Pancake Breakfast with Sherrod Brown

April 25, 2010 – 9:57 am

Yesterday was the last Saturday run before next week’s Flying Pig.

Unfortunately, it was also the morning of a pancake breakfast with Sherrod Brown in Hartwell starting at 9am.

I decided to do my own 5-mile run in Northside before meeting Theresa to go up to the breakfast.

I wanted to do 2 things:

Jim Tarbell and a veritable “who’s who” of Hamilton County Democrats turned out for the event. We ended up sitting next to someone who had known Senator Brown since the 70s.

I had to admire the speech Senator Brown gave. It was less than 10 minutes. Straight and to the point.

He thanked everyone for helping turn the tide in Hamilton County and spoke for a few minutes about the Safe Banking Act that he and Senator Ted Kaufman had introduced.

One of the things that stuck in my mind.In the mid-90s, the 6 larger banks (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, BofA, and Wells Fargo) had assets that were less than 20% of our gross national product.

Currently they have assets that exceed 60% of GNP.

Brown’s bill would put a cap on the amount that any single bank could own.

In the face of $1 million a day Wall Street lobbying, getting this passed will require public support. To sign the petition to support this bill, go here.

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Flat Stanley in Cincinnati

April 11, 2010 – 1:02 pm

Hi Ashley!

This is Flat Stanley here in Cincinnati. I’d like to tell you about my adventures today with your Uncle Dave.

He is training to run a marathon with a group called Team in Training. Team in Training runs marathons to raise money to help kids who have Leukemia.

Today, he took me on one of the runs. The alarm clock went off at 6:15 AM! Uncle Dave had to get up early to meet the group at 7.

Here’s me with some of the folks from Team in Training.

Everyone did stretches before the run. They did squats, jumping jacks, seal claps (where you clap your hands together like a seal), and then a stretch called Highland Flings which is like a Scottish dance.

In this picture the group is doing squats.

Here, Uncle Dave is helping me do hurdle stretches. You bring one leg up and over as if you were going over a hurdle.

These stretches were easy for me since I’m flat.

We started out running with Dennis and Glenna. Dennis and Glenna are both training for the full marathon - 26.2 miles.

They’re going to run 20 miles today. We’ll only run 12 but it helps to have people to run with when you’re running such a long ways.

I’m just glad there’s no wind!

Our first water stop was in Eden Park. This was at about the 3-4 mile mark. They had Gatorade and water.

Uncle Dave said: “When you run long distances, you have to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated.”

Only 8 more miles to go from here!

At about mile 7, the half marathoners split from the full marathoners. They had to go uphill and we headed downhill for home.

This picture shows what it looked like as we turned to head down the hill.

Whew! It sure is a long ways. But it’s a great day for running.

This is the last water stop at the church at about mile 11. They had water and Gatorade and pretzels.

Everyone is happy because there’s only 1 mile left!

Hurray! We finished!

I have never run this far before, Ashley, so I was very excited and Uncle Dave was very happy for me.

There were lots of goodies at the finish for all of the runners. Bananas, bagels, cookies, pretzels, and drinks!

There were even pig cookies because the race they are training for is called the Flying Pig marathon!

We had a great time and I met a lot of wonderful people here in Cincinnati. Together, they raised over $300,000 to help kids with Leukemia. It’s a really good way to help people. Uncle Dave sends his love and hopes you can come visit soon!

Goodbye from Cincinnati!

Your Friend,
Flat Stanley

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A New Season - 2010

January 24, 2010 – 9:34 am

I’ve been back with the group since just before Christmas, but this is my first post for the new season.

Most of the usual folks are back and there’s some newcomers. Glenna, Dennis, Troy, Angela, Carrie, Melissa, Chris, and even Chuck came down.

Yesterday, we ran the 7-mile course up past Eden Park to McMillan. It felt pretty good.Started off slow as we were at the casino the night before (and this means alcohol). But the pace up the hill felt pretty good and by the time we were coming down we decided to try to catch up to Troy.

Troy got out to a head start and then, at the turnaround, made some comment about “catching the rabbit.”

I blame this on Chuck. But as we came down Gilbert, Chuck was running out of gas. I felt pretty good until Glenna passed me near the Staples on Reading and I knew I couldn’t stay with her at that pace.

But I kept her in sight and even caught up a bit with her as we were coming down Eggleston. Finished the last 2 miles in 7:30 or under.

Felt great and then the usual breakfast at First Watch. Great way to officially kick off the new season.

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Taste of Cincinnati

May 26, 2009 – 7:10 pm

Here’s Glenna and I at our Barefoot Wine booth for Taste of Cincinnati.

I have to say this was one of the best fundraisers I’ve done for Team in Training.

Not only was it a helluva lot of fun, we also made great tips.

The only tough part for me was getting up at 6 AM for a three and a half hour drive home from Marietta, OH.

But it was worth it. Here’s a few of the people we saw:

  • An older Indian gentleman from California with his half-his-age arranged marriage bride from London and her friend
  • The Redhats
  • Jeff & Amie, Jamie & her husband, Rick & his friends none of whom I remember their names except Adrian, Jessica
  • Many former members of Team in Training
  • A woman with giant hair, her boyfriend, and the two of theirs gay friend
  • Rob and Vanessa, our Barefoot bosses
  • Many drunks
  • The guy who bought his friend 3 double glasses of wine = 6 small bottles of wine
  • The friend who drank 6 bottles of wine and came back sober enough for more as long as his friend was buying

If I ever do this again (doubtful), I have to remember that this is a great fund raising gig.

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Finish Line Picture

May 17, 2009 – 6:50 pm

This year I was aiming for triumphant. I kept telling myself: “Come up with a good finish line pose. Come up with a good finish line pose.”

Of course, all this goes out the window at around mile 20 when all you really start to care about is ever finishing.

What I ended up with looks more like I’m about to turn into the Incredible Hulk. That’s not rage though folks, it’s joy. The joy of finishing.

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The 2009 Marathon

May 4, 2009 – 10:15 am

Race day. Up at 4:30 AM. At the Netherlands Hotel by shortly after 5 for team pictures.

Didn’t recognize anyone in purple shirts when we first walked in because they were from the TnT Michigan group. Lots more TnT folk today than usual. Will post pictures when I get them.

From our group: Glenna, Rick, Dave, Shelley, Helen, Melissa, Chuck, Joe, Dennis, Jamie, Sarah, Troy, etc. The usual crowd except all here for race day.

I almost lose my cousin Jamie during team pictures. After the pictures, can’t find him anywhere. The team is out on the street headed for the race. He comes out of the rest room to an almost empty hotel.

Down near Paul Brown Stadium it’s packed as usual. Here’s a pic of a few of us huddled inside out of the drizzle.

When we finally find our corral time, we hear the announcer say “10 minutes.”

Our group is now down to Rick, Glenna, Sarah, Jamie, and I.

Starting off, everything feels good. Sarah and Jamie set a pretty good pace. Actually, faster than we should be. But I still feel pretty good so am going with it.

In summary, my race went like this. Half marathon: 2:01. Felt great. Good pace. Eating well. Staying w/ Jamie and Sarah. Lost Jamie at about 12 miles.

In Mariemont, at about 17 miles, I lost Sarah when I had to take a pit stop. 19 miles. Still good pace. But starting to hurt and slowing down.

At about 21 miles, things are not going so well. Switching to the walk and run. What happened? I don’t know.

By 24, Rod and Thomas help run me in. If I run too much, I start feeling like blacking out. Thank god for their help.

I still manage to finish in 4:34, a half hour better than last year. But they take me to the medical tent where they say I’m dehydrated. I lie down and have some water and 15 minutes later am feeling much better.

All in all a successful marathon! Was really great to see Mollie near the finish line. Rosie was there too but on the other side and I didn’t see her.

Here’s a picture of my cousing Jamie and I after the race. When you give people medals, it goes to their heads!

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Follow a Runner

April 29, 2009 – 11:55 am

New this year: high tech comes to the ‘Pig!

You can now track runners during the race and receive updates via mobile phone or e-mail.

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Slide Show: Last Run Before Pig

April 27, 2009 – 7:12 am

It’s hard carrying a camera for 8 miles. But it’s much harder carrying a camera for 26.2 miles. So I thought I’d bring the camera with me for our last run before the marathon.

Without further ado, here’s Saturday’s run in pictures …


7 AM. We huddle around the sign-in table.


Patti gives us our pep talk: “Don’t do anything you wouldn’t normally do.”


Somebody is way too happy for this early.


“Lunge and twist!”


Sarah and Glenna set the pace.


Dennis mocks me coming down the stretch.


Who are these sexxxy runners?


Just before the moon comes out.

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2 Weeks Left: My Gambling Efforts to Raise Money

April 19, 2009 – 7:53 pm

Yesterday, we headed to Keeneland after the run in the morning.

Here’s the quick morning run update. 11 miles. Overslept. Arrived 30 minutes late. Route was out to Lunkin Airport and back. Great.

Because it was an out and back run, this meant I had to pass everyone in front of me on my way out. I called it “The run of shame.”

*Sigh*

I’m not sure what’s going on but lately I’ve been having trouble getting up at 6 on Saturday for the runs. Note to self: Make sure to set alarm for the marathon.

Turning to fundraising news. Here are my 2 attempts to gamble my way to reach my fundraising goal.

Keeneland

It was the nicest day of the year. Everyone else wanted to go to Keeneland too. New Circle Road in Lexington was backed up for 5 miles trying to get into Keeneland.

Most of our day was spent in the car trying to amuse ourselves and watching people run into the fields to pee.

We arrived just before the 6th race. That’s 5 races where I could have won.

I’ve never seen more people at Keeneland. They packed us in like cattle. You couldn’t even get to the betting windows until people started to leave.

We finally placed some bets on the 7th race. I played the 3-5 exacta box and made a couple of long shot bets to win. Nothing.

We did score some cocktails and the cocktails seemed to make things a lot better. The ladies looked very nice in their outfits and hats.

Before the 8th race, we tried to find cooked pretzels only to be denied the last pretzels in the park by someone about 4 people in front of us.

The 8th race was on grass and I played a hunch to go with the horse with the worst name, Diamondella. Diamondella came from behind in the last stretch and won me $8.80.

NCAA Basketball Tournament

This was my second attempt to earn money for LLS. I entered Brad’s 9th annual NCAA pool not really thinking I had a chance.

But at the end of the first two rounds I was in the lead thanks to my new strategy of picking teams that I hate to win.

This involved picking such detestable teams as North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Duke to win.

When it came down to the final 8, I needed Pitt to beat Villanova for an almost assured win. Villanova won. I finished second, but still managed to win a decent amount for the cause.

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20-mile Oversleep-a-thon

April 5, 2009 – 2:38 pm

The 20-mile run from Ault Park was scheduled for 7 AM Saturday morning.

I woke up Saturday morning at 5 AM and thought I could get one more hour of sleep in. Not a chance. Next thing I know the alarm clock says 6:50 AM and I haven’t even rolled out of bed yet.

As quickly as possible, I:

  • Threw on shorts and a shirt
  • Put some Body Glide on
  • Remembered to put the nipple guards on
  • Ate a banana
  • And, packed some goo and energy beans

I was on the road by 7 AM, but it took 20 minutes to get over to the park. By the time I arrived almost everyone had left.

I started at about 7:30 AM.

And, while running around the circle, I noticed that something didn’t feel quite right. Looking down, I noticed that I’d put my shorts on backwards.

So I had to run into the woods and get naked for a few minutes while hoping that none of the traffic police saw me.

Still, it was a beautiful day. Pretty soon I started to catch up to some people. One of them gave  me a map after I realized I’d left mine in the woods.

I felt good. I’d eaten a lot of carbs the night before and I probably started at about a 8:15 mile pace.

Remember, I kept saying to myself, save something for the hill on the way back.

I made it up Delta and headed down Erie. Coming up Marburg when I turned I could see everyone who had started earlier. I saw Glenna and then not too far behind, Dennis.

This was stupid, but I thought I might be able to catch them. I focused on setting a steady pace that I hoped was just fast enough.

Coming up Delta I passed a number of people from the team. Still felt good.

It wasn’t until going down the hill into Mt. Lookout though that I caught up with Dennis. He was still setting a pretty good pace.

At the bottom of the hill, I realized I wouldn’t catch Glenna and it was probably a bad idea to continue to try. So I ran with Dennis along Eastern Ave. Nice and flat. Save some for the hills.

This was a good thing because after the hill up into Eden Park, I don’t think I had much left. Now it was just a matter of persistence and stubbornness. Things hurt but I kept trying to pace with people going about the same speed.

One of the guys I was running with took a face dive while trying to drink and run over the sidewalks in O’Brienville.

By the time I got up to Observatory, there wasn’t much left. I stopped to talk to Rod at the last water stop and just tried to build a gradual pace for the hill.

The final hill hurt but I made it in just over 3 hours. Not a bad time at all. Especially for having shown up late after oversleeping. Ug. Note to self. Set alarm for marathon.

p.s. Breakfast at First Watch in Convington was absolutely outstanding. Above is a pic of Glenna and Dennis at the First Watch.

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