Kicking Off the Adventure: Inside My 300K Tour de Los Tejas - Part 1

At this time every year, I think back very fondly on the race that kick-started the current long-distance phase of running, that amin. It was a race, if I'm honest, I wasn't sure if I could complete. I signed up anyways with a lot of trepidation, and I don't know that I've ever been that nervous at the start line of any other race, but I ended up having one of the most remarkable experiences with some incredible people who I'm still friends with three years later and who all still talk about and reminisce about the journey and the challenges we each faced. I've always said I should tell the story and I've always wanted to tell the story because I think it's a good one, and so this is it. I'm going to do it. Here we go. Welcome to the Choose to Enjoy podcast, the go-to show for back-of-the-pack ultra runners. Join us as we explore uplifting stories, interviews, gear and training tips, all tailored toward the unsung heroes at the tail end of the ultra universe. My name is Richard Gleave. I've been ultra running since 2017. I've finished numerous ultra distances, from 50km all the way up through 200 miles. I'm a qualified US running coach and I'm unashamedly a member of the back-of-the-pack. Just like you, if you're ready and you're willing to humor me a little. I'd be honored to walk you through the epic tale of my 2021 Tour de los Tejas. There are seven other epic stories out there. This one is mine. Sit tight, we'll be right back. On Tuesday, february the 9th 2021, eight of us, including myself, the self-styled Crazy Eight set out to tackle a 186-mile single loop around small Texas towns, starting and hopefully finishing at the State Capitol building in Austin, texas. The eight Lunatics I mean superstars were Joni Watkins, lisa Carter, lisa Decker, pam Lockhart, luis Reyes, kevin Boyd, mr Tommy Gulch and yours truly. This was a one-time race being put on by the good folks over at Trail Race and over Texas, known as Trot. It had minimal support and maximal road running. This was not a stage race but a first-to-the-finish style. Any stops or food along the route were up to you to organize. First back to the Capitol would win. However you wanted to do it. That was up to you along the route. Why? Well, we all had our reasons. For me, I found myself gravitating more towards the point-to-point, adventure-style races. I think as I get older and a little bit more reflective, these races offer a pretty unique opportunity to delve deeper into who you are when all the fluff of life is stripped away, and how you react to situations as they present themselves. It's a good opportunity to learn about yourself. The world is all about convenience these days. I've said this a few times now. Here was a chance to do something that really wasn't convenient. It was a huge challenge and, unlike most other races that you might run, there is absolutely no guarantee that you'll finish. You have to think on your feet, you gotta react to what's going on with you and around you just to stay in the game, never mind finish it. I think we could all use a little bit more of that. There's something really cool about being alone out there, moving from new place to new place, reliant only on yourself and what's around you, that you can't get from other looped long course ultra races with age stations for support, you know. Additionally, I'm in my late 40s. I'm just not that fast of a runner anymore. Pace-wise, since the distances here are typically so long, pace is a lot less important in these races, which is a really interesting equalizer. It ends up being way more about can you push through when things aren't going well and how are you going to keep moving forwards? And then, finally, the camaraderie. I mean these races are a great way to get to know people and spend a lot of time with them. Everybody is so supportive of each other because we're all just trying to finish our own journey. There is comparatively little actual racing going on other than at the elite level, so you can really get to know people and share some excellent experiences that start well before and last well beyond the event itself. Now, the plan I had done. I had done a lot of research on the route in advance and I knew my probable pace pretty well thanks to some solid training. So my thinking was to get to a stopping point each day that allowed me to get in as many miles as possible, while also allowing for recovery each evening and limited time running in the dark. Now, it's not that I dislike running in the dark per se, but I was acutely aware that I would be on Texas back roads in unfamiliar territory, with potentially distracted drivers who were definitely not accustomed to seeing folks on the roads. And of course, there are little to no sidewalks to use most of the time and the potential, at least at the time, for some bad weather. Therefore, I opted to set up as follows. So day one we started at the Austin capital and I went down to Luling, which is 55 miles. My day two was going to be in Luling to Lagrange, 57 miles. Day three would be Lagrange to Bastrop, 42 miles, and day four, bastrop to Austin, again 32 miles. Looking back, I think that having a defined start and stopping point each day really did help me mentally and also enabled me to plan each day out in a kind of familiar pattern. Eating wise, I deliberately took time each day to eat a good breakfast, find somewhere to stop for a decent lunch, and also grab dinner at or just before the end of each day. So that meant that I could snack along the way, safe in the knowledge that I had predetermined places and points to stop and eat something more substantial. One less thing to worry about, right? I should add too, that my original plan was to do this solo, but the constantly changing weather prediction in the run up to the event made planning for all possible weather eventualities a bit problematic. I just couldn't carry enough. So I hedge my best bets regarding gear, since I could only take what I could carry in a rucksack there, along with all the overnight necessities, charges, water, food, etc. But I had my very excellent friend Chuck on backup to crew later on, just in case, the day one we got our trackers activated. We each had a tracker and we had a pre-planned route on an app for ourselves and for others to follow, and off we went from the capital just before 10 am. It was chilly, but the day warmed up once we got going and actually turned out to be quite humid. The first thing that was apparent, to me at least, was the hills, lots of rolling hills in downtown Austin. If you've ever been so immediately, that was a shock to the system for a flatlander from Houston. For the opening few miles I stayed at the front of the pack, pretty close to Luis, who seemed to be having some navigational issues with his watch. As I recall, we chatted a little as we ran and we made sure to verify each other's directions to make sure that we got out of town correctly. Around mile 14 or so. We had split up a little, though, and just as I turned on to FM 1625, if you're following along on a map I had what I'm calling my first poopy pant experience of this race. Most of this day had dogs barking along the route. They would make a lot of noise, charge at the fence and generally threaten, but were of no consequence as they were safely behind gates. However, at this particular point, three big domubans were outside with an open gate. They proceeded to charge headlong across the road and directly at me, nipping at my heels and making hella noise. Man, I can comfortably state that that is the fastest pace I ran all race for sure. A few miles later I turned on to Highway 21. This was a very busy road and was my first experience of being just a couple of feet away from some really large, fast moving traffic, not overly pleasant and required constant vigilance. However, it did have a Valero gas station on this stretch, so I stopped here for lunch. I got a gas station chicken sandwich and I took a really big chance on a gas station to Keto. I don't recommend that, folks. I meant to fill up here with water too, since there appeared to be little opportunity later on, but I forgot. And so by mile 35 of 55 and approaching the outskirts of Lockhart, I was completely out of water on a humid day and wondering a little bit what to do. We didn't get routed into Lockhart itself, so I would have had to have taken a two mile detour off the route into town and then back to find some shops. Could I potentially use someone's garden hose, since the route was taking us through a residential area? But then I remembered investigating Lockhart State Park, which we run directly by online, and seeing in the pictures of the visitor center there, a fridge with drinks in it. Okay so, not wanting to risk the wrath of locals by stealing water from their hose and getting shot at because you know, this is Texas, after all I decided that the State Park was my option. So three miles later, and right at 5.05pm, I checked my watch. I dipped into Lockhart State Park, made my way to the visitor center and pulled the door handle Nothing. I looked at the sign on the door closed at 5pm. Damn it, I'd missed it by five minutes and the park ranger that I could see through the window would not come to the door for me, despite my efforts. I walked around a little bit looking for an outside spigot Nothing. Finally, and mostly because I probably look quite suspicious, poking around there trying to open doors after closing, I happened to speak to a chap in a car who had just presumably finished his walk in the park and I explained my situation. Well, it turns out this guy had extra water bottles in his trunk and offered me all four of them. What a hero. Thank you, lifesaver. And with that I was back on the road. It eventually went dark about 10 miles outside Luling, which meant two plus hours or so of night running. This was on fairly quiet roads though, so it passed without too much incident. Although I did recall regretting assigning navigational turns with landmarks I was able to spot at key points from the Google Maps research I had done. In reality, those landmarks were really hard to see in the pitch black. Who'da thought right? So I finally rolled into Luling about 9pm, having called on my wife on the phone for some extra navigational guidance since she had internet at the house, and I decided to stop at Sonic for dinner. Well, apparently Sonic in Luling doesn't get too many English people running a 300K race at 9pm at night, and I'll tell you it caused quite a stir with the waitstaff. This was also the place where I had a slightly embarrassing text snafu. While eating the admittedly delicious meal, I excitedly sent a message to the rest of the participants on the group messenger chat sharing that I was stopping in Luling and enjoying some excellent tots at Sonic. They did taste good. Only I hit send too fast and AutoCorrect had replaced the O in tots with an I. Yeah, I have no idea why, but it did, and consequently this caused great amusement to my fellow racers and to this day they still text me whenever they're in a sonic with a screenshot of themselves enjoying their lovely tits. So due to COVID restrictions, I had to sit outside and it got cold once I stopped. So I only took about 20 minutes to eat before I moved on to what turned out to be possibly the seediest motel I've ever stayed in, called the Coachway Inn in Luling. Go look it up, I promise you. It's about a mile out of town on the way to Bucky's. I decided it likely normally rented out by the hour. However, at this point in the day I was just ready to be done, so I paid my money. I jumped hesitantly into the shower looking for hidden cameras, stretched a bit and went to sleep on a rickety bed around 10.30pm, feeling a bit sore but pretty pleased with the good days. Moving Took me about 12 hours total, no major corporeal damage, and there were still plenty of folks out there from the group that would presumably come by later in the night and pass me up. Day 2. I woke up around 5.30am with the intention of setting off at 6.30pm. I had no idea at all where others had gotten to during the night, so I decided I would just follow my own plan and see where it led. I eventually headed out the door, probably about 6.45pm, and got on the road, literally. Since the stinky motel didn't offer any breakfast and, if I'm honest, likely I wouldn't have partaken even if it did and I was only 2 miles from Bucky's, I decided that's where I would stop and I would sample their magnificent breakfast, tacos and hot coffee. Holy heck, they're fantastic. I ended up buying 4, eating 2 there and then and stashing 2 for later emergency use as needed. Let me tell you, even cold, they were excellent. I think I had 2 brisket and egg, a jalapeno sausage and a regular potato and egg. Seriously, folks, do yourself a favor and grab these if you're ever anywhere close to a Bucky's. As I was stashing the leftovers in my pack and eating the 2 to go, I checked the tracker app and I discovered that I was, in fact, second to set off that morning. Lisa Carter had left an hour earlier and was approximately 3 miles ahead down the road. Also, it was noticeably colder that morning and there was a low mist that was now hanging close to the ground, so very drab, but it was also a lot windier. In fact, I ran into the headwind almost the entire 57 miles that day, a cold, wet wind at that which chilled deeply. So I set off after Lisa, coffee and Tacos in hand, and made my way onto the I-10 East feeder road and then onto US 90, which we were to follow all the way east to Flatonia, 31 miles away I'm thinking this must be one of those ironic town names. The road to Flatonia was anything but flat. I walked while I ate and drank breakfast and then followed a routine that stole me a temp to run, or at least slow jog anything that looked relatively flat or downhill and walk anything that looked remotely uphill. It was a little slower going than day one, but I was still feeling reasonably good at this point. Just that wind and the constant misting rain. About 7 miles into the day, angelica with the truck team pulled up just at the top of a hill ahead of me. It was a welcome sight, if only to be able to duck out of the wind for a moment behind her car and if you look carefully on the choose to endure banner page on the website, that's the picture she took of me walking up the hill. She had a few goodies to try, so I opted for a Rise Nitro Oatmeal Cold Coffee. Never had one of those before but definitely highly recommend them. Very smooth. I grabbed and dropped some noon in my water for electrolytes and we had a bit of a chat, since I had been mostly running alone. After splitting with Luis the day before, it was nice to talk to someone. I learned that Lisa was still a couple of miles ahead and that Luis was now a few miles behind my position, but honestly I wasn't really concerned with what others were, assuming they were doing. Okay, this was about me getting to the end of my own journey as I came into a town called Wilder or Welder I don't know how the heck you say that. If anyone out there knows, let me know. That's about halfway to Flatonia. I know they had a family dollar store there, so I went in and grabbed a few ultra essentials also known as Snickers, twix and a Coke, before continuing. Now, the route had us take a dog leg through the residential area of the town, I'm not sure why. It was a bit sketchy and it didn't really accomplish anything versus just continuing on the main road through the town and out the other side. But follow the map I must. So I dually whipped out my phone with the tracker info on it and started making the correct turns. That's when I spotted that I had actually caught up with Lisa and she was also in the town but had gone straight. I carried on with my route, believing I would bump into her when I got back on the main road so that I could say, hi, see how her day was going. But I never did. I waited and poked around once I got back on the main road, but I never saw her at all, neither in front nor behind me, and you can see for some distance down those roads. To this day I don't know where she was, but I did end up ahead of her somehow. Us 90, the road into Flatonia, was a nice wide road, plenty of space on the sides and really not a lot of traffic either, so I actually enjoyed running on this one. Eventually, I came to Flatonia around 2.30pm and I made my way over to the Dairy Queen, which was on the road out of town, the road I would need to take to complete my day, which is 6.09 up to La Grange, if you are following along on the map. At the time I had never been to a Dairy Queen I don't think, and I had heard lots of mention of it, so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and, believe me, it did not disappoint. It was getting really chilly outside at this point and I had started to shiver quite a bit coming in, so I was anxious to get a hot drink. However, I discovered that Dairy Queen doesn't serve coffee. Why the hell not? I had been looking forward to this for about 8 miles, but actually no hot drinks at all, much to my chagrin. Apparently, they stopped offering hot drinks about a year prior, just FYI, according to the lady that served me. She didn't know why I did ask To eat. I had the number 10, which was aptly named the Dude, a chicken fried steak sandwich that you can only get in Texas. I feel like that was representative of me at that moment. Man, you are killing this. You are the dude, or at least in my head, that's what I was thinking. Yeah, I spent 20 minutes again here, and because I was still cold and the weather was deteriorating outside, I decided that I would need to go next door to the gas station to find a coffee and warm up before heading out, and while there, I would look for an extra layer to wear and find some gloves. Finding the coffee wasn't a problem, but the clothes were and I knew I needed them or risked the onset of hypothermia, since I still had 24 miles to go for the day. The temperature was dropping and I was wet constantly from that low mist. The only gloves they had were these comically large ski gloves Huge things Looked like. I was in like 20 below zero and they had no men's clothing at all. However, they did have women's clothing, so I scoured the rack and eventually settled on a thick ladies blue Mexican poncho with a pointy hood for almost 40 bucks. I didn't even blink at the price. That's how cold I was. Now I must have looked to the right side putting on these clothes the hoodie and the gloves, outside the gas station and for the rest of my run that day. But they did a job and I didn't care how much of an idea I looked in my ladies poncho and shorts. Ultra running is all about problem solving, after all. Right, so, duly warmed up a little, I set off up 609 towards La Grange and my hotel for the night, like 21 earlier on day one. This was another very busy road with little shoulder Again, huge trucks whistling by mere feet from me and flinging spray everywhere. I had to be alerted all times, and the road climbed higher and higher over very exposed hilltops. This felt like a really long treacherous stretch, and it went dark on me halfway in, increasing the danger twofold Once again. So out of nowhere appeared a support vehicle that pulled up with hazard lights flashing just just ahead of me, and turns out it was Louisa's wife, who had started crewing for him but had been driving up and down the road looking for other participants to make sure they were all right and see if they needed anything because of the cold moving in. And I did. Any hot drink would have done, and she mercifully obliged and donated me her coffee. If she's listening, or, louisa, if you're listening, please tell her. Thank you, because I'm not sure if I did in my state. Again, in the midst of a very tough stretch, it was awesome to see a friendly face, even if just for a few minutes. I think that makes such a big difference. Once it had gotten dark and the mist came down even more over the tops of the hills, this was where I began to get motorists stop and ask what the heck I was doing out there and whether I needed a lift somewhere. I think I had three folks stop total that day, and I think the last guy was really angry with me. He told me to get off the roads, as I was going to get myself effing killed. His words, not mine. The only way, though, I was going to get off the roads was to keep going. By this time, the temperature dropped to around freezing, with the wind chill. It probably felt quite a bit below that, and this bright spark only had on shorts. I was ready for the lights of La Grange when I came across them after six hours of running from flat on here. Man, I wanted to be done and I wanted off that road. I did not feel safe, especially in the dark. La Grange, though, it was lovely even at night. Lots of super boutique style shops and older buildings lit up. As I ran into a town, I of course, had ZZ Topps classic hit plan on Spotify. How could you not? Maybe that's what made it so cool, as was the plan. I needed something to eat before heading over to my hotel. I knew the subway was open, so I made my way over there, right in the center of town, and at the turn I needed to make onto 77 North. It was 902 PM. I checked my watch. I arrived at subway to find they closed at 9 PM. Damn it. I tried pulling the door, nothing. I could see folks behind the counter putting the food away. So I gently yelled at them through the door and they came over. I told them I'd just run 57 miles to get here from Luling, hoping to get a hot sandwich before they put things away for the night. The guys sympathize, but he said 9 PM was their closing time and that I could come back tomorrow for a discount coupon if I wanted. Yeah, thanks, jackass. So no food in hand and getting colder by the minute, I shivered my way through town and over to the hotel another mile north. I was very glad to get inside in the warmth. Luckily, the hotel had some snack foods on hand. So my dinner that night consisted of two instant pot noodles and a bag of Doritos. You know, ultra running giveth and ultra running taketh away. I had gotten 57 miles for the day. I was cold. I had not exactly tamed my remaining hunger. In addition, the weather was looking even worse for days three and day four and I was pretty nervous, I have to say so. After chatting with my wife on the phone and warning other runners about the dangers of tackling 609 at night. I texted my buddy, chuck, to see if he could come early doors to deliver my warmer running clothes which he had on standby. I would definitely be needing those before I was going to be able to continue. It was about 10 30 at night again when I got into bed. A little apprehensive, but I finally felt warm again for the first time in 14 hours. If he couldn't get there, I wasn't sure what I was going to do, since I was out of town and there was almost nothing between there and Bastrop, 40 miles away on the next section of the route, to find out what happened next, how I got through a horrendous day three and what part Bucky's in Bastrop had to play. Join me for part two. Thank you for lending me your ears and your imagination for just a little while. I hope you'll join me over at part two very soon. See you over there. In the meantime, don't forget to subscribe to the show, get notified each time a new episode comes out and, of course, follow Sharon review. Doing any of those really does help with the algorithms, which in turn helps get the word out and helps others find the show. You can find us on Instagram and Facebook at choose2enjurecom and now also over at YouTube for the video version. So be sure to head over to any of those and check us out, say hello, drop us a message, a topic or some feedback if you have a moment. I love getting those interactions. Until then, run long, run strong, keep checking your auto correct on your phone and keep choosing to endure. Thanks for running with us at the choose to endure podcast.

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