Chasing Bears, Counting Pi and MS150

We had two incredible drivers for the Texas Independence Relay - Jose Ruiz and Manny Mondragon. Their support to our finishing the inaugural Texas Independence Relay was invaluable, plus they're pretty sharp guys and amazingly talented.

Aside from driving sweaty runners long distances, Jose now flies a good number of miles on a regular basis as he has recently earned his pilot's license.

Manny, meanwhile, proved this past weekend that he is a distance fiend of another kind as he completed the two-day MS 150 bike ride with Joe Carey on Saturday and Sunday from Houston to Austin.

Congratulations to the two of you for raising money for MS!

I know you're reading this and saying to yourself, "What about Cassie (Mondragon)?" (You're right, what about her?!)

I knew she liked a little country music as both she and Katy Lampson this weekend took to heart that classic Kenny Rogers song, "The Gambler".

You know the line about, "You've got to know when to hold 'em / know when to fold 'em / know when to walk away / and know when to run."

Guys. When our bodies tell us to stop, we boldly try to take them where they shouldn't go or haven't been. Yes, it's the macho thing. Sometimes we should learn a lesson from the ladies.

Fighting an inflamed IT band, Cassie knocked out the first 88 miles from Katy to the Warda Ranch (home of some mountain bike races and ultras) before being forced to call it a MS88. ;)

Nonetheless, it was a distance PR for her.

Katy picked up a nice, shiny PR as well even though her quest for the Texas Marathon Challenge was temporarily derailed. After finishing the first loop of the Davy Crockett Bear Chase Marathon, the 32-year-old decided not to aggravate a recently acquired hamstring injury and went back to Huntsville with a nice medal, a cute bear and a 12-minute PR to boot.

After having invested approximately 200 miles of training since the TIR, Edwin Quarles, 42, of Lufkin, had a nice 1:44:45 performance in the Davy Crockett Bear Chase Half Marathon to show for it. Additionally, he was the first Brazosport Area Road Runners Association (BARRA) member to cross the finish line by keeping Kelly Colosimo and Ralph Corry at bay. He finished 23rd overall.

Norman Langwell, Jr., 36, of Huntsville, started the second loop well on his way to breaking his 4-hour goal that he narrowly missed the Sunday before at the Big-D Texas Marathon by just 21 seconds.

However, it wasn't Norman's time to break four hours but he was rewarded with a 19th place overall finish and a time of 4:03:39.

Team captain Jon Walk took a week off from racing and handled the inaugural race's public address announcing duties. (To see comments on the race, please click here.)

Two weeks removed from her quarter iron distance triathlon in Galveston, Sarah Graybeal, 30, ran the Pi Mile 5K Road Race in Atlanta, Georgia at her alma mater, Georgia Tech University. Having relinguished race director's duties for the annual Yuri's Night 5K, she was free to knock out the very hilly course in 33:34.