HART attack theme.

What does everyone think about this logo? It has our team name, a heart and also includes the Houston skyline.

 Three questions for you:

1.  Please vote whether you like this one or the first part of the earlier logo.
2.  Black or red (on yellow shirts)? We get 1 color for printing on the front of the shirt.
3.  Size of logo:
     A. For Tank:  larger in the middle or smaller off to one side towards the top?
     B. For the T-shirts:   larger in the middle, or smaller off to one side towards the top?

We're getting there!

Van Update

Hi everyone,

I spoke with the van company today to confirm. We have 2 15-person vans. The 2 vans for 2 days will be $259.49 (total).

Additionally, we need to get the van co. insurance coverage v. our personal coverage. This is the only way that we can swap out drivers throughout the weekend. If we use personal coverage it is only for 1 driver and that person must drive the entire time (which won't work for several reasons).

The insurance is $44/day per van.

In addition, the co. needs copies of driver's license for all potential drivers. I think that most, if not all of us, need to do this. They will accept pictures of licenses and we can email them or take copies when we pick up the vans. Let me know how you want to do this. If you are comfortable taking a pic of your DL and emailing it to me (jenkihm@yahoo.com), then I can manage the process. We will likely meet again as a team prior to the relay, so I could get copies from you then as well.

I will need (at least) one other person to pick up the vans with me on Friday afternoon (late).

I believe most of us will meet in the parking lot of St. Theresa Catholic school near Memorial Park. We can park our cars there during the mayhem!

T-Shirt Update

Hi Team,

I spoke with a screen printer this morning. They can do small batches of shirts. There is a $25 set up fee for the logo and then $10 per shirt. Given the small batch (10 - 15, if supporters want a shirt), they want a one-color logo. Also, the $10 is for one side.

I am proposing we revise the logo slightly to be one color and we'll forgo the back of the shirt which addresses multiple issues raised.

Unless I hear otherwise, I will proceed with this direction.

Caroline, they need a week to do the work. Hopefully this coincides with shirt delivery. The place is right down the street from me, so I can get them over there quickly once they come in.

Make sure you submit your size and shirt style to Caroline!

Final team roster!

Hi everyone - as you know, registration ended on Saturday, so we have our official team!  Your names are over on the right side of the blog - we are a 10-person team, as Darla is no longer able to join us.

We are also garnering supporters by the day - Cindy Featherston, Amy Hodde and James Lancaster have all agreed to help drive and/or support us in any way!

Go Team H.A.R.T.!

Leg Distribution - Question 1

Hi everyone:

I need some information in order to complete leg assignments. We have 10 individuals officially signed up now. Therefore, we will each run 4 legs. We've decided that we will run in order and repeat the sequence 4 times.

The total amount of miles and the average rank (degree of difficulty based on distance, hills, terrain and heat) is listed below, where lower the average rank, the more difficult. See leg detailed descriptions on the TIR site or our blog.

I listed team members in no particular order, other than I have Caroline doing the first leg as our team captain! We can change that if we want.

Please review. If the total miles and average rank of your assigned set of legs is not ideal for you, let me know and I can change it. For instance, the 2nd to last set of legs is the longest overall and is the most challenging overall. Rosie, I have you slotted in here for now. If one of us wants the biggest challenge, just claim it!

Once I know the order, I'll use the average 10K times listed on the reg site to estimate when our hand offs will occur so that we can plan accordingly. If you want to adjust your pace time, let me know (jenkihm@yahoo.com).

Also, the first 5 runners will be in van 1 and the second 5 in van 2. If you want to be in a van with someone else, then think about that as well.

Great blog site. I will be working on the leg assignments and estimated hand-off times. It will be a straw man only and we can confirm it as a team.

Training for the TIR

Thought this was great advice!

From the TIR FAQs:

How should I train for the TIR?

Training specifically for the TIR is easy and fun! We suggest the following 7-week plan:

1) First, arrange to be the van driver for an across-the-country road trip with a van-load of 10 - 15 year old area youths.
2) Then, stop periodically (ideally 3 or 4 times per day) to run a 5 miler. Don't sleep.
3) It takes some time to work into this regimen, so for the first week, only do this one day. However, add another day each week, so that by the 7th week, you are doing this for all 7 days!

Immediately after finishing this, you'll be ready for the TIR. Congratulations!!!

What to Bring

There is a large amount of information on the website, but thought this was a good checklist to have handy on our blog:

TEAM:- At least 2 flashlights or headlamps. (Required at check-in) Every runner starting a leg after 7PM must run with a flashlight or headlamp until sunrise on Sunday.  [I have one flashlight and headlamp already, so just need one more...]
- At least 2 reflective vests or belts. (Required at check-in) As with the lights, every runner starting a leg after 7PM must run with a flashlight or headlamp until sunrise on Sunday.  [Kevin said he has one - anyone else?]
- LED blinking lights (Highly recommended.)
- First-aid kit
- Vehicles (not to exceed 22 feet in length) [Jenifer has 2 vans reserved]
- IDs for team members. (IDs for master or veteran teams could be checked at check-in.)
- Stop watches, clipboard, pens
- Cooler with ice [I have one cooler...]
- Snacks, drinks, etc.
- Maps (course maps, Houston, and Texas road maps)
- Cell phones
- Baby wipes, spray bottles, or some other creative washing method [Creative washing method... hmmmm...]
- team toilet paper
- Picnic blanket, tarp, and maybe even club tent for finish line area. [I have a plastic tarp - will be good to have in the vans too]


INDIVIDUAL:
- Extras of the required items an individual may want to bring (reflective vest, blinkies, flashlight, etc.)
- Phone
- Camera
- Cap or visor
- Clothes (for changing after runs, and also for all kinds of surprising weather... hot, cold, windy)
- Change of shoes
- Plastic bags for damp clothing
- Dog deterrent
- Sleeping bag, pillow, toiletries, sunscreen, sunglasses
- Water bottle
- Sandals or flip-flops for between runs
- Money for meals, etc.

Team Song Needed!

At the start of the race, each team's Team Song will be blasted from the loudspeakers while the team makes its debut run around the Gonzales town center - so we need to pick an awesome one!  I've received a few suggestions so far - if you have others, send them over, and we can put it to a vote!

The suggestions so far are:

What a Wonderful World by Joey Ramone
http://www.amazon.com/What-A-Wonderful-World/dp/B0029CVSQ2

The Long Run by the Eagles
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/180-6996106-8379632?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=the+long+run+eagles

With a Little Help From My Friends by Joe Cocker
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=joe+cocker+help+from+my+friends

We Can't Get the Hell Out of Texas by George Jones
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=george+jones+hell+out+of+texas

Rock and Roll All Night by Kiss
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_13?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=kiss+rock+and+roll+all+night&sprefix=kiss+rock+and%2Cdigital-music%2C180

Heartbreaker by Pat Benetar
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_12?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=heartbreaker+pat+benatar&sprefix=heartbreaker%2Cdigital-music%2C182


Comment on this post with your ideas!

Ready to Run!

Howdy, Team H.A.R.T.!  I thought this blog might be a good way to keep each other informed, provide status updates, information on the race, and be able to go back and access info without combing through a bunch of emails.  I am (obviously) not a professional blogger, but hopefully this will do the trick!

So, in the spirit of info, I'm re-posting the info I sent via email on Friday, so you can find it again if you need it!  (Scroll dooooooown....)

A couple of reminders:

1.  I need your t-shirt selection (for the ladies - tank or tee), and your size.  If you can send them by next Wednesday, I'll do one big order, and then Jenifer can take them to get our awesome logo printed on them!

Here are the links again:

Women's - tank, or short sleeves
http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/womens-ua-victory-tank/pid1207617-731
http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/1236474/pid1236474-731

Men's - short sleeves
http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/1236182/pid1236182-731

And here is the logo, if you weren't able to view it from my email (hope you can see it here):

Front

(with the paintbrush potentially removed)

Back

(with perhaps a slight change to "Running with HART!" or "HART breakers" or something like that)

Thank you, Kevin, for this great team name/battle cry, and to Dana, for this great logo!

2.  We need to select a team song - I'm about to send another post with the suggestions so far, and you can add comments to that post with other ideas.  We need to have an awesome team song blasting over the loudspeakers for our debut run around the Gonzales town center!


Friday's email:

Hey team! We have a name! Our team name is Houston Area Relay Team, otherwise known as HART. We will be unleashing HART attacks on all those helpless runners that will be left behind in our dust, staring at the back of our very cool team shirts (discussed below). So prepare for your HART Attack!!

Let me just update everyone on a few things:

First and foremost, it looks like we have a full team! We are currently at 10 confirmed team members, and Robert has 1 other that may be interested - I'm just waiting to hear from them! So we still have room for one, maybe two more, so if you know anyone, they need to register by tomorrow! (Adolfo still has not registered, so I am guessing he's out, but I'll email him separately - and Paul, I never heard from your friend Mike either).

Registered (7):
Robert Archer
Dana Clemens
Caroline Grahmann Gardner (me)
Jenifer Kihm
Paul Morin
Melissa Steward
Kevin Taylor

Confirmed but not yet registered (3):

Hanh Langlinais
Rosie Munive

Simon Crompton

(Hanh and Simon, make sure you register by tomorrow - registration closes tomorrow! Rosie, I'll register you today and you can pay me back since you don't have computer access this weekend - I sent you an email with a few things I need in order to get you registered. Or if it's easier, call me and I can register you while we're on the phone.)

Everyone, meet everyone!

Second, we made a few decisions at the planning meeting last week, to keep things rolling:
- As I mentioned, we agreed on our team name! Kevin Taylor came up with a great idea - our team will be the Houston Area Relay Team, or HART - and our battle cry will be "HART Attack!" Or "You've been HART attacked!" when we are passing hoards of people with our lightning speed. (Kevin is very optimistic about our abilities.)

- Dana Clemens has designed our team logo and it looks awesome! (Scroll down to see it) The heart/HART will be on the front, with our battle cry on the back - so people can see it as we speed by them!

- I thought we could get bright yellow shirts and get them printed with the red logo - I found these Under Armour shirts, and thought they'd be good. If everyone is ok with these, let me know your size (and ladies, if you want tank or short sleeve) and I can go ahead and place one big order so we can take them to get printed all at one time.

Women's - tank, or short sleeves
http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/womens-ua-victory-tank/pid1207617-731
http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/1236474/pid1236474-731

Men's - short sleeves
http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/1236182/pid1236182-731

ACTION NEEDED: Send me your order!

- Other race details - Jenifer has reserved 2 vans, so that's set. We may have a lead on a house to stay in Friday night, which Melissa is following up on. (Otherwise, we'll probably want to find a few hotel rooms.) Regarding the legs, it was the consensus that we would just run the legs in order. We can assign people to the actual legs later on, but if you want to go check them out, included in the link below are the details of each leg. Jenifer has a complex spreadsheet that we can use to put names to legs!

http://www.lonestarrelays.com/TIRTESTSITE/InteractiveMap/Interactive%20Map%20Files/2013_TIR_Written_Directions.pdf

- If you don't already have one, we will all need headlamps and reflective vests (which we could probably share - at least the vests), but if you want to grab one for yourself, go for it!

I'm sure there are other details I am forgetting, but those are the main things for now! We should try to have another planning meeting once we have all our official team members, so stay tuned for emails about that.

This is going to be a blast - looking forward to running 200 miles with y'all!

Caroline