Second Quarter, 2005 eNewsletter

Lewis & Clark Event Update

Host Hotel

Other News

Dallas to Cincinnati (Flying Pig Marathon ) Road Trip

By Tony Reed

This year, I’ll be turning 50 years young. As a part of my year-long celebration, I decided to average a marathon a month with each marathon being in a different state or country. This also afforded me the opportunity to recruit and meet NBMA members and visit with Black running clubs. My adventures have taken me to marathons in Tulsa, Orange County, Las Vegas , Little Rock , Birmingham , Abilene (KS), Cincinnati , and Burlington (VT) since November. (In Little Rock, I ran into Marilyn, who’s featured in this newsletter.)

 During Birmingham ’s Mercedes Marathon, I ran through a neighborhood whose theme was “pigs.” I took this as a sign to run Cincinnati ’s Flying Pig Marathon on May 1. Since I enjoy “road trips”, I planned to drive from Dallas to Cincinnati and include a stop over in St. Charles , MO . This is site of the Lewis & Clark Marathon and Half Marathon. Also, due to the number of emails from Cincinnati’s Avondale Running Club members, a meeting with one of their members, Gillis, was also planned. This is a predominately Black running club.

While preparing for the trip, I was contacted by Cincinnati ’s largest newspaper, The Enquirer, for an interview. It subsequently appeared in their April 29 edition. A follow up editorial appeared on April 30. (Both articles are in the News section of our website.) This placed additional pressure on me to finish the race. The Thursday meeting with Jeff, the Lewis and Clark Race Director, went very well. They were very excited about being selected for our 2005 race and promised to keep me appraised of their plans for selecting the host hotel and other events, such as a possible pasta dinner.

I arrived in Cincinnati on Saturday amid a flurry of email messages and phone calls. My initial meeting was with Gillis and Robbie, Avondale’s President. Our scheduled half-hour meeting lasted about two hours, until 10:30. We only stopped after it occurred to us that I had a race the next morning. Time flies when you get three runners together. We discussed everything from past and future races, to training schedules, injuries, and our organizations’ futures. The conversation was great, but we had to stop.

While running clubs serve a local need, there wasn’t an organization that could facilitate a national gathering or provide national exposure. (The Cincinnati newspaper writer found out about the Avondale Running Club through our website and requested information about them from us.) All of us had experienced that lonely feeling of being “one of a handful” of Blacks in a race. Although we may see other Blacks during the packet pick up process or during the actual race, these aren’t necessarily the best times to approach someone.

For example, JT (on the left), read the articles and wanted to arrange a meeting before the race. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet during the race packet pick up. However, he emailed me his race number. Somehow out of 10,000 runners and spectators, we met at the starting line. As luck would have it, we were running the same pace. Thus, we “talked our way” through about 24 miles of the marathon. (We separated briefly during a pit stop.) However, we started and finished together.

We also made a special stop at mile 6. The Avondale Running Club members were manning the aid station. While they were handing out thousands of cups, Gillis was trying to introduce them to me!!! After the marathon, I had lunch with Gillis and Francis, one of the running club’s founders. The excitement about the possibilities of the NBMA led to an extended lunch. I’m sure that the waiter couldn’t wait for us to free up his table.

In its simplicity, this is what the NBMA is about.

While driving back to Dallas , I was interviewed by a Chicago reporter about the lack of Black high school students in distance running. I explained, that hopefully, as a result of our organization and our visibility at races, we’ll inspire more Blacks to pursue distance running.

We hope to see you in September at the St. Charles Lewis & Clark Marathon and Half Marathon.

Member Profile - Marletta W.

Running Background

2005 Flora London Marathon

By Charlotte Simmons

I hope the record 35,680 runners taking part in the 2005 Flora London Marathon had as much fun as I did.  This was a wonderful marathon and I highly recommend it.  The 750,000 spectators, who lined the streets to cheer on the runners, have to be the most supportive group of well wishers I have ever encountered in a marathon.  I think they beat the Chicago Marathon spectators by a large margin.  These loyal spectators cheered as if they knew each runner personally and they wanted to see every runner successfully cross the finish line.  The entire course was lined with energetic well wishers (and we needed them).

Everything from the travel agency booking the trip for Sandy, Yvette, and me and our support team through reaching the finish line went perfect.  The Expo, the hotel, transportation to the start line, the course organization, the course, and the course volunteers where all absolutely superb.  We had a wonderful time at the marathon, as well as visiting London for a week. 

At 9:00am on April 17^th, 2005, under the clear blue skies of London , the elite runners and wheelchair participants started their race with staggered start times. At 9:45am, the “just for fun” runners, along with maybe a few serious runners, got started.  It was a perfect day for a 26.2-mile run.  The course was all asphalt and concrete with a fair number of slight inclines entwined by unforgotten architectural European beauty.

The runners pounded past some of the most historical sites in London including Tower Bridge , Canary Wharf , The Tower of London, The Embankment, and Big Ben. We finally crossed the finish line in St. James’s Park at Buckingham Palace , where everyone greeted us by saying “well done”.  Sandy, Yvette and I made it to the finish line and all agree that this was a job well done.

Water was provided at each mile in 8-ounce bottles with the tops removed. This was great because the bottles where very easy to grab and allowed the runners to keep moving.  I could drink the water at my own pace without it spilling.  The Lucozade sport drink, which was very tasty, was given out every couple of miles in squeeze pouches that where also very easy to handle on the marathon course.  With the bottled water and the Lucozade squeeze pouch sport drink, it was very easy for runners to stay well hydrated.

I felt really good during the entire race.  It got a little warm as the temperature rose to about 68 degrees and I began to fall back into the thickness of the slowing crowd along London’s narrow streets in pursuit of the 2005 Flora Marathon 25^th Anniversary finish line and my 6^th marathon finishers medal.  However, one could not become bored running with a rhino, Mary Poppins, and a blowup taxi cab being steered along the course by the driver.  These where among the many hilarious and thought-provoking costumes and characters on the course.  I suggest to anyone running this marathon to wear a costume.  Runners wearing unique costumes where having their pictures taken by spectators along the entire course.  I was advised to take a camera on the course with me but it was too crowed to stop and take pictures. 

You should put the Flora London Marathon on your “must do marathon” list.  You will have a blast!

Member Profile - Marilyn Simmons-Bowe

Running Background

Inaugural Knoxville Marathon 2005