CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Have you ever tried running a mile? How about five? Try 200.
One local group is showing Texas what teamwork is all about. They’re getting ready to run from Gonzalez to Houston in a relay race, working together to cross the finish line hand in hand.
“We are going to spread the mission of inclusion for 200 miles in the Texas Independence Relay (TIR),” Founder of Wings of Texas Michelle Jones said.
Michelle Jones is the Founder of Wings of Texas, a non-profit that assists individuals with disabilities and promotes inclusion. She's also Charlie's mom.
“This will be Charlie’s ninth year doing the TIR and Laurie’s first year. The first year we did it we took Charlie out as a proof of concept to show the race director that we could do it and we could do it safely,” Jones said.
Wings of Texas has been participating in the TIR for the past nine years, but since then their team has grown. There will be two captains: Charlie and Laurie. There will also be 12 runners helping the captains make their way to the finish line. Those runners are called Angels.
There will be two vans of Angels. The first van will take off and they will run their six legs. Each Angel will take a leg. Then van two will come in and van one rests during that time.
“We give our stronger runners the longer distances. So the longest distance one of our Angels will be doing is a total of 20 miles, and they have three legs,” Jones said.
That Angel she's talking about is Hector Llanes.
“Having to run 200 miles is not something you just do every weekend. Everyday is practice,” Llanes said.
Llanes ran in high school and wanted to pick it back up. But he wasn't just looking for running buddies. He was looking for a family.
“Seeing the Wings of Texas out at these 5k's, 10k's they have downtown kind of inspired me and my family. So we ended up talking to Michelle and Thomas and Rusty and they opened their arms wide and we came right in,” Llanes said.
200 miles isn't easy. Especially when there are challenges along the way.
“There's actually some dirt roads, oil field trucks, 18-wheelers going by us with dirt going everywhere. Cars going by so fast at night. That and the hills. After your 15th mile, you kind of ask for help going over the hills,” Llanes said.
But to these Angels, there's no challenge that can get in the way of spreading inclusion on a whole new level. Jones said runners come up to their team after to let them know that they inspired them to keep on going. Jones said it’s neat to be a part of something bigger.
“Charlie's experiencing something that people only dream of doing, and it’s because of the 12 amazing Angels that we have that are willing to go out there for 32 hours, not sleeping, not showering. Just getting out there making sure Charlie and Laurie cross that finish line,” Jones said.
Jones said the team will take off Friday, March 28 to Gonzalez. They will start the race around 6 a.m. Saturday, March 29 and finish on Sunday, March 30.
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