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By BrianFlash, on October 31st, 2009
On Friday night, Team Flash met up at Citizen Kane’s in Kirkwood. Our purpose was two fold: 1) devour meat from arguably the best steakhouse in St. Louis, and 2) determine if we would enter Comrades for the 2010 race. In actuality, I’m ready to enter but Jason isn’t sure. This year the entry cutoff is December 31. But we need a decision now – entries for first timers open at 1 AM Sunday, Central US time. The limit of 5000 first time runners is expected to be reached very quickly.
Over a bottle of red wine we discussed the outrageousness of running a 56 mile race thru the hills in South Africa. Just typing that makes me think how insane that seems. Jason banged out a 4:50 marathon in Washington DC, but doing 56 miles in 12 hours (the race cutoff time – strictly enforced) is a whole new business. After running one marathon, you run a second. After the second, you still have four more miles to go! And they insist on marking the race in kilometers. So it isn’t 56 miles, it is 89 kilometers. Curse you Antoine Lavoisier!
While tucking into the salad, I stressed to Jason that he is a much more capable runner then he thinks he is. He only needs to maintain an average speed of 4.9 miles per hour (or a 12:20 per mile pace) to get finished in 11 1/2 hours. Our support crew (Kathy and Rocio) would handle all the logistics while we were trudging along. How we could fly into South Africa just a couple days before the race, run, spend two days recovering, then get on with a vacation in a country he hasn’t visited yet.
As the steak disappeared down the gullet, we talked about how epic this particular Comrades would be. The 2010 race is especially popular because South Africa is hosting the World Cup right after and this is the 85th running of the race. We won’t have a more impressive Comrades event until 2025 for the 100th running. And based on the current schedule, that would be an ‘up’ run. And as you all know, we aren’t exactly excited about running away from Durbin. We would much more enjoy running to Durbin.
During the flan dessert, I cautioned that he had to be committed to training for the race. This was going to include fifty mile weeks, prepatory marathons and a 60K training run (or race if we can find one). Also, I didn’t want to push him into running and then have him fly to South Africa and not finish. This is a once in a lifetime trip so we don’t want to not make it count!
After dinner, Jason was to deliver his big decision. And the decision was…”I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Man – you are killing me!
By BrianFlash, on October 27th, 2009
The Marines threw a marathon and 21,386 runners finished. That’s what I call success!
This was our first trip back to DC since we lived there thirteen years ago. Kathy and I flew into DC Reagan airport late Friday night. We got to the hotel and bedded down for the night. The next morning we hopped the Metro to the race expo at the Washington Convention Center. The DC Metro system is one of the better subway systems that I’ve been on. It is clean, efficient, and easy to navigate. And not one of the stations smells like human urine! Our ride into downtown dropped us right at the expo.
The Marine organizational skills were on display at the race expo. Packet pickup was quick and easy. And while the expo was crowded, it was still pretty easy to get around and see all the booths. Kathy snagged some race specific merchandise and got her ankles taped with that new fangled kineso tape by a ‘trained physical therapist,’ better known as the sports witch doctor. Finally, we wandered by the massage booth right as they were starting to give massages so she was able to get massage after only waiting twenty minutes or so.
After we finished up at the expo, we met Jason and Rocio at the National Art Museum for lunch. We ate at the cafe, then checked out the art. The younger Flash’s went to the modern art wing while we enjoyed looking at the real art – painted by the old masters. Vermeer, Cole, Van Dyke, Rembrandt, Reubans, Da Vinci, and that lot are all featured. I searched in vain for a Breugel that I was sure was there, but never did find it. The National Art Museum has way more paintings then they can display at any one time so maybe it just wasn’t on display. After all that culture, we headed back to the hotel. After a nice pasta dinner at a local restaurant, we headed off to an early night.
The Team met up at 6 AM on Sunday. Our plan was to catch a shuttle bus over to near the start. While Jason was waiting for us in the lobby, he ran into another runner, Michigan Marci (sorry Marcy – I didn’t catch if that was with an y or an i, so i it is!). She wasn’t aware of the shuttle service so she decided to tag along with us. Unfortunately for her, that means she had to put up with our inane chatter. To her credit, she didn’t run screaming from us at her first opportunity.
We hopped the shuttle after a quick McDonald’s Cinnimelt, which has proven to be a successful pre-race fuel in the past. The shuttle dropped us off at the pentagon, where we grabbed some time in the warming tent before heading over to the start. Again, the organization was excellent. There were tons of people heading toward the start line, but it was a pretty simple matter to get positioned where we wanted. Jason moved up to the 4:30 pace team while Kathy and I held back at the 5:00 pace team. Marcy left us at this point, planning to finish a bit better then five hours.
The Marines flew a pair of V-22 Ospreys over us, fired a 105 howitzer, and off we went. Well, not exactly. We stood around trying to get to the start line. Kathy and I finally reached the start roughly 20 minutes after the gun went off. But we were right around everyone running at our goal pace so there wasn’t a lot of dodging around – just a steady stream of people trudging off on their quest for going 26.2 miles.
The initial miles were in Northern Virginia. We then crossed over into DC around mile 5 or so. The course then went along the canal up into Georgetown. Some nice hills were in these initial six miles or so. We came back down and ran behind the Lincoln Memorial at about mile 10. Kathy was doing great – right on her five hour pace. At the half way point, she crossed the line just over 2:30. But the pain was just beginning. Her ankles starting to complain about being run on about at the halfway point. But she kept trooping along.
After running down to Hain’s Point and back, we finally headed out on the mall. The two signature monuments of this part of the race are the Lincoln Memorial and the Capital building. I got pictures of Kathy near each:
Even dropping into periods of walking and running, we hit the bridge way before the straggler cutoff time. But the last six miles were serious. Kathy was reduced to a walk, but she kept at it like a trooper. Because of her ankle injuries, her longest training run was only 14 miles! So I knew she was suffering, but she mentally kept marching along. I like to think that her dad helped her out along the way. He was a Marine in the Korean War and Kathy was dedicating this race to his memory. The sight of Marines along the way definitely helped her out.
She got some final inspiration on the climb up to the finish, near the Marine War Memorial, or as it is better known, the Iwo Jima Memorial. When she finished, she was very emotional. After she celebrated a bit, we hopped into the chutes and both got our medals from Marines. She gave her Marine a big hug after he congratulated her. My biggest disappointment on the day was that I forgot how to work my camera at this critical moment and didn’t get a picture. But that’s what 26.2 miles will do to you – even running slow it made me weary and my brain didn’t work properly. Kathy crossed the line at 5:32:04 for her first marathon, a new personal record!
The race was absolutely fantastic. The Marines managed the water stations, kept the runners on the course and provided plenty of cheering support. It was an amazing event – I had never been to a marathon with more then about 4000 marathon runners and this one had over 21,000! And running in the Nation’s Capital was also very inspiring at times.
I really only have two complaints about the race. First, the course could be better. You did see the Lincoln Memorial and the Capital building, but basically all the other DC monuments aren’t seen. It would be great if the course could travel closer to the Jefferson Memorial, the White House, and some of the other highlights of the city. Instead, you march down to the tip of Hains Point and spend time roaming around Crystal City. The spectator support was great everywhere, but I could have used just a bit more monument gawking.
Second, and this is the big one, the finish festival is an absolute zoo. The Marines try to make organize it by making the runners walk a fairly linear course thru downtown Rosslyn, but it is an absolute crowded cluster. Kathy and I finished 1:50 PM and didn’t make it to the shuttle bus pickup until 2:45 or so. But then, we ended up waiting 45 minutes before we were able to get on a shuttle. This incredible delay caused us to miss our flight out of DC, so we had the pleasure of staying in a hotel a third night and flying out the next day. There is no reason that this can’t move more efficiently – I mean Jason and I ran in Nashville with over 30,000 people and the finish area wasn’t near as zoolike as this one. I recommend that the Marines just close off a couple blocks like they do in Austin. Let everyone get their food, water, and drinks and then be released to the world.
I learned a vital lesson that I hereby impart to all fellow runners. If you run this race, don’t schedule a flight anywhere close to as soon as I did, or better yet, plan to stay that night and fly out the next day. However, you can also bail out of the finish festival right after you get your food bag from the Marines and head North to the Arlington Metro station. A quick ride and you’ll be back near your hotel. If we had done that, we would have breezed to the airport in time for our ride out of town. I will plan to stay that extra day for all future event type marathons – it just makes everything less stressful.
Secondly, I learned that slow runners should be respected also. I was just as sore after this run then after my USAF marathon six weeks earlier. I ran that one 1.5 hours faster but didn’t suffer any less. Just being out there for that much time is impressive.
And my bad influence over the rest of Team Flash continues. Just a few hours after the race, Kathy states, “I could have run so much faster if my ankles would have held up.” And tonight Jason tells me he has a much faster time in him too!
By BrianFlash, on October 24th, 2009
We can be tracked tomorrow during our run around our Nation’s Capital. Check the website for details. Our bibs:
Kathy – 19943
Brian – 19972
Jason – 10906
Root for Team Flash from whereever you are!
By BrianFlash, on October 22nd, 2009
100 minutes – Brian’s ultimate goal time for a half marathon
100 calories burned while running one mile
100 calories in one Gu packet
100 Gu packets consumed by Team Flash during 15 weeks of long runs
100 fast laps around the Rockwood high school track during Fleet Feet’s summertime interval sessions
100 degrees F – the highest temperature that we ran in this summer
100 dollars spent on a replacement set of lenses for Oakley sunglasses so Kathy would have exactly the same look as Lolo Jones
100 races on Brian’s running to-do list
100 friends who are sick of hearing about our running adventures
100 percent recovery of Kathy from her heart attack
100 safety pins used during Team Flash’s races this year
100 resolutions to do more core work or flexibility training that were ignored
100 miles not run by Rocio in preparing for the Go! St. Louis Halloween 10K
100 pounds of crap received in race goodie bags
100 grams of useful stuff received in race goodie bags
100 99 cent songs purchased for the iPod
100 megabytes of hard drive space consumed by running data
100 laps around the perimeter of Forest Park this year
100 miles – the maximum run by the Team Flash collective in one week
100 rolls of quarters – the amount of weight lost by Jason in 2009
100 different diagnoses for various Team Flash injuries
100 times Garmin has been cursed by Team Flash because of technical glitches
100 running shoes used by Team Flash in their assault on the world’s marathon courses
100 expletives uttered by Jason during the Go! St. Louis Marathon
100 palms – the total height of all members of Team Flash
100 different flavors/varieties of nutrition bars/gus/sports drinks that Team Flash has tried
100 years – how old Brian wants to live to so that he can finally place first in his age group
100 percent of the Team Flash blog posts that are ridiculously entertaining
100 visitors a day stumble across the Team Flash blog
100 visitors a month actually read the Team Flash blog
100 posts written by Team Flash on the blog!
By BrianFlash, on October 21st, 2009
This weekend Kathy and I visited our three year old nephew Aidan for a few hours. I’m his favorite uncle so he insisted that we spend quality time together in his basement play room. So we built apartment complexes with wooden blocks, kicked a soccer ball around, shot baskets (I’m clearly a better shot then him), and played his Little Tykes electric guitar. That guitar seriously rocks! It includes Cheap Trick, The Police, and Cream songs among its prerecorded offerings. Good to see we are brainwashing our kids to rock and roll early, even if the songs are toned down electronic versions of the classic tunes.
Aidan was sporting a cold. Nothing serious but he was sniffling and coughing. As we all know, kids are ruthlessly efficient germ transfer units. They acquire the sicknesses from their playmates, incubate the germs up to full strength, and then transfer them to any adult who happens to be passing by. And I’m handling all of his toys with a marathon only eight days away.
I have a very laissez-faire attitude toward germs and sickness. I’m in the prime of my life and my immune system should be capable of defeating pretty much any normal germ. And if I don’t have the proper antibodies, I’d just as soon get sick so I can develop the antibodies needed to fight it off in the future. So I don’t get flu shots. I encourage mosquitoes to bite me in the summer (trying to pick up West Nile). H1N1 – please let me know if you get it – I need the exposure. Additionally, I eat fruit without washing it, play in the dirt without gloves, and avoid Purell and its ilk. Basically, when I’m old and weak I don’t want some punk-ass disease killing me.
So predictably, I’m developing a cold today. Nothing serious, but a headache and some sneezing. For those of you keeping score: Aidan’s super incubated cold germ 1 – Brian’s immune system 0. Luckily, this marathon should be relatively easy for me – I’m running with Kathy so a cold won’t be a big deal. I just have to avoid passing it on to her – at least until after the race.
By BrianFlash, on October 19th, 2009
Sunday morning dawned extra early this weekend. We had to arise for this Halloween 10K that someone talked me into running. Costumes donned, we headed downtown to meet the other half of Team Flash.
I want to end the suspense on the costume contest right away. From left to right, Jason is William Wallace, Rocio is ‘The Flash,’ Brian is ‘Flashman,’ and Kathy is a black cat. None of our contest entrants was able to match all four of us to our costumes, but we do have a tie. Both Danielle in Iowa and Beth Dare (now that is a superhero name if I’ve ever heard one) had two correct answers and only swapped the fictional super hero for the real one. Now there is some controversy about this because there was never a female ‘Flash’ in the comic books. So that could be considered fictional. But since there are no prizes for this contest it really doesn’t matter!
There was a pretty substantial crowd for the race. And the costume participation was very nice – better then I expected. But the costumes weren’t that extreme. Most of them were designed to not impede a runner. If the race develops a nice reputation for the future and they chose to run it a little closer to Halloween possibly more exotic costumes like pantomine Princess Margarets, Port-o-pots, and Viking Longboats will make an appearance. One major exception to the rule was the guy who made a preying mantis that looked like he was riding a preying mantis throughout the race. He wasn’t very fast, but he had the best costume. Unfortunately for him, he got totally jobbed in the post race costume contest. He finished second in the ‘Most Original’ category to a guy dressed as Forest Gump. Are you kidding me?! Dressing as a major motion picture figure is more original then as a guy riding a preying mantis? So the judging was obviously questionable there. We didn’t enter the contest because we wanted others to experience some personal glory of their own.
The race organization was excellent. Go! St. Louis is definitely getting running a race down to an art. Bib pickup was easy, the course was well marked and nicely separated from traffic, and the finish line festivities were completely laid out on pavement (a huge improvement over the muddy fiasco that was the springtime marathon). All of the 1806 10K finishers received a nice jack-o-lantern medal, along with homemade cookies, a chocolate bar, cupcakes, and some taffy-like candy in addition to the normal water, sports drink, and bananas.
Team Flash had one major goal for the race – do nothing to compromise the effort next Sunday in the Marine Corps Marathon. So mind blowingly fast times weren’t expected. But I secretly harbored the desire to beat my PR, which shouldn’t have been too much of a challenge given how much better shape I was in then when I ran my last 10K.
The course was decent for a St. Louis downtown run. We started at the Soldier’s Memorial, ran mostly south and east, then returned on part of the course before peeling off and finishing at the Memorial again. There were some ups and downs (and mile 5 was a fairly miserable uphill jaunt). Here is a picture Jason took of me after I had hit the turnaround:
That arty shadow is Jason capturing his own silhouette. I definitely wasn’t going to maximum effort as shown by the fact that I was able to acknowledge him taking the shot. And, my cape isn’t flying behind me, another clear indicator that I’m not moving as fast as I’m capable of!
One aside here – my costume was not meant to arouse any suspicion that it might not be appropriate for a family oriented event. However, more then once as I was overtaking a fellow participant, my shadow caused them to do an emergency double-take turn around to see what was overtaking them! And the ‘F’ on my hat stands for ‘Flashman’ of course.
Anyway, I blew across the finish line on a gun time of 49 minutes and change. My chip time was 48:09, a personal record by over a minute. Clearly I’m capable of more but this was supposed to be fun and I didn’t exactly want to break myself with a marathon coming up next weekend.
The remainder of Team Flash came thru right at the one hour mark. Jason and Rocio chipped timed at 59:19 and Kathy at 59:20. Those were PRs for all of Team Flash! At the finish, Jason captured a couple nice images:
The only thing I’m not real excited about is how the organization listed the official results. The runners are sorted by gun time, not by chip time. So, I am reported to have finished 100th among the males running the race. However, eight dudes listed ahead of me, have chip times slower then mine. To be fair, five gentlemen who finished after me have chip times better then mine. So I actually ran the 97th fastest time among the self described males in the race. This has a major impact on the eventual wording on my running hall of fame plaque, so that is a little bit annoying but I guess I’ll get over it.
There was a fun run after the 10K. Our highlight was a two foot tall ‘Flash’ in full head-to-toe costume charging toward the finish. We absolutely screamed our heads off for him. He heard us yelling and picked up the pace to the end!Unfortunately, Jason didn’t get a picture but it was a very cool moment.
To close, one final image of the heart and soul of Team Flash:
By BrianFlash, on October 14th, 2009
Yesterday’s paper had this comic in it:
Kathy commented that maybe the downed runner would be her – since she’s had the balky ankle. I said “No way! The DC area keeps a close watch on their strays so there is little chance that dogs would attack you after you can’t continue.” But that’s a seriously negative attitude. She has ten more days to heal up so I still have confidence that she’ll make it – it just might not be in five hours.
I cranked 2.33 miles tonight at tempo, 7:04 per mile pace. I wanted to go three, but the early nightfall forced me to run on my ‘road to nowhere.’ I had forgotten (or blocked it out) just how boring running on that thing was. Exhaustion was at least part of the reason I only made 2.33, but boredom definitely figured in there somewhere. I added a mile warm up and 2/3 of a mile cool down to stretch the distance on the monotomous machine to four miles.
I’ve also got a quiz for our readers. We’re running the costumed 10K hosted by the Go! St. Louis organization this Sunday. Each of us has picked out a costume and is planning to run the course fully outfitted. Below are the Team Flash members and a description of their costumes:
1) Brian a) A domesticated animal
2) Jason b) A ‘fictional’ super hero (not in a comic book)
3) Kathy c) A ‘real’ super hero (featured in a comic book)
4) Rocio d) A famous historical figure
Match your individual with their costume. The winner will be revealed right here after the race report on Sunday!
By BrianFlash, on October 12th, 2009
Chesterfield, Missouri is synonymous with suburbia. It was incorporated as a town only after people flooded out of St. Louis as the city was decaying. The town is mainly strip malls and residential subdivisions and isn’t particularly known for anything. However, there are groups trying to make Chesterfield known for something. And we had an event this Saturday as part of that effort.
Kathy and I went to the Central City park on Saturday, and this is scene we came upon. Basically, giant tarps over several separate pieces of sculpture. There was a percussion band and tons of people waiting for the tarps to be pulled back. Just like before running races, there was someone speaking into a microphone. They were barely audible and no one cared one iota about what they were saying. Just take off the tarps OK! But they have to go thru their ceremonies – regardless.
The nice thing was, our timing was impeccable. Only about five minutes after we showed up, the band started percussing away with increased energy, and the multitude of ceremonial tarp removers got their signal. They then tugged like crazy and the tarps came free!
And ‘The Awakening’ was revealed! This is a giant multi-part statue that represents a giant waking up after sleeping for many years. As he awakes he breaks free from the soil that has blown over him over the time he was sleeping. The bulk of what you see in this picture is his left leg and right arm coming up out of the soil.
This statue was placed by a private foundation as a centerpiece in a new development in Chesterfield. We’re getting a ‘city center’ that is supposed to be an area that will help bring the community together. It should be pretty nice when completed. There will be a couple lakes, some commercial development, and of course, some art.
The original copy of ‘The Awakening’ was in Washington DC. It is a very popular sculpture, partly because it isn’t meant to be something that can only be seen. In fact, climbing on the statue is strongly encouraged! And the first thing that happened after the unveiling is that every kid in the vicinity got on top of this poor giant. They absolutely swarmed his head, so it looks like it will be a popular sculpture. I’ll be heading to Rome in a couple years and I’m going to hop into Mary’s lap when we go see Michelangelo’s Pieta. We’ll see how that goes with the Italians…
Overall it was a fun event. We checked out some other sculptures in the park, got some information about the Chesterfield arts program, and painted our names on a St. Louis city bus. Incredibly, this painted bus will be driving around the city the next 12 months advertising ’The Awakening.’ Of course I made sure I put www.runningteamflash.com on the side of the bus. Any publicity is good publicity.
On Sunday morning, I got in nine miles and then we headed off to see the St. Louis Rams, our sorry entry in the National Football League. Three hours later we headed home after watching Brett Favre lead the Minnesota Vikings to a 38 to 10 victory. The Rams are an impressive 0 and 5. The Missouri professional football teams are a combined 0 and 10 this season so far so there is a signficant fight over which team is worse. But the Rams have an arguement for sure.
This coming up weekend is our costumed 10K starting at the Soldier’s Memorial. Come on down – the entire Team will be there in costume ready to tear up the 10K. They are offering prize money for the top three men and women finishers! This is just the incentive I need to be able to compete in a race like this!
By BrianFlash, on October 7th, 2009
I opened up my mailbox yesterday and a large white envelope addressed to me was in there. Now, it just so happens that I was waiting for something, since Mr. Loser had emailed me and told me he would be sending me something using the old fashioned postal service. I had no idea what to expect, but on opening the envelope this popped out!
This was followed by two other sketched pictures of The Flash, also very nicely done. What is most amazing is that even though the artist has never met me, he captured me perfectly. The menacing game face (but with a wink), the well defined thighs, amazing guns, and blazing speed – all features shared by myself and The Flash.
So, a big thanks to Mr. Loser for thinking of Team Flash and sending these pictures along. They will be incorporated into our marketing materials for sure.
Tonight, three tempo miles at an average pace of 7:14. Quite a bit better then last week’s 7:28. But Mr. McMillian believes I should be at 7:00 so I’ve still got some work to do. But tonight, I’ll be watching the St. Louis Cardinals take on the Los Angeles Wiffers and drinking a nice cold beverage.
Kathy injury update – ankle improving enough that she went thirty minutes on the treadmill tonight.
By BrianFlash, on October 5th, 2009
It was a tough weekend. Kathy and I went out for a 18 mile jaunt along the Katy. It was going decently until mile 12, then her ankle injury decided to resurface with a vengence. She was quickly reduced to a walk and then, just as quickly, to nothing. When we got a the Madsen trailhead, she sat and I ran down the remaining way to where we parked and came back and picked her up. Unfortunately for her, she had to shiver in the cool for 50 minutes until I made my way back.
The injury is obviously not a good thing. Her first marathon is officially in three weeks and she hasn’t been able to do a run longer then 14 miles. Time for serious action. She’s officially into full scale ankle treatment and no running.
She is still planning to start the Marine Corps marathon and I’ll be there along side. Aerobically she’ll be fine – it’s all about the ankle playing nice. We’ll have to change our plan a bit – instead of a 5 hour marathon, we’re looking at a reasonably slow pace designed to beat the cutoff times.
On Sunday, I went back out to the vintage base ball field for another weekend round. A doubleheader left me quite a bit less sore then last week, but this endth my base ball career at least for this season. Four games showcasing my defensive indifference is probably just about all my former team can handle! No pictures, but I’ll leave you with this video from a couple years ago.
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