End of the race, end of the season with Team Oz (for me)

Following the gear claim mayhem, the TNT tent was an oasis in the middle of the desert. Kelsie and I parked ourselves at the edge and waited for our teammates to join us. We kept looking for Andrea, but we didn't see her anywhere. We had planned to jump back in the race to run Ernie in, but after all the hassle following the finish line, I didn't have the fortitude to go through it again.

One by one our teammates finished and joined us at the tent. Everyone had run really good races! It was so fun to share our excitement and experience. I called Mom and Dad, who had access to results online, and they looked up everyone who was still running and told us where they were (or where their chip had last registered them). I talked to Natasya once I knew she was done. She hadn't run the race she wanted, finishing with a positive split and running out of steam at the end. But she still finished in 4 hours! That's phenomenal to me.

Andrea finally appeared, with Ernie! She had given up on the gear claim (smart move) and jumped back in the race to run him in.

After about two hours at the tent, we all started making our way towards the hotel (within walking distance), which took us by the end of the race. A few of us stopped to cheer runners on as they climbed the last incline toward the finish. Our timing was great, as we saw our teammate, Kim, and her husband, and we shouted a loud "Go Team."

Following showers and beau- tification, a bunch of us met up for a post-race pre-dinner on the Riverwalk. It was my last chance to see everyone before I took off to meet family. Apparently I missed all kinds of fun at and after the victory party. Oh well! I'm just glad I was able to see Team Oz in San Antonio. I had so much fun! It was the perfect end to a fabulous season, and I would definitely do it all again!