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Dallas Morning News, "Dallas runners hope slow and steady finishes the race" by Debbie Fetterman - March 6, 2009
"Most slow runners never get a chance to participate in a 200-mile relay.
The model used by most endurance relays consists of eight- to 12-runner teams completing the course in 36 hours, averaging 10 minutes per mile or faster.
But self-proclaimed "slower" runners Paula Robertson and Libby Jones devised an unconventional system to enable a team with slow runners to enter the second Texas Independence Relay, which starts Saturday in Gonzalez and ends Sunday at the San Jacinto Monument near Houston.
Robertson, founder of the Heels and Hills Half Marathon , and Jones, past president of the Dallas Running Club, formed a team – one of six all-female teams among the 158 entered – to test their system. They will start the 203-mile, 40-leg competition at 7:04 a.m. Saturday.
"We're a group of strangers coming together not because we want to win, but because we love to run," said Jennifer Meuse, a sub 10-minute miler on the team. "We'll be equally supportive of each other at eight minutes a mile and at 15 minutes a mile."
While the rest of the teams will use a traditional baton handoff at the relay points, the Robertson-Jones team's runners will start their legs at predetermined times, based on a 9:40-mile pace. So each runner won't wait for her teammate to arrive before starting the next portion of the race. But all the runners will finish their legs, regardless of how long it takes.
"We're not going to win," Robertson said. "We just want to have a good time."
Relay director Jay Hilscher said he was receptive to opening the event to slower runners. Robertson, Jones and Hilscher considered having the slower teams start six hours earlier, but that would make the women run 75 percent of the course alone, without police support. And cutting legs felt wrong, Jones said.
"We'd like the full experience," she explained.
Timing is crucial in making relays work, Hilscher said. In order to have the right number of teams spread out along the course, he created a staggered start based on a giant spreadsheet with every team member's projected race pace, and plotted arrivals at each relay exchange point to ensure adequate volunteer manpower and supplies."
Dallas Morning News, "Heels and Hills Series" by Debbie Fetterman - January 30, 2009
"Sunday's Heels and Hills 1-mile fun run along Irving's Campion Trails is the first of four Heels and Hills Distance Challenge events. Entry into the May 3 half marathon, 5K or 1-mile is required to enter the distance challenge, which includes Sunday's 1-miler, a Feb. 22 5K, a March 15 10K and an April 11 15K."
Dallas Morning News, "Women's Half Marathon Set for Sunday" by Debbie Fetterman - May 3, 2007
"Paula Robertson's vision of a women's half marathon becomes a reality Sunday. She started dreaming of an event geared to women more than five years ago. She wanted to share her passion for running with others, especially women.
Seven years ago, Robertson needed to change her lifestyle. Running helped her lose weight and get fit.
Her creation, Sunday's Heels and Hills Half Marathon in Irving, has exceeded 1,000 registrants, more than 90 percent of them female. Robertson said one-third of the field will be competitive runners, one-third recreational runners and one-third new runners."
Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau Sports Business Journal - July 23-29, 2007
"...Brode’s sentiments are echoed by Paula Robertson, founder and race director of the Heels & Hills Half-Marathon (www.hillsandheels.com), a running and walking event that had its inaugural race on Sunday, May 6, in Irving. Robertson always had planned to hold the event in Irving but wasn’t really sure how to proceed until she met Bob Berry.
“Bob was absolutely wonderful in terms of getting the right processes completed,” Robertson says. “And Bee Lee also was great in finding us a host hotel, the Aspen Hotel and Suites.”
Robertson says the event, which had more than 1,000 people register (all but 50 were women) and 850 finishers, really made an impact in year one. In addition to the half-marathon, Heels & Hills also includes a 5K run, two-person relay, and one-mile fun run.
“We’re doing it again next year. We already have the date May 4, 2008 reserved,” she says, adding that next year organizers expect 1,500-2,000 participants, who this year came primarily from the D/FW Metroplex area.
“We marketed it that way,” she says. “We didn’t print any brochures and mainly worked local running events, expos, etc. Next year, we plan to have a broader scale participant-wise.
”“We were thrilled to host the Heels & Hills event,” Gast says. “Since hosting the inaugural U.S. Olympic Triathlon Team Trials in 2000, we’ve been successful in bringing a variety of races to Irving.”
Dallas Morning News, "For Half Marathon Runners, 13 Isn't So Scary" by Debbie Fetterman - January 25, 2007
"The half marathon is such an easy, doable distance," said Robertson, whose inaugural Heels and Hills Half Marathon is May 6 in Las Colinas. "It's user friendly. You can run half marathons all the time. A marathon is such a long distance to train for. People who have done a 10K don't think 13 miles is so threatening. They do think a marathon is."
City of Irving, City Manager's Report - May 23, 2007
"Heels and Hills Half-Marathon – The Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau welcomed the “Heels and
Hills” half-marathon to the Las Colinas Urban Center on May 6. The inaugural running/walking event for
women broke new ground by becoming the third-largest women’s half-marathon in the country in its first
year. Registration reached 1,000 participants, and was attended by more than 1,000 spectators. The “Heels and Hills” half-marathon plans to return to Irving next year."
Over40Runner
Last revised December 10, 2008
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