RUNNING WITH THE FLY BOYS

Most people could probably identify the Wright Brothers and Kitty Hawk when talking about the birth of modern flight. But in truth, credit belongs to Dayton, Ohio – home of Wilbur and Orville Wright and site of our Ohio half-marathon on September 19^th, 2009. The race was on Wright Patterson Air Force Base – named in honor of the brothers – and site of the USAF Aviation Museum – one of the truly great aviation museums in the world. The race began (after a "Blue Angel" type fly-over) adjacent to the Museum, was run almost exclusively on the air base and ended on the tarmac of the museum’s air field – running between vintage aircraft from the last 50 years. It was a great way to finish a really nice run – one that was superbly supported by the Air Force with officers and Airmen (not necessarily volunteers, I suspect) manning most of the hydration stops. The day was also nearly a perfect one for running. The temperature was mild, there was virtually no wind, it was partly cloudy and the course was generally flat. The result? It wasn’t a PR for me – but it was close. My “Karen-era” PR was in Chicago in August, when I ran a 1:43:12; for the USAF Half-marathon I was four seconds slower.

It was another really good trip.


Karen’s Mom joined us and we enjoyed and appreciated her company (she was our babysitter during the race). On our first full day, we visited Amish country – north and east of Columbus. Holmes County has the highest concentration of Amish in the country and we thoroughly enjoyed driving through the green rolling hills of the area, with very unique “Amish Farm Clusters” throughout, the frequent horse-drawn carriages, and the fields interspersed with woods.


We toured an Amish home, visited a museum, had a buggy ride and ate dinner at a well-known Amish eatery in a small town. The home was interesting, the culture and history lesson very informative, the buggy ride okay, and the meal VERY mediocre. It was interesting to learn the origins of the Amish (Anna-Baptists during the Reformation and from Switzerland) and the three related religious practices – and the varying levels of traditions and rejection of modern conveniences within each of them. It was well worth the visit.

Enroute to Dayton we spent some time in Columbus - to include a visit to the Capitol and to Battelle.


The second day and part of a third were dedicated to Dayton, the museum and environs. The museum was amazing – as were a number of historical sites around Dayton – most having to do with the Wright Brothers and the origins of powered flight, to include the huge field where they really learned to fly. As it turned out, their Kitty Hawk flight was only memorable because it was the first; they considered it a disappointment, and hardly successful. They returned to Dayton shortly thereafter and over the next several years – working exclusively in Dayton and on successive variations – “perfected” the flying machine. Flight has been intrinsically related to Dayton ever since – thus the home of one of the largest and most prestigious air bases in the country.

Also of note during the trip was a half-day/night excursion to Cincinnati. We enjoyed an Octoberfest celebration downtown (Cincinnati has a rich German heritage), visited a park and walked along the waterfront (Ohio River), and attended a Cincinnati Reds, Florida Marlins game at Riverfront Park.

As for the “thoughtful” part of this blog – perhaps I can share some comments we heard during the pasta dinner the night before the race. We don’t normally attend these (they tend to disappoint), but since the Air Force billed this as a “gourmet” event, we bit. The food was pretty good, the Air Force brass was plentiful, and the speaker was excellent. Dave McGillivray, who has been the race director for the Boston Marathon for nearly 20 years talked to us about overcoming obstacles to success. Growing up, he had always wanted to play pro basketball; unfortunately, he is 5’6” tall. When he finally accepted the message that basketball was not in the cards, he ended up (almost coincidentally) running. He was never one of the elite runners – and it took him several attempts to even finish the Boston marathon – but his story was inspirational and he talked to us about the importance of goals, of commitment, and of taking inspiration from others. In his case it was from his Grandfather, who challenged him to do Boston. However, between being sick and other issues, he failed to even finish for a couple of years. Just before his Grandfather died, he challenged Dave to try again and told him he would always be there for him. Dave tried again – although very much impacted by the loss of his Grandfather. Just when he was ready to throw in the towel again, he realized he was running adjacent to the cemetery where his Grandfather was buried – he WAS there for him! He not only finished, but has subsequently run and finished some 40 consecutive Boston Marathons, including the last 18 or so where he was the Director – running each of them the night after the race to ensure everyone finished and that he was the last finisher. (He was also the first to gain notoriety for running across the country.)

Set goals; stay committed; take inspiration from the sources where it is available. Success is out there. We just have to believe and keep going. It was another great race and weekend – spent with the Fly Boys. Our State-count? 35!

Running the Redrock

Only Southern Utah’s Red Rock Country would motivate us to deviate from our prescribed plan. Despite previous opportunities and even the allure of some very beautiful places, we had essentially agreed that we would only run half-marathons and that each race needed to give us a new state until we had reached our goal.
Luckily, we knew southern Utah well enough to think maybe THIS race ought to be an exception. And so it was. And we have no regrets. We ran the Red Rock.

The seed was actually planted in training runs months ago. We would occasionally – and in places typically only runners spend much time – see signs about “Running the Red Rock”. I took the bait and went to the website and learned about the inaugural running of a 180-mile relay that was to begin at Brian Head Ski Resort, travel south past Cedar Breaks, then up onto the Kolob Terrace through a section of Zion, and then through Hurricane and St. George, before cutting a final loop north to return to St. George through Snow Canyon. It sounded beautiful – and the advertised 8,000 drop in elevation was appealing. After consulting with my car pool partner (Will) – who I knew had participated in a number of such relays – we decided to do it. About six weeks later we were registered and had put together a team of six men and six women which included two other coworkers (one of which was also a neighbor), two ward members, five people who knew or had previously run relays with Will and, of course, Karen. CW's West Desert Incinerators were a reality. (CW for Carl and Will, of course.)

The race was run over the Friday and Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Although we had a team meeting and did some “team runs” (4-5 of us), the first time we had the entire team together was at Brian Head about 45 minutes prior to our start time on Friday. However, I think all of us were excited and, to some extent, ready. We put our first runner on the chair lift at 11 a.m.; when he reached the top, his first leg was to run down. Thirty-five legs and nearly 26 hours later, around 1 p.m. on Saturday, 11 of us ran the final 100 yards with our last runner. During those 26 hours each of us ran three legs; all of us ran legs at night; several of us ran legs in driving rain with lightning illuminating the skies (to include yours truly); many of us ran the “unadvertised” uphills (yes, two of my legs had grueling climbs and Karen averaged more feet ascended per mile ran than any other team member);

two of us ran through mud so slick and sticky as to make walking a challenge (I was one of the two); most of us traversed sections of breathtaking scenery (my last leg, just before the final leg was possibly the most gorgeous leg of the race – a downhill through Snow Canyon); many of us ran at elevations where we knew the oxygen had been removed (and I had one of these, which also happened to be with rain, in the mud and with a grueling climb!);
and each van of six became a pretty tight-knit group – dedicated to taking care of and becoming the biggest fans and supporters of our teammates.

>Despite the challenges of the runs (to include the unexpected road blockage by about a million sheep), it was a memorable, even enjoyable and very worthwhile experience – and one we would be willing to repeat. The team members and camaraderie were great and, in a sport that usually emphasizes independence and “going it alone”, it was a reminder that interdependence is really what makes some things special.

We ran the Red Rock. The exception was a good one.

In keeping with our running tradition, we even made a bit of a trip out of the relay. Sunday afternoon we spent in Snow Canyon hiking and gawking - what a great place for a family outing! That was followed by late afternoon glow on the Kolob Canyon walls of Zion NP. Monday included a stop in Cedar Breaks and then several hours of hiking in Bryce Canyon before heading home. Would be hard to think of a better weekend!












Key to Pictures:
Top 2 - Incinerators before the race at Brian Head
Next 2 - Along the route - try running through sheep! Cedar Breaks backdrop
Next 3 - Van #1 runners and Van logos to psyche out the opposition (thanks to Alan and Jen for the van, by the way.)
Next 3 - Karen - our team mountain goat!
Next 4 - Yours Truly, in the mud, without oxygen with Snow Canyon ending
Next 2 - Incinerators - you did it!
Next 4 - Snow Canyon
Next 2 - Kolob Section, Zion NP
Next 2 - Cedar Breaks
Final 4 - Bryce Canyon

Running from Forests to Spuds

No Southwest? It has been a long while since we did a race that wasn’t at the end of a Southwest flight, but such was the case the weekend of the 22^nd of August when the Toyota took its place. The race was the Mesa Falls Marathon and Half-Marathon. The location: Ashton Idaho. We picked this as one of several good options in Idaho and it turned out to be a nice trip. The course itself didn’t prove to be quite as scenic as billed, because only the marathon started high enough on the mesa to go by the very impressive falls, but it was still nice. We started in evergreen forests well above the surrounding plains, ran some single track trails for several miles on the way off the mesa, then crossed the river…and were in for a surprise! We knew the elevation was a bit higher than we normally run, but not until the day before the race when I looked at the elevation profile did I see there was LOTS of uphill in the course! After we crossed the river we started a grade that lasted nearly three miles and got us on the high plains with potato fields on both sides...and lots of rolling hills...and lots of sun...and much warmer than normal temperatures...and no shade…and not quite as many water stops as might have been nice. Consequently, it was definitely not a fast race, but we successfully completed it and enjoyed the small town atmosphere – definitely a change from our previous race in downtown Chicago.

While in the area we enjoyed a nice trip to Bear World and some huckleberry milkshakes. Rachel got a kick out of driving through the animal preserve and enjoyed the bears, the elk, the deer...and, of course, the rides that were there for kids.


We also planned on enjoying the scenic route along the Tetons on the way home – to include a hike up onto Table Mountain, but the weather didn’t cooperate very well, so we had limited views of the mountains and lots of rain most of the way home. We did manage one short hike at the summit between Bear Lake and Logan, but that was it.

My thoughts DURING this race were focused on making it up the hills and noting I was running much slower than I had anticipated. However, afterwards it occurred to me how nice a small-town race can be, too. We might be inclined to discount the small towns and communities, but they can have a charm all their own.


We went to the pasta dinner the night before the race at the elementary school and it was quaint – but also impressive to find so many people from far-flung places who had come to Ashton, Idaho to run a race. Ashton even had a runner’s breakfast for us before the race – and that was just about a first. Oh….and by the way, did I mention I took second place in my age group?!? One of the other benefits of a smaller race!

All in all, another good race and another State checked off - #34.